In this episode, I sit down with veteran educator James Furey to unpack a question many parents and educators grapple with: What makes a school “good”? We explore how standardized test scores, college admissions, and school rankings often fail to capture the true quality of education. James shares insights from his years in the classroom, discussing the impact of school culture, teacher autonomy, and student engagement on learning outcomes.

Whether you're a parent evaluating school options or an educator reflecting on your practice, this conversation offers a thought-provoking look at the deeper elements that contribute to a meaningful education.

🎓 Want More Than School Can Offer? Let’s Work Together.If you're ready to give your child a real education—not just schooling—visit CogitoLearningCenter.com to explore how I can help. Whether you need expert tutoring, personalized curriculum guidance, or full enrichment courses, I work directly with families to design a learning path that actually works.

🟢 Start here: CogitoLearningCenter.com

💡 Support This WorkIf you value the conversations and content I share, you can help in a few simple ways:

☕ Buy Me a Coffee: buymeacoffee.com/trwl

💸 Direct Support via PayPal: paypal.me/deborahfillman

📰 Subscribe on Substack: thereasonwelearn.substack.com

🛍️ Shop & Learn with My Affiliates

📚 Heroes of Liberty Books: Get 10% off with my link: heroesofliberty.com/?ref=Zqpq

🧠 The Socratic Experience: Give your child deep, discussion-based learning. Get 10% off here:socraticexperience.com/parent-guide/?utm_source=thereasonwelearn

📲 Follow for More

X (Twitter): @owl_elc

Instagram: @thereasonwelearn

Get full access to The Reason We Learn at thereasonwelearn.substack.com/subscribe

What are your children learning in school about man and what he should do in life? What kind of "self" are they being encouraged to develop? Do you even know?

James Lindsay joins me to discuss the Marxian religious questions our children are being taught to ask in school, how the answers are purging enlightenment values from American culture, one lost "self" at a time.

An American-born author, mathematician, and professional troublemaker, Dr. James Lindsay has written six books spanning a range of subjects including religion, the philosophy of science and postmodern theory. He is a leading expert on Critical Race Theory, which leads him to reject it completely. He is the founder of New Discourses and currently promoting his new book "Cynical Theories: How Activist Scholarship Made Everything about Race, Gender, and Identity―and Why This Harms Everybody," which is currently being translated into more than fifteen languages.

Join us for a discussion about what it means for all of us when our children are taught an anti-enlightenment theory of mind?

Get full access to The Reason We Learn at thereasonwelearn.substack.com/subscribe

How often have you heard someone say “We have a mental health problem!” in the aftermath of a school shooting? It’s usually the thing you hear immediately after “We need commonsense gun control,” or "gun-free zones make easy targets."

I’m going to guess it’s roughly every time, and it’s even possible you’ve said it yourself. Who could blame you? No one would deny the fact that anyone shooting up a school is mentally disturbed, but is that the whole story? Why schools? Why students and teachers? Why aren’t we asking these questions?

My guests for this show, Pamela Garfield Jaeger and Cyndi O'Brien have some thoughts on that subject, as well as some fascinating stories to share about how “mental health” is actually addressed at school, some of which may surprise you. They'll explain how there might be more to the choice of location than the usual narratives would have us believe.

Also, if you are currently under the impression we need more mental healthcare at school, or that every child should be evaluated for mental illness by default by school counselors, you’ll want to hear what these ladies have to say.My Guests:

Pamela Garfield-Jaeger has worked as an LCSW for over 20 years in a variety of settings and programs. Most recently she worked with teens in school and outpatient settings. She realized that the vast majority of parents are unprepared to engage the Mental Health system from a position on knowledge and understanding. She is here to help educate parents on what to expect and how to interact with a very complicated and insular system.

Follow Pam on X @truththerapist, and check out her website, work, public speaking and service offerings here: https://linktr.ee/thetruthfultherapist

Cyndi O'Brien is a former K12 education insider. She was an English teacher for 17 years and a school counselor for 3 years. She finally quit because of the corruption. She has been a whistleblower and produces her own videos and podcasts exposing what goes on behind the scenes in K12 education.

Cyndi is currently employed as a child trauma therapist while she works toward professional counselor licensure (which should occur in just a couple of months). She also works as a college instructor of both English and Counseling. Follow Cyndi on X @ObrienCynd72601 and on YouTube @k12formerinsider

Get full access to The Reason We Learn at thereasonwelearn.substack.com/subscribe

Imagine growing up and not knowing your parents were Holocaust survivors…That was childhood for my guest today, Anna Salton Eisen. Anna is the author of The 23rd Psalm: A Holocaust Memoir, The Twentieth Anniversary Edition (A National Jewish Book Awards Finalist in 2022) and Pillar of Salt: A Daughter’s Life in the Shadow of the Holocaust. She is the daughter of two Holocaust survivors and executive producer of the upcoming documentary film In My Father’s Words based on both of her books. Her writing has been published in The Jerusalem Post and The Forward, among other publications. As the founder of Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas, site of the antisemitic synagogue hostage crisis in January 2022, Anna has been featured in numerous major news outlets, including CNN, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Fox News. A social worker, Salton Eisen formerly practiced as a therapist, specializing in mental health and trauma.

Today, Anna works to bring Holocaust education to everyone who wants and needs it. In this show, we will discuss why and how she’s doing it.
Find Anna:
Facebook: Anna Salton Eisen, Author
X: @AnnaSaltonEisen
Instagram: @annasaltoneisen
Website, where you can buy the books:
https://annasaltoneisen.com/

TIMESTAMPS
01:38 Intro
03:55 Anna's story
09:09 Why we need Holocaust education
17:14 What has changed in education to make so many students hostile to Holocaust education?
26:53 What works WELL for Holocaust education?
44:02 Connecting Jewish history to American history
49:10 Looking ahead, wrapping up

SUPORT MY WORK

// Donate:
Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/trwl
PayPal: paypal.me/deborahfillman

// Join:
If you want to join weekly calls with me and my audience, and get access to my curated lists of education enrichment and homeschooling resources, join one or both of my private communities:
TRWL @Wokescreen: https://wokescreen.com/thereasonwelearn/
TRWP Parent Support Group: https://wokescreen.com/the-reason-we-parent/

//Work With Me:
I offer a wide range of consulting services to parents and parent advocacy organizations. Learn more about my services, and book my time using these links
Tutoring & Homeschool Teaching: https://thereasonwelearn.com/online-tutoring-and-homeschool-teaching/
College Counseling and Essay Coaching: https://thereasonwelearn.com/consulting/ Education Consulting & School Search: https://thereasonwelearn.com/1942-2/
Public Speaking: https://thereasonwelearn.com/speaking/
Writing: https://thereasonwelearn.com/writing-2/

//Do Business With My Affiliates
Purchase books from Heroes of Liberty with my referral link and get 10% off! https://heroesofliberty.com/?ref=Zqpq...

Enroll your child in The Socratic Experience, a virtual school grades 3-12.
They provide Socratic discussions of classic texts with a commitment to rationality while supporting students in entrepreneurial and creative projects.
My listeners can now get a 10% discount by using the link below!
https://socraticexperience.com/parent-guide/?utm_source=thereasonwelearn

#teachingtheholocaust #holocaustsurvivor #holocausteducation #holocaustsurvivors #publiceducation #k12education #antisemitism

---

Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/debf/support

Get full access to The Reason We Learn at thereasonwelearn.substack.com/subscribe

You may have noticed that Mental Health, sometimes referred to as “wellness” or wellbeing, has, both in terms of funding, and staffing, become job 1 for most schools, and you may even have heard that students “can’t learn” until they’ve been seen, heard, and assessed psychologically.
Earlier, I sat down to talk with Jake Wiskerchen, marriage and family therapist, national certified counselor, and founder of Nevada based Zephyr Wellness, to get an update on what’s going on in counseling, especially in schools. I asked Jake because of his broad and deep experience in the field. He has given consultations, talks, seminars, continuing education classes, and staff trainings, to many agencies, groups, organizations, and individuals, including the Nevada Bar Association, Northern Nevada Law Enforcement Academy (POST), Nevada State Civil Attorneys Association, Reno + Sparks Chamber of Commerce, University of Nevada, Washoe County School District, Nevada School Counselors Association, Nevada Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence, Lyon County School District, Pershing County School District, Sixth Judicial District Court, VanNess Group Homes, and CSA/Head Start, and he’s the host of not one, but TWO podcasts: noggin notes and guns and mental health.In this show, you’ll learn why mental health is front and center in education, and why that may be much too much of an otherwise good thing.
Follow Jake @jakewisk
Podcast host: Guns & Mental Health, Noggin Notes
YouTube  @ZephyrWellness 

SUPPORT MY WORK
// Donate:
Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/trwl
PayPal: paypal.me/deborahfillman

// Join:
If you want to join weekly calls with me and my audience, and get access to my curated lists of education enrichment and homeschooling resources, join one or both of my private communities:
TRWL @Wokescreen: https://wokescreen.com/thereasonwelearn/
TRWP Parent Support Group: https://wokescreen.com/the-reason-we-parent/

//Do Business With My Affiliates
Purchase books from Heroes of Liberty with my referral link and get 10% off! https://heroesofliberty.com/?ref=Zqpq...

Enroll your child in The Socratic Experience, a virtual school grades 3-12.
They provide Socratic discussions of classic texts with a commitment to rationality while supporting students in entrepreneurial and creative projects.
My listeners can now get a 10% discount by using the link below!
https://socraticexperience.com/parent-guide/?utm_source=thereasonwelearn

#schoolcounseling #mentalhealthandwellbeing #mentalhealthatschool #schoolcounselors #sel #mtss

---

Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/debf/support

Get full access to The Reason We Learn at thereasonwelearn.substack.com/subscribe

If you haven't yet watched the Hulu miniseries Stolen Youth: Inside the Cult at Sarah Lawrence, I highly recommend that you do. I watched it, and invited Josh Slocum, from  @DisaffectedPodcast  here to discuss coercive control -- what it is, and how it works -- because he's a graduate of Sarah Lawrence, and because he is an expert in cluster-B personality disorders, and while not all who are cluster-B engage in coercive control, all those who coercively control are cluster-B.

Follow Josh on X @DisaffectedPod
Subscribe to his Substack at https://disaffectedpod.substack.com/
Watch the Hulu series: https://press.hulu.com/shows/stolen-youth-inside-the-cult-at-sarah-lawrence/

SUPPORT MY WORK:

// Donate:
Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/trwl
PayPal: paypal.me/deborahfillman

// Join:
If you want to join weekly calls with me and my audience, and get access to my curated lists of education enrichment and homeschooling resources, join one or both of my private communities:
TRWL @Wokescreen: https://wokescreen.com/thereasonwelearn/
TRWP Parent Support Group: https://wokescreen.com/the-reason-we-parent/

//Work With Me:
I offer a wide range of consulting services to parents and parent advocacy organizations. Learn more about my services, and book my time using these links
Tutoring & Homeschool Teaching: https://thereasonwelearn.com/online-tutoring-and-homeschool-teaching/
College Counseling and Essay Coaching: https://thereasonwelearn.com/consulting/ Education Consulting & School Search: https://thereasonwelearn.com/1942-2/
Public Speaking: https://thereasonwelearn.com/speaking/
Writing: https://thereasonwelearn.com/writing-2/

//Do Business With My Affiliates
Purchase books from Heroes of Liberty with my referral link and get 10% off! https://heroesofliberty.com/?ref=Zqpq...

Enroll your child in The Socratic Experience, a virtual school grades 3-12.
They provide Socratic discussions of classic texts with a commitment to rationality while supporting students in entrepreneurial and creative projects.
My listeners can now get a 10% discount by using the link below!
https://socraticexperience.com/parent-guide/?utm_source=thereasonwelearn

#sarahlawrence #hulu #coercivecontrol #clusterb #narcissism #narcissiticabuse #humantrafficking

---

Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/debf/support

Get full access to The Reason We Learn at thereasonwelearn.substack.com/subscribe

Jon England is the Education Policy Analyst at Libertas Institute. He is a fourteen-year veteran public schools who became frustrated with the lack of innovation, transparency and accountability in the system, and decided to leave the system and join Libertas to work on empowering parents, and defending parental rights.

Find Jon on X @Principal_Jon
Website: https://libertas.org

TIMESTAMPS
03:16 - Welcome Jon!
04:47 - COVID: The Final Straw
09:01 - School vs. Parents
13:12 - The School Trap
20:00 - The Push to College
32:32 - New Models for K12
44:15 - Government Roadblocks to Alternatives
48:55 - Let's Talk About School Choice...
1:00:00 - How to Get More Involved in Making Education Better

SUPPORT MY WORK:
// Donate:
Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/trwl
PayPal: paypal.me/deborahfillman

// Join:
If you want to join weekly calls with me and my audience, and get access to my curated lists of education enrichment and homeschooling resources, join one or both of my private communities:
TRWL @Wokescreen: https://wokescreen.com/thereasonwelearn/
TRWP Parent Support Group: https://wokescreen.com/the-reason-we-parent/

//Work With Me:
I offer a wide range of consulting services to parents and parent advocacy organizations. Learn more about my services, and book my time using these links
Tutoring & Homeschool Teaching: https://thereasonwelearn.com/online-tutoring-and-homeschool-teaching/
College Counseling and Essay Coaching: https://thereasonwelearn.com/consulting/ Education Consulting & School Search: https://thereasonwelearn.com/1942-2/
Public Speaking: https://thereasonwelearn.com/speaking/
Writing: https://thereasonwelearn.com/writing-2/

//Do Business With My Affiliates
Purchase books from Heroes of Liberty with my referral link and get 10% off! https://heroesofliberty.com/?ref=Zqpq...

Enroll your child in The Socratic Experience, a virtual school grades 3-12.
They provide Socratic discussions of classic texts with a commitment to rationality while supporting students in entrepreneurial and creative projects.
My listeners can now get a 10% discount by using the link below!
https://socraticexperience.com/parent-guide/?utm_source=thereasonwelearn

#publicschoolsystem #walkaway #publicschool #education #microschool #homeschooling #schoolchoice

---

Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/debf/support

Get full access to The Reason We Learn at thereasonwelearn.substack.com/subscribe

Professor William B. Allen is the Emeritus Dean of James Madison College, and Professor Emeritus of Political Philosophy at Michigan State University. I had the privilege of hearing Professor Allen speak at the Alumni Summit on Free Expression hosted by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, also known as ACTA, and the Alumni Free Speech Alliance, also known as AFSA.

The title of his talk was Criminals Think, but Thinking is not Criminal, and I felt strongly then, as I do today, that my audience, parents and teachers in particular, needed to hear from him directly.

Professor Allen's Talk:
https://youtu.be/P1nLRW_hXC4?si=PETMTDS6mfqOC_HW

Transcript as an Article at The Journal of Free Black Thought:
https://freeblackthought.substack.com/p/criminals-think-but-thinking-is-not

Professor Allen's book:
https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B001IZ0ZS8/allbooks

SUPPORT THIS CHANNEL
Your support makes my work possible. If you appreciate this content, please consider supporting me in one of the following ways:
Join The Reason We Learn Community @WOKESCREEN : https://wokescreen.com/thereasonwelearn/

Join The Reason We Parent - Parent Support Group: https://wokescreen.com/the-reason-we-parent/

Hire me for consulting, tutoring and public speaking: https://thereasonwelearn.com

Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/trwl

PayPal: paypal.me/deborahfillman

Purchase TRWL Merch: https://store.wokescreen.com/the-reason-we-learn/

Purchase books from Heroes of Liberty with my referral link and get 10% off!
https://heroesofliberty.com/?ref=Zqpq...

#philosophyofeducation #educationreform #highereducationreform #academicfreedom #raisingreaders

---

Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/debf/support

Get full access to The Reason We Learn at thereasonwelearn.substack.com/subscribe

Wilfred Reilly and I look back on the 70 years since Brown v Board of Education to ask if we are trying to re-segregate American Education, if so why, and what does "segregation" post Brown vs Board?

We also take a look at recent statistics concerning the racial achievement gap, and Wil gives his take on new questions to ask about achievement gaps in general.

Wilfred Reilly is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Kentucky State University, and the author of the books "Taboo: 10 Facts You Can't Talk About,' "Hate Crime Hoax," and "The $50,000,000 Question." He is currently working on the upcoming project "Alt-Wrongs: an American Case against Racial Nationalism," as well as sketching out a book looking at the transgender, gender-fluid, and Otherkin communities and the idea of flexible identity. Reilly has published pieces in Academic Questions, Commentary, Quillette, and a number of other journals and magazines. His research interests include international relations and the prevention of war, contemporary American race relations, and the use of modern quantitative methods to test "sacred cow" theories such as the existence of widespread white privilege. Off work, he enjoys dogs, archery, basketball, Asian cooking, and beer. Reilly has been described, by himself, as "the greatest mind of a generation."

Follow him on X @wil_da_beast630
Buy his books here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/...

SUPPORT THIS CHANNEL
Your support makes my work possible. If you appreciate this content, please consider supporting me in one of the following ways:
Join The Reason We Learn Community @WOKESCREEN : https://wokescreen.com/thereasonwelearn/

Join The Reason We Parent - Parent Support Group: https://wokescreen.com/the-reason-we-...

Hire me for consulting, tutoring and public speaking: https://thereasonwelearn.com

Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/trwl

PayPal: paypal.me/deborahfillman

Purchase TRWL Merch: https://store.wokescreen.com/the-reas...

Purchase books from Heroes of Liberty with my referral link and get 10% off!
https://heroesofliberty.com/?ref=Zqpq...

#race #segregation #brownvboard #education #k12 #desegregation #publicschools #teaching #achievementgap #blackachievementgap #blackexcellence

---

Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/debf/support

Get full access to The Reason We Learn at thereasonwelearn.substack.com/subscribe

Ron Coleman joins me again, this time to talk about legal education and its impact on the practice of law, and the justice system in America.

Ron Coleman is a Partner at the Dhillon Law Group and resident in its New York Metro office. Ron is a commercial litigator with extensive first-seat trial and appellate experience who focuses on torts of competition such as trademark infringement, unfair competition and consumer law.

Besides his trademark work Ron is also known for his Internet-related and First Amendment advocacy, regarding both religious and free speech rights, including his representation of Simon Tam and “The Slants” in the watershed free speech case, Matal v. Tam, in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the prohibition against registration of “disparaging” trademarks was unconstitutional.

Having recently semi-retired his popular “Likelihood of Confusion” blog on trademark law, Ron is a popular influencer on Twitter with over 200,000 followers (@roncoleman) and hosts the ColemanNation video podcast which focuses on free expression, cancel culture and law. He attended Princeton University and Northwestern University School of Law.

SUPPORT THIS CHANNEL
Your support makes my work possible. If you appreciate this content, please consider supporting me in one of the following ways:
Join The Reason We Learn Community @WOKESCREEN : https://wokescreen.com/thereasonwelearn/

Join The Reason We Parent - Parent Support Group: https://wokescreen.com/the-reason-we-...

Hire me for consulting, tutoring and public speaking: https://thereasonwelearn.com

Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/trwl

PayPal: paypal.me/deborahfillman

Purchase TRWL Merch: https://store.wokescreen.com/the-reas...

Purchase books from Heroes of Liberty with my referral link and get 10% off!
https://heroesofliberty.com/?ref=Zqpq...

#legaleducation #justicesystem #lawschool #education #civilrights #lawfare #harvard #activism

---

Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/debf/support

Get full access to The Reason We Learn at thereasonwelearn.substack.com/subscribe