Melissa Benn comes from a long line of outspoken campaigners and prominent Parliamentarians. She was educated at Holland Park comprehensive and the London School of Economics where she graduated with a First in History, the first woman in a generation to do so.

Melissa’s journalism has appeared in a wide range of publications, including the Independent, the Times, Public Finance, Marxism Today, London Review of Books, Cosmopolitan and the Financial Times. She is a regular contributor to the Guardian, the New Statesman, and Teach Secondary magazine, where she writes a regular column. 

Melissa has published nine books, including two novels. In her writing on education, Melissa has consistently tried to tackle contemporary myths about state education and to set out the case for a more equal system. With Fiona Millar she co-authored 'A Comprehensive Future: Quality and Equality For All Our Children', an influential pamphlet that challenged the drift towards the marketisation of state education within the then New Labour government and made the case for strong, non-selective, community schools.

This was followed by School Wars: The Battle for Britain’s Education, described by the Observer as ‘a tremendous book.In it, Melissa sketched the history of, and struggles around, secondary education from the post-war period onward and offered a critique of the education policies of successive governments, in particular the Coalition government of 2010-2015. With Janet Downs, she co-authored, 'The Truth About Our Schools: Exposing the Myths, Exploring the Evidence', which tackled some increasingly prevalent and pernicious myths about state education. Caroline Lucas MP described it as a ‘hugely important book that should be required reading for every Education Secretary.’   

In Life Lessons, Melissa set out the Case for a National Education Service, and this book was described by Guardian Education columnist Fiona Millar as ‘an eloquent and much needed blueprint for reform when radical ideas are in short supply.’ 

I find Melissa’s writing to be a uniquely refreshing contribution to the education debate. I recommend catching up on Melissa’s many excellent columns in the publications listed earlier. And her book School Wars, which remains incredibly relevant, 12 years after publication, and I recommend it to anyone who wants to understand why we have the weird, patchwork education system that we have.

LINKS

Melissa's website: https://melissabenn.co.uk/ 

Rethinking Metacognition tickets: https://bit.ly/rethinkmetacog

Making Change Stick - contact: https://www.makingchangestick.co/contact

Rethinking Ed Mighty Network: https://rethinking-education.mn.co 

The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at www.rethinking-ed.org/contact, or via a social platform of your choosing:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/RethinkingJames 
Insta: https://www.instagram.com/drjamesmannion  
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-mannion/ 

SUPPORT THE RETHINKING ED PODCAST:

Become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/repod 
Buy me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/repod

S3E9: Melissa Benn on our divided education system

Steven Johnson, who took office as state treasurer in January, talks about environmental, social, and corporate governance, administering an anti-abortion program, private school scholarships, unclaimed property, short-term investments and legislative experience.

Kansas Treasurer Steven Johnson on his first five months in office

In just a few days, another round of state tournament action will begin for our basketball, hockey, dance and cheerleading teams, but before we look ahead it is time to look back.

This week, our Podcast President Alissa K. DeJonge '95 is back for another round of Tiger Talk, and she's assembled members of our most recent state championship to talk about their historic state title victory from the fall. 

So if you have a few minutes on your ride home, or need something to listen at the gym, or you simply want to hear the story of this year's cross country title from team members Eliana Fraschilla '24, Caroline Phillips '25, Clara Romero '25 and Sarah Roberts '26, please push that play button and dive on in. 

Together, Fraschilla, Phillips, Romero and Roberts give DeJonge a behind-the-scenes look at what it took to get bring home the program's first state championship in 30 years and raise a new banner at Mercy.

As well, we hope this podcast gets you in the mood for tournament action, which starts this weekend with the Dance Team and continues Monday with Hockey and Basketball. 

Here's to a strong run for the Tigers over the next month or so, and of course, another edition of Tiger Talk!

Revisiting A Long-Awaited Cross Country Championship

You never know who will you will find at Mercy High School! 

Take this past spring! 

We were excited to welcome nationally-recognized business analyst and CNBC contributor Ron Insana to Randolph Road as a special guest speaker. 

As part of his visit, Isana toured the school, met with administrators, talked with our business students, and jumped on our Tiger Talk podcast!

We are now proud to share that discussion as the latest edition of Tiger Talk with Mercy President Alissa K. DeJonge '95! 

However, our president wasn't alone for the talk. She was joined by our business savvy members of the Class of 2024, Rose Szeghy, Grace McKenna and Tayah Shepard. 

As always, DeJonge led a rousing discussion, which touched on a variety of topics. So we hope you give it a listen! Whether you're on your ride home, or need something to listen to at the gym or the beach, this episode is available anywhere you listen to podcasts.

Spotify, Apple, Google -- you name it. You can find it there. Just dive in and hear about Ron's visit to Mercy and what are students learned from the experience!

A Visit From Business Analyst and CNBC contributor Ron Insana

Cara Fitzpatrick, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist who wrote for the Tampa Bay Times and is author of the book "The Death of Public School - How Conservatives Won the War Over Education in America," spoke at the Louisville KY Main Library downtown on October 15, 2024.  She presented the Pro's and Con's of using taxpayer money to fund private, often religious, schools (including home schooling) which is on the 2024 Kentucky ballot as Amendment 2.

Election Connection | Taxpayer Funding of Private Schools | Kara Fitzpatrick | 10-15-24

Proud Alumnae, Proud Podcast. 

Ready for a new episode of your favorite Randolph Road podcast? Well, the wait is over. 

Our first episode of the new season is here, and you can download it now on Spotify, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts! 

In this year’s premiere episode, Mercy President/world-renowned podcaster Alissa K. DeJonge '95 welcomes our Coordinator of Alumnae Engagement Molly Zarnick ’05 to the show to talk about her new role at Mercy and her goals for the position. But that’s not all the pair of alumnae talk about! The conversation gets going with a little insight into Molly’s journey and how she went from wanting to be an orthodontist to a career in speech language pathology and now Mercy! It’s a great story and it provides plenty of life lessons for current students and alumnae! We hope you will take a few minutes to listen to Molly’s story and her thoughts on how Mercy and the alumnae community can continue to grow! Molly is a proud Mercy alumnae and we are excited to have her helping Mercy in this new era! 

Tiger Talk is back, and we hope you enjoy it! Stay tuned for more episodes! 

#WomenOfMercy 
#BeMoreAtMercy 
#MercyProud 


A Proud Alumna Returns Home To Mercy

In this edition of EdChoice Chats, John Kristof and Mike McShane talk about the new report School Starter Checklist Rankings; a compendium of regulations on private schools in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

EdChoice Chats: School Starter Checklist Rankings

On the latest episode of Sunday School Choice: Where Faith Meets Education Freedom, we talk with Shawn Peterson, President of Catholic Education Partners. We explore the powerful role Catholic education has played—and continues to play—in the United States, providing not just academic excellence, but a deeply rooted faith-based learning experience for families.

Ep. 3: Sunday School Choice featuring Shawn Peterson

In the latest episode of our Tiger Talk Podcast, Mercy President Alissa K. DeJonge '95 talks with members of our Mercy and Xavier Drama program, which recently won the HALO for Best Chorus for "Matilda!"

We hope you will take a few minutes to listen to our student leaders as they talk about what the musical means to them and what it means to be a member of Mercy/Xavier Drama program!

As we start to prepare for a new school year at Mercy, we can't help but think back on all the great moments from this past year, and the musical was certainly a big one! Every year at Mercy, the musical is a major highlight, and we are so thankful for the students and moderators who have kept this tradition going strong.

Whether you listen to your podcasts walking your dog, or on the drive to work, we recommend giving this one a listen!

We hope you enjoy it! And as always, stay tuned for the next episode of Tiger Talk!

Curtain Call: A Look Back At This Year's Memorable Musical Production of Matilda

EdChoice Chats is the EdChoice team’s official podcast. EdChoice is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to advancing educational choice as the best pathway to successful lives and a stronger society. We believe families, not bureaucrats, are best equipped to make K-12 schooling decisions for their children. Our team works at the state level to educate diverse audiences, train advocates and engage policymakers on the benefits of high-quality school choice programs. Listen in to stay updated on the latest controversies, messaging hacks, legislation, litigation and research related to school choice in America.

For podcast inquiries, please contact Chantal at media@edchoice.org.

Forward Radio is independent, listener-sponsored, volunteer-powered, grassroots community radio WFMP-LP Louisville, Kentucky. We have been broadcasting at 106.5fm and live-streaming at forwardradio.org since April 9, 2017. Please donate at forwardradio.org to keep us on-air. It costs $20/day to keep this programming coming your way.

The Kansas Reflector Podcast, hosted by senior reporter Tim Carpenter, presents voices from the people and politics of Kansas.

"Civilisation is a race between education and catastrophe." (HG Wells)

In this podcast, we take Wells at his word. Hosted by Dr James Mannion and David Cameron, Rethinking Education features long-form conversations with fascinating guests about how we might create a more diverse, intelligent, responsive educational ecosystem that works for *all* young people.

If this sounds interesting to you, welcome to Rethinking Education: Education's Critical Friend: https://rethinking-ed.org/podcast

New tracks tagged #private schools