Have You Heard
Education & Explainer
About
Occasionally funny and periodically informative, Have You Heard features journalist Jennifer Berkshire and scholar Jack Schneider as they explore the age-old quest to finally fix the nation's public schools, one policy issue at a time.
Episodes
- #218 When the Circus Came to Town
The podcast episode "#218 When the Circus Came to Town" discusses the emergence of right-wing activism in Sarasota, Florida, and the local community's response to protect their schools and democracy.
- #217 Silicon Valley’s Dystopian Vision for Schools
The podcast features an interview with author Tim Scott about his book "Schooling for Silicon Valley." They discuss Silicon Valley's influence on public schools and the implications of personalized, adaptive, and data-driven learning model…
- #216 The Blue State Blues
Four current and former teachers discuss the issue of books being removed from schools in blue states, alongside new literacy laws that restrict how reading is taught. They explore how these factors negatively impact public education.
- #215 The Fight Over Sex Education
This episode discusses the historical and ongoing debates about sex education, questioning what children should learn, who should teach them, and the potential consequences. It features Margaret Myers, author of "The Fight for Sex Ed," and…
- #214 These Conservatives Are Furious About School Vouchers
Episode #214 of Have You Heard discusses the conservative opposition to school vouchers in Texas. Some conservatives view voucher expansion as a government takeover of private and home schools, creating a potent cause on the right that cou…
- #213 The Kids are Alright
Decades before high school students were walking out of school to protest ICE, they embraced political activism against the Vietnam War and in favor of school desegration and expanding civil rights. In a new book, scholar Aaron G. Fountain…
- #212 We’re at each other’s throats. Schools can help.
Our ability to disagree has turned toxic, and frayed relationships are leaving Americans more isolated and lonely than ever. Can schools help? Educational psychologist Hunter Gehlbach is convinced that teachers hold the key by helping stud…
- #211 Silicon Valley’s Vision for Schools is Trapped in a Cold War Fantasy
In the schools of the (near) future, teachers will be replaced by robots and learning will be personalized, allowing each student to move at their own pace. AI refuser and self-described ‘ed tech Cassandra’ Audrey Watters says that the vis…
- #210 The Curious Case of Kindergarten
Every year more than 3 million kids march off to kindergarten, a mysterious world about which adults know very little. Research psychologist Susan Engel, who has spent a lifetime studying how children think, play and learn, set out to chan…
- #209 Make Education Great Again
The MAGA vision for public education isn’t just to dismantle it. Key parts of the coalition also want to reshape schools along religious and political lines. In this episode we hear from two experts about MAGA’s education project. Kevin Ku…
- #208 ‘A Lifetime of Hardship’
Forty plus years ago, the Supreme Court ruled that denying immigrant students access to public education would impose a lifetime of hardship on them. Today, that landmark decision remains on the books despite the Trump Administration’s har…
- HY#207 Under the Influence
Have You Heard heads to Florida, where education policy is increasingly being determined by wealthy donors. We meet a billionaire who has been putting big bucks behind a very particular vision for the state’s education future. And we learn…
- #206 Race Science is Back. It Never Went Away.
Race science, with its noxious claims that ‘biology is destiny,’ comes roaring back during periods of social change. That’s the conclusion of a new book by historian Quinn Slobodian, tracing today’s obsessive focus on IQ back to the social…
- #205 Schools as Sorting Machines
Forget all that talk about education as the great equalizer. Public schools and inequality are joined at the hip. But must it be that way? We talk to the authors of a recent book called Schooled and Sorted, an eye-opening investigation int…
- #204 Collision Course
Ohio’s billion dollar plus religious school voucher program is blatantly unconstitutional. So ruled a state judge this summer, putting political leaders and their increasing hostility towards public education on a collision course with Ohi…
- #203 Power in Numbers
Public schools are facing mounting money woes, and feeling the pinch of hostile policies coming from the state and federal government. But despite this bleak forecast, there are also pockets of possibility. School finance ‘whisperer’ David…
- #202 College Inside, College Outside
We meet eight former prison inmates who are now attending college on campus at Boston College. These students in the BC Prison Education Program reflect on the transition from incarceration to college, what they make of their traditional u…
- #201 Use It Or Lose It
Local democracy has never been more essential, so why does it so often disappoint us? Jack convenes an all-star cast to discuss the promise vs the reality of school boards as democratic institutions. Special guests Rachel White, Derek Gott…
- #200 Don’t Buy the AI Hype
It’s the 200th episode of Have You Heard and we’ve assembled an all-star lineup to help us make sense of what the AI ‘revolution’ in education is really about. Audrey Watters, Ben Riley and John Warner view the over-heated claims being mad…
- #199 Dangerous Learning, Dangerous Times
Legal scholar Derek Black is a vocal critic of the Trump administration’s anti-DEI crusade, arguing that the effort to impose what he calls ‘loyalty oaths’ on schools is blatantly unconstitutional. Black argues that the attacks on public e…
- #198 Ethnic Studies ‘Works.’ Does That Even Matter Anymore?
We’re headed to California, where high school students will soon be required to complete an ethnic studies course in order to graduate. The policy has set off the predictable culture war response, with critics charging that ethnic studies…
- #197 Taking America Back (to a Less Educated Past)
The vision of the future on offer from Donald Trump looks a lot like the past, when men were men, women stayed home, and just about everyone was less educated. To get a glimpse of what that future might look like we head to Indiana, one of…
- #196 The Best Schools You’ve Never Heard Of
The best schools in the country may be run by - wait for it - the Defense Department. But as education researcher Kenneth Wong tells us, the schools’ success is a fairly recent development, reflecting a years-long overhaul centered on impr…
- #195 Public Education is on the Precipice
We’re headed to Vermont where public schools are confronting a ‘perfect storm’ of challenges. Costs are rising in this largely rural state even as the student population is declining, fueling a taxpayer revolt. Meanwhile, thanks to a recen…
- #194 Letter to a Trump Voter
Like just about everyone these days, our own Jack Schneider is troubled–make that frightened–by our political landscape. But however deep our divides may be, there’s one issue that can, if not bring us together, allow for at least a conver…
- #193 All Politics is Local
Organizing in defense of public education at the local level has never been more vital. And yet in an era when even the most local elections are now nationalized, electing pro-public education candidates can be a heavy lift. In this episod…
- #192 There’s No Such Thing as a Kinesthetic Learner
It’s common knowledge that every student has a learning style: visual, auditory or kinesthetic. But what if those classifications are not just inaccurate but dangerous? That’s the argument made by education historian Tom Fallace in his pro…
- #191 These Conservative Texans Oppose School Vouchers
Vouchers are not conservative. That’s what we heard again and again when we talked to Texans who consider themselves Republicans but oppose their party’s top education priority. We hear from rural Texans who are taking the attacks on their…
- #190 Degrees of Separation
Our biggest political divide these days isn’t race or gender but education - and that division is only getting worse. We talk to the co-author of a new book that offers the single best explanation we’ve come across regarding the role that…
- #189 What’s Driving the Republican Party’s Radical Shift on Education?
For decades the Republican mantra on public schools has been to make them ‘business like,’ driven by the belief that strong schools = a strong economy. No more. Today’s top priorities for the GOP are moving students into private religious…
- #188 What Will a Second Trump Term Mean for Public Education?
Donald Trump’s return to office is likely to have profound implications for the nation’s public schools. In this episode we start to grapple with five major policy areas that are likely to be impacted: immigration, school choice, teacher u…
- #187 The Politics of Disruption
Schools are in for more chaos and conflict, whatever specific policies are enacted by a second Trump Administration. We talk to two scholars about just how much the politics of disruption are costing, in terms of the material costs to scho…
- #186 What is High School For?
Massachusetts voters will soon weigh in on whether to abandon the state’s de facto high school exit exam. That prospect has pitted elected officials and business leaders against teachers and their union, as well as a majority of voters, wh…
- #185 Project 1825
As long as we’ve had public schools, we’ve had ‘edu-grifters,’ slick salesmen armed with promises to provide education on the cheap. In this episode, we meet one of the OG edu-grifters, one Joseph Lancaster, who arrived on these shores in…
- #184 Closing Time
We head to Fort Collins, CO where a plan to shutter multiple schools and “rightsize” the school district ran into a wall of community opposition. A feel-good tale for our feel-bad times, Fort Collins’ example signals, not just resistance t…
- #183 Change of Heart
When Courtney Gore ran for school board in a deep red Texas county, she pledged to root out indoctrination. But once she got into office, Gore could find no evidence of indoctrination happening in the local schools. She has since disavowed…
- #182 Cut, Fire, Close
From the end of federal COVID relief money to declining enrollment, school districts are in a world of hurt right now. But while the causes for the rising tide of red ink are complex, the recommendations from school finance experts are alw…
- #181 It Takes a Village (No, Really)
This is a special episode of Have You Heard, and not just because co-host Jack Schneider is MIA. We’re paying tribute to Jennifer’s dad, Tom Berkshire, a tireless advocate for kids and for fixing the nation’s broken foster care system. We’…
- #180 The Education Wars
To celebrate the release of The Education Wars, we’ve gathered a cast of thousands to help bring the book to life. Our special guests help us understand what’s driving the intense push to privatize schools, what we’ll lose when public scho…
- #179 School Integration Made Kids Less Conservative
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…
- #178 Turning Down the Temperature
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…
- #177 The Opposite of Privatization is Publicization
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…
- #176 The Idaho Exception
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 ac…
- #175 Special Education is Under Threat
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 episo…
- #174 Religious Charter Schools are Coming. Be Worried.
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…
- #173 Did You Hear the One About the Skills Gap?
For decades we’ve been told that there is an urgent looming skills gap, and that unless our education system churns out more STEM grads, economic disaster looms. But what if it’s not true? In a provocative new book, Neil Kraus argues that…
- #172 Off of the Sidelines
In her new book School Moms, education journalist Laura Pappano traces the rise of what she calls the “war moms,” making the case that their emergence has spurred a broad resistance movement in defense of public schools. And reluctant scho…
- #171 The Damage Done
Public schools are in the throes of multiple slow-moving crises: a teacher exodus, spiking student absenteeism and plunging literacy rates. Yet education reforms implemented as part of the Obama-era ‘theory of change’ have received little…
- #170 Can We Please Stop Talking About Harvard?
While the media focuses obsessively on Harvard, the state universities that the majority of American students actually attend are under attack. We’re joined by faculty at three universities, all reeling from a similar combination of auster…
- #169 Can the Democrats Win on Education?
The recent elections issued a stinging rebuke to conservative culture warring candidates. But the Democratic Party has been largely MIA when it comes to articulating its own vision for public education. So what should that vision look like…