Episode 145 - Freddie DeBoer - The Cult of Smart

Two for Tea Podcast

Freddie DeBoer: The Cult of Smart General: Freddie’s Substack: https://freddiedeboer.substack.com/ Freddie’s website: https://fredrikdeboer.com/ The Cult of Smart available here: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250224491/thecultofsmart Follow: On X: https://twitter.com/freddiesubstack?lang=en References: Freddie’s essay: https://freddiedeboer.substack.com/p/education-doesnt-work-20 Timestamps: 1.04 Intros: A little on Freddie’s background. 2.05: Iona reads from The Cult of Smart. 4.05: Freddie expands on the issues addressed in the book: the problems behind modern educational ideology and philosophy, how America compares to the rest of the world and within a historical context. 12.03: Why is the education system not achieving its aims and how might these issues be addressed? The introduction of tech and various policies and interventions and how these have failed to have an impact. 21.18: Iona reads the widget analogy from the book. They discuss the change in blame for poor results from the pupil to the teacher. 27.32: Freddie highlights our obsession with academic success and with a failure to acknowledge that certain characteristics are heritable. He and Iona discuss the merits and desirability of different skillsets. 40.45: The difficulty of predicting which skills will be most valuable in the future and on how technology plays a role. 44.20: Freddie explains how, even within a Marxist framework, individual differences in aptitudes are still important and excellence is still valued. 49.47: Wage gaps between academics, middle-management administrators, and trades people. 57.17: Iona argues for the inherent value of elite institutions and highlights how the UK model differs from the US model in terms of admissions and funding. 1.04.07: Freddie expands on the enrollment crisis in the US and on how college is largely sold as a recreational experience versus the elite Ivy League colleges where endowments motivate a different admissions pathway. 1.09.30: The difficulties of discussing IQ on a group basis, specifically regarding race. 1.20.42: Freddie sums up his argument that educational interventions and policy cannot solve inequality and that insisting we are all capable of academic excellence is neither a compassionate nor useful goal. Schools should still be well-funded and be valued beyond chasing test score. 1.22.48: Thanks and outro. Sound editing: Justin Ward Shownotes: Nicola Muir