Warren, I adore you! YOU ask the right questions. I am a veteran of the education reform wars. All the good work I know I did before I retired ten years ago has been trashed. I saw it happening in real time. How do we reconfigure the entire education system to create more young thinkers like YOU?
Hey Warren, I’ve been subscribed within the first day or two after your first viral video and I watch your content consistently. My question for you is I feel that the average American believes in far more conspiracy theories now. I am not conspiratorially minded at all, where would you classify yourself and how would you argue against being conspiratorially minded now?
The modern schooling system is unnatural: children should not be segregated by age, males and females should not be put onto the same track of education/brainwashing determined most useful to advancing Technology - but you can't make a superspecies AGI omelette without cracking a few million eggs of youth psyche.
You seem to have perfected the method of deconstructing arguments infected by the woke mind virus. How would you recommend those of us who have been infected by such a virus (indoctrination from higher education, in my case) detox, and, taking it a step further, learn how to combat wokeism? Understanding what is the truth can be arduous and elusive when recovering from woke ideology.
I recognize Warren might not want to discuss this subject, but, from his experience, how is it so easy to fire teachers for questioning woke ideology, or merely inviting discussion about woke ideology as one of several competing ideas? Do teachers have no legal recourse, such as suing the school district for unfair dismissal? It seems so easy for the woke to deprive a person of their livelihood; the legal system seems to be impotent in this area.
I taught Middle School from 1995 to 2024. Three events during those years moved public education to its current, mostly impotent incarnation. First, the introduction of the absurd idea of "Whole Language" that resulted in the loss of reading skills. Secondly, "one-to-one" PCs/Chromebooks. You cannot give students tech and expect them to intuit the means by which that tech can teach them or be used for genuine learning (as opposed to just accessing "answers). Lastly, the massive Covid shut-down, after which, students were pushed forward to their next grade level never having completed or demonstrated competence in the grade level they left in March of 2020. I believe these missteps have created an unrecoverable situation for public schools. Do you see a path to revitalizing the U.S public education system, and if so, what might that entail?
How much of our current crisis in critical thinking traces back to Howard Zinn and his book, "The People's History of the United States"? And how can we undo or at least mitigate the damage?
Hi Warren, I have followed your content for a while now and what impresses me most is your ability to maintain a level-headed, calm demeanor under the high pressure to react to ignorance with comparable vehemence as most would do, but you always maintain your cool. What's your secret?
Tenure was once a system that helped place American universities at the forefront of science and innovation by protecting academic inquiry. Today, however it has been repurposed to shield political activists within academia, insulating them from accountability while continuing to fund their positions. Is it time to reconsider or end tenure so that institutions can remove faculty whose primary role has shifted from scholarship to political agitation?
You're asked to devise the curriculum for a high school to include critical thinking as a core theme. Which subjects would be most amenable for such an undertaking and why?
Hi Warren. Given your time as a teacher, what is one vital change you would implement in North American high schools if you had the power to do so?
Warren, I adore you! YOU ask the right questions. I am a veteran of the education reform wars. All the good work I know I did before I retired ten years ago has been trashed. I saw it happening in real time. How do we reconfigure the entire education system to create more young thinkers like YOU?
What do you think of Konstantin's near assassination?
P.S. to Konstantin: glad you're not dead mate.
Hey Warren, I’ve been subscribed within the first day or two after your first viral video and I watch your content consistently. My question for you is I feel that the average American believes in far more conspiracy theories now. I am not conspiratorially minded at all, where would you classify yourself and how would you argue against being conspiratorially minded now?
Conspiracies are no fantasy, they occur all the time, from corporate collusion in price-fixing to organized crime networks.
Would you please speak to the "feminization" of education? How often is "being nice" used to cudgel robust debate?
The modern schooling system is unnatural: children should not be segregated by age, males and females should not be put onto the same track of education/brainwashing determined most useful to advancing Technology - but you can't make a superspecies AGI omelette without cracking a few million eggs of youth psyche.
You seem to have perfected the method of deconstructing arguments infected by the woke mind virus. How would you recommend those of us who have been infected by such a virus (indoctrination from higher education, in my case) detox, and, taking it a step further, learn how to combat wokeism? Understanding what is the truth can be arduous and elusive when recovering from woke ideology.
I recognize Warren might not want to discuss this subject, but, from his experience, how is it so easy to fire teachers for questioning woke ideology, or merely inviting discussion about woke ideology as one of several competing ideas? Do teachers have no legal recourse, such as suing the school district for unfair dismissal? It seems so easy for the woke to deprive a person of their livelihood; the legal system seems to be impotent in this area.
I taught Middle School from 1995 to 2024. Three events during those years moved public education to its current, mostly impotent incarnation. First, the introduction of the absurd idea of "Whole Language" that resulted in the loss of reading skills. Secondly, "one-to-one" PCs/Chromebooks. You cannot give students tech and expect them to intuit the means by which that tech can teach them or be used for genuine learning (as opposed to just accessing "answers). Lastly, the massive Covid shut-down, after which, students were pushed forward to their next grade level never having completed or demonstrated competence in the grade level they left in March of 2020. I believe these missteps have created an unrecoverable situation for public schools. Do you see a path to revitalizing the U.S public education system, and if so, what might that entail?
Over/under
Does Francis reference his past as a teacher 5x in this interview?
How much of our current crisis in critical thinking traces back to Howard Zinn and his book, "The People's History of the United States"? And how can we undo or at least mitigate the damage?
What is the best type of question to ask people who are close minded to try to open up a contentious subject?
Hi Warren, I have followed your content for a while now and what impresses me most is your ability to maintain a level-headed, calm demeanor under the high pressure to react to ignorance with comparable vehemence as most would do, but you always maintain your cool. What's your secret?
Well this was an interestingly timed guest…
What can we do to fix the schools, the kids, today? Practically?
I suggested we have paid bullies too, as a joke, I am not sure it’s a joke anymore…
Francis used to be a teacher, just like you. What's better? Being a teacher or being a YouTuber?
Tenure was once a system that helped place American universities at the forefront of science and innovation by protecting academic inquiry. Today, however it has been repurposed to shield political activists within academia, insulating them from accountability while continuing to fund their positions. Is it time to reconsider or end tenure so that institutions can remove faculty whose primary role has shifted from scholarship to political agitation?
You're asked to devise the curriculum for a high school to include critical thinking as a core theme. Which subjects would be most amenable for such an undertaking and why?