Mackenzie Price Transforms Education with AI and Oren Cass on Tariffs and Trade Strategy

This week on Breaking Battlegrounds, Sean Noble of Light Beer Dark Money and Kiley Kipper of Kiley’s Corner are joined by two influential voices in their fields. Mackenzie Price, education innovator and founder of Alpha Schools, shares how her revolutionary two-hour school model leverages AI to deliver personalized, mastery-based learning while giving students back time to build life skills, explore creativity, and pursue purpose. Then, economist and American Compass founder Oren Cass joins to unpack Trump’s tariffs, how China’s authoritarian economic practices undermine true free market trade, and why rebuilding America’s manufacturing base is essential to our future prosperity and national security. And in Kiley’s Corner, Kiley shares the heartbreaking story of Eli Heacock, a 16-year-old who took his life after being targeted by an online predator using AI-generated sextortion, an urgent reminder of the dangers facing teens online in the digital age. Stream now!

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About our guest:

A Stanford graduate in Psychology, MacKenzie Price always knew that education needed revolution, but when her daughters told her that school was boring, she knew that the time for a change was now.And that is why she created the 2 Hour Learning model, empowering students to crush core academics in just two hours a day and giving them the gift of four hours to pursue their passions while mastering life skills.Starting with the first Alpha School, MacKenzie’s vision became a reality. Students score in the top 1-2% nationally, and over 90% said they love going to school. This success led to the expansion of Alpha Schools across multiple cities – Miami, Brownsville, and counting. Her model is also used at Alpha High, Sports Academy, NextGen Academy, and GT School, changing the educational landscape for hundreds of students.MacKenzie also hosts the Future of Education podcast and YouTube channel, discussing AI’s role in education and how students can align their passions with their skills for personal and academic growth, amongst other topics. As a member of the Forbes Technology Council, she continues to drive discussions on innovative education.MacKenzie lives in Austin, Texas with her family and aims to make 2 Hour Learning a global phenomenon. Follow her on X @mackenzieprice.

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Oren Cass is the founder and chief economist of American Compass and editor of the forthcoming The New Conservatives: Restoring America’s Commitment to Family, Community, and Industry (June 3, 2025). He is a contributing opinion writer for the Financial Times and the New York Times. His 2018 book, The Once and Future Worker: A Vision for the Renewal of Work in America has been called “absolutely brilliant” by New York Times columnist David Brooks and “A brilliant book. And among the most important I’ve ever read” by Vice President JD Vance.From 2005 to 2015, Oren worked as a management consultant in Bain & Company’s Boston and Delhi offices. During this period, he also earned his J.D. magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, where he was elected vice president and treasurer of the Harvard Law Review and oversaw the journal’s budget and operations. While still in law school, Oren also became Domestic Policy Director for Governor Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign, editing and producing the campaign’s “jobs book” and developing its domestic policy strategy, proposals, and research. He joined the Manhattan Institute as a senior fellow in 2015 and became a prolific scholar, publishing more than 15 reports for MI and editing its popular “Issues 2016” and “Issues 2020” series, testifying before seven congressional committees and speaking on dozens of college campuses. He founded American Compass at the start of 2020. Follow him on X @oren_cass.