ClassCast Podcast Ep.064 features host Ryan Tibbens sharing his thoughts on school choice while concluding a five episode mini-series on school choice. After engaging, informative discussions with Citizen Stewart (pro-school choice), Jennifer Berkshire (pro-public school), Neal McCluskey (pro-school choice, and Jon Hale (pro-public school), Tibbens tries to connect the dots, share the learning, and make meaningful predictions about the future of school in the United States. Over half the episode focuses on the positive aspects of school choice -- freedom, specialization, individuality, and more -- but in the final 20 minutes, Tibbens explores the potential problems, including decreased community control, monopolies, reduced quality, and -- most importantly -- the abolition of publicly funded education. Whether you are pro-choice or pro-public schools, this episode includes a synthesis of ideas that is sure to make you second guess your biases.  

Support the show! If each listener donated just $2, we could fully fund the ClassCast Podcast! Please consider making a small donation to keep the discussion alive. 


Recent and ClassCast Podcast episodes featured public school advocates, school choice advocates, and the kind of thoughtful discourse that should inform our national conversation as well as individual listeners' opinions on school choice, public schools, funding, equity, justice, and opportunity. Let us know what you think about each part of this series and how you feel about school choice.  

- School Choice Series Part 1: Ep.060 -- Citizen Stewart -- School Choice & Educational Opportunity (3/21/21)
​- School Choice Series Part 2: Ep.061 -- Jennifer Berkshire -- The False Promises of School Choice (3/29/21)
- School Choice Series Part 3: Ep.062 -- Neal McCluskey -- School Choice & Liberty (4/5/21)
- School Choice Series Part 4: Ep.063 -- Jon Hale -- School Reform, Not School Choice (4/12/21)

​ Table of Contents (*highlights)

1. 0:00-4:32 -- Intro & Recap of School Choice Mini-Series
2. 4:32-9:51 -- Previous Connections to School Choice
3. 9:51-15:18 -- Is "Choice" Good? *
4. 15:18-24:26 -- Choice, M4A, Specializing, & Informing Parents *
5. 24:26-33:16 -- Racism & School Choice
6. 33:16-47:04 -- Tibbens' Problems with School Choice **
7. 47:04-54:04 -- The Best Path Forward: Choice and the Public System **
8. 54:04-56:58 -- Final Thoughts/Wrap-Up

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The ClassCast Podcast streams on all major platforms, including iTunes/Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Pandora, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, Audible, Stitcher, and more.  You can also find us on YouTube and right here at www.ClassCastPodcast.com.  Be sure to like, subscribe, follow, share, and comment wherever you listen.  Leave a comment below to let us know what you think of the discussion and if you have any questions!

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WATCH: Mentioned in this episode, it is both hilarious and informative, frightening and stimulating.

ClassCast Podcast Ep.063 features education historian, professor at the University of Illinois, and author Jon Hale discussing school choice, its dark history, and the problems it may spawn in the future. Much of Jon's work focuses on past school choice movements and Civil Rights era freedom schools; he makes invaluable contributions to the on-going ClassCast discussion of school choice and freedom by provide clear historical context and common sense predictions about what the future may hold. Jon's upcoming book, The Choice We Face: How Segregation, Race, and Power Have Shaped America's Most Controversial Education Reform Movement, addresses the same topics in greater detail; he is also the author of The Freedom Schools: Student Activists in the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement and To Write in the Light of Freedom.

Recent and upcoming ClassCast Podcast episodes feature public school advocates, school choice advocates, and the kind of thoughtful discourse that should inform our national conversation as well as individual listeners' opinions on school choice, public schools, funding, equity, justice, and opportunity. Let us know what you think about each part of this series and how you feel about school choice.  

- School Choice Series Part 1: Ep.060 -- Citizen Stewart -- School Choice & Educational Opportunity (3/21/21)
​- School Choice Series Part 2: Ep.061 -- Jennifer Berkshire -- The False Promises of School Choice (3/29/21)
- School Choice Series Part 3: Ep.062 -- Neal McCluskey -- School Choice & Liberty (4/5/21)
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Support the show! If each listener donated just $2, we could fully fund the ClassCast Podcast! Please consider making a small donation to keep the discussion alive.

Table of Contents (*highlights)

1. 0:00-5:37 -- The Purpose of Education According to Jon Hale
2. 5:37-10:51 -- The Appeal of School Choice
3. 10:51-21:12 -- The History of School Choice & Race **
4. 21:12-27:38 -- Freedom Schools
5. 27:38-36:26 -- Jon's Ideal School *
6. 36:26-39:34 -- Why School Choice Has Momentum & School Reform Doesn't
7. 39:34-46:23 -- Public Schools & Community Cohesion
8. 46:23-54:00 -- Are Public Schools Actually Failing? *
9. 54:00-1:04:04 -- Final Thoughts & Recommendations *

The ClassCast Podcast streams on all major platforms, including iTunes/Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Pandora, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, Audible, Stitcher, and more.  You can also find us on YouTube and right here at www.ClassCastPodcast.com.  Be sure to like, subscribe, follow, share, and comment wherever you listen.  Leave a comment below to let us know what you think of the discussion and if you have any questions!

ClassCast Podcast Ep.062 features Neal McCluskey PhD, the Director of the Center for Educational Freedom at the Cato Institute, discussing school choice, individual liberty, and the future of education with host Ryan Tibbens. Neal has spent most of his career studying public policy with a focus on education; he is a leader in the national school choice conversation, has written and edited three books on the subject, and explains his beliefs and goals through a lens of respect for individuals and their liberty. In this conversation, Neal explains how school choice will (and won't) affect community bonding, civil rights, and public funding. While he does concede that most school choice supporters would like to see lower taxes and/or educational costs, he doesn't agree with host Ryan Tibbens' concern that school choice legislation now will ultimately lead to the end of publicly funded education. Much as Jennifer Berkshire's (Ep.061) new book is leading the discussion against school choice, Neal McCluskey and Corey DeAngelis's new book, School Choice Myths: Setting the Record Straight on Education Freedom, is making waves in the education policy arena. This episode is Part 3 of the ClassCast Podcast mini-series on school choice; don't miss the others!

Recent and upcoming ClassCast Podcast episodes will feature public school advocates, school choice advocates, and the kind of thoughtful discourse that should inform our national conversation as well as individual listeners' opinions on school choice, public schools, funding, equity, justice, and opportunity. Let us know what you think about each part of this series and how you feel about school choice.  

- School Choice Series Part 1: Ep.060 -- Citizen Stewart -- School Choice & Educational Opportunity (3/21/21)
​- School Choice Series Part 2: Ep.061 -- Jennifer Berkshire -- The False Promises of School Choice (3/29/21)
- School Choice Series Part 3: Ep.062 -- Neal McCluskey -- School Choice & Liberty (4/5/21)
- School Choice Series Part 4: Ep.063 -- Jon Hale -- School Reform, Not School Choice (4/12/21)
- School Choice Series Part 5: Ep.064 -- Tibbens -- Thoughts on School Choice/Conclusion (4/19/21)

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Support the show! If each listener donated just $2, we could fully fund the ClassCast Podcast! Please consider making a small donation to keep the discussion alive.

Table of Contents (*highlights)

1. 0:00-5:05 -- Neal's Background & Entry into Education Policy
2. 5:05-10:47 -- School Choice's Effects on Communities *
3. 10:47-19:16 -- School Choice: Liberty & Respect for Individuals *
4. 19:16-30:38 -- The Purpose of School According to Neal
5. 30:38-54:46 -- Civil Rights, Diversity, & School Choice *
6. 54:46-1:08:38 -- Is School Choice a Step Toward Ending Public Funding for Education? **
7. 1:08:38-1:15:26 -- Compromise: Teachers' Unions & School Choice
8. 1:15:26-1:18:40 -- Neal's Ideal School
9. 1:18:40-1:26:40 -- Final Thoughts, Book/Movie Recs, & Wrap-Up

The ClassCast Podcast streams on all major platforms, including iTunes/Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Pandora, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, Audible, Stitcher, and more.  You can also find us on YouTube and right here at www.ClassCastPodcast.com.  Be sure to like, subscribe, follow, share, and comment wherever you listen.  Leave a comment below to let us know what you think of the discussion and if you have any questions!