Two shocking observations: 1950s children knew enough about the obscure Barbary Wars to buy toy soldier sets of them, while TWO-THIRDS of today's 10-year-olds are functionally illiterate. College professors confirm each new class is increasingly anxious, less knowledgeable, and less skilled than before. This episode examines why American education has become so expensive, biased, ineffective and universally disliked—revealing surprising connections to history, anthropology, and Game Theory. -- NetSuite: More than 41,000 businesses have already upgraded to NetSuite by Oracle, the #1 cloud financial system bringing accounting, financial management, inventory, HR, into ONE proven platform. Download the CFO's Guide to AI and Machine learning: https://netsuite.com/102 Shopify: Shopify powers millions of businesses worldwide, handling 10% of U.S. e-commerce. With hundreds of templates, AI tools for product descriptions, and seamless marketing campaign creation, it's like having a design studio and marketing team in one. Start your $1/month trial today at https://shopify.com/cognitive SPONSORS: Click this link to make some cash for giving your opinion! https://www.inflcr.co/SHJrB Thanks YouGov for sponsoring! -- Bibliography: Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman The Lonely Crowd by David Riesman Seeing like a State by James C Scott The Geography of Nowhere by Kunstler Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire The History of Civilization by Will Durant Albion's Seed by David Hackett Fischer The Ascent of Humanity by Charles Eisenstein Spiteful Mutants by Edward Dutton Witches, Feminism and the Fall of the West by Edward Dutton The Moral Animal by Robert Wright Bullfinch's Mythology North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell The Coming Caesars by Amaury de Riencourt The Hunter Gatherer's Guide to the 21st century by Heather Heying and Bret Weinstein Envy by Helmut Schoeck The History of Manners by Norbert Elias The Unabomber's Manifesto The Demon Haunted World by Carl Sagan The Pursuit of Power by William McNeil Foragers, Farmers and Fossil Fuel by Ian Morris Cynical Theories by James Lindsay After Liberalism by Gottfried Woke Racism by John McWhorter A Conflict of Visions by Thomas Sowell Intellectuals and Society by Thomas Sowell The Master and His Emissary by McGhilchrist Tragedy and Hope by Carroll Quigley The Rise of the West by William McNeil Ages of Discord by Peter Turchin The Coddling of the American Mind by John Haidt Stolen Focus by Johann Hari

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.

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