Added 6.14.19. Milt interviews Kyle Olson in 2011 about his then-new book, “Indoctrination.” Olson is the founder and CEO of the Education Action Group, a Michigan-based non-profit which favors charter schools and education vouchers and has attracted attacks from pro-teachers-union advocates as a tool of the DeVos family, Republicans, and conservatives. Olson maintains – and discusses with Milt – his contentions that intellectual diversity and free inquiry are being subjugated in U.S. public school classrooms for anti-American, redistributionist advocacy driven in part by teacher training programs at the nation’s colleges and universities.

Added 11.27.18. Here in the fast and furious times of late 2018, the Catholic Church’s priest sex scandal has led to intensifying debate about the legitimacy of the faith itself. But, argues one current analyst in The Federalist, it’s a problem of conduct, not doctrine. There remains much that is timeless and beneficial – and yes, ripe for change – within Catholicism, it’s present-day supporters posit. In this episode from several years back, Milt with three guests explores the nature of the Catholic faith, current issues facing the church, and why and how it is that Catholic schools can be so effective in raising the bar on academic expectations and performance for at-risk minority youth. He is joined by Patrick McCloskey, author of “The Street Stops Here: A Year At A Catholic High School In Harlem;” former Canadian broadcaster Michael Coren, author of “Why Catholics Are Right;” and Rev. Thomas Baima, then Vice-Rector of Mundelein Seminary and author of “What Is A Parish? Canonical, Pastoral And Theological Perspectives.”

Added 9/10/18. Milt in this 2011 episode delves into education reform with top-tier veteran journalist Steven Brill, who had just authored, “Class Warfare: Inside The Fight To Fix America’s Schools.” They discuss how Brill developed the book and what he learned along the way. It’s an insider account including a close look at the personal dynamics among influencers – both in the front lines and the background – in key locales including the White House, and the New York City and Washington, D.C. mayor’s offices. President Barack Obama and city and state officials staked political capital on bold and controversial education reform initiatives including a major emphasis on charter schools. As Brill tells Milt, the book flowered after he wrote a New Yorker piece on that city’s “rubber rooms,” where abusive or incompetent teachers who could not be fired due to union contracts, were relegated each work day while still collecting their salaries.

…or geography or philosophy or how to read or write the language? That, says E.D. Hirsch, was the problem thirty years ago when he wrote “Cultural Literacy” and it is still the case for far too many American high school and college students. Last year, long after our original discussion of the great failure of American education, we discussed it again and found that cultural illiteracy still prevails.

As far back as 2007 (the year of this program) lots of American professors began expressing alarm and anger over the reduction of intellectual standards, the abandonment of “high culture” and the leftwards politicization of most American universities. Three critics joined us one memorable night in voicing the indictment and specifying the disturbing details.