You and Betty and the Nancy's and Bill's and Joes and Jane's will find in the study of science a richer, more rewarding life.

Welcome to Inquiring Minds. I'm Injavis Gontas. This is a podcast that explores the space where science and society collide.

We want to find out what's true, what's left to discover,

and why it matters.

Well, it's June in 2020. And if you're like me, you're like me, you probably are super glad that the school year is over. I think I was more

excited about it than my kids. Zoom school is not for everyone. And it certainly has made it really

difficult for a lot of us who have small children. And it has made us appreciate what an amazing and

difficult job teachers have.

So as we send our kids to either online classes or summer camps if it's possible or somewhere

else, hopefully maybe even to their grandparents' houses, maybe it's time to think about

education and think about what's right and what's wrong and how we can make it better.

So I wanted to bring an innovator in education onto the show.

And I found Tony Wagner.

He's currently the Senior Research Fellow at the Learning Policy Institute.

But previously, he spent 20 years at Harvard in a variety of positions, including as an expert in residence at the Harvard Innovation Lab.

And he also founded and co-directed for a decade, the changed leadership group at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

He has spent time as a high school teacher, as a K-8 principal, as a university professor in teacher education.

And this is a man who hated school. So who better to really think about how to totally change

education than someone who himself hated school, did not do well in a traditional education,

tried a number of different schools, and then finally found his place

as an innovator and educator at one of the best schools in the world.

Tony Wagner, welcome to Inquiring Minds.

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