Inner Compass interview show

Stories of failing schools are all too common--schools that look and feel like prisons, with teachers who fear losing their jobs if they don’t stay focused on test scores. But there are also many public schools that have learned how to help any student succeed, no matter how poor or disadvantaged. New York University urban sociologist Pedro Noguera, co-chair of the public policy group Broader Bolder Approach to Education, shares what we can learn from schools that have excelled in dire circumstances.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a remarkable young theologian and pastor in World War II Germany who joined the Resistance in several plots to assassinate Hitler. His devotional books are still best sellers today. That’s because, according to Eric Metaxas, Bonhoeffer was also a prophet. Metaxas, author of the New York Times #1 bestseller Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy, explains that term and what it means for all of us. Shirley Hoogstra hosts.

As people have fewer phone conversations, choosing instead to use texts and on-line social networking, anthropologist Sherry Turkle has noticed something. Director of the MIT Initiative on Technology and the Self, she researches how people interact with experimental sociable robots. People are growing more receptive to robots taking the place of some human relationships as we become more accustomed to our narrowing human interactions. Hear this and other observations from her book Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other. Karen Saupe hosts.

The new wave of government voucher programs aims to correct segregation that happens all too often; the privileged move away from under-resourced public schooling or housing, leaving the rest wondering what their options are. Mary Pattillo, professor of sociology and African American Studies at Northwestern University, describes what hundreds of interviews in Chicago reveal about what works and what doesn’t with these programs. Shirley Hoogstra hosts.

What would it be like to live in a Prime Minister’s mansion built by your own ancestors, meet with the queen once a week, and work out your decisions with the help of a cabinet made of three different political parties? Jan Peter Balkenende talks about the challenges and successes he experienced as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 2002 to 2010. Karen Saupe hosts.

The practice of labeling people by sexual orientation--homosexual, heterosexual, etc.--started only a century ago. At times labels can help make sense of our world, but at other times labeling individuals can be dehumanizing and can even be a form of injustice. Our sexuality need not define us, argues Jenell Williams Paris, anthropology professor at Messiah College and author of The End of Sexual Identity: Why Sex is Too Important to Define Who We Are. Shirley Hoogstra hosts.

We know that soldiers can be injured physically, or suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. But there’s a third kind of injury that results when soldiers engage in actions that violate their own moral principles; it’s known as "moral injury." Herman Keizer, chaplain for the U.S. Army for over 40 years, tells about a movement seeking to change how the military regards and addresses injuries to the conscience. Karen Saupe hosts.

When we think of the need for an improved healthcare system, often the focus is on the patients’ experience. But there can be no strength of care if the caregivers themselves are discouraged to the point of exhaustion. Bonnie Wesorick, founder of the Clinical Practice Model Resource Center in Grand Rapids, MI, describes how a healthy work culture should feel. Shirley Hoogstra hosts.

Someone walking onto a stage trips and falls. Half the audience laughs, half doesn’t; and they’re even angry at the first half for laughing! Why do people respond so differently to humor, puns, and jokes? Calvin College philosophy professor Paul Moes explains what happens in our brains--and our relationships--when we share a laugh. Karen Saupe hosts.

Some scientific theories seem to matter a lot more to people than others. The theory of evolution has always gotten plenty of attention, especially from those who treasure the scriptural book of Genesis. Alvin Plantinga, emeriti professor from the Notre Dame philosophy department, describes some of the main controversies between of evolution, intelligent design, and creationism and whether Christians can reconcile some of these differences. Shirley Hoogstra hosts.

As we watch Muslim countries consider new forms of government, many in America hope that democracy will win out. But some Muslim countries have used the voting process to establish Sharia law, which includes strict regulations pertaining to punishment, sexuality, religious obligations, hygiene, and personal finances. Jim Skillen, former president of the Center for Public Justice in Washington, DC, discusses current thinking on whether Sharia law can be combined with democracy. Shirley Hoogstra hosts.

As the world’s markets become more intermingled, we see new kinds of foods on our grocery shelves and hear new accents in our business calls. But we also lose domestic jobs as they are moved to other countries, where workers now get their first taste of middle class living. Is it possible to grow economies and improve living conditions for one population without hurting another? John Tiemstra of the Calvin College economics department describes the moral choices that shape globalized trade. Karen Saupe hosts.

North American attitudes toward nature have shifted over time, almost as much as our natural landscape has. Donald Worster of the University of Kansas helped develop the intriguing new field of environmental history to track the intense relationship we’ve had with nature. He describes the patterns he’s seen and how America’s history has been shaped by its natural resources. Karen Saupe hosts.

Are teens posting risqué photos on the internet because they are starved for attention, or because they are convinced they’re HOT? Should EVERYONE on the team get a trophy? Jean Twenge of the San Diego State University psychology department, and author of The Narcissism Epidemic: Living in the Age of Entitlement, warns that our culture of extreme encouragement may have gone too far. Shirley Hoogstra hosts.

Thousands of children in Uganda don’t go to school because their parents can’t afford books, a uniform, or sometimes, just a pencil. The orphans there have even less of a chance. When Twesigye Jackson Kaguri was confronted with this picture, he and his wife decided to use their savings to establish a free school for orphans. Hear his adventures, also described in his book, The Price of Stones: Building a School for My Village. Shirley Hoogstra hosts.