Reflecting on Season 1: Lessons in Community, Creativity, and Change

In Season 1 of Educating to Be Human, we asked questions—about creativity and curiosity, change and adaptation, empathy and self-worth. We spoke with changemakers in classrooms, communities, and prisons, all committed to reimagining education as a powerful lever for transformation.

In this special bonus episode, host Lisa Petrides looks back at the voices and ideas that shaped our first season—and shares a glimpse of what’s ahead in Season 2. New stories, deeper questions, and continued exploration of what it means to educate—and live together as humans.

This special episode features clips from interviews with:

Erin O'Connell, university classics professor

Ashanti Branch, Founder of Ever Forward Club https://everforwardclub.org/ and Million Mask Movement: millionmask.org

Ruth Mostern, Professor of History and Director of the World History Center at the University of Pittsburgh www.history.pitt.edu/people/ruth-mostern, and founder of theWorld Historical Gazetteer project: whgazetteer.org

Joel Westheimer, Professor of Education at the University of Ottawa and author of "What Kind of Citizen? Educating Our Children for the Common Good" https://www.tcpress.com/what-kind-of-citizen-9780807769720

Nina Barbuto, founder of Assemble

Chris Miller, co-founder of Life Plays https://lifeplays.com/

Mihalis Eleftheriou, founder of Languagetransfer.org

Sara Goldrick-Rab, author of "Paying the Price: College Costs, Financial Aid, and the Betrayal of the American Dream: https://www.amazon.com/Paying-Price-Financial-Betrayal-American/dp/022640434X

Julius Cave, Regional Director for The Literacy Lab’s Southern region https://theliteracylab.org/

Jody Lewen, President of Mt. Tamalpais College at San Quentin Rehabilitation Center (formerly San Quentin Prison), https://www.mttamcollege.edu/

Educating to be Human is hosted by Lisa Petrides, produced by Helene Theros, recorded by Nathan Sherman, edited by Ty Mayer, with music by Orestis Koletsos. 

Please subscribe and listen to Educating to Be Human on Apple Podcast, Spotify or wherever you listen to your podcasts, leave a review, tell your friends and share our episodes on social media. And don’t forget to follow @edutobehuman on Instagram and on BlueSky @edutobehuman.bsky.social

educatingtobehuman.org 

Episode Transcript

(00:08):
Welcome to this special episode of Educating to be
Human.
In Season 1,
we asked big questions about what it means to be
human,
about creativity and curiosity,
change and adaptation.
And we spoke with people who were committed to
transformative change.
That included change in the classroom,

(00:30):
in communities,
in prisons,
and questions like,
how do we teach empathy,
self-worth,
and civic engagement?
How can we nurture curiosity and creativity while
in formal or informal education environments?
And while there's no one right answer to any of
these,

(00:50):
we do know that education is a critical lever.
And it's never just about what's written in a
textbook.
It's about our shared humanity,
our ability to create the extraordinary,
our struggles,
our desire for a better future.
And in Season One,
we've explored how we might better challenge,

(01:11):
inspire,
and connect.
So today,
we revisit some of those voices,
reflecting on how this conversation can and will be
carried into Season Two.
We're going to learn how to be not just students
of academics,
we're going to learn how to be students of human

(01:32):
development and self-worth.
At its heart,
humanity and society are about connection between
people,
ideas,
and communities.
It's about understanding oneself and seeing one
another fully.
Things called monsters or monstrous reveal the

(01:54):
radical vulnerability of human beings in human
existence,
right?
There's a stuff that happens to us that we cannot
stop and it's awful.
So we kind of look at that to figure out how can
we stop it?
How do we survive it?
How do we predict it?
What do we do about it?
There's four words on the front of the mask.

(02:14):
It says 'happy', 'smart', 'outgoing'.
And 'caring'.
That's what this young man,
this is from a young man,
shows on the front of the mask.
The mask is anonymous.
I don't know who it belongs to,
but I would never forget it when I first opened
it up and I saw it.
And on the back of this mask,
if you look,
there's a bunch of words written,

(02:36):
the same word written 18 times.
And that word is anger.
When education teaches us how to engage with the
world,
how to think critically,
and really see what's around us,
it can become a tool for transformation,

(02:58):
not for the individual alone,
but for society as a whole.
If the participatory citizens are organizing a food
drive and the personally responsible citizens are
donating cans of food,
The social justice-oriented citizens might be asking,
how come in one of the richest countries in the

(03:20):
world,
we have people who are hungry?
And what can we do about that?
Let's go beyond the numbers.
Let's go ask people how they are.
And let's not just say like, 'hey,
how's your financial aid,
right?' Or what do you think of your net price
for college?
Why don't we just start with, 'how you doing?'

(03:42):
Full stop.
How you doing?
And it was in response to 'how are you' that a
student said, 'not okay,
haven't eaten in three days.' And that opens it
up.
Even if,
you know,
people who want to see places renamed in the name
of justice,
who may not be successful in.

(04:04):
The world of maps and street signs and official
names at least can use our platform to say
, 'Here's what I think this place should be called
.' Here's my ancestral name for it.
Here's some information about what it was called
100 or 200 or 500 years ago.
My hope is that this can be something that helps

(04:26):
to support peace and dialogue.
Humanity thrives in spaces where imagination and
curiosity meet.
It's not just about solving problems,

(04:47):
but about reimagining what's possible,
creating connections between the tangible and the
intangible.
Improv has given me the ability and the joy of
being surprised and delighted by the unknown,
the unexpected,
right?
There's to walk into that,

(05:09):
to not be threatened by it,
to walk into this with other people and be
changed,
right?
To be flexible,
to know who I am strongly enough that I can know
that if I change,
I'm still me,
but to adjust and see what can be born from this
new relationship in this moment.

(05:30):
You know,
creativity-It can happen in a solo environment,
but we're never truly disconnected.
We're always either affecting the environment or
each other.
It's never in a vacuum,
right?
We're always building off of what someone else has
done and what we are doing becomes part of that

(05:53):
lineage.
It's always rooted in community,
regardless of what we're doing.
When you study a language,
you don't just study a language,
you study everything.
Because language,
you know,
you talk about everything.
And in the same way,
when you study the maths of harmony,
you're studying chemistry and physics and reality

(06:17):
and radio waves and wireless charging and the song.
Education shapes how we see ourselves and others.
It's about envisioning a society that values all
voices.
Being in conversations that,

(06:37):
honestly,
quite frankly,
they just haven't really been able to have
consistently,
even about themselves,
even about what they want to do,
their hopes,
their dreams,
being vulnerable in spaces,
having some difficult conversations.
And so for them,
to be in a room regularly with other young men of

(06:57):
color working positively to impact lives in their
community plays a huge role.
You know,
I would say one of the greatest challenges of the
field really is helping people understand
incarcerated students-as students and as people.
And so,
in a sense,

(07:18):
that is the challenge and the tension that you're
constantly confronting when you work in this space.

(07:38):
Across these stories,

one thread ties them together (07:41):
the enduring
complexity and resilience of our shared humanity.
As we move toward Season Two and navigate through
increasingly complex times,
the questions we've explored here will only grow
more urgent.
How are we cultivating spaces where creativity and

(08:02):
connection thrive?
How can we develop critical thinking,
resilience,
and self-reflection?
Thank you for walking this path with us as we
reflect and learn and challenge ourselves and each
other in this journey.
In Season Two,
we'll continue to push these conversations forward,

(08:24):
diving deeper into our understanding of what
educating to be human truly means.
I'm Lisa Petridis.
Thank you for listening.