Political Battles Over Education

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Sam Weaver discuss political controversies that have erupted in the last two years around the discussion of controversial issues, like race or gender, in public schools. They analyze the causes of these political battles and what it would take to resolve them.

Among the topics covered:

The recent history of attempts to control the content of education by both the left and the right;
Why right-wing attempts to influence education make headlines and leftist efforts do not;
How the focus on controversial topics rather than educational fundamentals reveals a lack of concern for children’s interests;
The tribal motivation behind attempts to indoctrinate children with certain views;
Why the government monopoly on education leads to pressure group warfare;
Why separation of education and state is needed for the same reasons as separation of church and state;
Why education would be far more innovative if the government were not involved in it;
How to reform education by giving more control to parents and less to government officials;
Whether public school districts have objected to ARI’s Free Books for Teachers program.

The podcast was recorded on September 21, 2022. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.