AirTalk speaks with teachers about what changes they'd like to see in classrooms, schools and districts this upcoming year. We also discuss Senator Jeff Flake's new book; delve into a leaked Trump administration climate report; and more.
Arizona Jeff Flake on conservatism under Trump
Jeff Flake, the junior Senator from Arizona, is an original member of the “Never Trump” camp.
And unlike some of his compatriots in that movement, the Republican lawmaker has remained a so-called “Never Trumper” after the presidential election.
In his new book, “Conscience of a Conservative,” Flake sounds off on the Trump presidency, and laments what he sees as the core values of conservatism being coopted by xenophobia and populism.
Larry speaks with Senator Flake on his new book, and on ways he thinks conservatism could be rehabilitated.
Guest:
Jeff Flake, Republican senator from Arizona and author of the new book, “Conscience of a Conservative: A Rejection of Destructive Politics and a Return to Principle” (Random House, 2017); he tweets
How would the Trump administration respond to the 'leaked' climate change report?
Global temperature has steadily risen since the 1980s, and human activities are definitely to blame for it, according to a leaked report on climate change obtained by the New York Times and Washington Post.
The report, prepared by scientists from 13 federal agencies, provides findings that contradict the Trump administration’s stance on climate change and is official release is pending the administration’s approval. And the report was leaked to the media last night by one of the scientists involved in fear of its suppression by the administration.
How would the Trump administration handle the leaked report? Would it embrace its findings?
Guests:
Christy Goldfuss; Vice President of Energy and Environment Policy at Center for American Progress; former managing director of the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) under President Obama (2014-2016)
Nicholas Loris; an energy economist at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank based in Washington D.C.
Google fires engineer over controversial memo, did the company go too far?
Google announced Monday that the company fired an engineer over news of a memo displaying gender bias.
The internal memo, “Google’s Ideological Echo Chamber,” what the subject of much anger in Silicon Valley because it cited gender stereotypes as causes for the low number of tech positions for women. As reported by the New York Times, the engineer, James Damore, had worked with Google since 2013. Damore defended the memo, saying he hoped it would encourage an “honest discussion” and open the door to ideologies that were not left-leaning. He also claimed to take legal action against the company. Recode reported that the tech giant had been struggling about how to deal with the controversial memo.
Questions about free speech and the culture of discourse within Google were a big part of the hesitation to fire Damore. So should the company have fired Damore? Does Damore have grounds for legal action? And what does this mean for free speech in the workplace?
Guest:
Meghna Virick, director at the school of management at San Jose State University; her research focus includes gender and race related issues in human resource practices such as talent and succession planning
Teachers, let us know what changes you’d like to see in your schools and districts
The start of school this year coincides with the perfect opportunity to show kids science live — a solar eclipse on August 21.
Teachers across California are stocking up on eclipse-viewing equipment to teach their students about the relationship between the earth, sun, and moon. But when nature does not present such opportunities, how do teachers innovate in the classroom? What pedagogical experiments have proved successful? What aspects of classroom life do they wish were different?
As the new school year approaches, AirTalk invites K-12 teachers in Los Angeles to tell us what changes they’d like to see. How can teacher and student experience in classrooms, schools, and school districts improve?
Guest:
Kyle Stokes, KPCC’s K-12 reporter; he tweets