Jatika Hudson
August 24, 2026
Reports from Notre Dame, Pepperdine, Columbia University, and the University of Virginia have shown that Gen Z students are walking evidence of the failure in the education system that leaves them struggling to read and ill prepared to succeed on the college level.
In 2024, Aleysha Ortiz, a top-ranking Hartford Public School student in Connecticut, sued the Hartford Board of Education alleging that staff bullying and harassment led to her inability to learn how to read or write.
According to her lawyer, Anthony Spinella, Ortiz is seeking $3 million in damages. The lawsuit alleges negligence and negligent infliction of emotional distress. In August 2025, a Connecticut Supreme Court Justice called for the dismissal of the case.
In Campus Reform, Jessica Hooten Wilson, a Pepperdine University professor, was quoted as saying, “If students cannot read well, it is our fault. We do not do students any favors by lowering our standards. Instead, we must be committed to walking beside students as they overcome greater hurdles to achieve what many adults were once educated to do – read great books.”