The Education Gadfly Show
For more than 15 years, the Fordham Institute has been hosting a weekly podcast, The Education Gadfly Show. Each week, you’ll get lively, entertaining discussions of recent education news, usually featuring Fordham’s Mike Petrilli and David Griffith. Then the wise Amber Northern will recap a recent research study. For questions or comments on the podcast, contact its producer, Stephanie Distler, at sdistler@fordhaminstitute.org.
The Education Gadfly Show
How AI is reshaping what kids need to learn | Episode 995 of The Education Gadfly Show
This week, Mike Petrilli returns for a solo episode to dig into artificial intelligence—not classroom tools or teaching tips, but the big-picture implications of AI for what students need to learn as work, citizenship, and even human flourishing rapidly evolve.
Then, on the Research Minute, David Griffith highlights a study linking the recent rise in child labor violations to declining school attendance—especially among Black youth and students living on farms.
Recommended content:
- A “Zero-Based Budgeting” Approach for High School Course Requirements in the Age of AI — Michael J. Petrilli for The Center on Reinventing Public Education
- The illusion of learning: The danger of artificial intelligence for education — Robert Pondiscio, Thomas B. Fordham Institute
- AI Will Transform The Workplace. Will Education Keep Up? — Matt Gandal, Forbes
- Contemporary Child Labor and Declining School Attendance in the U.S —Lucy C. Sorensen, Melissa Arnold Lyon, Ji Hyun Byeon, and Stephen B. Holt, EdWorkingPapers (2025)
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