Published April 16, 2025
As all eyes are on the Trump administration’s battle with the Ivy League, the states continue to make major strides in higher education reform. Even the Trump administration’s most ambitious demands do not include mandating specific courses or texts as graduation requirements. States, however, have this power. It’s an authority the states have exercised since the beginning of the Republic. The decision by increasing numbers of states to mandate “general education” courses (i.e. courses required for graduation) is one of the most encouraging recent trends in higher education reform.
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Stanley Kurtz is a Senior Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. Beyond his work with Education and American Ideals, Mr. Kurtz is a key contributor to American public debates on a wide range of issues from K–12 and higher education reform, to the challenges of democratization abroad, to urban-suburban policies, to the shaping of the American left’s agenda. Mr. Kurtz has written on these and other issues for various journals, particularly National Review Online (where he is a contributing editor).
