meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
The Radio Free Hillsdale Hour

The Man Who Invented Conservatism

The Radio Free Hillsdale Hour

Hillsdale College

Education

4.8649 Ratings

🗓️ 29 August 2025

⏱️ 50 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Guests: Jonathan Gregg & Daniel J. Flynn 

Host Scot Bertram talks with Jonathan Gregg, assistant professor of education at Hillsdale College, about efforts to improve national math standards in education and his co-authored essay, “The Alarming Decay of Mathematical Competency in the U.S.” And Daniel J. Flynn, senior editor at the American Spectator and visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution, discusses the legacy of conservative luminary Frank S. Meyer and Flynn’s new book, The Man Who Invented Conservatism: The Unlikely Life of Frank S. Meyer.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

From the historic campus of Hillsdale College in Hillsdale, Michigan, where the good, the true, and the beautiful are taught, nurtured, and honored, this is the Radio Free Hillsdale Hour, bringing the activity and education of the college to listeners across the country.

0:24.9

The whole idea of a Reagan presidency, I think Meyer came up with that before Ronald Reagan did.

0:29.5

And of course, that came about after his death.

0:31.9

So he really laid the seeds for a lot of good things that happened for conservatives.

0:36.9

He just didn't live long enough to

0:38.6

enjoy them. This is your host, Scott Bertram. Welcome to the Radio Free Hillsdale Hour, part of the

0:45.7

Hillsdale College Podcast Network. That was Daniel J. Flynn, author of the new book, The Man Who

0:52.6

Invented Conservatism, the Unlikely Life of Frank

0:56.0

S. Meyer. We'll talk with Daniel in-depth about that book coming up later on today's program.

1:02.0

First, we're joined by Dr. Jonathan Gregg. He is Assistant Professor of Education at Hillsdale

1:07.1

College, Project Director of the Archimedes Standards. Dr. Greg, thanks so much for

1:12.4

joining us. Thanks for having me. Talking today about an essay you co-wrote with David Randall

1:19.0

over at realcleareducation.com, the alarming decay of mathematical competency in America. Why should everyday Americans, parents, taxpayers, even

1:30.9

those people without kids in school? Why should we care about math standards? Yeah, that's a great

1:37.6

question. I think on the surface, there's very little reason to care about math standards. We don't

1:42.3

see them show up in our everyday lives. We don't see them show up in our everyday lives.

1:44.3

We don't see them. We probably don't even know what they what they say. But I think the real issue is

1:51.3

that math standards lie upstream from so many things that we actually do care about, where certainly

1:59.0

they lie upstream of things like curriculum,

2:01.8

which people do start to see showing up in their homes and their students bring home math

2:05.9

problems. It lies upstream of certainly achievement, pedagogy, but even just the kinds of

2:14.5

things that show up in our everyday lives. Like, for example, I was at the bank a few days ago, and the teller had a hard time counting

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Hillsdale College, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Hillsdale College and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.