Each three years, the Programme for International Student Assessment holds up a mirror to the world's education systems, and Australia's 2025 reflection is one of quiet achievement shadowed by quiet erosion. The country's young people rank among the world's strongest in science and digital learning, yet a growing share struggle to read critically in an age when artificial intelligence can produce persuasive text faster than a student can evaluate it. The results do not indict Australian schools so much as they reveal a civilisational challenge: the skills required to navigate modern life are o