FreshEd

Are we heading towards another economic crisis? The stock market plunged last week; private debt is at an all-time high; speculative markets are on the rise; wealth remains concentrated at the top; and workers are stuck in precarious low-wage jobs. My guest today, William I. Robinson, says that the Transnational Capitalist Class is facing a crisis of over-accumulation. But what is to be done? Professor Robinson details the social movements that will be necessary to escape the rise of a global fascism. He sees the role of intellectuals as an important part of these broad social movements. William I. Robinson is a professor of sociology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He has written extensively on globalization, capitalism, and the transnational capitalist class. His latest opinion piece is entitled “The Next Economic Crisis? Digital Capitalism and Global Police State,” which was published on teleSUR, an alternative representation for world news. https://freshedpodcast.com/robinson/ -- Get in touch! Twitter: @FreshEdpodcast Facebook: FreshEd Email: info@freshedpodcast.com Support FreshEd: http://www.freshedpodcast.com/support/

School systems worldwide are struggling to figure out if, when, and how to re-open schools. Educational planning during a pandemic is no easy task, especially when there is little evidence that can be used to guide policy. My guest today is Karen Mundy, Professor of International and Comparative Education at the University of Toronto. She is a leading expert on education in the developing world and former Chief Technical Officer at the Global Partnership for Education, known as the GPE. I wanted to speak with Karen since part of her job at the GPE was to work through delicate planning issues with government and school officials worldwide. What advice would she give school planners today? https://freshedpodcast.com/karenmundy-2 -- Get in touch! Twitter: @FreshEdpodcast Facebook: FreshEd Email: info@freshedpodcast.com Support FreshEd: http://www.freshedpodcast.com/support/

What does citizenship education look like in a country affected by armed conflict and economic crises? My guest today, Bassel Akar, has closely examined citizenship and history education in Lebanon. Some of his research focuses on the ways in which teachers demonstrate their agency for curricular and pedagogical change through innovative approaches inside the classroom. Bassel Akar is Associate Professor of Education and Director of the Center for Applied Research in Education at Notre Dame University in Lebanon. Last year he published a book entitled Citizenship Education in conflict-affected areas: Lebanon and beyond. https://www.freshedpodcast.com/basselakar -- Get in touch! Twitter: @FreshEdpodcast Facebook: FreshEd Email: info@freshedpodcast.com Support FreshEd: http://www.freshedpodcast.com/support/

Can Sesame Street’s Big Bird help fight terrorism? And what does a children’s television show tell us about the challenges and paradoxes of multicultural education? My guest today is Naomi Moland, Professorial Lecturer at the American University in Washington D.C. In her new book, entitled Can Big Bird Fight Terrorism?, Naomi explores a children’s television show in conflict-affected Nigeria that “is designed to teach ethnic and religious tolerance and to build national unity.” Naomi uncovers lessons for multicultural education in general, which she speaks about in relation to the current pandemic and the protests against racism and colonialism that have recently spread to many countries worldwide. www.freshedpodcast.com/moland -- Get in touch! Twitter: @FreshEdpodcast Facebook: FreshEd Email: info@freshedpodcast.com Support FreshEd: www.freshedpodcast.com/support/ financingELAUSAlawrightsvortingcourtsno child left behind

It takes about 15 minutes to drive from Edgewood to Alamo Heights in San Antonio, Texas. Yet the schools in each neighborhood are worlds apart. The student body at Alamo is roughly 52 percent white and 40 percent Hispanic. Only about 20 percent of students are classified as economically disadvantaged. At Edgewood, less than 1 percent of students are white and 97 percent are Hispanic. Nearly 95 percent of students are considered economically disadvantaged. Over 50 years ago, similar school disparities promoted parents in Edgewood to file a court case seeking equality in educational financing. The case would work its way up to the Supreme Court in what is known as San Antonia Independent School District v. Rodriguez. Considered one of the worst Supreme Court rulings since 1960, Rodriquez has withstood various challenges over the years. My guests today, Mark Paige and Bruce Meredith, argue it’s time to find new paths to create educational equality. Mark Paige is a professor of public policy at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth and Bruce Meredith is the former General Counsel to the National Education Association Wisconsin Affiliate. Their article “Reversing Rodriquez: A siren call to a dangerous shoal” will be published in the University of Houston Law Review later this year. https://www.freshedpodcast.com/markpaige-brucemeredith -- Get in touch! Twitter: @FreshEdpodcast Facebook: FreshEd Email: info@freshedpodcast.com Support FreshEd: http://www.freshedpodcast.com/support/

In our fast-changing word, how should we think about curriculum? For what macro competencies should education aim? And has the COVID-19 pandemic revealed any failures in our education systems worldwide? These are difficult questions to answer and dependent on context. To help make sense of these questions, UNESCO’s International Bureau of Education has recently published a set of normative documents to help guide the future of curriculum in the 21st Century. Today Dr. Mmantsetsa Marope, the Director of the International Bureau of Education, joins me to talk about a competence-based curriculum that can support the attainment of the Education 2030 agenda. Dr. Marope has extensive experience in education, including 11 years as a university professor, 10 years at the World Bank, and 11 years in the United Nations. https://www.freshedpodcast.com/mmantsetsamarope -- Get in touch! Twitter: @FreshEdpodcast Facebook: FreshEd Email: info@freshedpodcast.com Support FreshEd: http://www.freshedpodcast.com/support/

The COVID-19 pandemic has upended higher education internationalization. Many universities are worried the pandemic will cause a huge drop in international student enrollment and their associated fees, which account for a large part of many university budgets. My guest today, Kalyani Unkule, says the pandemic is an opportunity to re-think internationalization away from the short-term financial interests and homogenizing discourse of World-Class Universities towards an embrace of other ways of knowing where intercultural dialogue is possible. Kalyani Unkule is Associate Professor and Director of International Affairs and Global Initiatives at O.P. Jindal Global University, India, where she teaches international relations while researching and practicing higher education internationalization. She recently published Internationalizing the University: A Spiritual Approach. https://www.freshedpodcast.com/kalyaniunkule/ ‎ -- Get in touch! Twitter: @FreshEdpodcast Facebook: FreshEd Email: info@freshedpodcast.com Support FreshEd: http://www.freshedpodcast.com/support/

The Minneapolis police officer who knelled on the neck of George Floyd and killed him was training new recruits. One of the trainees was on his third day on the job. That got me thinking: How are police trained? What type of education do police officers receive? And are there any connections between type and quality of education and training to the excessive police force so common in black communities? My guest today is Gary Cordner, a retired professor and dean, former police officer and former police chief. Most recently he served as Chief Research Advisor for the National Institute of Justice in the U.S. Department of Justice. He has actively studied and written about community policing, police administration, police agency accreditation, and police education. We spoke last week on a range of issues including structural racism and the prospects of defunding the police. https://www.freshedpodcast.com/garycordner/ ‎ -- Get in touch! Twitter: @FreshEdpodcast Facebook: FreshEd Email: info@freshedpodcast.com Support FreshEd: http://www.freshedpodcast.com/support/

The murder of George Floyd has ignited a global outcry against racism and police violence. How can we understand the meaning of George Floyd while not forgetting Sean Bell, Oscar Grant, Kelly Thomas, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Laguan McDonald, Antown Rose II, and Ahmaud Arbery to name just a few Americans killed for the color of their skin? To help process the protests and riots, racism and police violence, I’ve invited back on the show my friend Tio Hardiman. We met in Chicago last year after I watched The Interrupters, a documentary that details his organization and its work trying to stop violence on the front end. Tio Hardiman is president and founder of Violence Interrupters, Incorporated and an Adjunct Professor of Criminal Justice. He was active in the 2015 Chicago protests after Laquan McDonald was killed by a police officer and has been active in the recent protests since George Floyd's death. www.freshedpodcast.com/tiohardiman-2/ -- Get in touch! Twitter: ＠FreshEdPodcast Facebook: FreshEd Email: info@freshedpodcast.com

Protests over the murder of George Floyd have erupted across the United States. Police have responded with acts of violence caught on camera and spread across social media. What we are witnessing seems to be a confluence of centuries of systemic racism and injustice with the frustration towards the government in action during this pandemic. I think it is important to think through some of these issues, so I wanted to replay an episode I recorded last summer in Chicago with Tio Hardiman. He and I talked about the ways of interrupting violence and the impacts, violence has on children and schools. www.freshedpodcast.com/tiohardiman/ -- Get in touch! Twitter: @FreshEdpodcast Facebook: FreshEd Email: info@freshedpodcast.com