Take Back Our Schools: Recent Episodes
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Take Back Our Schools puts you on the front lines of the culture wars as Andrew Gutmann and Beth Feeley explore the increasing politicalization of our schools and universities and just what to do about it.
Beth and Andrew speak with author, professor and conservative commentor Wilfred Reilly about his recently published book, Lies My Liberal Teacher Told Me, which sets the record straight on a variety of topics that are mistaught in our nation’s schools.
Reilly discusses the real history of slavery and the truth about colonialism around the world. We also talk about how our education system and history curricula became so politicized and we discuss whether a backlash to politicized history and woke ideology is causing a voter realignment among young people.
Wilfred Reilly is a tenure-track professor of political science at Kentucky State University. His interests include international relations, contemporary American race relations, and the use of modern quantitative/empirical methods to test "sacred cow" theories. He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from Southern Illinois University and a J.D. from the University of Illinois College of Law.
On this episode, Andrew and Beth speak with Kim Russell, an activist for preserving girls’ and women’s sports.
Russell shares her story about what attracted her to take the position of the Women’s Lacrosse Coach at Oberlin College, a notoriously left-leading college and how a social media post on trans swimmer Lia Thomas led to her removal from that position. She talks about the culture of fear on campus on speaking out about protecting the sanctity of women’s sports.
Russell also talks about how the feminist movement has been turned on its head, as well as the epidemic of anxiety, mental illness and depression amongst college age young women.
Since being removed from het position in September of 2023, Russell has been spending most of her time traveling around the country advocating for girls and women in sport and the Women’s Bill of Rights with the Independent Women’s Forum. She testified in front of Congress about the importance of Title IX in December and most recently was part of a Title IX Senate Roundtable. She is on the Board of the US Virgin Islands Lacrosse Association and is their Director of National Teams and 1st ever Women’s Lacrosse Head Coach.
Andrew and Beth speak with education activist Erika Sanzi about the Biden administration’s recently released new Title IX Rules. Sanzi gives us a brief overview of the history of the legislation and illustrates how the rules changed dramatically under the Obama administration and then the Trump administration. And now Biden’s new rules bring back kangaroo courts and eliminate due process on college campuses for students accused of sexual harassment. She also talks about how the new rules compel speech and likely violate the First Amendment. Sanzi also explains how the rules make gender a protected class which will inevitably lead to the destruction of girls’ and women’s sports.
Finally, we discuss what her organization, Parents Defending Education, is doing to combat Biden’s new rules, and shares her view on why Congress has been absent in this fight.
Erika Sanzi is the Director of Outreach at Parents Defending Education. She is a former educator and elected school board member and currently serves on the board of advisors for The Boys Initiative. She is the mother of three teenage sons.
Beth and Andrew speak with researcher Mia Hughes, author of the WPATH report that exposed the insanity of transgender medicine worldwide. Hughes gives us an overview of the organization, World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) and explains why they became so influential globally on transgender issues. She discusses some of the key findings of her report including the lack of informed consent, and the immense damage caused to children by cross-sex hormones and body mutilating surgeries.
Mia Hughes is an Ottawa-based British journalist and researcher for Michael Shellenberger's nonprofit Environmental Progress. Hughes has three children and before becoming a journalist she was a stay-at-home mother.
Beth and Andrew speak with parent activist Alexandra Frank, who shares her own story about what led her to become an "accidental activist," having experienced the ideological capture of her twin daughters’ private school in Pennsylvania and then experiencing the same thing at their new public school in Massachusetts.
She talks about the inappropriate sexual material being taught to elementary school aged children, about segregating affinity groups, and the influence of radical gender ideology. Frank also discusses how schools’ focus on leftist ideology has led to the deterioration of traditional academics.
Alexandra Frank grew up in Colorado Springs, Colorado, graduated from Colgate University with a major in biochemistry and North Carolina State College of Veterinary Medicine with her veterinary degree after which she completed a rotating internship in small animal medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. She has worked in various roles as a clinician in the veterinary medical field in Delaware, Pennsylvania and currently, Massachusetts. She is mother to 11 year old fraternal twin girls and is the creator of the website www.dsfactsandresources.com about the Dover Sherborn school district in Massachusetts.
On this episode, Beth and Andrew speak with author Coleman Hughes about his new book, The End of Race Politics. Hughes talks about race was never an issue growing up and then first experiencing the divisive obsession with race politics as a student at Columbia University. We discuss how the civil rights movement’s dream of colorblindness turned into today’s leftist belief in neoracism and DEI. Hughes also explains how the academic studies behind the idea of implicit bias are bunk.
Coleman Cruz Hughes is a writer and host of the popular "Conversations with Coleman" podcast. He was a fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research and is a contributor at The Free Press and a graduate of Columbia University.
On this episode, Andrew and Beth speak with Free Press reporter Francesca Block. We discuss her recent reporting on the blatant antisemitism and leftist ideological capture of K-12 schools, specifically in a post October 7th world. Block talks about her articles which reports on how BLM materials are used in some New York City public schools, and how one school literally wiped Israel off the map being used to teach students.
We also talk about another recent piece of hers which reports on whether we will see a political realignment of progressive Jews, and her interview with Civil Rights leader Clarence Jones, co-author of Martin Luther King Jr’s I have a Dream Speech.
Block also shares what led her to a career in journalism and talks about the institutional contempt for free speech and open discourse that she experienced as a student at Princeton.
Francesca Block is a reporter for The Free Press. She started her career as a breaking news reporter for the Des Moines Register, where she reported on topics ranging from crime and public safety to food insecurity and the Iowa caucus. She graduated from Princeton University in 2022.
On this episode Andrew and Beth speak with James Fishback, founder of Incubate Debate.
Fishback discusses how high school debate tournaments went woke in recent years and illustrates the National Speech and Debate Association’s extreme liberal bias. He shares stories of how judges are ideologically motivated and either won’t allow certain positions to be debated or dock points for non-leftist opinions.
He also talks about his recent piece for The Free Press, entitled, “The Truth About Banned Books” where he exposed the severe ideological asymmetries in school libraries around the country.
James Fishback is the founder and executive director of Incubate Debate, a no-cost high school debate league that champions merit, civility, and open debate. Incubate Debate is the fastest-growing debate league in America, having tripled the students it serves in the past year. Fishback is a former high school debate national champion, having competed 2009-2013 at Boyd H. Anderson High School in South Florida. He studied International Economics at Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service.
After a short hiatus, we are back with Take Back Our Schools. Welcome Back!
On this episode, Beth and Andrew speak with the powerhouse father-son team of Shelby and Eli Steele about race relations in America. Both Shelby and Eli share their views on the recent Claudine Gay affair at Harvard University and give their opinions on whether this event marks a turning point in the fight against the diversity, equity and inclusion regime. Shelby talks about his own upbringing and his family’s experience in the Civil Rights movement and remarks upon why the Civil Rights movement went wrong. He talks about how the idea of “white guilt” plays a prominent role in today’s obsession with identity. Shelby also shares his strong views on the similarities between how victimhood is used by race hustlers in the black community and with the ongoing events in Israel and with Hamas. Eli talks about why he, as a part black, part Jewish and hearing impaired man, thoroughly rejects identity politics and victimhood. Eli also discusses the documentary he is currently making with his father, “White Guilt.”
Shelby Steele is the Robert J. and Marion E. Oster Senior Fellow (adjunct) at the Hoover Institution. He specializes in the study of race relations, multiculturalism, and affirmative action. He has written widely on race in American society and the consequences of contemporary social programs on race relations. Shelby received the National Book Critic's Circle Award in 1990 in the general nonfiction category for his book The Content of Our Character: A New Vision of Race in America (HarperCollins, 1998). Other books by Steele include Shame: How America's Past Sins Have Polarized Our Country (Basic Books, 2015), A Bound Man: Why We Are Excited About Obama and Why He Can't Win (Free Press, 2007), White Guilt: How Blacks and Whites Together Destroyed the Promise of the Civil Rights Era (HarperCollins, 2006) and A Dream Deferred: The Second Betrayal of Black Freedom in America (HarperCollins, 1998). Shelby is also a member of the National Association of Scholars, the national board of the American Academy for Liberal Education, the University Accreditation Association, and the national board at the Center for the New American Community at the Manhattan Institute.
Eli Steele is an award-winning filmmaker and “What Killed Michael Brown?” marked his first professional collaboration with his father, Shelby Steele. A graduate of Claremont McKenna College and Pepperdine University's School of Public Policy, Steele’s career highlights include “How Jack Became Black,” “What’s Bugging Seth,” winner of ten film festivals, and “Katrina,” an MTV Network pilot which won him the Breakthrough Filmmakers Award. Steele has written for publications ranging from LA Times to Commentary Magazine.
A transcript of this program can be downloaded here.
This week Beth and Andrew speak with Maragret Busse, Executive Director of Utah’s Department of Commerce.
Busse talks about Utah’s lawsuits against Tik Tok and Meta for the harms social media platforms are causing children. We discuss these harms and the algorithms that social media platforms use to hook children. She shares her views on the possible remedies of these lawsuits, and the state’s new proposed rules for social media including age verification and parental consent. We also talk about the role of parents in limiting social media use for their own kids.
Margaret Woolley Busse was appointed the Executive Director of Utah’s Department of Commerce in January 2021 by Governor Spencer Cox. Under her leadership, the Department published proposed rules for age verification and parental consent in order to operationalize Utah's groundbreaking new social media law, which the department is charged with enforcing beginning March 2023.
Busse holds an MBA from Harvard University, a master’s degree in Public Policy from Brigham Young University and a bachelor’s degree in both Public Policy and Economics from Brigham Young University, where she graduated cum laude and with university honors. She is a Utah native and has five children, ages 10 to 20.
Jamie Reed is a gay woman, a parent of five children and is married to a transgender man. So, what led her to publicly pull back the curtain on what was happening at the Pediatric Transgender Center at Washington University in St. Louis, MO and to talk of the immense harms being done to children, especially young girls?
We discuss the reasons for the explosion of transgender cases we’ve seen in America over recent years, including the role of schools, social media, and healthcare economics. Reed also talks about how being a whistleblower has impacted her own life, and her current advocacy work on behalf of children.
Jamie Reed is currently an organizer with the LGBT Courage Coalition, working to end medical transition in children and adolescents.
Beth and Andrew speak with author Alexandra Hudson about her recently published book, The Soul of Civility. She discusses the difference between politeness and civility, and shares her opinion on where today’s uncivil society stands in relation to other eras in history. We talk about the role that social media plays in modeling uncivil behavior and Hudson shares tips for how both parents and children can create a more civil world.
Alexandra Hudson is a writer, popular speaker, and the founder of Civic Renaissance, a publication and intellectual community dedicated to beauty, goodness, and truth. She was named the 2020 Novak Journalism Fellow and contributes to Fox News, CBS News, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, TIME Magazine, POLITICO Magazine, and Newsweek.
She earned a master's degree in public policy from the London School of Economics as a Rotary Scholar and is an adjunct professor at the Indiana University Lilly School of Philanthropy. She is also the creator of a series for The Teaching Company called "Storytelling and The Human Condition."
On this episode, Andrew and Beth speak with Dr. Brandy Shufutinsky of the Jewish Institute for Liberal Values. Shufutinsky shares her views on the atrocities committed by Hamas in Israel and on the antisemitism we are seeing in the United States. We discuss the roots of that antisemitism on college campuses and in K-12 schools.
Ethnic Studies curricula first developed in the state of California, says Shufutinsky, has led to a generation of anti-Israel and antisemitic students. We also discuss whether or not recent events will be a wake-up call for American Jews to reconsider their allegiance to the Democratic party.
Dr. Brandy Shufutinsky is Director of Education and Community Engagement for the Jewish Institute for Liberal Values. She is also a social worker, writer, researcher, and advocate. She has worked towards advancing the rights of victims and survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault through her practice, education, and research.
Andrew speaks with author, filmmaker and former gymnast, Jennifer Sey, who tells her story of being forced out of her very prominent position at Levi Strauss & Co. for her outspoken advocacy of children during the Covid pandemic. We discuss the damage that society inflicted on children due to oppressive restrictions, and how those restrictions have led to mental health issues and unprecedented learning loss, and her upcoming documentary film on the subject, “Generation Covid.”
Once a proud progressive, Sey talks about how the last few years have changed her politics and about her disillusionment with progressivism, and how progressive policies have helped destroy her longtime hometown of San Franciso. She also shares stories about her gymnastic career and reveals if she has any regrets about the physical and mental toll that world-class gymnastics took on her.
Jennifer Sey is an American author, filmmaker, business executive and retired artistic gymnast. She was the 1986 USA Gymnastics National Champion, and a 7-time member of the U.S. Women’s National Team. Sey’s first memoir, "Chalked Up," was released in 2008 and detailed the coaching cruelty inflicted on children in the sport of gymnastics. She also produced the 2020 Emmy award-winning documentary film, "Athlete A," which connected the crimes of Larry Nassar to broader abuses in the Olympic movement. Sey began working at Levi Strauss & Co. in 1999, rising to Chief Marketing Officer and then Global Brand President. In January 2022, she was asked to resign because of her public opposition to the extended closure of San Francisco’s public schools. Her most recent memoir, “Levi’s Unbuttoned,” tells the inspirational story of her corporate career, search for authenticity, and ultimate refusal to bow to the mob who sought to silence her. She is a mother of four, and now resides in Denver with her family.
On this episode Andrew and Beth speak with author Peachy Keenan about her book, Domestic Extremist – A Practical Guide to Winning the Culture War.
Keenan speaks of her own conversion from “secular nothingness” and liberal feminism as a young woman to Catholicism and traditional values as a mother and wife. We talk about the role of feminism in our culture and the difference between boys and girls and she shares some of her tips for other parents for raising children with traditional values and for winning back the culture war.
"Peachy Keenan" is the pseudonym for a writer and mother who lives in Southern California. She gave up a career writing for corporate behemoths so she could devote herself to her family, post on Twitter, and write. She is a contributing editor and regular essayist for The American Mind, a publication of The Claremont Institute.
Beth and Andrew speak with author and freedom advocate Connor Boyack.
Boyack talks about the need for parents to educate their children on the principles of freedom, a subject matter that children are not learning in their schools. We discuss his book series, The Tuttle Twins, and how it helps teach both children and their parents about free markets, liberty and American history. He also previews two upcoming additions to the series, including one detailing some of history’s most notorious villains.
Boyack also speaks about the story he recently broke that went viral about a 12 year old boy in Colorado who was removed from class for having a Gadsden (“Don’t Tread On Me”) flag patch on his backpack.
Connor Boyack is founder and president of Libertas Institute, an award-winning free market think tank. Named one of Utah's most politically influential people by The Salt Lake Tribune, Boyack's leadership has led to changing over 100 laws covering a wide range of areas such as privacy, government transparency, property rights, drug policy, education, personal freedom, and more.
Beth and Andrew speak with educator Donique Rolle on this week's episode. Rolle tells her story of what led her to become a teacher of African American history and how she realized that her our own college courses in African American studies were highly politicized. She explains the difference between African American history courses which focus on truth, facts and research, and African American studies courses which views history through a victim-based ideology.
She also shares her views about the recent controversy of the state of Florida rejecting the AP African American Studies curriculum for high school students.
Donique Rolle is an experienced educator in Florida with a 17-year career. For four years, she taught African American History in a predominantly Black public high school. Currently, Rolle teaches Learning Strategies and trains other educators on incorporating Black History into their curriculum and implementing effective teaching practices. Her commitment to empowering students and promoting inclusivity has made her a respected figure in education. Rolle is also the Executive Director of Putting the Pieces Together, a non-profit organization for special needs families.
On this episode Andrew speaks with Loudoun County (VA) parent activist Ian Prior about how his local school system became the epicenter of the national parent’s movement in 2021, leading to the surprise election of Glenn Youngkin as governor.
Prior shares stories from contentious school board meetings that got national media coverage, including the story of father Scott Smith, whose daughter was sexually assaulted in a school bathroom as a direct result of the Board’s transgender bathroom policies.
We also discuss why the movement is dominated by "Mama Bears" and why there aren’t more dads involved, and where the parent’s movement goes from here.
Ian Prior is senior advisor at America First Legal and founder and executive director of the organization, Fight for Schools. He is the author of the recently published, “Parents of the World Unite: How to Save Our Schools From the Left’s Radical Agenda.” Prior is featured often on Fox News and other media outlets.
Andrew and Beth speak with education analyst, Tom Kelly who talks about his work with the Jack Miller Center advocating for civics education in K-12 schools. We discuss the appalling results of the recently released assessment of eighth-grade students on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) where only 14 percent of students scored proficient in US history and 22 percent in civics.
Kelly also explains the difference between traditional civics education focused on America’s founding documents and the structure of American government and “action civics” being taught in public schools and favored by the national teachers unions which focuses on civic engagement and social justice issues.
Thomas Kelly oversees all K-12 civic education efforts for the Jack Miller Center (JMC) through its Founding Civics Initiative. Since 2016, Tom has grown JMC’s K-12 civics programming from 2 to more than 130 programs in ten states with a network of nearly 2,000 teachers. Tom’s articles on civic education have appeared in Newsweek, The Hill, National Review, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and RealClear Public Affairs. He received an A.B. from the University of Chicago in international studies and a J.D. from the University of Notre Dame.
This week Beth and Andrew speak with journalist and author Lisa Selin Davis, who shares how she, as a self-described liberal, started being interested in writing about gender and social justice ideology. We talk about her recent expose in The Free Press, “How Therapists Became Social Justice Warriors” and Davis shares her research on how the fields of psychology and psychiatry have been co-opted by critical social justice, and the role that feminization has played in these trends.
Davis also talks about how her NY Times op-ed, “My daughter is not transgender: She’s a Tomboy” led to her prominent writing about the rise of transgenderism. We also discuss the state of the hyper-polarized media and the deterioration of journalist integrity in recent years.
Lisa Selin Davis is the author of the nonfiction books TOMBOY: The Surprising History and Future of Girls Who Dare to Be Different, and the forthcoming HOUSEWIFE: Why Women Still Do It All (and What to Do Instead). She writes the Substack newsletter BROADview, and is at work on a book about the youth gender culture war.
Beth and Andrew speak with educator, political scientist, and author, Rick Hess, who shares his views on whether we can reform our country’s failing K-12 education system.
We discuss the appalling results of our public schools in teaching kids reading, math, history and civics, and how they have declined even more since the covid pandemic. Hess talks about how progressive ideology has taken over the education establishment including graduate schools of education and shares his opinions on what we can do to potentially reform the education system and why he is newly optimistic given the rise of the parent’s movement in the post-covid years as a force for change.
Frederick M. Hess is a senior fellow and the director of Education Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where he works on K–12 and higher education issues. The author of Education Week’s popular blog “Rick Hess Straight Up,” Dr. Hess is also an executive editor of Education Next and a senior contributor to Forbes. He is the founder and chairman of AEI’s Conservative Education Reform Network.
Dr. Hess started his career as a high school social studies teacher and has since taught at colleges including Rice, Harvard, Georgetown, and the University of Virginia. His books include "Spinning Wheels,” “Letters to a Young Education Reformer," "Cage-Busting Leadership," “A Search for Common Ground,” and “The Great School Rethink.”
Beth and Andrew speak with psychologist J. Michael Bailey, Professor in the Department of Psychology at Northwestern University.
Bailey speaks about his more than three decades of research on gender dysphoria, transsexualism and sexual orientation. He also shares his views on the recent explosion of gender dysphoria amongst young people, especially adolescent girls, and whether it is indeed a social contagion. We also discuss his recent experience having his research on Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria (ROGD) retracted and being censored by the trans activist movement, about which he recently wrote in Bari Weiss’s The Free Press.
Michael Bailey obtained his PhD from the University of Texas, Austin in 1989. His research has primarily focused on the causes and expression of male and female sexual orientation, broadly construed, including correlated traits such as gender nonconformity and dysphoria. He is the author of the 2003 book The Man Who Would Be Queen, which presaged controversy about transgenderism.
On this episode Beth and Andrew speak with Civil Rights Commissioner, Peter Kirsanow, who discusses his background and talks about his four terms on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and its growing political polarization.
We also discuss the Supreme Court’s recent decisions overturning affirmative action, including how it might affect the private sector. Kirsanow shares other controversial issues that are being brought to the civil rights commission, including transgender issues and the sexualization of children.
Peter Kirsanow was recently reappointed by the Majority Leader of the House of Representatives to his fourth consecutive six-year term on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. He is a partner with the Cleveland law firm of Benesch, Friedlander, Coplan, and Aronoff LLP in the Labor and Employment Practice Group and has testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on the nominations of John Roberts, Samuel Alito, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court.
He continues to testify before and advise members of the U.S. Congress on employment law matters, most recently on November 18 before the House Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight regarding disparate impact theory. Kirsanow is also past chair of the board of directors of the Center for New Black Leadership.
On this episode Andrew and Beth interview noted author Heather Mac Donald. She was the first to write about elite K-12 private schools being taken over by an obsession with race and identity nearly 20 years before the events of 2020 and the start of the parent’s movement. We also discuss her recently published book, When Race Trumps Merit: How the Pursuit of Equity Sacrifices Excellence, Destroys Beauty and Threatens Lives.
Mac Donald talks about how the concept of “disparate impact” and how it is corrupting our science and our medical system, our cultural institutions, and our criminal justice system, all with disastrous consequences for American and for western civilization.
Heather Mac Donald is the Thomas W. Smith Fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a contributing editor at City Journal, and the 2005 recipient of the Bradley Prize. Her work has covered a range of topics, from higher education and immigration to policing and race relations. She is the author of several critically acclaimed books, including The Diversity Delusion and the New York Times bestseller The War on Cops.
Beth and Andrew welcome in Paul Zimmerman of the Defense of Freedom Institute about his recently released report, “Catching the Trash: Holding Teacher Unions, School Districts, and the U.S. Department of Education Accountable for the Epidemic of Sexual Abuse in Public Schools.”
Zimmerman details the alarming rise in reported sexual abuse cases by teachers in public schools in recent years and explains how abusive teachers are allowed to remain in classrooms, being passed from one school district to another without parent’s having any knowledge of the teachers’ history of misconduct. We also discuss the teachers unions role in protecting abusive teachers and Zimmerman walks us through what kind of local, state and federal legislation can help put an end to the these shocking and appalling trends of sexual abuse in our nation’s public schools.
Paul Zimmerman serves as Policy Counsel at the Defense of Freedom Institute, where he leads the organization's Teacher Union Accountability Project and contributes to its legal and oversight efforts. Prior to joining DFI, Zimmerman was Counsel at the U.S. Department of Commerce, where he coordinated agency responses to requests from oversight entities, consulted on legal privileges in the context of litigation and Freedom of Information Act requests, and prepared senior personnel for testimony before congressional committees. He also worked for over a decade in multiple roles at the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies.
Andrew and Beth welcome back school choice evangelist, Corey DeAngelis who updates us on the progress the school choice movement has made in the past year, and takes us on a state by state tour of who has passed “fund students not schools” legislation.
Corey explains how teachers unions are typically the barrier to passing school choice bills despite the fact that school choice is overwhelming popular with Americans, both Democrats and Republicans. We also discuss Corey’s new book, Medocrity: 40 Ways Government Schools are Failing Today’s Students, and Corey shares some of the findings of his research on why America’s public schools are performing so poorly.
Corey DeAngelis is a senior fellow at the American Federation for Children. He is also the executive director at Educational Freedom Institute, an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute, a senior fellow at Reason Foundation, and a board member at Liberty Justice Center. He was named on the Forbes 30 under 30 list for his work on education policy and received the Buckley Award from America's Future in 2020. DeAngelis has authored or coauthored over 40 journal articles, book chapters, and reports on education policy, and he is the coeditor of School Choice Myths: Setting the Record Straight on Education Freedom and co-author of the recently published, Mediocrity: 40 Ways Government Schools Are Failing Today's Students.
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Every week on Take Back Our Schools we tackle the culture of illiberalism that has permeated our education system. With teachers and administrators now involving themselves with medical decisions and parents' rights to control the care students get, this week we speak with physician and healthcare policy advocate Carrie Mendoza, MD.
Dr. Mendoza discusses how the culture has changed our medical system, especially after the events of 2020. She also explains how the “administrative state” within the healthcare system has worked to diminish the voices of doctors in favor of bureaucrats, beginning with the rise of Medicare and Medicaid and accelerated after the adoption of Obamacare. Mendoza shares her views on why so many doctors are fearful to speak up, especially on controversial issues such as gender dysphoria and transitioning children and also issues a warning on how lowering standards for medical schools will significantly impact medical care in the future.
Carrie Mendoza has spend over 20 years practicing emergency medicine in rural, suburban, and urban hospitals treating snakebites to gun shot wounds to 1000s of Covid-19 patients. She is a medical technology inventor with two patents for an Emergency Department communications app. The doctor is also a healthcare policy advocate and social entrepreneur with the non-profit The Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism (FAIR) where she is the Director of FAIR in Medicine.
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Beth and Andrew speak with education innovator and author Ray Ravaglia about what lead to his founding of the Stanford Online High School back in 2007, and the challenges of using technology to create a robust online school for gifted and talented students.
Ravaglia discusses how online learning has changed over the past several decades, and especially since the Covid years. We delve into his current work at the organization, Opportunity Education, and how technology can be used in the classroom to successfully track student learning and engagement. We also talk about the pros and cons of the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and ChatGPT in education.
Ray Ravaglia is the author of two books, numerous articles, and has produced over 100 online courses.
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Education analyst Max Eden joins Andrew and Beth for a wide-ranging discussion on the issues facing today's eductaion system. Eden describes what led to him to a career studying education policy and we discuss his explosive and bestselling book about the Parkland school shooting, which concluded that progressive “restorative justice” policies in the school led to the horrific incident.
Eden also gives us an update on the Biden administrations proposed changes to Title IX rules and their impact on girls sports. We also discuss what states like Florida are doing to combat progressive ideology in public schools and we talk about the rapidly growing movement for school choice.
Max Eden is a research fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where he focuses on education reform, specifically K–12 and early childhood education, and was previously a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. Max is the coauthor of the bestseller “Why Meadow Died: The People and Policies That Created the Parkland Shooter and Endanger America’s Students” and the coeditor of “The Every Student Succeeds Act: What It Means for Schools, Systems, and States.” Eden has testified about school violence before Congress and about the “school-to-prison pipeline” before the US Commission on Civil Rights.
On this episode, Andrew and Beth speak with comedian and diversity trainer, Karith Foster.
Foster shares her views on what is wrong about the way diversity training is done in schools and corporations and talks about her own methodology for DEI trainings, which she calls “inversity.” She explains how comedy can be used in a productive way to bring people together, rather than divide them, as happens in typical DEI trainings. We also discuss the state of comedy in today’s climate of hypersensitivity and cancel culture.
Besides her standup work, Foster is the CEO of Inversity Solutions & Funder of F.R.A.M.E., the Foster Russell Family Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization which is committed to inspiring free speech, social change and empowerment through education and mentorship.
This week Beth and Andrew speak with geophysicist Dorian Abbot, an outspoken activist for academic freedom. Abbot discusses his views on the state of free speech and academic freedom in elite universities in the United States and talks about his own high profile experience of being cancelled from a speech he was supposed to give at MIT because of his outspoken activism against the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) regime.
Abbot also shares his scientific views on climate change and whether there is life on other planets.
Dorian Abbot is an associate professor in the Department of the Geophysical Sciences at the University of Chicago.Dorian is also a member of the Council of the Faculty Senate at the University of Chicago, a co-founder of the faculty group UChicago Free, a foundingmember of the Academic Freedom Alliance, and a co-founder and moderator of The Heterodox Academy STEM Community (HxSTEM). He has written and spoken publicly extensively on issues related to academic freedom and was awarded the 2021 Hero of Intellectual FreedomAward by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni and the 2022 Courage Award by the Heterodox Academy.
On this episode Beth and Andrew speak with Chicago radio host and former Illinois gubernatorial candidate Dan Proft.
Proft shares his views on the polarized media environment and how radio has changed in the decade plus that he's been a talk show host. Moreover, Proft also talks about how the parent’s movement has used media to get the story out on the insanity that is happening in our nation’s schools.
Proft gives his take on the recent Chicago mayoral election, what it means for the city and the public school system in the Windy City.
On the episode, Andrew and Beth also talk about Andrew’s recent announcement to run for Congress in his new home state of Florida.
Links: The Morning Answer, Andrew Gutmann for Congress
This week Beth and Andrew speak with Pastor and community leader, Corey B. Brooks of Chicago. Pastor Brooks discusses the fight against violence gripping the city's poorest neighborhoods. He talks about how progressive policies over the past 60 years have led to a deterioration of black neighborhoods and the destruction of the traditional family.
Moreover, Pastor Brooks explains how the loss of religion and the deterioration of schools has impacted the community and how that adds to the allure of gangs to young black males. We also discuss Pastor Brook’s efforts to mentor at risk children and his vision for a new Christian charter school for boys, which he hopes to open in 2025.
Pastor Corey B. Brooks, founder and Senior Pastor of New Beginnings Church of Chicago and founder and CEO of Project H.O.O.D. Communities Development Corporation has become a leading voice and presence in the fight against the violence gripping Chicago’s poorest neighborhoods. Pastor Brook’s efforts received national acclaim when he spent 94 days living on the roof of a rundown motel located across the street from the church.
This week Beth and Andrew speak with attorney and activist Will Estrada, who explains what is meant by the term “parental rights” and gives a history of legislation and the important court cases that have impacted the rights of parents.
Estrada also discusses his organization’s work fighting for curriculum transparency in our nation’s public schools and the importance of fighting for parental rights at all three levels of government: local school boards, state legislatures and at the federal level. We also touch on how the issues of gender and trans ideology, and mental health is affecting the movement.
Will Estrada is a husband, dad, attorney, and the President of ParentalRights.org and the Parental Rights Foundation, two nationwide nonprofits headquartered in Loudoun County, Virginia that have advocated at the local, state, and federal levels for the last sixteen years to protect children by empowering parents.
Links: ParentalRights.org
How Woke Took Over America by Andrew Gutmann
On this episode, Andrew and Beth speak with journalist and author Karol Markowicz, who discusses her brand new book, Stolen Youth, which details how our nation’s children have been under siege from Covid restrictions and the left’s political indoctrination in schools. She also shares her view on what parents must do to raise their own children given today’s political climate and how they can help the fight within their kids’ schools.
Karol talks about her own upbringing in the Soviet Union and her experiences as an immigrant to the United States living the American Dream. She also talks about the motivations behind her own family’s move from New York City to Florida.
Markowicz is a weekly Columnist at the New York Post and Fox News, Contributing Editor at The Spectator and a Contributing Writer to Washington Examiner magazine. She now lives in South Florida with her husband and three children.
On this episode, Beth and Andrew speak with evolutionary biologist Colin Wright. Wright walks us through the controversies around gender and trans ideology from the perspective of an evolutionary biologist and discusses the difference between sex and gender and explains why there are only two sexes: male and female.
He shares his views on why so few scientists and doctors are willing to speak up on these issues. That leaves it to the parents and we talk about what they need to know about gender and sex in order to understand the ideologies being pushed on their children in our nation’s schools.
Colin Wright is an evolutionary biologist, Manhattan Institute Fellow, and an Academic Advisor at the Society for Evidence-based Gender Medicine (SEGM). He received his PhD in evolutionary biology from UC Santa Barbara in 2018, and was an Eberly Research Fellow at Penn State from 2018 to 2020. Wright began writing publicly about issues of sex and gender in late 2018. His writing has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Times, the New York Post, Newsweek, Quillette, and other major news outlets and peer-reviewed journals.
On this episode of Take Back Our Schools, Beth and Andrew speak with the Nathan Hoffman, one of the leaders of the school choice movement. Nathan talks about how the issue of school choice fared in the recent midterm elections. We discuss the parent movement’s role in the march for school choice and some of the various criticisms of school choice from both woke and non-woke camps. Nathan talks about what a hypothetical Republican presidential administration could do to in 2024 to further school choice and education freedom. Nathan also shares his views on the importance of Gifted and Talented education as well as the reasons that public school have been failing teaching literacy. Nathan Hoffman serves as the Director of State Policy and Legislative Strategy for the American Federation for Children. An accomplished and recognized leader in the school choice movement, Nathan has served in various roles at state-based and national organizations, including Empower Illinois and the Foundation for Excellence in Education, where he has successfully pursued legislation to empower families and strengthen the overall quality of the education system. Nathan has appeared before state legislatures as well as been a featured speaker to groups across the country seeking to address today’s K-12 challenges. Nathan is also a member of the Board of Advisors for the Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism and a past board member of the Springfield Public Schools Foundation Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In this episode of Take Back Our Schools, Andrew and Beth speak with parent activist, Betsy Hart. Betsy was, along with our own Beth Feeley, a co-founder of the group Parents of New Trier (now New Trier Neighbors). Betsy and Beth share their stories about being pioneers of the parents rights movement. Betsy talks about what prompted the group's founding more than five years ago, and shares her views on how the parents movement has evolved. We also discuss the recent expose in Mother Jones magazine about the group entitled, "The Right-Wing Attack on Public Education Began in One Elite Illinois High School." Betsy Hart is a free-lance development writer for a variety of non-profits. Previously, she was a syndicated columnist, and served on President Reagan’s White House staff in the Office of Communications. Betsy also serves with Beth on the board of New Trier Neighbors, a local citizen group that keeps an eye on local issues - including schools - in the north suburbs of Chicago. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
On this episode of Take Back Our Schools, Andrew and Beth speak with award-winning teacher and author, Jeremy Adams. Jeremy shares his views on why students have rejected the wisdom, culture, and institutions of Western Civilization and have given up on the American Dream. He talks about the breakdown of families and the loss of family-time that his own students are experiencing. We also discuss the damage that cell phones and social media are doing to children and how they have led to isolation and the most antisocial generation in history. Jeremy S. Adams is the 2014 California Teacher of the Year and the author of the Amazon best-selling book Hollowed Out: A Warning About America's Next Generation. He is a weekly columnist for The Daily Wire and his writings have appeared in Newsweek, The LA Times, The Washington Post, Quillette, and many other outlets. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
On this episode Beth and Andrew speak with education innovator Stephanie Saroki de García about her formative experiences as a Teach for America member and teaching in one of the most dangerous schools in Oakland, CA. She discusses the network of Catholic charter schools she helped found that combines optional faith-based education along with an academically rigorous curriculum. Stephanie also discusses the challenges today of hiring teachers that are not social justice activists and the difficulties of starting charter schools, especially in blue states. Stephanie also passionately shares her views on the benefits of faith as a component of a child’s education. Stephanie Saroki de García is co-founder and managing director of Seton Education Partners, which she helped launch in 2009 to expand opportunities for parents in underserved communities to choose an academically excellent, character rich, and—for those who seek it—vibrantly Catholic education for their children. For over five years, Stephanie directed the Philanthropy Roundtable’s K-12 education programs, where she spearheaded a series of conferences, strategy sessions, and publications on breakthroughs in education philanthropy. She co-wrote Saving America’s Urban Catholic Schools: A Guide for Donors and also served on the strategic planning committee for the Archdiocese of New York’s school system, chairing the committee on school leadership. Stephanie was a Teach for America corps member in Oakland, California, where she taught high school English. She attended Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government as a dean’s fellow and while completing her master’s degree in public policy at the Kennedy School, Stephanie worked at the Office of Management and Budget. Stephanie is also a proud mom to two children. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
On this episode of Take Back Our Schools, Andrew and Beth speak with educator Tony Ortiz about his school, Cristo Rey Jesuit High School, which has an innovative work study program which allows low income students in Chicago to get a high quality college preparatory education by working one day per week. Tony discusses the origins of the program, how it has developed and changed over the years and how it inspired a national network of work study schools. Tony talks about the impressive graduation rates of Cristo Rey and the benefits to both students and employers of the work study model. Tony Ortiz is the first lay President of Cristo Rey Jesuit High School which was founded in 1996 and pioneered the Corporate Work Study Program (CWSP) model for inner city education that has since inspired a national network of 38 schools serving traditionally under resourced communities across the country. Tony joined Cristo Rey in 2000, first as the Director of Corporate and Foundation Relations and then as Associate Principal, before becoming President in June 2012. Tony is a graduate of Leadership Greater Chicago, serves on the Membership Committee for the Economic Club of Chicago, and sits on several boards including the Archdiocese of Chicago School Board, Dominican University, Loyola University Health System, Chicago Jesuit Academy, and The Resurrection Project and previously served as a young alum Trustee for the University of Notre Dame. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
On this episode of Take Back Our Schools, Beth and Andrew speak with education policy analyst, author and former teacher Robert Pondiscio. Robert talks about what led him to make a midcareer switch to teaching and opines on the proper role of schools America. We discuss whether equity and excellence in schools can be reconciled or should be considered opposing ideals. Robert shares his views on why some charter school networks have embraced social justice and why others have not, and talks about why the charter school movement lost its bipartisan support. He also discusses why Americans who value education must focus both on school choice and on reforming public schools. Finally, Robert and Andrew reminiscence about their former experiences as fellow Brearley Dads. Robert Pondiscio is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where he focuses on K–12 education, curriculum, teaching, school choice, and charter schooling. He was also a policy analyst and education reform expert at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, an education policy think tank. He previously worked for the Core Knowledge Foundation and as an adviser and civics teacher at Democracy Prep Public Schools. Mr. Pondiscio became interested in education policy issues when he started teaching fifth grade at a struggling South Bronx public school in 2002. Before that, Robert worked in journalism for 20 years, including in senior positions at Time and BusinessWeek. He is the author of many books, including the acclaimed “How the Other Half Learns: Equality, Excellence, and the Battle over School Choice” (Avery, 2019), about Success Academy Charter Schools. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
On this episode of Take Back Our Schools, Andrew and Beth talk to fellow parent activist, Alvin Lui. Alvin is the founder of Courage Is A Habit, an organization that creates tools and strategies for the average parent, school board candidate, and legislator to take action in defending children from indoctrination in K-12. Alvin discusses his organization’s work exposing aspects social-emotional...
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Photo: Stella O’Malley In this episode of Take Back Our Schools, Beth and Andrew welcome psychotherapist and author Stella O’Malley to talk about the exploding number of teenage girls with gender dysphoria. Stella shares her own difficult childhood experiences growing up thinking she should be a boy and describes her journey to a career in psychotherapy. She talks about why she thinks girls are...
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Photo courtesy Ian Rowe On this episode of Take Back Our Schools, Andrew and Beth welcome education innovator and author Ian Rowe. Ian shares his own personal story coming from an immigrant family which ignited his passion for education. He discusses his framework F.R.E.E. – family, religion, education and entrepreneurship – which serves as an alternative to the toxic and divisive victimhood...
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Photo courtesy Ramona Bessinger On this episode of Take Back Our Schools, Beth and Andrew welcome Ramona Bessinger, a teacher who bravely spoke out about the racialized curriculum in her school district. Ramona talks about what prompted her to speak up and the push back she got from her school, other teachers, parents and students. She discusses the article she wrote for Legal Insurrection...
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In this episode of Take Back Our Schools, Beth and Andrew welcome back former math teacher, journalist and educational hero, Paul Rossi. Paul discusses his seven week purgatory from Twitter for exposing videos of toxic racial literacy curriculum that has infiltrated private schools across the country. Paul also talks about his recent expose of his former school, Grace Church, where a drag queen...
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Photo courtesy Charles Love On this free-flowing episode of Take Back Our Schools, Beth and Andrew speak with author, activist and social commentator, Charles Love. We speak about Charles’s involvement in the recent, “ Open Letter Denouncing the Attacks on Justice Clarence Thomas.” Charles shares his views on why black progressives are silent on the racist attacks against Justice Thomas...
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On this episode of Take Back Our Schools, Beth and Andrew speak with Bob Eitel about the Biden administration’s proposed changes to Title IX rules. Bob explains how the Obama administration manipulated Title IX to erode due process in favor of kangaroo courts and secret inquiries. He discusses how the Trump administration under Secretary Betsy DeVos reversed the Obama changes, and how the newly...
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Erin Phillips (Photo courtesy Power2Parent Union) In this episode of Take Back Our Schools, Beth and Andrew speak with parent activist, Erin Phillips. We learn how discovering the Sex Ed curriculum in her child’s school turned Erin into a parent activist and led her to start a national organization focusing on parents’ rights. Erin shares her experiences of leading this growing organization and...
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On this very special episode of Take Back our Schools, Beth and Andrew speak with former U.S. Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos. We discuss Betsy’s lifelong advocacy for education freedom and school choice, and she shares stories of some of the innovative schools she has seen as well as her experiences being the primary target for the powerful teachers unions. We also discuss her effort...
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Kim Borchers (Photo: Bird Dog Recruitment & Consulting, LLC) On this episode of Take Back Our Schools, Beth and Andrew speak with parent advocate Kim Borchers. Kim is the President and owner of Bird Dog Recruitment and Consulting LLC, was formerly with the Foundation for Government Accountability, and has spent 20+ years in the grassroots movement. Along the way she also served in politics...
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Andrea Gross and Amy Gonzalez In this episode of Take Back Our Schools, Beth and Andrew talk to two courageous mothers, Andrea Gross and Amy Gonzalez. They tell the story of how their children were expelled from their prestigious private school, Columbus Academy (Columbus, OH) because of their advocacy efforts. The two moms founded and organized a group of hundreds of parents, students, alumni...
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In this episode of Take Back our Schools, Beth and Andrew welcome social-emotional learning expert, Jason Littlefield. Jason is the founder of EmpowerED Pathways and co-designer of the Empowered Humanity Theory, a framework for life, leadership, and learning. He served as a public educator for twenty-one years and from 2014 to 2021 he was a Social and Emotional Learning Specialist for the Austin...
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In this episode of Take Back Our Schools, Beth and Andrew interview Denisha Merriweather, a remarkable young woman who experienced the life-changing impact a quality education can have on a person’s life. Denisha is a former Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program student who is the first in her family to graduate from high school and college. Denisha currently serves as the Director of Public...
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Jennifer Burns (Photo: CCA) In this episode of Take Back Our Schools, Beth and Andrew talk to Jennifer Burns about classical education. Jennifer holds a master’s degree in Marketing from Northwestern University and is a mom to three sons. She left a career in marketing communications to homeschool her son and then in 2004, Jennifer created an enrichment program called H.E.A.R.T.
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On this episode of Take Back Our Schools, Beth and Andrew talk to Kim Hermann, one of the country’s leading attorneys in the war against woke education. Kim is General Counsel at Southeastern Legal Foundation, one of the nation’s oldest conservative public interest law firms. In addition to representing clients, Kim testifies before state legislatures, has drafted several pieces of model...
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On this episode of Take Back Our Schools, Andrew and new co-host Beth Feeley welcome Robert Woodson Sr. to the podcast. Bob is the Founder and President of the Woodson Center, 1776 Unites and Voices of Black Mothers United. He is an influential leader on issues of poverty alleviation and empowering disadvantaged communities to become agents of their own uplift. Bob is also a frequent advisor to...
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Andrew Gutmann (L) hosts “Take Back Our Schools” with guests Asra Nomani and former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (Photo: YAF/Bob Updegrove) On March 30, former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, president of Young America’s Foundation, and former Wall Street Journal reporter and parent activist extraordinaire Asra Nomani, joined Andrew Gutmann to record a live episode of “Take Back Our Schools.
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On this episode of Take Back Our Schools, Andrew welcomes in Corey DeAngelis to talk about educational freedom and school choice. Corey is the national director of research at the American Federation for Children, the executive director at Educational Freedom Institute, an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute, and a senior fellow at Reason Foundation. Andrew and Corey talk about legislation being...
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In this episode of Take Back Our Schools, Andrew speaks with Matt Beienburg, Director of Education Policy at the Goldwater Institute. Matt shares his views on the politicization of America’s public schools, critical race theory, and the genesis of curriculum transparency legislation, which Matt helped draft. We discuss the key features of this legislation and learn how it will help parents...
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In this episode of Take Back Our Schools, Andrew speaks with parent advocate Beth Feeley. We discuss Beth’s journey from concerned parent in suburban Chicago to founding New Trier Neighbors, one of the largest and most active local parent groups in the country. Beth shares her views on the state of public school education and how the parent movement has changed in the five years she has been...
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In this episode of Take Back Our Schools, Bethany and Andrew talk to Paul Rossi. We discuss Paul’s journey from high school math teacher to education activist and learn how he went viral for exposing critical race theory at the prestigious New York City private school at which he taught. We also discuss his recent op-ed in The Wall Street Journal (co-authored with our own Andrew Gutmann) entitled...
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Daniel Buck (Photo: The Chalkboard Review) In this episode of Take Back Our Schools, Bethany and Andrew talk to Daniel Buck, middle school English teacher and co-founder of the website, The Chalkboard Review. We discuss Twitter’s recent censorship and deplatforming of The Chalkboard Review account as well as Daniel’s views on how to fix our education system. We also ruminate over the this week’s...
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In this episode of Take Back Our Schools, Bethany and Andrew interview Jennifer McWilliams, a parent advocate and expert on the proliferation of social emotional learning (SEL) in our nation’s schools. We learn about the relationship between SEL and critical race theory (CRT), how parents can recognize SEL in their children’s schools, and Jennifer walks us through why SEL is so dangerous to our...
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In the latest episode of Take Back Our Schools, Bethany and Andrew interview Dr. Jennifer Reesman, a specialist in pediatric neuropsychology about the damage that unnecessary covid restrictions are doing to our nation’s children. We discuss how school and other closures have impacted educational outcomes and the mental health of children, and Dr. Reesman offers her views on the resiliency of kids.
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In this episode of Take Back Our Schools, Parent Defending Education’s Erika Sanzi talks about her own experiences as a teacher, concerned parent, local school board member and as one of the leaders of the exploding parents movement. Sanzi, who has been in this fight longer than almost anyone else, also shares her views on the perverse incentives of the teachers unions. Plus Bethany and Andrew...
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In the latest episode of Take Back Our Schools, Bethany and Andrew interview political strategist and father of three, Rory Cooper, about the recent election of Glenn Youngkin as Virginia’s new governor. We discuss Rory’s experiences organizing parents against Covid school closures and the role that parents played in the recent election. Bethany and Andrew also talk about the enormous damage Covid...
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Bethany and Andrew interview journalist Suzy Weiss about her two recent pieces for Bari Weiss’s Common Sense Substack. We discuss Suzy’s reporting on how young woke women are eschewing having babies and even getting sterilized, many under the guise of social justice. We also talk about the proliferation of the homeschooling movement in America due to the broadening dissatisfaction with the public...
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In the inaugural episode of Take Back Our Schools, hosts Bethany Mandel and Andrew Gutmann introduce the podcast, talk about Bethany’s proclivities for homeschooling, Andrew’s viral letter to the parents of New York City’s the Brearley School and the Biden administration’s divisive labeling of parents as “domestic terrorists.”...
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