MindShift Podcast

KQED is distributing a new podcast called Life, Automated from our partners at the Ryan Institute on Complexity that explores what it means to live, work, and make decisions in a rapidly automating world.

In this episode , MIT education researcher Justin Reich walks host and science writer Dr. Jess Love through different technical innovations of the last century to show what actually changed in classrooms, and what didn’t.

As confidence in higher education shifts and economic pressures intensify, young people are navigating increasingly complex decisions about life after high school. In this episode, college students share their financial realities and experts examine the tension between cultural expectations around college and emerging conversations about economic mobility, dignity of work, and long-term stability.

As skepticism about the cost of college grows, Career and Technical Education (CTE) is gaining renewed attention. But is CTE a shortcut around higher education or a bridge into it?

In this episode, we follow a group of high school students earning a phlebotomy certification and hear researchers and school leaders unpack how modern CTE programs are evolving beyond outdated stigma toward stackable credentials, college alignment, and career mobility.

When a middle schooler started bringing home his worst grades ever, his parents were stunned. His teachers said he understood the material. The problem? He couldn’t stay off his school-issued iPad. In classrooms across the country, districts have banned phones, but the screens haven’t disappeared. They’ve just shifted to Chromebooks and tablets that students are required to use all day long. And for some families and educators, those devices are raising uncomfortable questions.

On this episode of MindShift, we dig into the promises of education technology and whether they’ve actually paid off. This episode features voices ranging from parents and ed-tech researchers to school leaders redesigning students' reliance on tech.

More than a decade after Rita Pierson stepped onto the TED stage and declared, “Every child deserves a champion,” her words still echo through schools, teacher prep programs, and staff meetings across the country. But what does it actually take to live out that message in today’s classrooms when teachers are stretched thin, burnout is high, and the emotional demands of the job can feel relentless?

In this episode, we go beyond the viral talk to meet the people who knew Rita best, the educators who carry her philosophy forward, and the researcher studying what happens to our bodies and minds when we lead with love.