Have You Heard
Have You Heard
Occasionally funny and periodically informative, Have You Heard features journalist Jennifer Berkshire and scholar Jack Schneider as they explore the age-old quest to finally fix the nation's public schools, one policy issue at a time.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Feb 11, 2021 • 40min
#106 School Rankings, Ratings, and Wrongdoing
The brutal pessimism of school rankings and ratings, starring Akil Bello, Senior Director of Advocacy and Advancement at FairTest.
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

Jan 28, 2021 • 43min
#105 Reopening a Can of Worms
Have You Heard wades into the pitched debate about reopening schools. We hear from an epidemiologist, then tour the land to talk to parents and teachers who are trying to navigate an impossibly complex situation.
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

Jan 12, 2021 • 39min
#104 A New Secretary for the Department of Education
What does the selection of Miguel Cardona for Secretary of Education portend for K-12 education? Kevin Welner, head of the National Education Policy Center, joins Jack and Jennifer to discuss how Cardona is likely to differ from Betsy DeVos - and Arne Duncan.
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

Dec 17, 2020 • 41min
#103 Reaganland: Public Education and America’s Right Turn
Rick Perstein, author of Reaganland, joins us to discuss why schools were at the very center of the 1970's culture war that ushered Ronald Reagan into office and powered a "right turn" in American politics.
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

Dec 3, 2020 • 29min
#102: Politics in the Zoom Room
The pandemic pivot to online learning has amped up accusations that teachers are indoctrinating students, as parents “see” what their kids are being taught. We talk to teacher Christina Torres about why politics belongs in the classroom now more than ever. And historian Jon Zimmerman walks us through the long tradition of parents pushing back against classroom content - for good and ill.
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
Jennifer and Jack’s forthcoming book, A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door, is now out and available wherever you buy books.

Nov 12, 2020 • 42min
#101 Merchants of Doubt
Long before the Hoover Institution was casting doubt on masks, its ‘experts’ were undermining the case for investing in public education. Special guest Bruce Baker joins Have You Heard to shed light on what’s behind the claim that school funding doesn’t matter.
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
Jennifer and Jack’s forthcoming book, A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door, will be out on November 17 and is now available for pre-order.

Oct 29, 2020 • 36min
#100 A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door
Our book, A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door, is finally (almost) out. To celebrate its publication, and the 100th episode of Have You Heard, we asked an expert—a former lobbyist for a conservative free-market think tank—to read the book and tell us what we got right & wrong. His main takeaway: our predictions about the future aren't bleak enough.
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

Oct 15, 2020 • 31min
#99 There’s No Democracy without Public Education
Have You Heard talks with legal scholar Derek Black about his new book Schoolhouse Burning: Public Education and the Assault on American Democracy. Despite the title (not to mention the charred pencil imagery) Black’s story of the centrality of public education to the country’s founding and its post-civil war recovery is inspiring and hopeful. Public education, argues Black, is as central to American democracy as the right to vote.
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
Jennifer and Jack’s forthcoming book, A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door, will be out on November 17 and is now available for pre-order wherever you buy books.

Oct 1, 2020 • 35min
#98: The Rich and the Rest
There is a vast gulf between the public education priorities of most voters and the favored policies of the very wealthy. Nowhere is that gap more visible than in Arizona, where support for public education has emerged as a central issue in 2020.
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
Jennifer and Jack’s forthcoming book, A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door, will be out on November 17 and is now available for pre-order: https://www.wolfattheschoolhousedoor.com

Sep 17, 2020 • 37min
#97 How Centrist Democrats Paved the Way for Betsy DeVos
A consensus between Republicans and centrist Democrats around charter schools has been at the very center of education policy for the past three decades. Guest David Menefee-Libey joins us to talk about the formation of the charter school “treaty,” why it unraveled and what happens next.
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
Jennifer and Jack’s forthcoming book A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door: The Dismantling of Public Education and the Future of School, is now available for preorder. https://bookshop.org/books/a-wolf-at-the-schoolhouse-door-the-dismantling-of-public-education-and-the-future-of-school/9781620974940


