Good morning. In this edition:

• 🎓 Grade inflation
• 🇺🇸 Record-low mass killings
• 📺 2025's top YouTube trends

…and much more.

Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be a ~3.59-minute read (955 words).

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“Opportunities multiply as they are seized.”

–Sun Tzu (544 B.C. – 496 B.C.)

Americans’ views on the value of a college education have been on the decline for years, with many citing the rising costs to attend as a main driver.

But a pair of recent reports have drawn attention to another major academic issue present at schools across the country: grade inflation.

It starts at the high school level

The number of freshmen entering the University of California San Diego with math skills below a high-school level has increased nearly 30x over the past five years, per a new report from school officials.

• The report found ~13% of the incoming 2025 class at UCSD fit this category, up from 0.5% in 2020.
• Additionally, more than 70% of students in this group—or 1 in 12 entering freshmen—have math skills below middle-school levels, meaning they might struggle with questions like “7+2=6+__?” or rounding 374,518 to the nearest hundred.
• Similar issues with math skills for a small portion of incoming students were also identified at other UC campuses, including Cal Berkeley and UCLA.

Analysts say the report likely indicates a widespread systemic issue of grade inflation in high school courses, with part of the blame being assigned to the Covid pandemic and subsequent classroom disruptions.

The issue is also present at top colleges

The UCSD report came weeks after Harvard University published an internal report warning of “damaging” grade inflation across the school’s classes in recent decades.

• Harvard officials found more than 60% of all grades awarded to the school’s undergrads are A’s, compared to just ~25% of grades two decades ago.
• The median GPA among undergrads is now 3.83, up from 3.5 in the early 2000s and 3.25 in 1985.

Zoom out: Nearly two-thirds of registered US voters (63%) say a four-year college degree isn’t worth the cost, according to an NBC News poll published last week. That’s up from 47% who said it wasn’t worth it in 2017, and 40% in 2013.

📊 Flash poll: How would you best describe the issue of grade inflation at US high schools and colleges?

• A major problem
• A minor problem
• Not a problem
• Unsure/other

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Here are five stats from this past week that made our team go “whoa.” Hopefully you will, too.

🇺🇸 America has experienced 17 mass killings so far this year, marking the lowest amount since researchers started tracking such data in 2006.

💼 The average job opening last quarter received 242 applications, representing a 0.4% acceptance rate, per hiring-software provider Greenhouse. (For reference: Harvard accepts ~3.7% of applicants.)

🌀 The 2025 hurricane season officially ended on November 30 without a single landfall in the mainland US for the first time in a decade.

🎗️ Nearly 1 in 10 US adults have been diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime, marking a new high in Gallup's surveys dating back almost two decades

📱 The average American now holds onto their smartphone for 29 months, up from ~22 months in 2016.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 💼 US layoffs in 2025 rise to 1.17 million through November, up 54% from the same 11-month period a year ago and the highest level since 2020, per Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
• 💻 Microsoft is raising the prices of various Office subscriptions for commercial and gov’t clients starting July 1; it’s the first such price hike since 2022.
• 🚗 Consumer Reports reveals its top 10 automakers for 2026 in its annual Automotive Brand Report Card, led by Subaru, BMW, and Porsche. See the full list.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🎶 Bad Bunny is Spotify’s most-streamed global artist in 2025, dethroning Taylor Swift's two-year reign, while The Joe Rogan Experience is Spotify’s most-listened-to podcast for a fifth straight year.
• ☁️ Pantone's 2026 color of the year is "Cloud Dancer," which the company describes as a "billowy white imbued with a feeling of serenity."
• ⚽🏆 2026 World Cup draw takes place today (11 am CT) in star-studded ceremony at the Kennedy Center, where 48 World Cup teams will be sorted into 12 groups of four.

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SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 🤖🚕 Waymo begins testing self-driving vehicles (with safety monitor) in Philadelphia; the Alphabet-owned company also launches manned drives in Baltimore, Pittsburgh, and St. Louis to collect road data.
• 🐶 Having a dog can improve teens’ mental health and help them score lower for social problems, social withdrawal, and delinquent or aggressive behavior, new study finds.
• 🏥 Cervical cancer screening can now include “self-swab” HPV tests, per updated guidelines from the American Cancer Society

US, WORLD & POLITICS

• 🗳️ Supreme Court allows Texas to use a congressional map that could add up to five GOP House seats in the 2026 midterms, after it was previously struck down by a lower court.
• 🚨 FBI arrests Virginia man who investigators believe planted pipe bombs near the Republican and Democratic National Committee HQs in Washington, D.C., on the night before the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol.
• 🇦🇺📵 Meta begins locking out hundreds of thousands of Instagram, Facebook, and Threads accounts in Australia ahead of the deadline for the country’s teen social media ban.

☝️ Paddington The Musical opened on London’s West End this week, giving the beloved British bear his first big-stage moment. The play uses a mix of innovative high-tech puppetry and two synced actors—one onstage, one off—to bring Paddington to life in real time. See the bear in action here.

🤔 Did you know? The average person shares their birthday with some ~22 million other humans—except for Leap Year babies born on February 29, who share the spotlight with just ~5.5 million others.

📰 Worth a read: At the mysterious boundary between waking life and sleep, what happens in the brain?

🖱️ What we’re clicking:

• The defining cultural trends of 2025, according to YouTube
• Why science says smelling your own farts could be good for you
• 9 movies you forgot take place at Christmas time

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How well did you pay attention this week? Find out here.

1. A cyclist rides 18 miles every weekday and 25 miles each day on the weekend. How many miles does the cyclist ride in one full week?
2. A number is doubled and then increased by 9. The result is 37. What was the original number?
3. A triangle has side lengths of 5 in, 7 in, and 9 in. What's its perimeter?

❤️ An 88-year-old veteran working long shifts at a Detroit grocery store is finally retiring thanks to the kindness of strangers, and a little TikTok magic. After a video of the dedicated employee went viral, some 55,000+ people donated towards his retirement, raising $1.5 million in a matter of days.

1. 140 miles
2. 14 (37 – 9 = 28; 28 / 2 = 14)
3. 21 in

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