In this DHP episode, CJ talks to Mike K., a DHP listener and former teacher with extensive knowledge of inner-city education based on both research and firsthand, real-world experience.

Join CJ & Mike as they discuss many topics related to education, including:

• Mike’s background, including his studies in education (through the Ph. D. level) and 10 years of experience teaching in an inner-city school
• The particular challenges of teaching in these sorts of schools, and how they compare to more ‘typical’ American public schools
• A bird’s eye perspective of the evolution of schooling in America since the Antebellum period
• De jure desegregation, followed by de facto resegregation
• Comparing poor urban schools to poor rural schools, which face some of the same challenges, but also some different ones
• The problems of over-diagnosing and over-prescribing psychiatric medication for children
• The degree to which building real relationships with students based on mutual respect is a key to effective teaching
• How real, effective teaching often requires a teacher to routinely flout rules in the current American education system, which is a dehumanizing system to both teachers & students
• Teaching as a craft
• The importance of teaching genuine critical thinking
• Possible ways to cope with the current system, whether one is fully outside of it or not
• The problems of NCLB & standardized testing, and the degree to which education is a racket
• Possible things individuals can do with their own children or in their local community to try to improve things in some way
• Plus CJ & Mike share some of their personal experiences and impressions of teaching

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External Links

• The Alliance for the Separation of School & State

CJ is joined in this episode by Professor Alfred McCoy, who holds a Ph. D. from Yale University in Southeast Asian history, and currently holds the Harrington Chair in History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is the author of many books, including The Politics of Heroin, Policing America’s Empire, and A Question of Torture, among others.

His most recent book is In the Shadows of the American Century: The Rise and Decline of US Global Power.

Join CJ & Alfred as they discuss:

• Dr. McCoy’s interesting & hazardous research into the Southeast Asian heroin trade (and US government complicity in it), beginning in the 1970s
• The research techniques he developed to ‘get at’ that topic, which he later used in other research into darker aspects of the US government, including torture and surveillance
• His latest book, In the Shadows of the American Century, which examines the pillars on which the US empire is built, signs that the empire might be declining, and possible ramifications of this decline

Support the Dangerous History Podcast via Patreon

CJ’s official DHP Amazon Wish List

External Links

• Scott Horton’s recent interview with Alfred McCoy on the subject of Afghanistan’s heroin production (this is a great companion to this DHP episode)
• Dr. McCoy’s article archive at TomDispatch.com
• The History of the Southeast Asian Drug Trade (lecture on Youtube)
• A Short History of Psychological Terror (lecture on Youtube)
• The Rise and Decline of US Global Power (lecture on Youtube)