Dom discusses an outrageously wasteful school spending example.

Welcome to Old School, New School, Next School with Dom Giordano, a podcast devoted to preserving your parental rights, including the right to choose the best school for your child. This podcast is dedicated to gaining the option of school choice for every parent in America.

Here's your host, educator and noted talk media commentator, Dom Giordano.

Hey, everyone. Welcome into this week's edition of Old School, New School, Next School with Dom Giordano.

And it's also, remember the premise, the idea of this podcast is that school choice is the ultimate to give people a decision-making, a civil right.

But in the meantime, we have to free up America.

We have to get back to making America smart again. So that's what we try to do each week because the evidence is all around us that we're kidding ourselves that America is not going downhill. The adults, well, we're dealing with the kids mainly and their parents trying to help them. But here's evidence of why. And you can imagine what's going on in Chicago as an example, why we need school choice and why we are, as an

Just a dereliction of duty. How could it be this blatant that a number of schools in Chicago, the principal one, it was developed this week, public schools, Douglas Academy, imagine naming this an academy, high school. They only have 28 students in that school. It leads Chicago public schools list of the emptiest traditional schools operating at three

3.1% capacity with 27 staff members, a principal earning $171,173 annually. Across the 20 emptiest schools, reading proficiency in Chicago averages 11% per pupil spending $33,652. But this school is getting attention developed to this because this school, Chicago,

Douglas Academy High School. Only 28 students. The capacity is 912 in the school. And it's $93,787 per student. That's the cost in Chicago to run a school for 28 students. And the cost is beyond enormous. And this school has a proficiency rating when it comes to

of zero percent. Zero percent. They actually have the nerve to have a principal. Can you imagine? So it's not just about Chicago. It's not just about this one school. It's about this is the United States of America. How in the world does this go on because of the arrogance, because of the monopoly of the public schools, because in these blue cities, it is abysmal. And in rural areas, too.

You see stuff like this

So what is a parent to do

That has to fend for themselves

In the Chicago schools

Where they're told by some people

Well you're not smart enough

To make a better school choice

We can't have

By the way in Illinois

There is a state senator

This past week

Who introduced a bill

To prevent Governor Pritzker

From taking the money

From the big beautiful bill

That we talk about

Remember that got passed the Trump big beautiful bill in there billions of dollars to go to choice in each state and the governor decides signs off. Well, I think it's a good sign that a guy running for president to the left, Pritzker, must really be considering taking that money to free up these kids and parents. Imagine being in the Chicago public schools and an outrage like this.

So I think this state senator is doing this because she's afraid that Pritzker might be going to do it. If he does that, a prime candidate, top five candidate for the nomination of president on the Democrat side, it is going to open up the floodgates, I think, around this. But until those floodgates open up, we have things to contend with. One of them that would help American kids grow smarter again is to stay.

the influence of the teachers unions. The teachers unions in many instances, I can't say all,

their clients are not the parents and students. Their clients are just the teachers. Now,

obviously the teachers unions, they pay dues. They want representation. We want a union there

with the administration, everything else. We get that. But imagine a Harvard study out now that finds 60%

of voters just out today think teachers unions should not be involved in politics and it goes on to say they believe that they are heavily involved in politics so the question becomes then each week here agitating for school choice it's coming to a head with this situation with the big beautiful bill in places like chicago that i just told you about and using examples of the blatancy this is going on for years how can you have a

of only 28 kids. They have the nerve to have a principal. 27 staff. That's one-on-one. And what do we always hear in places like Chicago? We need more money to achieve. Wait a minute. You mean to say with $93,787 per pupil, you can't do better than zero proficiency in math and a very, very low proficiency in reading?

You mean to say, how much money would it take to not have a zero proficiency? 100,000? Quarter of a million? A million dollars. It is disgraceful, and what's more disgraceful is the cynicism that this is what we're going to do, and this is the way that it's going to be. So, long-term strategy, although it's getting better, it's more imminent that we're going to see a change with the big, beautiful bill.

This is all happening during 2026. The money kicks in in 2027. Is the individual parent, even if they're going to a good school, wants their kid to achieve to be as smart as they can. So I started to develop a list of a massive number of studies that indicate if you're a concerned parent or grandparent, what are some of the things that you might do that will help your child to be smarter, to achieve more, but at least

to be able to counter what we see playing out in public schools like this in Chicago. All right, here's one thing, and each week I'll give you three, four, or five of these depending upon time and information. Growing Body of Research finds that musical training gives students learning advantages in the classroom. A Northwestern University study finds musical training can benefit grandma too by offsetting some of the effects of aging. All right, so it's a double bonus.

So again, this might be something we knew over the years. It's great to pick up a musical instrument. This is just one observation of something that helps your child. Here's another one. Massive number of studies out this week indicate that the dumb jock is a myth. Now, if that's all the kid does is play sports, but that playing sports is something in moderation, if done the right way,

That is very helpful. And the study also indicated a three-month exercise regimen increased blood flow to the part of the brain focused on memory and learning by 30%. So what we're seeing here is another outlet. Your kid's not into music? How about sports? There's a lot of other things it develops, but it also helps develop learning. Third tip to pass on this week on old school, new school, next school, you might want to consider,

Don't just read to your kids. Read with them. In other words, when you are reading with a child, don't just have them stare at the pictures in a book, no matter how young, while you do all the reading. Call attention to the words. Read with them, not to them. The shared book reading is enriched with explicit attention to the development of the child's reading skills and strategies. Shared book reading is an effective vehicle for promoting

their early literacy ability, even of so-called disadvantaged kids. Whether it's poverty situation on up, this is a big deal. And it's much better rather than just reading to them, which is great. But having them participate in whatever the way they can and as they grow, doing more of that. One final observation about your own plan to make America smart again.

and make your own child smart again. Dozens of studies show that willpower is the single most important habit for individual success, academic or otherwise. Students who exerted high levels of willpower were more likely to earn higher grades in their classes, gain admission into more selective schools, fewer absences, less time watching TV, more hours on homework. It's something that we know and we'll try to, over the course of time, give you the right balance.

What does that mean? More willpower, more discipline? Well, it means setting up a space in your home, in your environment, where there's not a lot of noise, where all the materials are available. A routine, if you will, is what really effective learners do. And it doesn't have to be a routine that's drudgery or anything of that nature. But it does have to be a routine that is going to effectively be able to repeat it again.

and again and again and again and again. Just a few tips to pass on this week. Because remember, you know, the whole idea of having school choice. If your child is an effective learner already just held back by the environment in the public schools, for example, well, when you couple that with a good school, with the things that you want as a parent, now you have a home run.

A couple of things.

And again, I'm a believer that we've gone way too far with technology as the panacea to help our kids both in school and beyond.

And next week, I'm happy to report we're going to have on Dr. Jarrett Hooney-Harvett.

This guy has developed and he testified before the U.S. Senate just recently.

He's put forward the idea, puts forward a lot of evidence, because we know it in our hearts, that this current generation, due to COVID, well, he says this, for most of the 20th century, cognitive performance steadily improved across generations, driven largely by expanding access to formal education and improved institutional equality. Beginning in the mid-2000s, this trend plateaued, then reversed in many Western nations,

the United States. In other words, he's saying this is the first generation that we're seeing going backward. And we still have not come out of COVID. Kids that were not doing so well going into that now are really left behind. So his whole deal, and you'll hear him next week on Old School, New School, Next School, headline, schools blow $30 billion on laptops and tablets. He claims they wrecked Gen Z. Government schools spent

10 times more on devices than textbooks, while Gen Z struggled with reading and math. A lot of reasons for this, but he centers into them and he has a lot of solutions. The number one solution you ought to consider then is less screen time across the board. You're seeing the movement now in many schools, phone-free classrooms, that kind of thing. We don't want to overreact. We want to be nuanced and normal in our kids, in their lives, in your grandkids.

But this is a critical element to avoid an overabundance of this stuff.

And this guy is making a lot of news. The media is at least picking up on it.

I mean, part of the broader thing is to make America smarter again, is to make being smart cool, to make being smart something prized.

There used to be people called public intellectuals that were on TV and were known for that.

They were seen as something to be prized. Well, he's saying this generation is the first generation, his words, that are dumber. And it's nothing wrong with using that word than previous generations. Instead of going up, it plateaued, and now it's going backwards. It's incremental. Now, imagine if you're aware of that, you're savvy of that, and you're taking steps to take your child as much as you can out of an environment,

as a society or in a school they're in that is negative toward being smart, toward learning, to academic success. And he does cite, and I'm looking at another article this week, Asian students in America. Not every Asian student, I don't want to stereotype, but the grind culture of Asian students in dealing with education, very similar toward if you're training for everything else, is something to be valued, at least a

I've interviewed the tiger mom. The tiger mom, if you remember that era, was someone who might have gone overboard. Doesn't have to be quite that way. But seeing this as something that you as a parent and grandparent can influence is a long way toward dealing with this. So this story is coupled this week. This Dr. Horvath, who'll be the guest next week. New York Times story this week says more than half of

use chatbots for schoolwork. New study from the Pew Research Center finds team think chatbot-assisted cheating has become a regular feature for the student. All right, now we're into two things. We're into the screens. Problem with that. Now we're into artificial intelligence. Their argument of the other side, which is lame in Dom Giordano's view, in my view, well, you know, it's going to be the wave of the future. You don't want to ignore artificial intelligence.

This is often given, though, as a way to encourage people to both cheat and get a substandard product. The stuff that artificial intelligence tells you about something, we've all had the experience, it's cockamamie many times. It has no sensibility toward anything. And you see people actually in the business world publicly relying on AI with no one backchecking anything, and as a result, preposterous stuff.

It gets put out there. So this is something to really discourage. I guess as an aid in limited ways, having the facility to deal with AI, okay. But I'm talking about using this. This is worse. Remember back in the day, Cliff Notes or something like that. It is going to backfire. It is something now that schools are having to contend with.

Watch for more on this, more policies, more stuff that goes on to push back against this. All right. So a little bit of summary this week here on Old School, New School, Next School. Next week, we'll have this Dr. Harbeth on. Really been waiting for this. How do you make America smart again? That's what this guy is, the preeminent guy around. I followed his testimony. It was very good. Not a stuffed shirt, nothing of that nature. But he's trying. He's like Paul Revere, trying to alert us.

that post-COVID particularly, we're kidding ourselves.

We are falling behind rapidly.

Now, that's a societal problem.

Your problem is your child or grandchild.

And again, I told you last week, as a measuring stick, this guy E.D. Hirsch, H-I-R-S-C-H,

wrote the books, What Every Educated American Should Know, Cultural Literacy.

He wrote the books, What Every Child Should Know by the End of First Grade, Second Grade.

I think it goes through eighth grade. These are great things to have as barometers to see where your kid is. Yeah, but Dom, what if my kid is getting A's and B's in school? Doesn't matter. You get a B for showing up basically doing your work in a lot of these schools. Man, I bet in that school, the Douglas High School in Chicago, if you show up half the time, do half the work and are pleasant, that's an A+. What the heck do they care? There's 27 of them as staff working with only 28 kids.

They ought to be butlers or valets for the kids. And the cost per student of $93,787. If nothing else from this podcast, you'll remember that one as an example of how dire this is. So help is on the way. We're seeing now at least one Democrat and a bunch of Republicans say they'll take the money for the big, beautiful bill. School choice, that means, in 2027 will be funded to these nonprofits.

And then people in that state will be able to get relief going forward.

There's going to be a lot of that in the news and a lot of a battle.

In the meantime, each week, I will try to give you some of the things that are out there that are common sense, amplify them, tell you some of the ways you might consider doing them in order that you are doing the best for your child.

And every parent, even someone that didn't graduate high school or whatever, that wants the best for their child, you can accomplish these things. They're there. All right, one final note this week on School of Choice. Walter Isaacson is the premier biographer of our age. Biographies on Ben Franklin have been bestsellers. Elon Musk, that's what this guy does. I caught him in a recent interview because he was charged with taking over the public

public schools in New Orleans, which are doing really well post-Katrina.

In other words, they were going to rebuild back the public schools in New Orleans,

but they were going to do it in a way that was different to give parents a choice,

much more of a choice in New Orleans of what school, charter schools, what fit their child.

In a sense, all these would be charter schools.

Now, Philadelphia Inquirer had a piece recently by David P. Hardy, the guy who founded Boys Latin in Philadelphia, nationally recognized figure. Philadelphia is now closing a number of schools or relocating them. The problem is some of these schools actually work. The schools that are working, they're actually going to close a bunch of them. Some of the magnet schools, it's insane. He points out this is what happens when you have these monopolizing public schools.

schools and people don't do anything about it.

And he cautions parents, this is why even more we need school choice.

So that people can make a decision, whether it's charter schools, which are limited in Philadelphia and in some places nationwide, or just all out vouchers, public schools.

Doing all the right things.

The kids are succeeding.

And yet they're still going to put them in the settings or iffy.

It's an outrage.

This whole thing is an outrage.

The whole system is outrageous. So while we're fighting this battle, which we are winning, it's up to you to fight it on the home front and to use this podcast and tell others about it for the tips that might help you. Long term, we have to win school choice. So Walter Isaacson was being interviewed about his vision. He was like the superintendent of schools. What would the vision be? What would the direction be post-Katrina?

As they rebuilt those schools. What he said was very insightful. And again, if they can do it in New Orleans, which is got a lot of poverty, a lot of difficulty, and this is post Katrina, we can do it anywhere. Here's what Walter Isaacson said was his plan, why it worked, and how it's working now. It was after Hurricane Katrina. School system was gone. And instead of trying to rebuild it,

I was in charge of Louisiana Recovery Authority, the parts that did education and stuff. I said, let's not build the school system we had. Let's build the school system we should have had. And we actually made it based on parental choice. Now, New Orleans, unlike Los Angeles, has a small enough footprint that, you know, you can pick any school. And the money follows the parental choice. And all schools, 100% of them, are chartered.

schools. Meaning they get to decide how late do you stay open, what do you teach, whatever. You have to have standards, you have to have tests, because you can't have people just doing some fly-by-night academy and the kids don't read. But with that standard, we let the parents choose. And if people don't choose a school, parents don't choose a particular school, it has to close, because it gets no money. And when we first did it, in the heart of New Orleans where I live,

There were three schools, the Wilson School, the Green School, and Fort Che. And they were all competing for students. And one of them decided, well, instead of closing at 3 in the afternoon, we're going to stay open until 5.30, because it's silly to throw kids on the street at 3 in the afternoon in New Orleans. And suddenly, that was the Green School, more people were sending their kids to that school. I'm sure working parents love it. Yeah, and so the other two schools, just like when

When Whole Foods moves next door to a Trader Joe's, they all have to up their game. Now, all the schools had to do that. So giving parents choice and empowering schools to be chartered is what I would do. And that used to not be a partisan issue. All right. That is really an example of school choice. Exactly where the emphasis is. It is foolproof. If we have that, America will be smart.

almost overnight, within a year. Not for every child. I mean, there's still a lot of other elements, but at least there will be a shot. If the teachers' unions and others continue to stop this, then we are continuing to slide backwards. It's just that simple. Let people know about this podcast. If you want to send me an email, you have a comment, question, something like that, an individual parent, it's easy to do. My email is domshodcast.

D-O-M-S-H-O-W

at AOL.com

Domshow

at AOL.com

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