The Learning Curve

This week on The Learning Curve, Gerard and guest cohost Jay Greene discuss the history of modern China with Dr. Frank Dikötter, author of the People's Trilogy, a landmark study of the impact of Communism on the ordinary people of China. Dr. Dikötter discusses Chairman Mao Zedong, the Chinese Communist revolution, the Great Leap Forward, China's economic ascent under Deng Xiaoping, and the hard realities that the U.S. and the West must understand as they seek to engage with the rising economic and military power that is modern China. Prof. Dikötter closes the interview with a reading from his book, China After Mao: The Rise of a Superpower.

This week on The Learning Curve, Cara and guest cohost Jonathan Greenberg discuss the legacy of the Founding Fathers and the future of civics education with Lorraine Pangle, professor of political philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin. They discuss how Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and others were steeped in the classics and how ancient authors and thinkers, along with figures from the Enlightenment, helped shape America's Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and our nation's understanding of the role of public education as a wellspring of republican self-government. Prof. Pangle concludes with a reading from her book, The Learning of Liberty: The Educational Ideas of the American Founders.

In this special April Fools' Day edition of The Learning Curve, guest host Mark Bauerlein chats with Robert McCrum, the definitive biographer of the English comic genius P.G. Wodehouse, whose whimsical satires featuring the brilliant valet Reginald Jeeves and the daffy English gentleman Bertie Wooster have delighted generations of readers. They discuss Wodehouse's pitch-perfect sense of humor, inimitable prose style, and the gentle, much-needed humor he brought to Britain in the wake ofWorld War I and the 1918 flu epidemic. Mr. McCrum concludes the interview with a reading from his 2004 biography P.G. Wodehouse: A Life.

This week on The Learning Curve, cohosts Cara and Gerard speak with Ashley Soifer, Chief Innovation Officer of the National Microschooling Center. They discuss the rapid growth of these innovative schooling options, in which families and innovators are using a wide array of education choices that offer parents flexibility and greater control over how, where, what, and when their children learn. Soifer discusses how microschools predate the pandemic, saw rapid expansion during COVID-19, and are here to stay. She also touches on the role of technology in homeschooling, microschooling, and pod models, and how families, including many parents of color, are taking advantage of these exciting new approaches to K-12 education.

This week on The Learning Curve, Cara and Gerard speak with University of Virginia Professor Dan Willingham about cognitive psychology and K-12 education. Professor Willingham discusses the psychology of learning and the research that shaped his thinking and writing, including his advocacy of using scientific knowledge in classroom teaching and education policy and his critique of the “learning... Source

This week on The Learning Curve, guest cohosts Jay Greene and Mark Bauerlein interview renowned U.K. Oxford and ASU Shakespeare scholar Prof. Sir Jonathan Bate, discussing the timeless play Julius Caesar on the Ides of March. Sir Jonathan explains the Roman lessons for American constitutionalism, including warnings against the dangers of dictatorship and civil war. He explores the influence on... Source

This week on The Learning Curve, Cara and Gerard mark Women’s History Month with Lauren Redniss, author of Radioactive: Marie & Pierre Curie: A Tale of Love and Fallout, the first work of visual nonfiction to be named a finalist for the National Book Award. They explore how Redniss wove together artistic images, writing, reporting, science, and history to create a book that tells a story... Source

This week on The Learning Curve, Cara and Gerard talk with Rachel Silber Devlin about her memoir, Snapshots of My Father, John Silber, which captures the wide-ranging and remarkable life of the late philosopher, teacher, and president of Boston University. Devlin discusses how her father became known as a vigorous proponent of a traditional liberal arts education, improved the prestige and... Source

This week on The Learning Curve, Gerard and guest cohost Dr. Jay Greene interview Andreas Schleicher, Director for Education and Skills, and Special Advisor on Education Policy to the Secretary-General at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Paris, on understanding the links among education, skills, and innovation for students worldwide. Mr. Source

This week on The Learning Curve, Cara and Gerard interview Gurcharan Das, author, public intellectual, and former CEO of Procter & Gamble India. Mr. Das gives a short history of the rise of India since independence in 1947 to become a thriving, incredibly diverse nation of 1.4 billion people—the world’s largest free-market democracy. He explains how the economic reforms of 1991 removed the... Source