episodes about Education
06/01/2020
Episode 84: Post Pandemic K-12 Education: Why We Don’t Want a Return to “Normal” with Jeanne AllenWhat comes next when we emerge from the COVID-19 lockdown? What is “normal” is going to be like? Well in the case of America’s K-12 schools we should not want a return to normal, where “normal” means a nation where fewer than 30% of students - and fewer than 15% in poor communities - read, write, spell, do math or know history, science, or civics on grade level. “With the doors to m ...
07/18/2018
Episode 32: “The Case Against Education: Why the Education System Is a Waste of Time and Money” with Bryan Caplan
It’s long seemed obvious that if we want to truly fix education, actually make it work for the 21st century, we need to kill a stockyard full of our sacred cows. And we had just the man for the job on The Bill Walton Show this week. Bryan Caplan, a professor of economics at George Mason University and author of “The Case Against Education: Why the Education System is Waste of Time and Money,” described the findings in his book and provided some stark recommendations based on them. First, he said, we need to understand what we’re doing in school. There is the romantic version, he said – you go, learn skills employers are interested in, then get jobs with those employers performing those skills. More likely is what he calls the “signaling school of education.” You mostly go to school to get certification, “a bunch of seals of approval saying, ‘Grade A worker’ or ‘Grade B worker.’” But, regardless of the grade, you need a seal.
05/10/2018
Episode 28: The Schools We Need with Jeanne Allen and Sarah Walton
America’s K-12 education system and institutions were designed in a different era for a different society, and we are at grave risk today from this obsolete system, which fails to prepare all children to succeed as adults. In fact, the system we have now was never designed or intended to reach all children.
10/10/2017
Episode 11: “Charter Schools and Parent Choice” with Jeanne Allen and Johnny Taylor
The Bill Walton Show: Episode 11 – What would it mean to education if we gave each child a backpack full of cash and let their parents determine which school should receive that cash?
06/10/2017
Episode 01: Fixing Our Education System with Jeanne Allen
The Bill Walton Show: Episode 01 – I’ve suspected this for some time, but after talking to Jeanne Allen, I’m more convinced than ever that school districts are among the top impediments to improving American education.