Episodes

We kick off our new season with a look at this history, victories, drawbacks and challenges of teachers unions over the last century and a half in US public education.

Even before the Omicron variant reared its ugly head, teachers were resigning in unprecedented numbers this fall. This episode, our season finale, explores some of the reasons why.

The United States prides itself on being the first country to institutionalize and make mandatory free, taxpayer funded public education -- but is that education something to which all children in the US actually have a right? The answer's not as simple as it may seem.

How and why do schools suspend students from classes? What is the impact, and what are the alternatives?

This episode describes the dynamic career of teacher and school reformer Helen Parkhurst, whose life's mission was to replace the dull, factory-style structures of American public education with student-centered learning experiences tailored to individual children's needs. What can we learn from Parkhurst's experience, especially her famous "Dalton Plan," that might inform the present moment, where schools may have a chance to re-define themselves post-COVID?

Is homework a vital tool for learning, a useless exercise in child torture, or something else entirely? This episode explores that question!

Schools nationwide are grappling with this Fall's expected challenges of "learning loss" due to the past year of pandemic-affected learning. But what exactly do we mean by "learning loss," what are the remedies, and what are the questions we're not asking but should be?

Behind the pizza boats and tater tots lies an epic saga of conflict. Grab your tray and settle in as we explore the history of school lunch!

What do we want from public schools, and how does that answer vary depending on whom, in our very divided nation, you ask? In this episode, I use a recent Atlantic article by George Packer, "The Four Americas," as a frame for looking at how each of those four Americas might envision both the purpose and the future of public education in the USA.

Project Based Learning is often touted, yet too infrequently practiced, in US public schools. This episode (our 50th!) addresses the questions of just what is PBL, and what are the advantages - and challenges - of trying to teach and learn in this manner?

S4E4 – Spare the rod: Corporal punishment in US public schools The USA stands virtually alone among democracies in permitting schools to employ physical violence in disciplining students. This episode explores the history, permutations and present state of affairs of corporal punishment in US schools. Click here for sources for this episode Next episode will post on Friday, June 25

S4E3 – Let’s talk about sex, maybe? Whether US public schools should teach sex education, and just what exactly we even mean by that phrase, has been a point of contention since at least the 19th century. This episode recounts some of the major trends, currents and conflicts in the history, and present state, of school sex-ed. Note: I only marked this episode as “explicit” to avoid any trouble with Apple Podcasts’ flagging algorithm, which might freak out at the word “sex” in the episode title....

S4E2 – Room for contradictions: The Schooling of Chinese Americans What challenges have Chinese Americans faced, and what victories have they won, in the quest for equal access to an education in the USA? At a time when violence and xenophobia against AAPI people is on the rise, this episode attempts to explore beyond the “model minority myths” and share some history of Chinese and other Asian Americans’ experience in US schools. Sources for this episode Next episode will post on May 28, 2021

Season 4, Episode 1: Do Schools Even Matter? A lot of what influences students’ academic and long-term life outcomes have nothing to do with how schools are structured and how teachers teach. In the face of income inequality, structural racism and so many larger forces, does anything we talk about in this podcast really matter? We kick off Season 4 of Ed Infinitum by reviewing the research that could help us address that question. Sources for this episode. Next episode will post on May 14th, 2...

S3E14 – Blowout! We close out Season Three with a look back at the student activism of the 1968 East Los Angeles walkouts, and how Chicano students defied abusive policies and police brutality to try and improve their schools. Sources for this episode. Next season will begin some time in April. Please consider making a donation to keep the podcast going so I can create an excellent Fourth Season!

S3E13 – Two voices from the COVID Classroom Two teachers – one from a suburban middle school, one form a tech-voc agricultural school, share their unfiltered stories and opinions about what their job, their school and their students’ experience looks like right now during the pandemic. Next episode (the season finale!) will post on Friday, Feb 21, 2021

S3E12.5 – New Beginnings, Old Challenges A brief set of reflections on the challenges of education from Election Day 2016 to Inauguration Day 2021. Sources for this episode.

S3E12 – How do we get this thing right? Nine months in, and online, remote and hybrid school is still proving dismal for far too many students and teachers. The end, if it’s even in sight, isn’t coming any time soon, so how can schools do a better job with the situation they’ve got? We ask our guest, Dr. April Willis of the National Virtual Teacher Association, about the solution her organization is trying to provide. Sources for this episode. Next episode will post on Jan 22, 2021

S3E11 – What’s it like elsewhere? Ever wondered how the history and operations of schooling around the world differs from that of the USA? We take a glimpse at four countries’ schools – specifically, England, France, Japan and Finland – and see what we can learn. Sources for this episode. Next episode will post on January 8, 2021

S3E10 – Can’t we all just get along? The Math and History wars Politics in education are so bitter because so little is at stake? Maybe, maybe not. In this episode we examine the ongoing debates about the “proper” teaching of two subjects, Math and History. What is at stake in these “school wars,” and how does the fallout affect students? Sources for this episode. Next episode will post on Friday December 25th

Season 3, Episode 9 – “What life we can make for our children” : Reclaiming Education for Native Americans This Thanksgiving, our show highlights both the hideous experiences indigenous people suffered in US schools, and the successful Native American resistance to, and growing cultural reclamation of, the educational institutions that enroll their children. Sources for this episode. Next episode will post on Dec 11th

S3E8 – Play’s the Thing: The History, and Future, of Recess Recess has always been about more than just horsing around outside between classes. In this episode we explore how recess came to be, how it came to be under threat, and how it may be making a comeback. Sources for this episode. Next episode will post Friday Nov 27th

Season 3, Episode 7: Oh, you beautiful doll In this episode we recount the story of a unique cultural and educational exchange project between the United States and Japanese schoolchildren during a time of rising xenophobia and isolationism. Sources for this episode. Also, a big shout-out to Isaac Meyer’s History of Japan Podcast! Next episode will post on November 13th

S3E6 – What do you pledge? We explore the history, development and challenges to the use of the pledge of allegiance in US schools. Sources for this episode. Next episode will post on Friday, Oct 30th