This is Busted Pencils.
Fully Letted Education Talk.
Here are your hosts, Dr. Tim Slecker and Dr. Johnny Lupinacci
Educated Educators Talking Education.
Yes, it is.
We'll be new here.
Busted Pencils fully Letted Education Talk.
Yeah, we're still Educated Educators talking education,
looking forward to a brand new 2025.
Dr. Johnny, producer Jess, how are you guys doing
as we're coming into this new year, Johnny?
I'm doing great, man.
I mean, I'm excited.
It's a banger of a year already.
It's like we're a day in.
You know, things are looking good.
And I'm excited for this year's Busted Pencils.
Fully Letted Education Talk.
I love what we've done in 2024.
And if you caught home room a couple of days ago,
you got our end of the year kind of highlights.
And you know, those are just a quick remembering,
like us remembering some of those big moments
and special things that happened in 2024.
But here we are.
It is now 2025.
Yes, unfortunately, democracy is still in the ICU.
It's on life support.
There are some concerns that the three of us have.
It's also a lot of hope, a lot of optimism,
and a lot of positive energy and organizing for 2025.
There's still that youth energy that ignited.
You know, it's existed, but it really ignited last year.
And I think it's still going strong.
And I think it's going to carry some exciting moments
for 2025.
But I love this.
We're here together class in session,
first show of the year.
Remember, listeners, if you want to call or text us,
leave us a message, ask us a question.
Join the conversation, 608-557-8577.
You can leave us a comment, ask a question.
And we'll bring it in on the show.
We'll go into the mailbag and incorporate your voice
into Busted Pencils.
Remember, that's 608-557-8577.
It's sad to that too, Johnny.
And you know, this is our kind of predictions
per munitions show.
It's a little tradition here at Busted Pencils.
And listener, put yours out there.
We want to know, what do you think?
We would love to hear from a Jess happy new year to you.
Happy new year.
Oh, it's your 2025 starting out.
Oh, bright and shiny.
I mean, this is just notifications, Tim.
Come on, man.
First episode of the new year.
Ah.
It's amazing.
You didn't text.
It's a busy new year.
Oh my god.
I'm just so happy to be here.
I'm so ready to start Busted Pencils.
I mean, 2024 was a wild roller coaster.
And we are ready to make some predictions, huh?
Oh, yeah.
We are, and we are, and it is coming.
And I'm going to start off.
It is going to be a wild 2025.
We said democracy, as you said, Johnny, you know,
a little bit in life support.
I see you, whatever you want to point out.
Because what we're talking about is that this is going
to be the year of the second Trump administration.
And, you know, as much as there wasn't any darn talk
about education in that election,
we know, well, that education, public education,
particularly in America, is going
to be incredibly influenced, affected.
You want to know jeopardized?
Yeah, that is going to happen because we know
that President-elect Donald Trump has said,
first of all, doing away with the Department of Education.
But, Johnny, my prediction right away
is that we will see, and I'm going to put this out there.
I think we're going to see it before February,
that there will be a national voucher bill
that we'll get put through.
And I bet I'm going to say it will even make it
through both houses before February,
setting up the president for a very quick win
on one of the things that he has been promising he's going
to deliver.
That's all.
You know, there's prediction number one.
What are your thoughts, guys?
I think it'll be interesting, Tim,
because as we talked about on the last show,
and we brought it up quite a bit in the end of 2024,
is that we know that voters around the country,
especially in rural districts, but also in urban districts.
And, you know, I'll toss the suburban districts in there,
too, although they're less impacted by this,
but they're part of the mix, voted in favor
of shutting down vouchers across the country.
So there's an interesting sort of juxtaposition there
where we know that no matter how people voted
around this country, and as in reducing it to who they voted
for in the presidential election,
that they voted against vouchers locally.
Right.
So this will be an interesting moment for us
to be talking about on busted pencils,
because when we talk about education,
we've said it before here, but a little 101 lesson,
Citrix lesson, right?
Education is a state right.
So this is going to ultimately fall to states.
However, there's going to be something interesting happening
with not just threats, but supposed political promises.
And I always say a political, you know,
promise is a supposed political promise,
because everyone's the education president
until they're president.
And then they don't really do a lot.
It's changed much in education.
So, you know, optimistically,
maybe the Trump administration does very little
to change education.
However, I'm with you, Tim.
I think a premonition is that they will attempt, too,
as you say, have kind of a low hanging fruit, easy win here
by how they promise their voters
that they would close the Department of Education.
Uh-huh.
And put forth a national voucher, you know, Bill,
how that will do will be interesting,
knowing that most voters, right?
I mean that, like a majority of voters around the country,
regardless of how they voted.
They voted in favor of shutting down voucher movements
and their states are in their areas.
So this is going to be an interesting,
I think, fail for this administration.
This leads me to my other prediction.
And I've got this from some people I've followed out there
is is that when you point that out to Johnny,
that there's a disconnect between what the voters want
when it comes to vouchers.
Voters did not vote for a national voucher bill.
In fact, where voters had the opportunities,
we pointed out, they said no to vouchers.
So the imposition of the Trump administration,
conservatives and MAGA coming forward
and now potentially forcing a voucher on people,
I think this is going to cause serious disruption
in the Republican party.
And I welcome that disruption
because it's about time that they're there.
I don't know, just thoughts?
Well, I think that certainly this administration
is going to try to push that national voucher bill.
And as both of you said,
I think it's going to reflect very, very badly on them
because when we look at where vouchers were on the ballot,
it's not like they were voted down
by a really slim majority.
They were voted down overwhelmingly.
I mean, I'm remembering back to our episode with David Pepper
where he looked specifically at this one area of Kentucky
where they went 80, 20 for Trump.
And what was it, 74, 26 against vouchers, that's not close.
That is overwhelming.
And we saw that across the country.
So I think what might happen is that there's going to be
really significant national pressure
on these elected officials to vote in favor of vouchers,
but that their constituents are going to raise their voices
and say, hell no.
You keep your hands off our public schools.
That's all we can hope for there on that one too.
And I agree.
I mean, that's what it's what's going to happen.
You know, so big predictions right there,
yes, Trump will be incredibly disruptive.
We know it, Department of Education vouchers going forward.
Johnny, next prediction.
Well, if you're tossing it to me,
I think I'll go with an easy one
that'll take us into more exciting things.
But Tim, I do think this is a very easy premonition to make.
I think we're going to have continued discussions,
maybe even some debates, but as listeners,
no, I've come around on this in the last year.
I think we're going to continue to dive through
and work closely with what is the impact of AI and education?
What are the ways that it's making our classrooms better?
What are some of the limitations?
What are some of the exciting ways
that it's changing careers?
And so the trickle down from that,
how are we teaching with AI?
What role does it play in our classrooms?
I think that's going to be a big theme for 2025
because as we learn in 2024,
less than that, Dr. Johnny here learned that you can be stubborn
and you can be opposed to it.
But it's here whether you like it or not
and so engaging with understanding the implications
that has on our classrooms, our schools, our learning,
our work is important.
And so I think we're going to,
an easy one for me to make, Tim,
I think we're going to continue to have these discussions,
not only here on plus depensals,
but I think in all of our classrooms around the country.
I didn't make this quote, somebody else did,
but I love this one.
It ain't going to uninvent itself.
Put that out there.
But I want to put it just a little bit nuance
and complexity on that prediction
because absolutely right, I see this coming
and I actually think this will be a welcome
when it comes forward.
There's been a lot of over-promising about AI
and its ability to potentially work
as an independent tutor, one-on-one and things like that.
I think that the reality there
is is that we're going to actually get down
to get rid of the snake oil parts of that,
that potentially because again,
guess what, too many people out there selling
too many ways and too many solutions.
And I think we're starting to realize
that actually if you want to dig deep into its power
and its potential, there's still a lot more work
that we have to do on the research
on how it actually compliments
and or even hinders learning
because there's some interesting research
starting to show that it does hinder learning in situations.
And I think we need to understand that and be clear.
I will say where it's going to be incredibly useful
and valuable is is that our ability in schools
to actually create literacy, fluency
and skilling of using AI
because the workforce, Johnny, as you point this out
in schools need to really, really lean into AI
from that standpoint.
How are you putting it forward for the students
and how are they going to be using it
when they leave school either going to college,
going to the workforce?
So that's where my premonition is
is that we're going to see an acceleration
of goodness in the reality of really saying
we've got a responsibility
that students leave AI literate, AI skilled
and that we're going to have a kind of calm
and stepping back and really giving a sense of going,
where does AI help students learn
and where are the places where it will actually hurt
and that's going to inform good pedagogy?
That's mine, Jess, what do you think?
Honestly, I'm not sure.
I do think that there's going to be more AI
and I'm really just excited to learn more about it.
I've definitely been more in Johnny's camp
of really suspicious of AI
and feeling that cutting out the human input
isn't always the best move.
What I've seen through a lot of the guests
that you've had on here
and a lot of the different programs
that I've then done some research into
to build up the podcasts is that,
these are tools.
These are tools that really can help us
because the world is a lot different now
than it was a decade ago.
Certainly a lot different than it was two decades ago
and rejecting it just because it's unfamiliar
because it's uncomfortable
because it challenges the way that I was taught
and the way that I learned how to do these various processes
that's not a good enough reason
because AI is going to be part of the future.
One of the quotes that's just been ringing around
in my head is that AI isn't going to replace anyone
but someone who knows how to use AI will replace you
if you don't know how to use it.
So I really appreciate it learning the nuance of AI
and learning the places where it can really enhance
learning rather than taking away.
And I think there's going to be a lot more of that.
I think we're also going to see a lot more garbage from AI.
I think we're going to see a lot more garbage
before we see the clear paths.
Okay, well there it is, you know,
so there's some new predictions.
I jump in a head, you know what,
is this a prediction or is this just a, we're so awesome.
But I think we're going to continue having
very incredible influential guests
and in fact, I really look forward to this year
building the partnership with Randy Winegarden and AFT
in the work that they do that is so important.
We said we had Randy on before the election
after the election, there's a great connection there.
The work that AFT does, the local unions, you know,
putting that out there and the ability to have them come on
whether it's Randy, their important guest
talking about, you know, labor because Johnny,
as you point out, you know, blue collar scholars man,
you know, looking at that and saying, you know,
the presence of labor and really understanding
the connection to the communities in public schools.
I'm looking forward to an incredibly,
influential, great year where we develop a partnership
with AFT that is going to do some incredibly powerful work.
Oh yeah, well you know that's music to my ears, Tim.
You said blue collar scholar, I mean,
that's the identity, right?
Whether we choose it or it chooses us,
you know, we come by it honestly and so, you know,
having Randy on the show, having AFT, you know,
close with busted pencils, that's an exciting thing.
And what I'll add on to that as a premonition
is what that does is echo what you're saying
is really brings education into the conversation
of what labor looks like in this country.
And that's something the AFT is doing
because they're the second largest union for nurses.
And I said this for a really long time,
teachers and nurses have a lot in common.
They're both care industries,
they're both care workers, they're both frontline workers.
Right, they also historically feminized work.
I say that in a really positive way, right?
These are historically the women who take care
of our communities and that's often been devalued,
as we know, like patriarchy is the real thing.
You know, it's devalued that labor.
And I think one thing we're learning is times are changing.
And that youth voice that I talked about
of being so alive in 2024 and so prominent,
I continue to see it grow.
And so that's exciting things happening from the AFT.
So that's a little premonition I'll lay around to that
is the year of the teacher and the nurse.
You decide together, come and strong
for a changed community and a stronger democracy.
So you heard it there, educators and healthcare workers,
specifically teachers and nurses.
Nice, more local, stronger than ever,
and fixing two really important things to any democracy,
a strong healthcare system,
and a strong public education system.
AFT brings those two together, right?
Oh, look out.
Okay.
If there's one thing I learned in my entire life
is that when you bring strong women
in your community together, it gets done.
And so we got some stuff to get done in this country.
And I believe in teachers and nurses.
So that's right, I'm saying it's the year
the teacher and the nurse together, make it things happen.
On that note, Tim, I'm going to take the next premonition
and I'm going to say, I'm going to double down.
I'm not going to double down because I'm already anticipated.
I'm like triple down next year, double down
and listeners who follow Busta pencils closely.
You remember last year, one of my premonitions was,
I hoped and believed we would see more educators
running for office, specifically teachers.
So if I'm over here saying it's the year
the teachers and the nurses,
well, then you better believe that.
I'm going to double down on my premonition from last year.
I'm carrying over to 2025.
I'm saying we're going to see even more teachers running
for office.
Yes, Tim Walls was a BP candidate
and there were great teachers running for offices everywhere.
But Tim, already.
It's one day into the new year.
All right, it's a little bit of cheating on my premonition.
But Busta pencils, very good friend.
Teacher Al from Educators Amplified is running for office.
She's running for school board.
So Tim, already 2025.
I'm doubling down on it.
I'm saying more educators running for office.
So listeners, if you're excited as I am about,
not only that premonition,
but of our very own good friend, teacher Halle
from Educators Amplified.
Yeah, that's right.
She said enough's enough.
Let's make some stuff happen.
Already doing big change work in her community already.
But she's like, you know what, I'm running for office.
I'm going for school board.
So you'll hear lots from teacher Halle
always from Educators Amplified.
But in a special capacity,
I'm already just going to reveal it here, Tim.
You better believe teacher Halle's coming on here
to talk about what you can do as a school board member.
And folks, it is not just me saying
it's the year the teacher and the nurses,
you're going to hear teacher Halle talk about why educators
belong making decisions about education.
Go figure of that happening in our communities.
Who radical?
Why you put that one right there
and guess what, though, too, Johnny?
And this is, you know, this local kind of teacher jumping
in there right now.
She said, you're like, well, why isn't she running
for state office or legislature?
You know what, guess what?
When it comes down to education, again, it really is,
as you say, state, right?
It's even more.
It's a local issue.
And as we saw in 2023 and 2024,
school boards are where particularly
MAGA conservatives really targeted their efforts
to get people elected to enact those policies,
the book bans, the anti-CRTs, the attack on LGBTQ.
Those all started at school board level situations
that were targeted very specifically.
So to have teacher Halle stepping in, you point this out.
In fact, let's continue to really lean
into the reality that, you know what,
more teachers as you're listening
to this brand new Happy New Year's episode
of busted pencils, you too can do it.
We need it.
We need a movement that continues.
Make Johnny's premonition, not even a triple down.
Just give him the ability to celebrate
with a big, big win, Jess.
I mean, yeah, we're going to see more teachers.
This election, I think, it energized people
in a way that I haven't seen in my adult life.
And the outcome of the election, as devastating
as that first week was after the election,
what I saw just in my immediate circles
and then the ripples outward were a lot of people saying,
okay, then democracies are built from the bottom up.
So we're going to get involved
and we're going to see a lot more teachers
and a lot more educators, a lot more
of those blue collar scholars getting their boots laced
and getting involved.
People saying, this is a democracy
where the decisions are made by those who are affected by it.
Well, I love that, Jess.
That's my favorite definition of democracy.
Decisions being made by those directly impacted
by the decision being made.
Yeah.
Loving it, loving it, putting that forward.
All right, you know, so loving those predictions,
I got to tell you another prediction I have.
It's going to be the year of busted pencils.
You know, I mean, you're going to put it out there.
You said, you know, went from a podcast in 2014
to a live radio show in 2020
to then Pacific Media and Johnny Lupinacci
and Dr. Tim Slecker, you know, doing it every week
for years and then getting that daily spot
and then getting with producer Jess
and then continuing to have the ability to, you know,
have incredibly powerful great guests,
whether they're national figures or they're local heroes,
putting that on and realizing that.
And, you know, so I just, you know,
kind of thinking as we're ending our prediction show,
I want to predict that busted pencils
is going to continue to grow and be that place
where yeah, blue collar scholars,
or as we said, your neighbor,
where our neighbors can come to make their comments,
their voices or to learn and listen
about how public education is that foundation
of our democracies, those connections to local
and realizing that what's so important here,
the protection, the preservation,
the strengthening of our public school system
and with that and realizing that the work we do here,
it busted pencils and promoting that,
I just want to see that that's going to be,
you know, a great year, 2025,
a great year for busted pencils.
Johnny, that's my last prediction.
And I love it, Tim, and happy new year
to all those listeners out there.
And now it's time for your moment of sin.
Education becomes most rich and alive
when it confronts the reality
of moral conflict in the world.
Thanks for busting pencils, everybody.
Happy new year, pencil busters.
See you on Saturday
across the Civic Media Network.
And man, hold on, we'll be back that following Monday
for a home room and keep busting pencils.