Teach the Children Well
New Thinking for a New World - a Tallberg Foundation Podcast
01/25/24
•34m
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One of the many challenges facing the United States today is an education system that seems to be rotting from the bottom: while graduate and professional schools are still world-class, elementary, middle and high schools are widely criticized for failing to prepare American kids for the future.
Consider:
- In recent international comparative testing, U.S. eighth graders produced their lowest scores ever in math. One-third of them scored in the lowest-performing category. Indeed, the United States had more students in the bottom group and fewer students in the top group than most other industrialized countries.
- Different tests, same result. Last year, about 40% of the country's high school seniors met none of the college readiness benchmarks for English, math, reading, or science. And 70% fell short of meeting the benchmarks for math.
- And although almost 90% of students graduate from high school, 45% of those same students say they feel unprepared for either college or the workforce—and it’s unlikely they are being overly self-critical.
What are the problems and can they be fixed? Is it culture, politics, unions, resources? Too little money, too few teachers, too much social media, all or none of the above?
Today’s episode of New Thinking for a New World looks for answers in the Bay area of San Francisco, California. Shawn Benjamin has been the principal of a charter school since 2007, where she and her team have produced student successes instead of student failures. What is their magic?
Listen and tell us what you think about how to provide children the education they deserve and that we need them to have.
Previous Episode
Knocking on Europe’s Door
January 18, 2024
•37m
European politicians talk endlessly about the rule of law, justice, human dignity and freedom of movement. But those words fade fast when the issue of migration pops up, replaced by endless efforts to stop migrants and refugees at the border or, failing that, strand them in border countries or imagine ways to push them back across the EU borders.
Of course, this same dynamic exists in the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia and other destination countries where concerns about migration are being weaponized by politicians who recognize political opportunity when they see it. In a year when Europeans will choose a new EU Parliament, the Americans a new president, and scores of other countries new leaders, migration seems to be on the ballot as much as democracy itself.
How should migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers be treated? How to balance political forces and legal commitments. Can the obvious competition to harden borders, be reversed? And from where will the leadership come for better policy?
Sergio Carrera, a migration expert at the Centre for European Policy Studies in Brussels, thinks that much of what passes for European migration policy is deeply flawed not only because it violates basic European values, but also because it is ineffective.
What do you think: should Europe welcome more migrants and refugees?
Next Episode
The Art of Dying Well
February 1, 2024
•19m
The Greek philosopher, Epicurus, wrote “The art of living well and dying well are one.” However, most of us spend our lives desperately trying to avoid even thinking about dying, never mind preparing for it.
An exception is Dr. Christian Ntizimira, a Rwandan surgeon, who founded the African Center for Research on End-of-Life Care. He has thought long and hard about the social, psychological, cultural, and spiritual factors, as well as the physiological ones, that shape the final days of someone who is dying. Of course, it's not just the patient about whom he is thinking, but also family, friends, and community.
Admittedly, death is not one of those topics that make for a comfortable conversation or a comfortable listening experience. But as Shakespeare wrote for Julius Caesar, “Death, a necessary end, will come when it will come.” So listen to this episode of New Thinking for a New World and tell us if it helps you think a bit differently about your own inevitable demise.
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