Ep 225: The Flaws of Public Schools & The New Education Model with Gillian Berard & Jenna Baggott
The Way Forward with Alec Zeck
Alec Zeck
4.8 • 968 Ratings
🗓️ 13 March 2026
⏱️ 121 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This podcast is made possible by our listeners and viewers. If this show has brought you value, you can support it by becoming a member of The Way Forward, our platform designed to help you find the health and freedom community (people, practitioners, schools, farms, and more) near you. Your membership directly supports the podcast and the work we do.
The public school system has been damaging our children… but it doesn’t have to be this way.
In this conversation, I sit down with the founders of Infinity Academy, a project-based and nature-rooted school that was created after years of questioning the assumptions behind institutional education.
Gillian, the school’s Curriculum and Instructional Lead, spent more than a decade teaching in public education and repeatedly felt that something about the system wasn’t working. Her work now focuses on project-based learning designed to nurture curiosity, critical thinking, and intrinsic motivation in children.
Jenna, a Registered Nurse and wellness educator, co-founded the school after recognizing similar systemic problems in healthcare and education. Her work helps integrate nature, hands-on learning, and whole-person wellbeing into the educational experience.
Together, they’re building a model where learning follows the child’s interests through questioning, research, creation, and reflection. Their goal is to help children develop agency, curiosity, and the confidence to keep learning long after the classroom.
You’ll Learn:
[00:00] Introduction
[03:40] How public school was designed to crush curiosity
[21:31] The grief, the infinity fountain, and the 30-day scramble to open Infinity Academy
[41:12] What is project-based learning, and what does it look like?
[43:11] Why community beats homeschooling, and what learning looks like at the Academy
[01:04:14] Teaching history without presenting it as an absolute truth
[01:25:49] Sex ed, gender ideology, and the topics deliberately left to parents
[01:48:48] Why "preparing kids for the real world" might be the wrong goal entirely
[01:56:41] Advice for the single mom trapped in the public school system
Learn more from Gillian and Jenna:
Infinity Education | Website
Infinity Education | Instagram
Infinity Academy | Website
Gillian Berard | Instagram
Find more from Alec:
Alec Zeck | Instagram
Alec Zeck | X
The Way Forward | Instagram
The Way Forward is Sponsored By:
RMDY Academy & Collective: Homeopathy Made Accessible
High-quality remedies and training to support natural healing.
Enroll here
Explore here
Paleovalley: 100% Grass-Fed Bone Broth Protein is a nutrient-dense, easy-to-digest source of collagen and essential amino acids. Sourced from grass-fed cows, this protein powder provides the building blocks for healthy joints, skin, and gut function—without fillers or artificial ingredients. Support the show and claim 15% off your PaleoValley order!
New Biology Clinic: Redefine Health from the Ground Up
Experience tailored terrain-based health services with consults, livestreams, movement classes, and more.
Visit New Biology Clinic and use code THEWAYFORWARD (case sensitive) for $50 off activation.
The Way Forward members get the $150 fee waived
Want to grow your podcast but not sure what's actually working? Podigy helps me produce The Way Forward. Take their free assessment to get clear on your next move—and a chance to win a call with their founder.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Once I had my own kids, I was thinking, I can't send my kid to a place that I don't align with. |
| 0:05.0 | My only option is to create something new. |
| 0:07.0 | We've been so conditioned that there's one way to do education. |
| 0:10.0 | Everything was taught to me from like an authoritative view of like, this is reality. |
| 0:14.0 | And then you grow up and you're like, oh my goodness, what is going on here? |
| 0:17.0 | So many of the teachers these days themselves are conditioned into like super leftist woke ideologies. |
| 0:24.8 | The biggest thing that I've seen is the crushing creativity park and that natural curiosity |
| 0:29.1 | that just gets dimmed because just do what I say and just be small. |
| 0:33.1 | It's really get them to sit in a desk, have lack of movement, and being okay with doing a lot of mundane |
| 0:38.1 | things so that when you're older and you go to nine to five, you're just going to tolerate it |
| 0:41.9 | to get your paychecks. We've normalized so many insane things in public school. We're trying to |
| 0:46.7 | create a new norm of what school can be. Jillian, Jenna, I'm going to get confused on that a lot |
| 0:52.1 | to make this. I'll try my best. |
| 0:54.3 | Okay. |
| 0:54.8 | Thank you so much for being here. |
| 0:56.6 | Thanks for having us. |
| 0:57.7 | Yeah, thank you for having us. |
| 0:58.8 | Yeah, I'm stoked for this conversation. |
| 1:00.6 | So education to me is probably the most important conversation to be having because the reason that I do what I do in the world, ultimately at the |
| 1:12.8 | end of the day when I ask my deepest why, is because I want to make a better world for my kids. |
| 1:17.8 | I think so many people listening to this podcast, watching this podcast want the same thing. |
| 1:23.4 | Obviously, they want a better world for themselves, but it's for the future generations. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Alec Zeck, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Alec Zeck and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.