The Unexamined Education

"There's nothing wrong with experimenting on children."

What else needs to be said? This is an actual quote from the episode. The best part of the episode is at the end when we get a glimpse of how th…

So apparently these guys have just given up on post production. The Mozart that once elevated this discourse just a tad, is gone and the whole program suffers for that omission. Moreover, it seems th…

This episode may have the listener thinking, "these guys are just contrarians." After all, who in his right mind, would question the value of catching a young person in the act of cheating. Is that n…

"After a long hiatus, Jon and Shaun finally return. Why were they gone so long? I assume it's because they burned out. Apparently not...maybe they were working on great improvements in the production…

Jon and Shaun take pot shots at the great tradition of pep rallies in schools. These fun-hating teachers go on and on about how difficult it is to stand amongst other people standing. Their complete …

Jon starts the episode by pointing out that Shaun keeps in touch with his former students but that he does not keep in touch with any. Shaun explains how social media works. Thanks Shaun. Jon confess…

Once again, our crew of two try their hands at a movie review. Sticking with the 80s, they watched Dead Poets Society. There's not much to say here except that Jon and Shaun miss the entire point of …

Jon and Shaun tell us that they are going to reflect on the interview with Dev Ojha. Shaun, as always, starts things off by thinking more highly of himself than is warranted. Shaun places himself in …

Well, these guys finally start to make sense. Clearly they recognize the problem with forcing a student through Shaun's English class, and they both seem to support this former student, Dev, who chos…

Jon and Shaun tease the audience with their imminent disagreement about unschooling. Jon takes an unschooling posture. Shaun defends the schools...but only if a person have sufficient privilege. Jon …

Shaun makes it almost seven whole minutes without entirely dismissing the premise of the discussion. Jon forces him into another 50 minutes of conversation anyway. Jon gives an anecdote that he claim…

Wow! These guys are going after Jaime Escalante now…not the actual person, but the character portrayed by Edward James Olmos in the great movie, Stand and Deliver. Of course, both of them used to lik…

In this episode, we didn't just learn about teaching; we learned about life...well, sort of.

Shaun realizes that he once was a clown. He seems to believe that he is no longer one. Jon fancied himself …

These two tormented souls try to mount a proper case for society emphasizing certain essential schooling, but within minutes of the start of the show, they refer to society at large as tyrannical and…

Shaun asks Jon why he chose to study English in college and explains how he came to deeply appreciate his own choice to study "English." They both then point out how they ruined that study of literat…

Jon and Shaun tell the story of what their lives were like as students and how they got into teaching, and why both of them left teaching only to return some years later with a more mature eye on the…