Have You Heard Have You Heard

Students who lived through court-ordered desegregation in the South grew up to become less conservative, more tolerant adults. That’s the finding of provocative research from education scholar Mark Chin, who compared students who attended integrated schools with their peers in the same county who didn’t. Mark says his research is a reminder to academics to think bigger than test scores when looking at the impact of education policy. But it also provides us with essential context for understanding today’s wave of school privatization in the South: an effort to produce kids who will be more conservative and less tolerant as adults.

Our new book, The Education Wars: A Citizen’s Guide and Defense Manual, will be out on July 2. You can pre-order it here: https://www.educationwarsbook.com/order

The financial support of listeners like you keeps this podcast going. Subscribe on Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/HaveYouHeardPodcast

Raise your hand if you think that all of the partisan rancor over public education is bad for kids? That’s the premise of Braver Angels, a citizen’s group that aims to make America less crazy by getting people talking more and hating each other less. Co-founder Bill Doherty joins us to talk about why our debates over education are so pitched and polarized and what we can do about it. And Jack reminds us that even highly technocratic policy issues can become supercharged in an age of distrust and division.

Our new book, The Education Wars: A Citizen’s Guide and Defense Manual, will be out on July 2. You can pre-order it here: https://www.educationwarsbook.com/order

The financial support of listeners like you keeps this podcast going. Subscribe on Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/HaveYouHeardPodcast

Market-based education reform may be on the wane, but what’s the alternative? Our guest, Jonathan Gyurko, author of the provocative new book Publicization, argues that public education advocates need to rally around a goal of making public schools as public as possible. That means changing the way we think about funding, governance, accountability–indeed, the very purpose of school. If we want to move beyond decades of privatization, says Gyurko, we need a hopeful vision of what schools could be.

Our new book, The Education Wars: A Citizen’s Guide and Defense Manual, is now availalbe for pre-order: https://www.educationwarsbook.com/order

The financial support of listeners like you keeps this podcast going. Subscribe on Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/HaveYouHeardPodcast

Private school vouchers flamed out in Idaho this legislative session. So how did Idahoans succeed in saying ‘no thanks’ to a controversial and expensive policy program that is now on the books in one state after another? We’re joined by activists and advocates who say that convincing lawmakers that vouchers aren’t conservative was key. And unlike most states, Idaho has an influential business group that is staunchly anti-voucher. Add in lots of organizing and a refusal to let lawmakers enact a sweeping new program behind closed doors and you get the ‘Idaho exception.’

The financial support of listeners like you keeps this podcast going. Subscribe on Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/HaveYouHeardPodcast

Or donate on PayPal:

https://www.paypal.me/haveyouheardpodcast

From huge voucher programs that shift funding to private schools that don’t have to accept kids with disabilities to a backlash against funding, special education and the students who rely on it are newly vulnerable. In this powerful episode we hear from parents and advocates in six states about their concerns. And we’re reminded that the nation’s commitment to educating kids with special needs has always been tenuous.

The financial support of listeners like you keeps this podcast going. Subscribe on Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/HaveYouHeardPodcast

Or donate on PayPal:

https://www.paypal.me/haveyouheardpodcast

Last year Oklahoma approved the nation’s first tax-payer funded religious charter school. It won’t be the last, warns Rachel Laser of Americans United for Church and State. We’re joined by Laser and two plaintiffs in a legal effort to keep the school from opening. As our guests explain, the school is part of a larger project to roll back the clock on civil rights, disability rights and labor protections. Now for the good news: tearing down the separation between church and state turns out to be really unpopular.

The financial support of listeners like you keeps this podcast going. Subscribe on Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/HaveYouHeardPodcast

Or donate on PayPal:

https://www.paypal.me/haveyouheardpodcast