Mike Petrilli is solo once again to revisit the college-for-all debate and consider whether the backlash has become an overcorrection. He considers the risks of steering academically underprepared students toward four-year degrees, the growing enthusiasm for career pathways, and whether today’s push away from college could discourage some students who might actually succeed there.

Then, on the Research Minute, Amber Northern reviews a new study examining more than two decades of state pre-K expansion and what it reveals about balancing access, spending, and program design.

Recommended content:

• Has the pendulum swung too far away from college for all? —Michael J. Petrilli, SCHOOLED
• Notice of Intent to Submit Federal Ed-Flex Waiver Requests— State of Alabama Department of Education
• Hey, Claude, should I go to college? —Michael J. Petrilli, Thomas B. Fordham Institute
• Returns to Four-Year Higher Education —Doug Webber and Celeste K. Carruthers, Live Handbook of Education Policy Research
• Who should go to college? More students may benefit than we think —Matt Barnum, Chalkbeat
• Honest talk about who should go to college —Michael J. Petrilli, Thomas B. Fordham Institute
• 23 Years of State Pre-K Expansion: How States Balance Investment, Access, and Quality in the Modern Era —Casey Moran, Mindy L. Rosengarten, Eunho Cha, Jade M. Jenkins, Kenneth A. Dodge, Allison Friedman-Kraus, W. Steven Barnett, and Tyler W. Watts, EdWorkingPapers (2026)

Feedback Welcome: Have ideas for improving our show? We would love to hear them. Send them to thegadfly@fordhaminstitute.org