No Silly Questions- An Education Podcast for Parents - When does achievement culture become toxic and what can we do about it? With Jennifer B. Wallace

When does achievement culture become toxic and what can we do about it? With Jennifer B. Wallace

03/24/24 • 50 min

No Silly Questions- An Education Podcast for Parents

In the ever more competitive race to secure the best possible future, today’s students face unprecedented pressure to succeed. Our guest today- award-winning reporter Jennifer. B Wallace- investigates the deep roots of toxic achievement culture in her book “Never Enough”- and finds out what we must do to fight back. If you find your schedule jam-packed with activities and extracurriculars, your wallet stretched thin with tutoring fees- this episode is for you.

More on Jennifer:
Jennifer Wallace is an award-winning journalist and author of the New York Times bestselling book Never Enough: When Achievement Pressure Becomes Toxic – and What We Can Do About It. She is a frequent contributor to The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post and appears on national television to discuss her articles and relevant topics in the news.

After graduating from Harvard College, Wallace began her journalism career at CBS “60 Minutes,” where she was part of a team that won The Robert F. Kennedy Awards for Excellence in Journalism. She is a Journalism Fellow at The Center for Parent and Teen Communication at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
Resources:
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https://www.instagram.com/nosillyquestionspodcast/

Previous Episode

How can we use data to improve our decision making in the early school years? With Emily Oster

Our guest today was one of Time Magazine's most influential people in 2022- so maybe you’ve heard of her? Or perhaps, the name sounds familiar because you were recommended her first book “Expecting Better” over and over again when you were pregnant?

We’re excited to bring Emily Oster to No Silly Questions today. Applying her training in economics to issues of parenting- her signature style- Emily joins us to share what the data has to say about the early school years.
More on Emily:
Emily Oster is a Professor of Economics at Brown University and the author of Expecting Better, Cribsheet and The Family Firm. She holds a PhD in Economics from Harvard. Prior to being at Brown she was on the faculty at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
Resources:
nosillyquestionspodcast.com
https://www.instagram.com/nosillyquestionspodcast/

Next Episode

Should you delay your child’s entry to Kindergarten? With Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach

If you’re a parent whose child’s birthday falls within a few weeks - or in some cases a few months - of the cutoff date, perhaps you’ve thought about whether you should delay your child’s entry to Kindergarten so they can be one of the oldest in the class - a practice known as redshirting. Depending on where you live and what school choices you have, redshirting may or may not be an option for you. In today’s episode, our guest Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach will make you think twice about the merits of this practice.
More on Diane:
Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach is Director of the Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern University. She is an economist who studies policies aimed at improving the lives of children in poverty, including education, health, and income support policies. Her work traces the impact of major public policies such as the Food Stamp Program, school finance reform, and early childhood education on children’s long-term outcomes. She is also the Margaret Walker Alexander Professor in the School of Education and Social Policy. She holds a Ph.D. in economics from Princeton University.
Resources:
nosillyquestionspodcast.com
https://www.instagram.com/nosillyquestionspodcast/