School reform questions, talked through over a glass of whiskey.
Education on the Rocks pairs host John Bullock with his friend and co-host George Hegarty for talk over a glass of whiskey about how American schools are built and why they resist change. Gifted programs, the summer calendar, charter schools and the shape of a teacher's workday all get examined by two people who have worked in schools themselves.
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Education on the Rocks is a conversation show about American schooling, hosted by John Bullock with his friend and co-host George Hegarty. The setup is a glass of whiskey, two people who have worked in schools, and a problem worth arguing over. What distinguishes the show is where the pair point their attention. They go after the structure of school: the calendar, the teacher's workday, the way students are sorted, the expectations a community brings to its high school. Teacher work is one thread. In one conversation the hosts observe that the job market has changed dramatically since they entered it in the mid-nineties, while a classroom teacher's day still looks much as it did. Newer teachers, they suggest, look at what their peers are doing elsewhere and notice the difference. The proposal on the table is specific: keep master teachers as pillars, surround them with passionate people who want to work with young people without committing a whole career to it, and add year-round school. The speaker admits both ideas would require a cultural shift in how people think about education. The calendar returns in a discussion of summer school, which the hosts refuse to treat as punishment. They question why summer idle time is privileged over a break in winter, and recall students for whom winter was the time off that mattered most. Equity is a steady concern. In a talk about gifted and talented programs, one host cites figures from a city school system where most students are Black or Latino while most gifted-class seats go to white and Asian students, then asks how a kindergartner can be identified as gifted with no test at all. Elsewhere, free and reduced lunch eligibility sits alongside a warning that people are being conditioned to expect scarcity rather than abundance, a pattern tied on air to poverty that lasts generations. Then there is the question of why school resists change. Speaking from the experience of building a charter school, one host calls the American high school, with its proms, football games and class-to-class days, one of the last unifying pieces of social fabric, and a reason even better models meet resistance. The show also works at classroom scale. There are exchanges on what note-taking is actually for, whether cramming, retention or meeting a requirement, and on why productive struggle needs rest and recovery, the way training does for an athlete. The register is warm and candid, with spring-break updates, a mid-April snowstorm and at least one honest admission that things are merely going. Episodes run in numbered seasons and carry titles styled as Editions. A listener drawn to the equity debate can start with the episode whose title asks whether schools really need a G.A.T.E.
Made for: Suits a listener who works in or around schools, or simply thinks hard about them, and wants structural questions like the school calendar, gifted identification and teacher staffing talked through plainly by two people who have worked in education.
What sets it apart: Its conversations aim at the machinery of school itself, from summer break to the shape of a teacher's workday, and move easily between policy arguments and classroom practice like note-taking and productive struggle. The whiskey-glass framing and friendly check-ins keep the talk loose without losing the thread.
For years, the American public and politicians have decried the state of education in the United States. Endless reform efforts and enhanced accountability measures have stressed our public education system to the breaking point. Each week, over a glass of whiskey, our hosts tackle the education topics of the day and discuss issues that have long plagued education. This is Education on the Rocks.
School leadership can mean guarding the football gate; John Bullock and George Hegarty take you inside.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A grounded conversation about why teaching can still feel bound to older work expectations while other jobs have changed.
Education on the Rocks looks at why people leave teaching by widening the question from personal burnout to the shape of the job itself. John Bullock and George Haggerty tie the strain on newer teachers to a school day that often follows them home through preparation and…
Academic struggle works better with recovery time, and notes work best when they serve the learner's purpose.
Education on the Rocks treats productive academic struggle as useful only when learners also have room to recover. John Bullock and George Hegarty tie that idea to athletics and exercise, where effort can be sore, painful, and tough, but repetition only works when rest is part…
A candid Season 4 opener looks at how school meal paperwork can make needed support harder to access.
A question about soggy tater tots leads into a sharper look at how students qualify for school meal benefits. John Bullock and George Hegarty focus on a community where a family of four making under $82,000 qualifies for meal benefits, while the median family income is $65,000.
A practical case for seeing summer learning as a flexible path, not a penalty.
Education on the Rocks closes season three by asking a useful question: does learning need to pause just because summer starts? John Bullock and George treat summer school less as a penalty and more as one possible route through an education, then connect that idea to year-round…
A serious, classroom-rooted look at gifted labels and the resources that shape who receives them.
Education on the Rocks uses gifted labels to get at a larger question: who gets recognized early, and who is left outside the room. John Bullock and George Hegarty ground the discussion in the mismatch between a city school system's students and its gifted classrooms, noting…
Oklahoma policy, framed as executive action.
Singapore markets, policy, and daily dilemmas.
Jewish ideas with cultural nerve.
School choice policy, close to the ground.
Education on the Rocks centers on why classroom teachers are leaving K-12 public schools, with John Bullock citing an August PBS report that upwards of 20% of U.S.
Education on the Rocks EP 45 centers on how students move from high school into college with grades and credits but often without the study habits, recovery time, or mental-health support that college demands.
Education on the Rocks Season 4 opens with John Bullock and George Hegarty arguing that school lunch policy shapes more than cafeteria routines, citing a $82,000 family-of-four meal-benefit threshold in John’s area and the 40% to 62.5% Community Eligibility Provision math.
John Bullock and George discuss whether summer school should remain associated with failure or become an option for credit recovery, advancement, enrichment, and experimentation.
Education on the Rocks EP 42 centers on TAG and GATE programs, with John Bullock and George Hegarty asking whether gifted-and-talented tracking should exist at all.
Education on the Rocks hosts John Bullock and George Hegarty ask what schools would look like without separate math, English, history, or science classes.
John Bullock and George Hegarty examine substitute-teacher shortages during COVID-era school disruptions in Education on the Rocks.
John Bullock and George Hegarty examine a reported 6.6% decline in U.S.
John Bullock and George Hegarty examine how Omicron disrupted schools in early 2022, with UC Davis extending remote instruction through the end of January while nearby K–12 schools remained open.
John Bullock and George Haggerty examine school breaks, including Thanksgiving, winter, summer, and university quarter-system calendars, through student and teacher experiences.
Education on the Rocks hosts John Bullock and George Hegarty examine book challenges in schools through Toni Morrison's Beloved and a Virginia gubernatorial campaign involving Glenn Youngkin and Terry McAuliffe.
John Bullock and George Hegarty examine whether American public schools have become 21st-century shopping malls that provide classrooms alongside healthcare, nutrition, transportation, athletics, and social events.
John Bullock and George Hegarty examine why ninth grade is treated as a decisive year when some students remain in middle school through ninth grade while others begin high school.
Education on the Rocks hosts John Bullock and George Hegarty examine the annual return to school, including teacher exhaustion, first-day expectations, and the pressure to make Labor Day traditions work for everyone.
John Bullock and George Hagerty examine why becoming a teacher in the United States can require state-specific licensing, a master's degree, debt, and a substantial early commitment.
John Bullock and George Hegarty examine how COVID-era changes could reshape K-12 education, including later schedules, hybrid learning, expanded summer school, and universal school meals.
The episode discusses recent changes to the SAT announced by the College Board and their impact on K-12 testing culture.
Hosts discuss the challenges of remote learning for teenagers and the state of education reform over whiskey.
The hosts discuss the state of education in the US, criticizing reform efforts and the impact on underrepresented groups in higher education.
A podcast discussing the challenges and reforms in the American public education system, hosted over a glass of whiskey.