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#144 The Attack on Trans Kids and the Rollback of Rights Oct 11, 2022

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GOP-dominated states have seen a blitz of legislation targeting trans students. What’s behind these attacks? While this anti-trans hysteria represents just the latest in a long-line of conservative “panics,” today’s furor also signifies an ominous development in the public school culture wars: an effort by the right to roll back the expansion of civil rights. Special guests: parent activist Robert Chevaleau and pediatric psychologist Natasha Poulopoulos. 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

#143 Moving the Goalposts Sep 22, 2022

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What if data doesn’t matter? That’s the question that has been weighing on education researcher Josh Cowen. After spending two decades studying school vouchers, Cowen has concluded that the data is too stark to justify spending public dollars on private tuition. And yet school choice advocates are proposing - and increasingly winning - massive expansions of these programs. That seeming contradiction has spurred Cowen to speak out, and he hopes that other academics will join him–-before it’s too late. 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

#142: The Great Education Divide Sep 08, 2022

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Will Bunch joins us to talk about his impossibly timely new book: After the Ivory Tower Falls: How College Broke the American Dream and Blew Up Our Politics—and How to Fix It. Discussed in this episode: how college almost became a public good (and could again); how the right fanned the flames of culture war to push higher education privatization; and why we should be so concerned that the GOP is now using the same playbook to target K-12. Also, is Biden’s student debt relief plan a blip or does it mark a move away from the vision of education as human capital development? 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

#141 How School Privatization Has Undermined Democracy in New Orleans Aug 18, 2022

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Have You Heard heads to New Orleans, home to the first all-charter-school system in the country. In a provocative new book, Tulane University political scientist Celeste Lay argues that New Orleans' charter school experiment has undermined democracy, disenfranchising the very parents it was meant to empower. With school privatization on the march across the country, Lay’s account offers an urgent and timely warning. 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

#140 The Movement to Dismantle the School-to-Prison Pipeline Jul 28, 2022

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The movement of students and parents to end harsh discipline and dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline in their local schools made major gains. Then came the pandemic. Now, with calls for returning police to schools and “hardening” them in response to shooting threats, the movement’s success may be in jeopardy. Special guests: Mark Warren, author of Willful Defiance, and Jonathan Stith, the national director of the Alliance for Educational Justice.

#139 The Original 'Moms for Liberty' Jul 07, 2022

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Long before Moms for Liberty or Parents Defending Education, conservative mothers in the 1950's led a crusade to free the schools from communism. These activists waged fierce battles to resist the red menace, which they saw everywhere, including in the emerging field of mental health and in "progressive education"--any effort made to influence the way that children thought. Special guest: Michelle Nickerson, authors of Mothers of Conservatism: Women and the Postwar Right. 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

#138 A Reckoning for Rural Schools Jun 16, 2022

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The attachment of rural communities to their local schools is intense. But that commitment may be fraying in a time of culture war, education populism and teacher shortages. Have You Heard visits western Kansas where rural school advocates are passionate about their local schools even as they fear for their future. Special guests: Matthew Clay, Krysten Clay, Stephanie Wick and Scott Gregory. 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

#137 The Rise of the Economists Jun 02, 2022

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Jack and Jennifer are joined by sociologist Beth Popp Berman, author of the new book Thinking Like an Economist. Berman chronicles how economists and their style of reasoning (think ‘competition,’ ‘choice’ and efficiency’) took over one domain after another beginning in the 1960’s, constraining Democrats’ policy visions in the process. 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

#136 State of Revolt May 19, 2022

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Have You Heard heads to Croydon, New Hampshire to listen in on an epic battle playing out over the future of public education in the state. In March, members of the Free State Project, a libertarian movement that wields increasing influence in the state, voted to slash the local school budget by half. Under the plan, Croydon’s one-room schoolhouse would be converted into a for-profit microschool with students learning online under the supervision of an unlicensed guide, and parents would foot the bill for tuition at local schools that exceeded the new budget constraints. But a funny thing happened on the way to phasing out public education in this small NH town. The residents of Croydon revolted, restoring faith in local democracy in the process. 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

#135 Everything Old is New Again May 05, 2022

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Jennifer and Jack are joined by journalist Kathryn Joyce to discuss the right’s newfound fondness for an old cause: classical education. Today’s version comes in a new form–publicly funded classical charter schools–and has a decidedly conservative cast. Joyce, an investigative reporter for Salon, argues that the growing push for schools that teach conservative values must be understood as part of the right’s new-found fondness for using state power to enforce religious morality. Recommended reading Kathryn Joyce, “Salon investigates: The war on public schools is being fought from Hillsdale College,” https://www.salon.com/2022/03/16/salon-investigates-the-on-public-schools-is-being-fought-from-hillsdale-college/ 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

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