Every year more than 3 million kids march off to kindergarten, a mysterious world about which adults know very little. Research psychologist Susan Engel, who has spent a lifetime studying how children think, play and learn, set out to change that, shining a light on an experience that is nearly universal and yet little understood. Twenty-nine classrooms, thirteen states and countless tiny chairs later, Engel offers a glimpse into the reality that is American kindergarten. Surprising, concerning, funny and hopeful, Engel's depiction will forever change the way you think about the first year of school.

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The MAGA vision for public education isn’t just to dismantle it. Key parts of the coalition also want to reshape schools along religious and political lines. In this episode we hear from two experts about MAGA’s education project. Kevin Kumashiro tells us about the growing influence of Christian Nationalism, while Laura Fields, author of the new book Furious Minds, introduces us to the intellectuals of the ‘new right,’ for whom taking back America also entails taking back K-12 schools.

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Forty plus years ago, the Supreme Court ruled that denying immigrant students access to public education would impose a lifetime of hardship on them. Today, that landmark decision remains on the books despite the Trump Administration’s harsh crackdown on immigrants. We start the episode in Chicago, where schools and students have been caught up in Operation Midway Blitz. Then we revisit the Plyler decision, why it matters, and why state level efforts to roll back its protections are so dangerous.

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Have You Heard heads to Florida, where education policy is increasingly being determined by wealthy donors. We meet a billionaire who has been putting big bucks behind a very particular vision for the state’s education future. And we learn, yet again, that even the best laid plans have a way of going awry. Corporate influence exposer Jason Garcia and public education advocate Sue Woltanski take us on a tour of the Florida swamp, while Jack provides some answers to a question that many Floridians are asking these days: whatever happened to local control?

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Race science, with its noxious claims that ‘biology is destiny,’ comes roaring back during periods of social change. That’s the conclusion of a new book by historian Quinn Slobodian, tracing today’s obsessive focus on IQ back to the social tumult of the 1970’s and the revolt against ‘political correctness’ in the 1990’s. Regardless of the time period, the argument for race science is remarkably consistent: since destiny is baked into the genetic pie, what’s the point of costly public policy interventions, public education chief among them?

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Forget all that talk about education as the great equalizer. Public schools and inequality are joined at the hip. But must it be that way? We talk to the authors of a recent book called Schooled and Sorted, an eye-opening investigation into the ways sorting within schools translates into inequality in the larger world, and how to change that. And we head to Portland, Oregon for a close-up look at the most destructive sort of sorting in action, and meet some parents who are trying to do something about it.

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Ohio’s billion dollar plus religious school voucher program is blatantly unconstitutional. So ruled a state judge this summer, putting political leaders and their increasing hostility towards public education on a collision course with Ohio’s constitution and the schools that are a backbone of this state. We talk to policy experts and school district leaders about the ruling, learn about the Northwest Ordinance (thanks Jack!), and hear from Ohioans who are equal parts terrified and hopeful about the future of both public education and democracy in this state.

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Public schools are facing mounting money woes, and feeling the pinch of hostile policies coming from the state and federal government. But despite this bleak forecast, there are also pockets of possibility. School finance ‘whisperer’ David Backer returns to Have You Heard to help us understand the current landscape, and to make the case for healthy school finance vs the ‘toxic’ brand that currently rules. David’s brand of policy-focused organizing, a vision that’s been delivering some surprising wins, offers some desperately needed inspiration.

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We meet eight former prison inmates who are now attending college on campus at Boston College. These students in the BC Prison Education Program reflect on the transition from incarceration to college, what they make of their traditional undergrad peers, and the power of the liberal arts. As debates rage over the purpose of higher education and who it’s for, this episode reminds us of what learning for learning’s sake can still sound like.

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Local democracy has never been more essential, so why does it so often disappoint us? Jack convenes an all-star cast to discuss the promise vs the reality of school boards as democratic institutions. Special guests Rachel White, Derek Gottlieb, Kathleen Knight Abowitz and Johann Neem make the case that, love them or hate them, school boards remain one of the last places where Americans can come together as neighbors as part of a community. Bonus: we meet one of the longest-serving school board members in the land.

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