Education in America

The Far Middle episode 134 honors not only a sports legend whose record-holding World Light Heavyweight Champion reign spanned a decade, but also simply a great American. That individual, born 110 years ago on the date of this installment’s release, is none other than “The Mongoose,” Archie Moore. For those saying, “Archie who,” Nick explains that Moore “basically did it all.” He revisits Moore’s acclaimed boxing career, dedication to youth mentorship, acting roles, and service under the Department of Housing and Urban Development. “Archie Moore set amazing standards for vitality and competitiveness over an extended period of time in his chosen profession,” adds Nick, providing a pivot to this episode’s first connection and principal topic: education in America, and particularly education in our large cities. Nick starts in the Windy City where the city’s Leftist mayor has decided to no longer grade public schools based on student proficiency, but rather on how much schools are spending. Highlighting that per student funding in Chicago public schools sits just below $30,000, “an unbelievable amount for so little in return,” Nick asks where it’s going for so little in return. The answer? Not to the students nor to good teachers, but rather to bloated administrative staff, the bureaucracy, and to the public teachers union coffers (and the politicians they support). Nick leaves Chicago and heads west to Oakland for an insight on what public teachers unions are focused on these days. Not academics, but rather drought resistant trees and climate justice days. From Oakland, Nick heads down to Tempe, Arizona, to discuss a paper from Arizona State’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism, titled, “Beyond Objectivity: Producing Trustworthy News in Today’s Newsrooms.” Juxtaposed to academia's views on the media, Nick highlights survey data to shed light on where the American public sits with respect to objectivity in journalism and media. The episode’s discussion then connects to a great educator who “very few people today ever heard of, which I suppose is yet another failing of media,” says Nick. “Early November this year marked the 50th anniversary of an assassination of a hero educator in Oakland, California, and his name was Marcus Foster.” Listen as Nick reflects on Dr. Foster’s exemplary career that was tragically cut short when he was assassinated by members of the Symbionese Liberation Army. Nick concludes with one final connection to a “Skunk” who also shares a birthday with “The Mongoose” and this episode’s release date. That individual is Jeffrey “Skunk” Baxter. Nick wishes birthday wishes to the guitar hero and rocket scientist, and recommends giving a watch to his talk on “Asymmetrical Thinking in a Conventional World.”