The Reason We Learn Podcast

Today, I sat down with Dennis Noel Kavanagh to discuss an issue that keeps me up nights: the gender ideology dominating the places where our children — as young as 3 — go for daycare, school, socializing, and interaction online. I asked Dennis to talk with us today because of his experience and background fighting against this ideology, and for gay rights, in the UK.

If you’re unfamiliar with Dennis, he is former criminal barrister and now legal commentator, he is one of the three directors of the "Gay Men's Network", a not for profit organization fighting modern forms of homophobia. You can read his writing, and learn more about him on his Substack.

If you’ve been thinking something is seriously wrong with the affirmation-model of care pushed by the mainstream, including the Biden Administration, the medical and psychiatric community, and even the Department of Education, you need to hear from Dennis.He covered things you won’t be hearing much about elsewhere:

* the ahistorical nature, top-down nature of the “Trans” movement

* the cult-like/pseudo-religious nature of the ideology

* the EX-clusion (excommunication) of de-transitioners

* the impact of “tolerating” trans ideology on gay children and adults

* how the U.S. has gone farther down the rabbit hole than the UK, and Dennis’ theory of why that is

* how the LGB individuals are targeted, abused, and punished for speaking out

* what we can, and must do ASAP to protect our kids, and our families from this dangerous ideology

Thank you for listening, and sharing this broadcast.

Please also consider becoming a paid supporter of this Substack. I’m fully independent, and your support makes it possible for me to bring you content like this!

Today, I sat down with Dennis Noel Kavanagh to discuss an issue that keeps me up nights: the gender ideology dominating the places where our children — as young as 3 — go for daycare, school, socializing, and interaction online. I asked Dennis to talk with us today because of his experience and background fighting against this ideology, and for gay rights, in the UK.

If you’re unfamiliar with Dennis, he is former criminal barrister and now legal commentator, he is one of the three directors of the "Gay Men's Network", a not for profit organization fighting modern forms of homophobia. You can read his writing, and learn more about him on his Substack.

If you’ve been thinking something is seriously wrong with the affirmation-model of care pushed by the mainstream, including the Biden Administration, the medical and psychiatric community, and even the Department of Education, you need to hear from Dennis.He covered things you won’t be hearing much about elsewhere:

* the ahistorical nature, top-down nature of the “Trans” movement

* the cult-like/pseudo-religious nature of the ideology

* the EX-clusion (excommunication) of de-transitioners

* the impact of “tolerating” trans ideology on gay children and adults

* how the U.S. has gone farther down the rabbit hole than the UK, and Dennis’ theory of why that is

* how the LGB individuals are targeted, abused, and punished for speaking out

* what we can, and must do ASAP to protect our kids, and our families from this dangerous ideology

Thank you for listening, and sharing this broadcast.

Please also consider becoming a paid supporter of this Substack. I’m fully independent, and your support makes it possible for me to bring you content like this!

Posting this out of order because it’s that good, and I wanted to get it out ASAP. Many thanks to Freddie deBoer for joining me today, and sharing his common sense, straightforward wisdom with me and my audience!This episode was inspired by his April 27th Substack, Nobody Walks Around Feeling Valid, which I loved, and you should read if you haven’t already. There is so much in there to think about, but was what made me realize I wanted to do a show for my audience of mostly parents of school and college-aged kids:

“The first and most obvious point is that nobody knows what it means to be “valid.” It’s entirely unclear to me what the boundaries are for this notion of validity, which is not true for more durable concepts like happiness. To be “valid” means whatever people find convenient at the time, making the condition a moving target. And if we recognize “happiness” as the simplest expression of the emotional state humans desire, there’s an essential way in which being happy is very different from being valid: happiness can come from within, at least theoretically, but being valid always implies some sort of exterior criteria.” [Emphasis mine]

Now consider the self-esteem movement pushed into schools, and then the anti-bullying campaigns, and finally, Social Emotional Learning programs, or SEL…What are we teaching our kids, and more to the point, WHY?! Does it make any sense at all, or are we not only in denial about our true nature as humans, but hurting them by forcing them to externalize their self-worth, while at the same time making them feel even worse if they aren’t walking around loving everything about themselves all day?I’m a firm believer in making sure we don’t do anything in our teaching and rearing of kids that isn’t based on evidence that it works, and by “works,” I mean “benefits them.” We should always be gut-checking to make sure we aren’t projecting our wishes, hopes, dreams, fears, and insecurities onto them, never mind using the equivalent of junk-science woo-woo, with a chaser of snake-oil, because it makes us look or feel good to “do something.” Very often, it’s the “doing” of “something” that causes the problems we later want to “do something” more about…Maybe we should step back, take a good long look at reality, and embrace that, even if it’s a little uncomfortable? Just a suggestion.Enjoy the show!

Posting this out of order because it’s that good, and I wanted to get it out ASAP. Many thanks to Freddie deBoer for joining me today, and sharing his common sense, straightforward wisdom with me and my audience!This episode was inspired by his April 27th Substack, Nobody Walks Around Feeling Valid, which I loved, and you should read if you haven’t already. There is so much in there to think about, but was what made me realize I wanted to do a show for my audience of mostly parents of school and college-aged kids:

“The first and most obvious point is that nobody knows what it means to be “valid.” It’s entirely unclear to me what the boundaries are for this notion of validity, which is not true for more durable concepts like happiness. To be “valid” means whatever people find convenient at the time, making the condition a moving target. And if we recognize “happiness” as the simplest expression of the emotional state humans desire, there’s an essential way in which being happy is very different from being valid: happiness can come from within, at least theoretically, but being valid always implies some sort of exterior criteria.” [Emphasis mine]

Now consider the self-esteem movement pushed into schools, and then the anti-bullying campaigns, and finally, Social Emotional Learning programs, or SEL…What are we teaching our kids, and more to the point, WHY?! Does it make any sense at all, or are we not only in denial about our true nature as humans, but hurting them by forcing them to externalize their self-worth, while at the same time making them feel even worse if they aren’t walking around loving everything about themselves all day?I’m a firm believer in making sure we don’t do anything in our teaching and rearing of kids that isn’t based on evidence that it works, and by “works,” I mean “benefits them.” We should always be gut-checking to make sure we aren’t projecting our wishes, hopes, dreams, fears, and insecurities onto them, never mind using the equivalent of junk-science woo-woo, with a chaser of snake-oil, because it makes us look or feel good to “do something.” Very often, it’s the “doing” of “something” that causes the problems we later want to “do something” more about…Maybe we should step back, take a good long look at reality, and embrace that, even if it’s a little uncomfortable? Just a suggestion.Enjoy the show!

Mark Ousley, aka "Unwokable” and I sat down to talk about the politics of fighting woke ideas, and warned us not to make blanket assumptions based on political party affiliation. We also talked about how more conservative states may be accidentally promoting very bad ideas because of what he calls the “innately corrupt” system of education we have now.Using his home state of Oklahoma to illustrate his point, he explained the way lawmakers and other public officials don’t know what they don’t know, and are resistant to changing course even once they find out how things really work. Objective data be-damned, preserving political power is job-one, and the price of taking a bold stand will be too high for them.At the same time, Mark is careful not to impugn intentions. These otherwise “conservative” politicians are not actively trying to promote the woke ideas, but they are loath to go after the administrative state, which includes DEI Directors and their departments. Conservatives tend to go after teachers, rather than these administrators, but even like-minded, conservative teachers are at their mercy.Mark’s beef? Politicians appoint the people who appoint these people, and yet refuse to hold them accountable for political reasons. So nothing stands in the way of the funding for these unelected bureaucrats who are responsible for implementing the umbrella policy for all woke curricula: DEI.This is the second show Mark and I have done together, and I’m grateful to Mark for joining me because he has deep knowledge of both sides of this subject. I encourage you to watch our other show, and to subscribe to his YouTube and Substack, and follow him on Twitter @AcsAgainstCRT

0:00 Introductions5:00 The innately corrupt system

16:00 Why DEI is the real problem

27:00 “Enforcement” is really what the “E” stands for

43:41 A solution in search of a problem

55:00 Destroying the truth

1:08:00 The rise of the administrative state

1:22:00 The Republicans have a huge hand in this problem

1:36:00 People have forgotten what “conservatism” really is

1:52:51 The system has its own immune system

1:59:00 We have to hold our own accountable, and the devil is in the details

Interested in learning more about alternatives to institutional K12 education, and want to get more direct interaction with other people who are?

Join The Reason We Learn Locals Community!Try Subscriber features for one month FREE using code SUBSTACK

Mark Ousley, aka "Unwokable” and I sat down to talk about the politics of fighting woke ideas, and warned us not to make blanket assumptions based on political party affiliation. We also talked about how more conservative states may be accidentally promoting very bad ideas because of what he calls the “innately corrupt” system of education we have now.Using his home state of Oklahoma to illustrate his point, he explained the way lawmakers and other public officials don’t know what they don’t know, and are resistant to changing course even once they find out how things really work. Objective data be-damned, preserving political power is job-one, and the price of taking a bold stand will be too high for them.At the same time, Mark is careful not to impugn intentions. These otherwise “conservative” politicians are not actively trying to promote the woke ideas, but they are loath to go after the administrative state, which includes DEI Directors and their departments. Conservatives tend to go after teachers, rather than these administrators, but even like-minded, conservative teachers are at their mercy.Mark’s beef? Politicians appoint the people who appoint these people, and yet refuse to hold them accountable for political reasons. So nothing stands in the way of the funding for these unelected bureaucrats who are responsible for implementing the umbrella policy for all woke curricula: DEI.This is the second show Mark and I have done together, and I’m grateful to Mark for joining me because he has deep knowledge of both sides of this subject. I encourage you to watch our other show, and to subscribe to his YouTube and Substack, and follow him on Twitter @AcsAgainstCRT

0:00 Introductions5:00 The innately corrupt system

16:00 Why DEI is the real problem

27:00 “Enforcement” is really what the “E” stands for

43:41 A solution in search of a problem

55:00 Destroying the truth

1:08:00 The rise of the administrative state

1:22:00 The Republicans have a huge hand in this problem

1:36:00 People have forgotten what “conservatism” really is

1:52:51 The system has its own immune system

1:59:00 We have to hold our own accountable, and the devil is in the details

Interested in learning more about alternatives to institutional K12 education, and want to get more direct interaction with other people who are?

Join The Reason We Learn Locals Community!Try Subscriber features for one month FREE using code SUBSTACK

In this episode, I sit down with Rhyen Staley, a former teacher and coach, turned researcher with Parents Defending Ed. to discuss his findings about ethnic studies, or more specifically “Liberated Ethnic Studies,” which is not your mom or dad’s “Multicultural” education at all.

Sadly, it, like so many allegedly “must-have,” DEI-focused curricula, is just another way for activists to infuse the K12 curriculum with Marxist ideology.Rhyen explains how the concept of “Radical Love,” from Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed, takes the word “love” itself, and turns it upside down, and inside out. With this concept, Freire takes the traditional Marxist dogma that self-sacrifice is an obligation, and connects it to liberation. Therefore, it is impossible to “love” unless you are fighting for the liberation of “marginalized people.” The problem is, his definition of “liberation,” as Rhyan explains, simply means “free from all traditional norms and societal expectations,” especially those we value (even treasure) from the Western Enlightenment.

Rhyen has written about this himself on his Substack in his article entitled The NEA, Ethnic Studies, and Socialism, and I highly recommend reading his full report too as a companion to this show.My goal is to help Rhyen, and others like him, disseminate this information to people who may still be stuck on CRT (or what James Lindsay more accurately calls ‘Race Marxism’), because ultimately we have to realize how intentional the effort is to subvert, and rewrite our cultural mores and values, for the purpose of (quite literally), rewriting (or eliminating altogether) our Constitutional principles. You can follow Rhyen on Twitter @DunedainRanger9Here on Substack at The ReconnaissanceAlso check out past interviews with Rhyen on The Reason We Learn about What Your Kids are Not Learning in School, and The Lessons We Teach When We Don’t Discipline in Schools.

2:21 Acknowledging the contributions of the Jewish Community.

4:22 In there own words: what is “Liberated Ethnic Studies?”

6:58 Translating the vocabulary of Marxist Educators.

10:40 Paulo Freire’s “Radical Love.”

17:11 Why the word “Groomer” is accurate.

22:00 Challenging “hegemony,” and redefining “normalcy.”

32:45 Ascent of the “Freirians.”

46:00 Social Emotional Learning (SEL), Freire and Fromm.

58:00 How reality gets labeled “conspiracy.”

1:20:00 “Submit, or else…” The religious overtones of Liberation Ethnic Studies.

1:35:25 Real world application: analyzing “The Slap” through a Freirian lens.

Interested in learning more about alternatives to institutional K12 education, and want to get more direct interaction with other people who are?

Join The Reason We Learn Locals Community!Try Subscriber features for one month FREE using code SUBSTACK

In this episode, I sit down with Rhyen Staley, a former teacher and coach, turned researcher with Parents Defending Ed. to discuss his findings about ethnic studies, or more specifically “Liberated Ethnic Studies,” which is not your mom or dad’s “Multicultural” education at all.

Sadly, it, like so many allegedly “must-have,” DEI-focused curricula, is just another way for activists to infuse the K12 curriculum with Marxist ideology.Rhyen explains how the concept of “Radical Love,” from Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed, takes the word “love” itself, and turns it upside down, and inside out. With this concept, Freire takes the traditional Marxist dogma that self-sacrifice is an obligation, and connects it to liberation. Therefore, it is impossible to “love” unless you are fighting for the liberation of “marginalized people.” The problem is, his definition of “liberation,” as Rhyan explains, simply means “free from all traditional norms and societal expectations,” especially those we value (even treasure) from the Western Enlightenment.

Rhyen has written about this himself on his Substack in his article entitled The NEA, Ethnic Studies, and Socialism, and I highly recommend reading his full report too as a companion to this show.My goal is to help Rhyen, and others like him, disseminate this information to people who may still be stuck on CRT (or what James Lindsay more accurately calls ‘Race Marxism’), because ultimately we have to realize how intentional the effort is to subvert, and rewrite our cultural mores and values, for the purpose of (quite literally), rewriting (or eliminating altogether) our Constitutional principles. You can follow Rhyen on Twitter @DunedainRanger9Here on Substack at The ReconnaissanceAlso check out past interviews with Rhyen on The Reason We Learn about What Your Kids are Not Learning in School, and The Lessons We Teach When We Don’t Discipline in Schools.

2:21 Acknowledging the contributions of the Jewish Community.

4:22 In there own words: what is “Liberated Ethnic Studies?”

6:58 Translating the vocabulary of Marxist Educators.

10:40 Paulo Freire’s “Radical Love.”

17:11 Why the word “Groomer” is accurate.

22:00 Challenging “hegemony,” and redefining “normalcy.”

32:45 Ascent of the “Freirians.”

46:00 Social Emotional Learning (SEL), Freire and Fromm.

58:00 How reality gets labeled “conspiracy.”

1:20:00 “Submit, or else…” The religious overtones of Liberation Ethnic Studies.

1:35:25 Real world application: analyzing “The Slap” through a Freirian lens.

Interested in learning more about alternatives to institutional K12 education, and want to get more direct interaction with other people who are?

Join The Reason We Learn Locals Community!Try Subscriber features for one month FREE using code SUBSTACK

Last week I was a fortunate enough to interview Dr. Ping, a child of Mao’s Cultural Revolution who managed to educate himself (he was always naturally good at math, he explains), and go onto college and graduate school.

In 1995, he moved to Indianapolis to work as a senior engineer, and later became a US citizen. In 2011, after retiring from engineering, he became a math teacher, and began to notice similarities in the American Schools to those he experienced during the cultural revolution. Not seeing reform of the existing system as a solution, in 2018 he started a non-profit organization, Poema Institute, to research and promote alternative education models.

During this conversation, we talk about what those eery similarities are, why they’re harmful to our kids right now, and how dangerous they are for the future of the country, and Western civilization as we know it.

More optimistically, we talked about what we can do right now to improve education for our kids, while protecting them from the damage of the Marxist/Maoist ideas dominating K-12 in America right now.

Dr. Ping deserves our full attention. Who better to raise the alarm, and help us understand why it’s essential to use our freedoms while we can, lest we lost them? I’m grateful he took the time to do this interview, and hope not only to have him back again soon, but to work with him on building alternatives in the near future!

Read Dr. Ping's Book, Our Children Are Not Prepared https://www.amazon.com/Our-Children-A...

Read his article Education 4.0: Transforming Students to Masters Instead of Slaves https://www.patreon.com/posts/19306338

You can find Dr. Ping on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/c/TakingBackEducation

7:19 The Four Olds

20:29 Marxism is a religion

22:20 What’s wrong with math right now?

30:09 Dumbing us down

42:57 We don’t teach reason

49:04 Building a “new” world requires destruction

1:16:21 “Education 4.0: The Lost Tools for Learning, and the Microschool Initiative

Last week I was a fortunate enough to interview Dr. Ping, a child of Mao’s Cultural Revolution who managed to educate himself (he was always naturally good at math, he explains), and go onto college and graduate school.

In 1995, he moved to Indianapolis to work as a senior engineer, and later became a US citizen. In 2011, after retiring from engineering, he became a math teacher, and began to notice similarities in the American Schools to those he experienced during the cultural revolution. Not seeing reform of the existing system as a solution, in 2018 he started a non-profit organization, Poema Institute, to research and promote alternative education models.

During this conversation, we talk about what those eery similarities are, why they’re harmful to our kids right now, and how dangerous they are for the future of the country, and Western civilization as we know it.

More optimistically, we talked about what we can do right now to improve education for our kids, while protecting them from the damage of the Marxist/Maoist ideas dominating K-12 in America right now.

Dr. Ping deserves our full attention. Who better to raise the alarm, and help us understand why it’s essential to use our freedoms while we can, lest we lost them? I’m grateful he took the time to do this interview, and hope not only to have him back again soon, but to work with him on building alternatives in the near future!

Read Dr. Ping's Book, Our Children Are Not Prepared https://www.amazon.com/Our-Children-A...

Read his article Education 4.0: Transforming Students to Masters Instead of Slaves https://www.patreon.com/posts/19306338

You can find Dr. Ping on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/c/TakingBackEducation

7:19 The Four Olds

20:29 Marxism is a religion

22:20 What’s wrong with math right now?

30:09 Dumbing us down

42:57 We don’t teach reason

49:04 Building a “new” world requires destruction

1:16:21 “Education 4.0: The Lost Tools for Learning, and the Microschool Initiative