Courageous Conversations About Our Schools

America’s culture wars are driving great teachers out of the classroom, exacerbating a shortage that has reached critical levels in most states. The story of Willie Carver, an English and French high school teacher from Kentucky, is especially tragic. He was selected as the state’s teacher of the year in 2022 and honored recently with 49 other outstanding teachers at the White House. He was belove...

SInce 2022 the number of new bills affecting LGBTQ students and how teachers are allowed to talk and teach about issues related to gender and sexual identity have skyrocketed. These bills and the larger question of the school’s role regarding to gender and sexual identity have generated considerable controversy among educators, parents, and the public at large. On one side are those who believe di...

High school students on Kentucky’s Student Voice Team discuss findings and recommendations in their report, "Race to Learn." But many of these students are frustrated because some of their recommendations cannot be implemented because of restrictions in new state laws. Let us know what you think with a text message.

Never before have Americans been so deeply divided about how history, current events, and controversial issues should be discussed in our public schools. At the center of these debates are questions about race and racism – what exactly students should learn about these concepts, how the concepts should be taught, and what the outcomes should be. The views and political perspectives of our guests v...

Critics charge that teachers are indoctrinating their students with left-wing ideology on a variety of issues - how history is taught, the books they are allowed to read, and how students learn about gender and sexual identity. In this episode, I ask my guests to define what it means to indoctrinate, say whether it's always wrong, and speculate on its prevalence. Like most polarizing issues,...