Above photo courtesy of Bill Smith

This week, we talk about an inspiring (and kind of appalling) story out of Pittsburg, Kansas. Journalism students at a high school there raised questions about their newly hired principal’s credentials and then the principal resigned. The story was a media darling for a while, blowing up on social media. (The students and their adviser were interviewedabc-news-lifestyle.html"> on Good Morning America and also got to talk with The Washington Post’s now-Pulitzer Prize winning investigative reporter David Fahrenthold.)

Plus, toy-free kindergarten: is that a good idea? The Atlantic details the increasingly popular trend in German education. The idea is to prevent small children from developing habit-forming behaviors that, later in life, can manifest into depression, social anxiety, and drug addiction. In America, at least, teachers at higher grade levels say students treat smartphones as toys. Taken those away has predictably disastrous results.

Finally, The Washington Post’s Answer Sheet blog has once again posted a teacher resignation letter from an educator who says she’s quitting the profession because she fears what she’s doing is not enough to fight against societal forces of oppression and segregation Hmm. For many teachers this type of “why I quit” letter is a tired genre. Why do our teachers think such letters still get written and published?

That, plus ‘Kids These Days’: Chris Brown on Blackish, moms up in arms about Cheerios’ campaign to give away wildflower seeds, and the term ‘lit’. Do you know what it means?

Music used in this episode is Inspiring Corporate and Scottish Indie by Scott Holmes, as well as Dirtbike Lovers by Blue Dot Sessions; all have been edited.