Homeschool bill set to pass the US Senate

0:00We are happy to have you a part of the program on this fine afternoon. It's 2 p.m. Wherever you are, well I don't know, I shouldn't say 2 p.m. wherever you are. It's 2 p.m. where I am in the eastern time zone. We are here by the way Monday through Friday on America out loud talk radio at the 2 p.m. Eastern zone timeslot. Monday through Friday or you can find us, wherever you find your podcasts, every program goes into podcasts usually within 24 hours. So we are that we're on Spotify, we're on iTunes, we're in Pandora, or you

1:02can just go to America out loud.news, find my show page and every single show ever. It's all there. You can just scroll through the archives if you are so inclined. All right so big day to day. We've got a history class today absolutely. You know it's always a good day when we can go to history class. Today's history class marks the end of an era ultimately the end of a wartime era. To fun little story and I'm looking forward to diving into it with you. There's also some news coming out in the whole homeschool front that I'm looking forward to exploring with you and and also if we have time and I hope that we do. I'm sure that we do. If we have time I'd like to get into this piece by our friend Aaron Gifford over at the epoch times and it looks like according to Aaron Gifford. Now these aren't his words. I'm paraphrasing here and I'm

2:03summarizing and interjecting my own thoughts but it would appear that public schools are taking a page from classical schools and how they how they are structuring their academics at least for seniors. This is an interesting piece and I'm looking forward to exploring it in some detail but first let's go to history class and talk about the Battle of the Lairn Clads. Now when I say the Battle of the Lairn Clads you know right away what I'm talking about I'm talking about the Monitor and the Merrimack. Of course it's not it's not called the Merrimack in this battle anymore but we still call it the Monitor in the Merrimack. At least I do. The the M alliteration it's just kind of fun to refer to it that way but the Merrimack was renamed the Virginia by the Confederates of course and here in this day March 9 1862 this is really marks the

3:11date of the Age of Modern Naval Warfare. It begins today 1962 with the first battle between two iron clad vessels. The Union's ship was named the Monitor and the Confederates ship, formerly the Merrimack, is now called the Virginia. The Confederates raised the Merrimack after it had been scuttled near Norfolk. They raised it, they cover it with slanting iron plates and they rename it the Virginia and people say that this thing looks like a floating barn roof with ten cannons sticking out of the sides and a smoked stack on top. I mean that was basically it's a floating barn roof you know because the way that the the iron sheets were slanted down look like a barn floating barn with

4:13a with a smoke stack coming out of the top and cannons sticking out of its side and this thing by the way was wreaking havoc March 8th. This is how Bill Bennett describes it. He says the clumsy Virginia steamed into combat against five wooden Union ships. These five ships from the Union were making an attempt at blockading the port of Norfolk and then the the the metal floating barn roof kind of just plods into the scene here. According to Bennett the Virginia quickly sank the USS Cumberland quickly sink the USS Congress and then drove the USS Minnesota ground. I mean it's just this thing's unstoppable it's just wreaking havoc. The Union ships cannonballs glanced off the Virginians iron sides with quote no more effect than peas from a pop gun as one

5:21onlooker described it and the Union Army or at least in this case the Union Navy they were a little panic and people on the on the side of the North are a little panic. When news of the Union disaster reached Washington Lincoln Secretary of War vocally worried that Virginia would sink the whole Union fleet and then quote make its way up the Potomac River and disperse Congress destroy the Capitol and all the public buildings. Who's gonna stop this floating tin barn roof with a smoke stack or cannons just ricochet off it. Peas out of a pop gun. That's what's happening here. This thing's gonna float at the Potomac and we are doomed. Doomed I tell you this is this is Reagan's

6:22Secretary of War. This is a man exuding confidence here just exuding it. He's no Pete Hexath. I got to tell you that. No Pete Hexath at all. But here's how this thing shapes out. The next day happens to be March 9th. The Virginia chugs out of its birth yet again but this time it's got a little surprise waiting for and wouldn't you think that the Secretary of War knows about this surprise? I mean why is he publicly unless he was feigning? Maybe he was feigning fear to make the Confederates over confident. I don't know but there's a surprise lurking and this surprise is in the form of the Merrimack. The Union Navy had rushed its own experimental iron clad to the scene and maybe because it was experimental. Maybe Mr. Secretary of War wasn't really confident that it was ready to go and therefore he wasn't exuding confidence. I'm trying to help the

7:25man here by the way. Truly trying to try to help us cause. So the Union Navy says okay whether the monitor is ready or not we're sending her out and so the monitor which by the way rode low in the water. It had just one revolving turret housing but but the housing housed two very big guns and these big guns really proved to be somewhat unstoppable. Somebody described the Merrimack as a tin can on a shingle but the Merrimack proved to be every bit as tough as the Virginia. The iron clads again this is this is Bill Bennett. He says the iron clads locked in battle pounding away with their guns. Neither could puncture the others iron shell and after more than three hours the battered ships that both turned and limped away. Each side considered the battle to be a draw but

8:30overall even though the battle between the two ships came out even it all ultimately ended up and and what would result as a victory for the North because for the Virginia I guess it's not the Virginia it's called the Virginia. The Virginia failed to break the Union blockade which was there over Norfolk but the Virginia was going to break the blockade it was going to destroy everything it's in its path till the monitor showed up and the monitor was like I am every bit as iron as you. Now we might not be able to defeat each other we might be equal in strength and power and therefore our particular battle might be a draw. Ultimately this little war and this little section of the country is a victory for the for the Union Navy because the Virginia formerly known as the Merrimack was unable to impose its will upon the monitor and when admirals

9:38around the world and that this is the this is the important point here when admirals around the world heard of this particular battle they swiftly came to the realization and to the conclusion that the age of tall-masted wooden warships had come to a close that was it it was over because if you go out in the high seas and you're in this tall-masted wooden ship and then this ironclad thing rolls and you don't stand a chance it don't stand a chance it's over kiss your hopes and dreams goodbye at this point this is taking place 1862 and it changed the the naval warfare landscape forever forever and it was American ingenuity that changed that landscape that happened right here I mean granted over here fighting ourselves you know we're over here punching

10:41ourselves in the mouth got a little sibling rivalry going on over you know granted it was a sibling rivalry for a fight for for really what was true and good and noble and pure and that route here trying to dispel and dispose of one of the great evils of our time and the form of slavery and in that to dispel and that sibling rivalry taking place before our very eyes and good old fashioned American ingenuity is showing up in the form of the monitor and the mirror mac soon to be called the the Virginia changing naval landscape for life changing it for good all right so there it is that's your little piece of history today that is history class I hope you loved it I know I did I just absolutely thoroughly enjoy history class all right listen I tell you

11:44what let's yeah can we go to break early today can we do that because I want to get into some of this other stuff and I want to make sure we have time to do it so let's do that right now let's take a pause right here for a break and we'll pick up some home school action on the other side and also you know we're gonna talk about how it looks like public schools are taking a page from classical education all right don't go anywhere we'll pick it up in a minute you're listening to the Dean's list on America out loud talk radio let's get real let's get loud on America out loud talk news yes this is Dr. Peter McCullough and I'm personally inviting you to join me in Nashville until I second third and fourth for historic experience in 2026 America out loud news 250 slash 10 Nashville along with clear and the wellness company we're celebrating two big milestones 250 years of America and 10 years of America out loud news I'm calling all patriots to this historic weekend with

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15:54fantastic food wonderful entertainment and from what I'm told a fireworks display like no other I'm looking forward to it cannot wait and I hope to be able to meet you I mean if if you're going to hunt me down shake my hand introduce yourself I think I that I'm really looking forward to that just to meeting the audience I mean a lot of you send emails and you know we we communicate in that way but I think it'd be great just to to meet your face to face and see who you are put a face to the name so by all means please make make plans to join us in Nashville Tennessee this summer it's going to be fantastic all right speaking of fantastic if you're a fan of of the homeschool movement if you're a fan of the homeschool scene it which apparently this current house of representatives and the Senate they are a fan

16:55of it and I'm not just talking about Republicans even communists apparently are in favor of homeschool communists in the in the Senate at least as it were I mean there's not just that one communist that we're not just talking about Bernie Sanders there's other other commies in the Senate and it would appear that they are on board some of them at least aren't support of the homeschool movement I know I know it doesn't doesn't feel right feels like an oxy moron and it makes me think hmm what's going on here when when the commies are are supporting supporting something that's actually good for the country this article that I'm looking at is from our friends at the homeschool legal defense association and they're telling us that the U.S. Senate is set to consider a vote on a builder recognize homeschool graduates at the federal

17:56level because right now they're not they're not recognized as actual graduate I know I know it doesn't make sense the house of representatives passed a similar bill last week and and our friends at homeschool legal defense association has worked tirelessly with legislatures from both chambers behind the scenes in order to get this thing passed and currently it looks like it's going to to pass the Senate it's bill three four I'm sorry three seven four seven it's co-sponsored by Ashley Moody from Florida and Jim Banks from Indiana it passed out of the Senate education committee at the tail end of February and and it looks like we are it's going to advance to the Senate floor where it has bipartisan support according to the homeschool legal defense

18:57association the president of that group Jim Mason he said that we strongly support the homeschool graduation recognition act that's what it's called it will ensure homeschool graduates are treated equally by clarifying that they meet the definition of high school graduates for federal student aid purposes he further said it will eliminate ambiguity and prevent ongoing misrepresentation in this area what were you aware that there was some misrepresentation in this area and this because a lot of places are you know look at homeschool student and they say really I mean come on did you really did you really do work I mean didn't your mom just print this out of the printer uncard stock and just call at a diploma I mean really do you really have a diploma every year the homeschool

20:01legal defense association handles a plethora of cases for homeschool graduates who are being denied a whole host of things such as employment opportunities because the employer says they didn't graduate or enrollment in trade schools because officials wrongly assumed that they're not high school graduates so this bill becomes essential to protect graduates from homeschooling families from being discriminated against and it ensures that their homeschool diplomas are recognized on the federal level and similar problems happen regularly in small colleges and universities matter of fact we I mean we've even had our students I've even had my you know some of my students call me and say this college won't accept my diploma from waterbrook and at some obscure college and you know I'm like well you got to be kidding me I mean our kids are

21:07going to big 10 schools they're they're going to Hillsdale College they're going to you know they're going to to big-time universities all over the country but this small time university in some town somewhere is wrong you don't have a building number with the state of Michigan I don't see a number with the state of Michigan that has happened so maybe I don't know but this bill just refers to homeschool students but it's a thing it is a it's a thing with particular universities the this article says that we've been thrilled this is the again the homeschool legal defense association we've been thrilled to see the bipartisan and unanimous committee support both of these bills referring to the bills coming out of the House and the Senate both of these

22:08two bills and for homeschooling families in Congress at the Senate Education Committee session the chair has built Cassidy from Louisiana ranking member Bernie Sanders the independent communist from Vermont and committee member Tim Kane the Democrat communist from Virginia all spoke favorably about the bill and about homeschooling in general that strikes me as odd personally that Bernie Sanders and Tim Kane would both would both be speaking favorably about homeschooling I mean these two you'd think I don't know maybe maybe they're they're too big for their bridges and they don't care about any retribution coming down the plate from from the teachers unions I mean it seems to me like that that would be coming I mean Becky Pringle right now is fit to be tied her

23:12and Randy Weingartner probably fit to be tied over this because homeschooling represents a portion of their biggest competition I mean obviously it's it's homeschooling and it's private education those are the two biggies to do to some degree charter schools but only if they're classical charter schools you know it can be any other charter school but if it's a classical charter school then by golly Becky Pringle and what's her name Weingartner they they're not happy about it they are fully aware that homeschooling has been exploding in popularity really since the 1980s the 1990s we've seen an increase in a number of homeschool graduates which has caused questions to arise about the validity of the parent issued transcript and diplomas from a lot of these places I mean again they're just like you're you're your parent

24:14just printed this this diploma out you know when we take in homeschool students which we do often a lot of times because we open up our program to the homeschool community a lot of times homeschool families will come to us for a particular class for a band class or a strings class or an art class or whatever and while they're in the building they end up falling in love with it and a lot of times we end up getting their kids full time and so when that happens we'll get a report card or a transcript of sorts and a lot of these transcripts come from that the family's names let's pretend that the name is Jones they might come from Jones Christian Academy that's what it says on the or or Jones homeschool academy or something with the family name on it making it official some type of official transcript and a lot of schools apparently of

25:19higher ed and perhaps and places of employment of or trade schools are looking at this and they're questioning this is this is this is valid this parent issued diploma and there's a lot of question as to whether the student actually qualified for federal aid or could be admitted into a college or a university because do they really know anything I mean you'd think that they would give them a test and of course the student in many instances and most of the homeschool cases the student is going to come out spinning circles around other public school graduates his or her age so in response to this complaint the homeschool legal defense association has worked with Congress to amend the Higher Education Act from 1998 this act made it clear that homeschool

26:20high school graduates are eligible for federal student aid however confusing language regarding the eligibility of homeschool students remained in place and continue to present a problem for graduates and so for decades this organization has made note that trade schools and other institutions a higher education have refused to accept homeschool graduates into their programs and typically this treatment of homeschool students is motivated by fears that the the graduate that the student doesn't doesn't qualify this specifically for federal aid so this this bill out of the house and out of the Senate actually fixes that problem once and for all by removing the discriminatory header and the Higher Education Act that was passed by the House of Representatives and by the Senate you know back in the day so this

27:24bill the one specifically passed by the House and and then the one that is pending to be passed by the Senate according to the homeschool legal defense association sends a simple message which is this homeschool graduates deserve equal recognition under the law and now Congress has the opportunity to ensure that homeschool graduates should indeed never be denied opportunities because of outdated or confusing federal language we know the fact of the matter that many I would say 99 percent of the time the homeschool student knows their stuff better than the than the public school graduate I'm gonna go out there I'm gonna go out on a limb I'm gonna say 99 percent of the time these kids are smart they are they're smart especially the homeschool families that are

28:27affiliated with the homeschool legal defense association because these families they're engaged they want to educate their children this isn't a deal where you know Johnny's getting he's sleeping until 11 and 12 and then he's gaming and then he's gonna do a couple math problems and then mom's gonna print out a diploma after 12 years that's not this situation I mean and that might happen but that's a rarity if it does it's it's it's not the rule that would be an anomaly an outlying anomaly now these families that are engaged in in homeschooling are in it to win it as they say they are in it to truly give their kids the best education humanly possible it's the beauty of it's the beauty of gathering your children around the table and just going after it now I run a classical Christian school and I think the education we

29:28provide is stellar I think it's fantastic but anytime a parent has an opportunity to homeschool their child I say go after it I'm even if it's even if it's our parents and I don't want to lose them I don't want to and again we have great families at my school I don't want to lose my families but if a family came to me and said I really want to homeschool my child I would support them a thousand percent I would say yes do it absolutely do it you have an opportunity to to be with your kids and to sit around the table go after it and I will support you in that I will support you in curriculum I will support you in any and scheduling and anything I can do to support that endeavor because I think it's it truly is the best way to to have an education now that said a lot of times parents for whatever reason don't

30:29have the ability or don't feel like they have the capability or you know just their schedules that just isn't gonna fit well I mean the next best thing is my school and I'm on the record I'm on the record as making that that statement of fact by golly it's a the blooming statement of fact I mean I believe it's a that's a fact so you know there's that all right my friends I'm looking at the clock and I want to pause here for a break but before we do I want to remind you that our friends at the wellness company are offering a just just a bonus really to America out loud listeners when you subscribe to your favorite wellness company product and use code a well at checkout you will get the exclusive 20% off with every reoccurring order this is not being made available anywhere else only here only at the shop only with code a well which by the way stands for America out loud that's what it stands for America

31:32out loud so use code a well at checkout get 20% off of every reoccurring order and and just be happy about it it's all I can say just just be happy about it all right when we come out of this break I want to dive into this other piece here by our friend Aaron Gifford over at the epoch times and it looks like it just looks like the the public schools are taking a page from classical education and how they are treating their graduates or at least how they want to educate them okay we'll pick it up on the other side of this break I'm Doug Evans author of the sprout book and I've devoted my life to helping people reconnect with food at its most alive stage the sprout when you germinate a seed you're not just growing food you're activating potential sprouts grow without soil sunshine or fertilizer right on your kitchen countertop their organic fresh and cost less than a dollar serving its nature's fastest form of

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33:37gimmicks just real medicine trusted by top doctors go to twc dot health forward slash out loud and use code out loud for 20% off your first order take control of your health today well did you see google quietly updated its AI principles removing its pledge not to use AI for weapons or surveillance a promise they agree to it 2018 but American people have seen Google's track record prompting the question is Google and untrustworthy player in the AI race now is our time my fellow Americans America out loud dot news liberty and justice for all you know uh springtime cold or I think I think we're pretty much out of cold and flu season but springtime colds are a thing and people at my school are

34:42dropping they're dropping like flies because of the springtime cold I myself recently you wouldn't know this because of my regiment but I I had a couple days where I was fighting it off and normally historically it's true that I would have failed in that fight and I would have gone home for several days probably with a fever and whatever but my regimen nowadays keeps it so I I am operating on all cylinders and even when the bug hits I'm just I'm able to fend it off I mean I kind of had a radio voice for a couple days I did not have a scratchy sore throat though I did not have a sore throat at all a little bit of you know little stuff to deal with but I've come out on top the important thing here is that in the past I would not have come out on top I would have as I said I would have gone home and I would have been home for days on

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36:48here is I'm telling you what it's stellar and this is one of the one of the things I use again go to the shop if you're interested if you want to give it a shot go to the shop your first time order get 20% off use coupon code outlaw okay my friends so there's something I want to tell you about a classical education and this is it's something that I thought was unique to us but I'm seeing here that public schools are really interested in and how this thing works and they're taking a page from classical education something that that we do it's just a tool that we use and it's called a portrait of a graduate essentially it's this I don't want to call it an internal document because it's you know it's public but it's something that we use to internally describe what

37:52we want our graduates to look like what is the portrait of the graduate the portrait of the student when they leave our school what should they look like and it's full of stuff you know such as a character what what kind of values do we want them to hold what kind of virtues do we want them to display what what what morality do we want entrenched in their heart and specifically for a classical Christian education we we ask other questions how what do we want their relationship with God to look like what do we want their relationship with their family to look like what do we want their relationship with their community and their fellow students what what do we want this to to be and to appear I mean there's other things on that list academically where do we want them to stay and what do we want them to learn what do we want them to know you know we want them to be able to put their thoughts on display and to do it

38:59well we want them to be able to communicate well we want them to have rhetorical strategies and practices that are entrenched in their heart that they can persuade and present their ideas well and that they can logically think through things we we want them to be critical thinkers but not just as critics but to have the ability to actually think through a topic and a subject and and be able to communicate their thoughts on that topic and that subject and to be able to communicate them well this is things that make up our portrait of of a graduate will hear in this epoch timespiece Aaron Gifford is making note that right here in the headline he says coming to a school district near you portrait of a graduate and the months and years ahead he says public school communities across the nation might be buzzing about the five C's now the thing

40:05with public education is you know there's they like things to alliterate as it were that they want things to to to stick out and so they their portrait of a graduate and a lot of these instances begins with the letter C things that they want their their their seniors to be able to do and know and and in some instances this concept this portrait of a graduate concept is called the North Star for academic achievement and that just makes it so you know but what your North Star follow your North Star your true North you know that all of that jazz and there's nothing wrong with that but I don't know it feels like the flavor of the day almost to me so here are their five C's this is what they prioritize critical thinking with that's good communication kid that's good

41:07collaboration team work team building that's good creativity that's important citizenship okay what does any of that even mean though to them I know what it means to me because we want our students at my school to be critical thinkers but I also know what it takes to be a critical thinker and I know there's a particular type of education that has got to be provided for the student to be a critical thinker so if you put that out there and you say I want my graduate to be a critical thinker but you're not going through the steps that help them to think critically then this is a lesson of utility here you're spinning your wheels in the mud and you're going nowhere fast ultimately an increasing number of states are phasing in what they call portrait of a graduate and these frameworks that they say advocate for a better prepared future and

42:15career and adult life for these young people especially considering rapid technological and societal changes brought on by artificial intelligence all right so right here I've got a pause because of rapid technological changes brought on by artificial intelligence you think that you're not you by the way I'm not you I'm just you know the people in public education that are putting this together you think that your five C's are going to better prepare young people and this rapid technological societal change I mean okay it might but I'd like to see the details of the program I get your five C's and I see where you're going with it but how are you gonna get there what are you doing to

43:17instill critical thinking in your student because chances are if okay I'm gonna I'm gonna be careful here because I don't want to I don't want to destroy anybody we're having a good idea and it is a good idea I think every school should have a portrait of a graduate but I just I guess I want to know the process because the process is going to describe the end that the process that a student goes through is going to tell us what the student looks like at the end on their way out both very blue and very red states have undertaken the effort according to Harry Fetter Harry is the executive director of fair test a nonprofit organization that advocates for fair and open testing so he

44:22made this statement in a 2025 report you know talking about red and blue states that are really pushing for a portrait of a graduate he estimates that at least 20 states and hundreds of school districts have adopted this framework he said having young people prepared to contribute meaningfully to society in the economy seems a fairly universal goal and yes it should be it's a great goal that's what we want of our young people we want them to be able to contribute meaningfully but just slap in five C's up there and saying yeah this you know we want these five C's without detailing the process again I just I'm left with questions fair tests list of 20 states with a plan implemented or in progress includes states in every region of the country they include Hawaii Florida I'm sorry just hope this lists this Hawaii Florida and Texas are not on

45:25the list California is not listed as a state participant yet but several of its districts have adopted portrait of a graduate guidelines the first state to adopt the policies were South Carolina Utah Washington and Virginia according to the National Association of State Boards of Education these changes took place before COVID-19 in South Carolina business leaders provided the state with descriptions of employable skills okay so I'm gonna I'm gonna underline next one to come back to that for a minute in Utah the Department of Education designed a talent map that recognizes academic mastery and subject areas while also encouraging students to develop and demonstrate character traits such as integrity and resilience right Washington state's portrait of a graduate is centered on diversity and cultural

46:27competency of course it is in Washington cultural competency that's that's what we want our students to look like we want them to be diverse and we want them to have cultural competency to be competent of the culture Virginia's five seas which they codified into state law promotes project-based learning okay project let's let's get projects in here New York's state plan adopted less summer would eventually eliminate the regents exams that require passing scores for high school graduation we and we've talked about this a little bit the exams will be administered as a requirement for federal funding but students in the class of 2028 and behind won't need passing grades okay so you can still take the region exam but you don't have to pass it that's an oxymoron instead

47:30diploma candidates must demonstrate a strong foundation in the state learning standards as well as the knowledge and skills necessary to achieve success in college careers civic engagement service life etc the department hasn't yet announced what changes if any will be made to core subject completion requirements okay so that's out of New York the California Department of Education announced just a couple days ago that it's planning workshops to develop statewide portrait of a graduate guidelines focused on deeper learning for 21st century skills and innovative use of technology so California's portrait of a graduate is going to be technology founded has a Kaya Herrera a San Diego K-12 education consultant who has worked on this initiative with districts in several states said portrait of a graduate is a conceptualization of what

48:33schools should be producing as opposed to measuring student success based on standardized tests and content mastery so far schools have struggled to develop a subjective system for evaluating student portfolios Herrera made the following statement to the epic times when you take a map test there is one correct answer when you assess a capstone project that demonstrates civic engagement you are making a subjective decision each and every time we are being asked to eliminate accountability mechanisms in the midst of a learning crisis that has yet to be resolved all right so I want to want to go back to Herrera's definition here that a portrait of a graduate is a conceptualization of what schools should be producing okay what they should be producing so let's

49:33take a look at California they want to produce students that have 21st century skills and innovative use of technology in Virginia they want to produce students who know how to projects and Utah they want to produce students that have a talent map in South Carolina they want to produce students that have employable skills all right so Plato I want to read this quote to you Plato was pretty pretty adamant about what education should be he said it's not about filling the mind with information such as having an employable skill or a talent map or technology and steady said education is turning the soul toward objective truth it seems to me that if your school has a portrait of a graduate

50:39that graduate a portrait should should have reduced or say something about the pursuit of objective truth because that's where true education lies there is objective truth some things are true just because they're true such as I'm just gonna throw this out there if you're if you're born a male then you're a male and you can't be anything else you can't be a female you you can't be an elephant you're born a male human you can't be a lion you can't be a statue made of stone you can't be an amphibian assault vehicle you're born a human male that's objective truth and it seems like that should that should be

51:43and the portrait of a graduate somewhere shouldn't it I mean if California for example if they are meeting with you know they're here the California Department of Education announced last week that they're planning workshops to develop statewide portrait graduates shouldn't that be a part of it instead of you know learning for 21st century skills and innovative use of technology well I mean that's career building but should education be career building or should it be soul building should we be focused on building the student soul versus building their career I think if you focus on building their career before you focus on building their soul you're getting the cart before the horse I don't think you've got this thing in the right order I mean yes they need careers but they need to have a formed and shaped soul before

52:51they get to the career the National Association of Schoolboards here in a 2022 report said a key benefit of this framework is giving students a clear picture of the purpose of their schooling and the steps they can take toward proficiency and and that's true that that's that's an important statement giving students and a clear picture of the purpose of their schooling here's the purpose here's why you're being educated and some of these students are being told many of them most of them are being told that the whole purpose of their education is so they can go get a career so they can develop 21st century skills and have innovative use of technology or perhaps the purposes that you can learn based upon projects or if you're in Washington the purpose of your schooling is centered on diversity and cultural competency because that's what their portrait looks like the purpose of your education is that you will

53:55be competent of the culture in which you that you'll be aware that you're racist and there's nothing you can do about it especially if you're white you're just a racist and there's no two ways about I mean that I mean that's what they mean I don't mean to be you know anything about it but that's what they mean so the National School Board here cited examples of elementary school children starting community gardens or high school kids helping military veterans or students from low-performing schools taking pride in their work going on to college Andrew Tucker executive director of the collaborative for academic social and emotional learning said the framework is critical for two reasons to prepare students who aren't interested in pursuing a four-year college degree and to provide young people with durable skills that cannot be replaced by artificial intelligence how about Mr.

55:00Tucker the the framework of having a portrait of a of a graduate should prepare students to be good citizens how about to prepare students to be law biting godfiring citizens so this is just this is where we're we're going to differ here me and them because I I believe that the portrait of a graduate should focus yes on academic ability but before that it should focus on moral foundation it should focus on virtues it should focus on values it should focus on the soul it should focus on the type of human that you are over your transferable skills and getting hired or your ability to slap together an excellent resume I mean yes you need that kind of stuff but that's not going to shape your soul and that's what you need first you need to be able to have

56:04your soul your your your soul shaped first and foremost right some of the criticism today the way of time for this Herrera doesn't think these changes will work what changes oh you know I miss this part next generation learning challenges non-profit education firm that helps schools in Californian Kentucky and other places develop portraits of a graduate said the framework reflects both academic goals and real work demands because it's shaped by diverse perspectives the portrait of a graduate helps keep improvement effort to ground it on what families students and local partners believe matter most for their young people in the next generation all right so I mean there you have it that's their that's their that's their purpose for it just differs a little bit with mine and I do believe that the portrait of a graduate is important but I think the details of that portrait

57:08are even more important and the process for how you get there is even more important than that all right my friends right of time listen thanks for joining me I'm happy that you're here encourage your friends and family to get on the Dean's list let's unite to renovate the age