Principles Over Party: Teaching Founding Values While Fighting Educational Decline

On October 20, 2025, Kim Monson gathered educators, entrepreneurs, and civic activists to tackle the intersection of founding principles, educational decline, and free speech. Brad Beck of Liberty Toastmasters shared his approach to teaching young people about constitutional principles, while educator Priscilla Rahn previewed her new book and radio show focused on restoring American education. Teaching Constitutional Principles to the Next Generation Start listening at 52:31 – Hour 1 Brad Beck, co-founder of Liberty Toastmasters, detailed his innovative approach to engaging high school students in Boulder with founding principles. Rather than discussing party platforms, Beck presents students with eight core principles including human equality, natural rights, and consent of the governed, then invites them to frame all questions around those foundations. The technique transforms emotionally charged political debates into thoughtful discussions grounded in shared American values. Beck recounted standing at the classroom door, shaking each student’s hand, and handing them pocket Constitutions before his presentation. The personal connection and principled framework produced remarkable results, with students approaching him after class wanting to continue the conversation. “And I took the tact of putting all these eight principles on a big sheet of paper and revealed them one by one and talked about each one of these ideas, like human equality, natural rights, consent of the governed, government-secured rights, limited powers, all the ideas that the American founding was based on.” Brad Beck, Co-founder of Liberty Toastmasters Restoring Excellence in American Education Start listening at 02:00 – Hour 1 Priscilla Rahn, a 32-year education veteran and former principal, brings her experience to a new book titled “Restoring Education in America, an Inspirational Teacher Toolbox.” The educator shared the harrowing story of her mother’s escape from North Korea as a 12-year-old, jumping onto a moving train with her family to flee communist oppression, a formative experience that shapes Rahn’s passion for American education. Rahn announced her new daily radio show launching November 3rd on KLTT 670 AM, focusing on education issues from the perspective of a classroom teacher. She emphasized the power of asking people to identify the principles and values underlying their positions. “It was birthed from the idea of with Charlie Kirk’s assassination, the conversation around education and school choice and the need to debate.” Priscilla Rahn, Educator and Author Fighting for Academic Excellence in District 49 Start listening at 18:07 – Hour 1 Ivy Lui called in to discuss her campaign for school board in Falcon District 49. A former board member who was gerrymandered out of her seat in 2023 after challenging the district on academic performance and ideological curricula, Lui returns focused on reversing declining test scores. The district remains 3.5% below 2019 levels in language arts and 1.3% behind in mathematics. Lui exposed how social and emotional learning programs entered the district under the guise of character building but carried publicly declared objectives of transforming society and injecting equity ideology. Her previous efforts to remove these distractions and refocus on academics met fierce resistance from board members she described as claiming to be Christian conservatives.