Friday, June 12, 2026
6/12/202626 min
This is The Briefing, a daily analysis of news and events from a Christian worldview.
Part I (00:14 – 10:43)
The Decline of Reading and Knowledge: Student Test Scores Reveal that Decrease in Academic Performance is Correlated with Far More Than Just the Pandemic
- Teens’ reading and math scores have stagnated, US test results show by Associated Press (Annie Ma and Sharon Lurye)
Part II (10:43 – 16:09)
De-Incentivizing Work For Teenagers: Our Economic Conditions Incentivize Building College Application Resumes Instead of the Work Ethic for Teenagers
- Why Teenagers Stopped Working in the Summer by The Wall Street Journal (Roland Fryer)
Part III (16:09 – 18:48)
A Move Towards Clarity and Biblical Fidelity at the SBC Annual Meeting: Messengers Voted Overwhelming in Support the Truth and Unity Amendment
Part IV (18:48 – 22:35)
Why Has the Issue of Women Preaching in the Pulpit Become Such a Divisive Issue? — Dr. Mohler Responds to Letters From Listeners of The Briefing
Part V (22:35 – 26:10)
How Did Matthew Know What Jesus Prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane? — Dr. Mohler Responds to a Letter from a 13-Year Old Listener of the Briefing
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Transcript preview
First 90 secondsAlbert Mohler· Host0:00
[upbeat music] It's Friday, June 12th, 2026. I'm Albert Mohler, and this is The Briefing, a daily analysis of news and events from a Christian worldview. Some recent headlines having to do with teenagers, with American adolescents, and I think they'll be of great interest to Christians, and in particular Christian parents, especially parents of teenagers, and, uh, to those in, in church ministry who work with teenagers and adolescents. It is a very interesting set of, of headlines. One of them has to do with scores having to do particularly with reading and math. Okay, so the headline is, "Results Show Teen Scores in Reading, Math Stagnate." That means reading and math. The Associated Press has run the story, and reporters Annie Ma and Sharon Lurye are telling us about these most recent statistics, and the fact is that they're done about every three to four years. So they're not done annually, so you have to wait some period of time in order to, to try to catch up. And we are talking about scores related to nine-year-olds and thirteen-year-olds. So when you think about that, there's a four-year span right there. So the next time these thirteen-year-olds are likely to be scored is when they're seventeen-year-olds, and by then they're high school seniors. So, the headlines are at least attracting a lot of attention because here, here's the one in the Associated Press. Quote, "Results show teen scores in reading and math stagnate." The subhead is this, "But younger students rebounding on tests following pandemic." Okay, so here's one