Freshed

What was it like growing up and attending school in the Soviet Union and other socialist societies? Did the lived experiences of children match the official rhetoric of the state or the Western bloc? What agency did children have? My guests today are Iveta Silova and Nelli Piattoeva. Together with Zsuzsa Millei, they have a new co-edited book that explores the memories of everyday life in socialist societies, showing the multiplicity and political nature of childhood experiences. Their memories challenge the master-narratives that have come to dominate the way we think about the Soviet Union and other Socialist societies. Ultimately, their work pushes the field of comparative education in new directions. Iveta Silova is a professor at Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College at Arizona State University and Nelli Piattoeva is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Education and Culture, University of Tampere, Finland. Their new co-edited book is entitled Childhood and Schooling in (Post)Socialist Societies: Mem

Teachers are striking across America. From Arizona to Oklahoma to West Virginia, teachers are not simply demanding higher pay. They are also demanding better learning conditions for students and better working conditions for all state employees. And they are succeeding. Many of these industrial workplace actions are taking place in states that have passed right-to-work laws, meaning workers cannot be compelled to join a union or pay union dues as a condition of employment. The strikes are also happening in the states that Trump won in 2016. So what does this mean for public education generally and the 2020 US presidential election? My guest today is Eric Blanc, the author of the new book Red State Revolt: The Teachers’ Strike Wave and Working-Class Politics (Verso 2019). Eric is a journalist and a former high school teacher and has followed the on-the-ground developments of the Los Angeles, West Virginia, Oklahoma, Arizona, Denver, and Oakland public education strikes. A transcript of today's episode can b

Today we have a slightly different type of show for you. One of FreshEd’s producers, Lushik Wahba, created an amazing podcast about the experiences of international students at one small college in the USA. Over 1 million international students currently study at colleges and universities across America. Why did they choose to study in the USA? What can we learn from their experiences? Lushik’s podcast gives voice to some of those students, showcasing the promise and challenges of internationalization. Born and raised in Cairo, Lushik Wahba came of age during the 2011 Egyptian Revolution. This was a time when citizen journalism flourished, and she saw first-hand the power of an informed public. Growing up in such an environment inspired her to work in media. At 16 she earned a scholarship to study at the United World College in Bosnia and Herzegovina. After high school, she moved to Vermont to attend Bennington College. She just graduated in May but before doing so she put together this podcast, featuring ma

Religion in American public schools is a hot-button issue. Can prayers be said in public schools? What about in extracurricular activities? Can states provide funds to religious schools? And if parents don’t vaccinate their children for religious reasons but send them to public schools, what can the State do? These questions don’t have easy answers and the US constitution offers little help. The Establishment clause of the First Amendment of the constitution, for instance, forbids Congress from making laws in support of religion but also protects the free exercise of religion. Finding the right balance isn’t always straightforward. My guest today is Martha McCarthy. She is the Presidential Professor at Loyola Marymount University and the Chancellor’s Professor Emeritus at Indiana University. Together with Suzanne Eckes and Janet Decker, Professor McCarthy has recently published Legal Rights of School Leaders, Teachers, and Students (Pearson, 2019). Today’s episode of FreshEd was put together in collaborati

Some thirty-five percent of out-of-school children live in conflict-affected areas. These emergency situations include both human conflicts, such as, war and natural disasters, such as earthquakes. These children are in desperate need of help. Yet before anyone can act, information is critical. Information and data on education in emergencies is, however, inadequate in most cases. My guest today is Mary Mendenhall, an Associate Professor of Practice and the Director of the International and Comparative Education program at Teachers College, Columbia University. She is a member of the Inter-agency Network for Education in Emergencies’ (INEE) Standards and Practice Working Group and has edited a new NORRAG special issue on data collection and evidence building to support education in emergencies. http://www.freshedpodcast.com/marymendenhall/ Twitter: @FreshEdpodcast Facebook: FreshEd Email: info@freshedpodcast.com

Today Raewyn Connell returns to FreshEd to talk about her new book, The Good University. In it, Raewyn takes a deep dive into the labor that makes a university possible while also detailing the main troubles the institution currently faces. She argues that a good university must work for the social good rather than for profit. It must embrace its democratic roots and protect the process of being truthful. Raewyn Connell is Professor Emerita at the University of Sydney. She is an active trade unionist and advocate for workers’ rights, student autonomy and educational reform. http://www.freshedpodcast.com/raewynconnell2/ Twitter: @FreshEdpodcast Facebook: FreshEd Email: info@freshedpodcast.com Photo by Peter Hall

Are there limits to what can be said on college campuses? When a far-right-wing speaker is disinvited to speak on campus, is it an issue of Free Speech? My guest today, Neal Hutchens, explores these issues in his research and writing. Ultimately, his look at the legal issues facing universities when it comes to free speech and academic freedom go to the heart of the purpose of higher education. What are colleges for? Neal H. Hutchens serves as Professor and Chair in the University of Mississippi School of Education’s Department of Higher Education. His latest opinion piece on campus free speech laws was published in The Conversation in April. Today’s episode was put together in collaboration with the Education Law Association. www.freshedpodcast.com/hutchens Twitter: @FreshEdpodcast Facebook: FreshEd Email: info@freshedpodcast.com

The World Bank hasn’t always made loans to education. Post-World War II, the Bank focused mainly on infrastructure. Even when it did start lending to education in the 1960s, it used the idea of manpower planning, the process of estimating the number of people with specific skills required for completing a project. Only in the 1970s did the World Bank begin to think of education in terms of rates of return: the cost-benefit calculation that uses expected future earning from one’s educational attainment. The introduction of rates of return inside the World Bank was no easy process. The internal fights by larger-than-life personalities were the stuff legends are made from. Yet, these disputes often go unnoticed, hidden behind glossy reports and confidence. Today Stephen Heyneman takes us back in time when he introduced rates of return to the World Bank. He discusses how he used them to his advantage and how he ultimately lost his job because of them. Stephen Heyneman is Professor Emeritus of international

Climate change and its effects aren’t some future possibilities waiting to happen unless we take action today. No. The effect of climate change is already occurring. Today. Right now. Around the world, people have been displaced, fell ill, or died because of the globe’s changing climate. These effects are uneven: Some countries and classes of people are more affected by global warming than others. Still, the United Nations estimates that catastrophic consequences from climate change are only a decade away. That’s the year 2029. [Editor's note: The IPCC report is from 2018 and gave a 12-year prediction, so it should read 2030, not 2029.] What is the role of education policy in an era of detrimental climate change? My guest today is Marcia McKenzie, a professor in the Department of Educational Foundations at the University of Saskatchewan and director of the Sustainability Education Research Institute. She recently has been awarded a grant to research UN policy programs in relation to climate change educatio

Laws that mandate education for special needs students have not always existed. In the United States, courts only began referring to students with special needs in the early 1900s. At the time, such students were typically excluded from public school. Things began to change after the Brown v. Board of Education supreme country ruling in 1954. Twenty years later in the 1970s, congress enacted various legislation mandating educational services and support for children with special needs. My guest today is Charlie Russo. In our conversation, Charlie details the power of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and situates it in an international context. Charlie Russo is the Joseph Panzer Chair in Education in the School of Education and Health Sciences and Research Professor of Law in the School of Law at the University of Dayton. www.freshedpodcast.com/Charlierusso Twitter: @FreshEdpodcast Facebook: FreshEd Email: info@freshedpodcast.com

Today we talk about the history and recent rise of Islamophobia worldwide. My guest is Mariam Durrani, an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Hamilton College. In our conversation, we discusses both the state policy infrastructure enabling Islamophobia while also the everyday discourses and actions that normalize the Othering of a particular group. Dr. Durrani also discusses her own life story of growing up in a military family and witnessing the rise of Islamophobia in the aftermath of September 11th. Mariam Durrani recently published the book chapter “Communicating and Contesting Islamophobia.” www.freshedpodcast.com/mariamdurrani Twitter: @FreshEdpodcast Facebook: FreshEd Email: info@freshedpodcast.com

Today we continue our Education and Law mini-series with a show on the legal and policy issues surrounding special education. My guest is Janet Decker, an Associate Professor in the Educational Leadership and Policy Studies Department at Indiana University. Dr. Decker became interested in special education policy when she taught students with autism. In our conversation, Dr. Decker talks about the legal term FAPE, which stands for Free and Appropriate Public Education. FAPE is legally guaranteed to children under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. It is one of the most important legal issues in special education, but also one of the most problematic. What is the definition of 'Free' and 'Appropriate' 'Public' 'Education'? Janet Decker’s latest co-written book with Martha McCarthy and Suzanne Eckes is Legal Rights of School Leaders, Teachers, and Students, published by Pearson. This episode was put together in collaboration with the Education Law Association. www.freshedpodcast.com/decker Twi

Today we air the first ever FreshEd Live event, which was recorded last night in San Francisco. Gita Steiner-Khamsi joined me to discuss the ways in which the global education industry has altered the State and notions of free public education. We touched on a range of topics, from Bridge International to the International Baccalaureate and from network governance to system theory. Gita theorized why the State has taken on the logic of business and how a quantum leap in privatization has radically altered education. Gita Steiner-Khamsi is permanent faculty at Teachers College, Columbia University. In addition, she has been seconded by the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva as a faculty member and by NORRAG as the director. This FreshEd Live event was sponsored by NORRAG. www.freshedpodcast.com/gitalive email: info@freshedpodcast.com twitter: @freshedpodcast facebook: FreshEd

Today we kick off a mini-series on education and law. Intermittently, overly the next 8 months or so, we’ll be airing a collection of conversations with scholars affiliated with the Education Law Association. These shows will touch on timely legal and policy issues affecting education. For our first show in the education and law mini-series, I speak with Julie Mead about her new co-written report with Suzanne Eckes for the National Education Policy Center entitled: How school privatization opens the door for discrimination. In our conversation, we touch on a range of issues related to voucher programs and charter schools. Julie reminds listeners that the dictionary definition of discrimination is not the same as the legal definition. Julie Mead is the Associate Dean for Education and Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. She is a member of the Education Law Association. Julie Mead is the Associate Dean for Education and Profess

Today we look at US imperialism in Venezuela. For the past 20 years, since Hugo Chavez was elected in 1998 in what is known as the Bolivarian revolution, the US has attempted to overthrow a democratically elected government. The US has wanted to install a leader who supported its political and business interests. In January, the US tried again, thus time putting its full support behind Juan Guaido, a little known politician who became the self-described interim-president. But who is Juan Guaido and why was his rise nearly as fast as his fall? My guest today is Jorge Martin, the secretary of the Hands off Venezuela campaign and a leading member of the International Marxist Tendency. He has followed the Bolivarian revolution for nearly twenty years, visiting the country often where he has been involved in the revolutionary movement, particularly the workers' control and occupied factories experiences. In our conversation today, Jorge focuses on the many connections Juan Guaido has to various US institutions,

The UK is set to leave the EU on March 29, 2019. Will there be a delay? A hard exit? A people’s vote? With four days before the deadline, it is too unpredictable to tell with any certainty. In an effort to reflect on the Brexit process, today we re-air Will’s conversation with Susan Robertson about Brexit, which took place mere days after the vote on June 23, 2016. As we await the conclusion of the chaotic exit process, it is valuable to remember just what the discussion sounded like immediately after the UK voted to leave the EU. Susan Robertson is a Professor of Sociology of Education at the University of Cambridge. When I spoke with her in 2016, she worked for the University of Bristol. http://www.freshedpodcast.com/susanrobertson-brexit/ email: info@freshedpodcast.com twitter: @freshedpodcast

Today we dive into the nightmare that is the growing tide of fascism worldwide and the prospects and perils this nightmare holds for public education. My guest today is the renowned scholar, Henry Giroux. He has a new book entitled American Nightmare: Facing the challenge of Fascism, which will be published in May. Henry Giroux is the McMaster University Professor for Scholarship in the Public Interest and the Paulo Freire Distinguished Scholar in Critical Pedagogy. He has written over 60 books and is considered one of the top educational thinkers today.

Last week, the Trump administration invited university, higher education association, and private company officials to the White House to discuss international students and post-college work. At the time of this recording, we aren’t sure what exactly was said or decided. But in an effort to provide some background on international student experiences in American Higher Education, Jenny Lee is with me today to discuss the underlying U.S. political climate for international students and scholars. In our talk, Jenny discusses the rise in discrimination and hate crimes since Trump’s election and the presence of neo-racism on campuses. Jenny J. Lee is a Professor at the Center for the Study of Higher Education at the University of Arizona. She is currently a NAFSA Senior Fellow, Associate Editor of the Review of Higher Education, and Co-editor of the book series, Studies in Global Higher Education. Her latest piece can be found in the NAFSA newsletter, Trends and Insights. www.freshedpodcast.com/Lee email: inf

The University of Sussex was ranked the world’s best for development studies in the 2019 QS World University Rankings by subject. To celebrate, we re-air Mario Novelli's 2016 FreshEd interview. In that interview, Mario talked about the role of schools in the production of inequality. Mario not only details how modernity, capitalism, and colonialism combine to create systems of inequality inside school systems but also publicly struggles with his role in the production of inequality through his work in international educational development. Mario Novelli is Professor of the Political Economy of Education and Director of the Centre for International Education (CIE) at the University of Sussex. His latest article discussed in this podcast can be found in the most recent issue of the British Journal of the Sociology of Education. Citation: Novelli, Mario, Interview with Will Brehm, FreshEd, 41, September 12, 2016. Transcript, translation, and resources: http://www.freshedpodcast.com/marionovelli/

My guest today is Iveta Silova, Director of the Center for the Advanced Studies in Global Education at Arizona State University. Professor Silova has spent her career studying post-socialist education transformation processes. In today’s show she discusses some of her new work comparing Latvian textbooks before, during, and after Soviet occupation. http://www.freshedpodcast.com/ivetasilova/ Email: info@freshedpodcast.com Twitter: @freshedpodcast