John McWhorter – Glenn and John Live at Brown University

Support The Glenn Show at https://glennloury.substack.comVideo Links0:00 Intro 00:31 Prefatory remarks 4:15 Glenn: The Trump administration’s defunding of the universities is mischievous in the extreme 9:06 Ground News ad 11:01 Doesn’t maintaining the preeminence of American universities require diversity of thought? 18:47 John McWhorter has entered the building 20:25 How did higher ed lose the general public’s support? 23:05 The university’s role in public discourse 26:26 Was affirmative action a success or a failure? 31:36 The partisan balance in education funding 42:21 The costs and benefits of tenure 50:09 Can education preserve democracy if students aren’t doing the reading? 1:01:59 Are we irrevocably polarized as a nation? 1:07:28 Q&A: You don’t seem as excited by Trump as you once were. What is disappointing you? 1:11:40 Q&A: If higher ed serves society, why do so many elite grads use their degrees to get rich? 1:16:01 Q&A: How do you teach diversity to students who’ve never spent time around people different from them? 1:19:15 Q&A: What’s the difference between contrarianism and provocation? 1:21:23 Q&A: Should fewer people go to college?Recorded April 22, 2025Links and ReadingsMichael Sandel’s book, The Tyranny of Merit: What’s Become of the Common Good?John Stuart Mill’s book, On LibertyJohn Milton’a AreopagiticaAlan Bloom’s book, The Closing of the American Mind: How Higher Education Has Failed Democracy and Impoverished the Souls of Today’s StudentsJohn’s new book, Pronoun Trouble: The Story of Us in Seven Little WordsGlenn’s memoir, Late Admissions: Confessions of a Black ConservativeThe Great CoursesFyodor Dostoevsky’s novel, Crime and PunishmentDostoevsky’s novel, The Brothers KaramazovLeo Tolsty’s novel, War and PeaceTolstoy’s novel, Anna KareninaPlato’s dialogue, The Republic This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe