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May 1st, 2026

The Education Crisis Nobody Wants to Fix

  1. The Education Crisis Nobody Wants to Fix Sarah & Beth 57:24

Rahm Emanuel came ready to talk — and y’all, we were ready. This conversation covers the education crisis in America (which I don’t think a single person in this audience needs to be convinced about), what Mississippi actually did to turn things around, why Rahm closed schools in Chicago and would do it again, and what a real federal education strategy could look like. We also got into fiscal reality, political will, phones in classrooms, the debt we owe to community colleges, and whether the next president should come in like FDR or like a triage nurse. Plus: Rahm’s near-death experience at 17, coffee in bed, and Empty Nest advice. — Sarah

Topics Discussed

  • The Education Crisis: Why We Know What to Do and Won’t Do It (science of reading, phonics, the Mississippi Marathon)

  • High School Reform, Community Colleges, and the “Learn, Plan, Succeed” Framework

  • Phones, Screens, and What We’ve Abdicated to the Algorithm

  • School Closures, Political Will, and Owning Tough Decisions

  • Outside of Politics: Swimming, Coffee in Bed, and Raising Boys

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Pantsuit Politics is a podcast for real conversations that help us understand politics, democracy, and the news - while still treating each other like thoughtful human beings. We take a different approach to the news; our political analysis blends hard facts with important social and cultural undercurrents so you don’t miss the big picture. Over years of discussing everything from abortion to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, we established basic rules of engagement, which we describe in our books, Now What? How to Move Forward When We’re Divided (About Basically Everything) (2022) and I Think You’re Wrong (But I’m Listening): A Guide to Grace-Filled Political Conversation (2019). Listeners describe us as “America’s political therapists” and “our trusted, smarter friends who can help us make sense of the world.”