New View EDU Episode 96: Educational Ethics in Independent Schools
The NAIS New View EDU podcast seeks to explore this essential question: What is the purpose and nature of school in our rapidly evolving world? In our 11th season, we examine how the answers to this question have shifted in response to three key themes: the influence of AI and technology on education; the most important and adaptive skills students need for the future; and the broader public purpose of independent schools in a deeply polarized era.
Hosts Debra P. Wilson and Morva McDonald welcome thought leaders like Jared Horvath, Liza Garonzik, Lenore Skenazy, Mike Goldstein, Monika Ardelt, and others to share their perspectives on what's new and what's next for schools. We'll also welcome three school leaders to respond to these themes and essential questions in our new Member View EDU segments with host Andi Gabrick.
With voices from inside and outside the independent school world, Season 11 of New View EDU tackles some of the most urgent challenges facing educators today.
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New! Season 11 Episodes: Fall 2026
Episode 96: Educational Ethics in Independent Schools
Available November 10, 2026
What is the relationship between education and democracy, and what are the ethical complexities facing educators as they teach dialogue and critical-thinking skills in a time of discord and divides? Meira Levinson, political philosopher and scholar of educational ethics, joins host Morva McDonald for a conversation about how to engage students in a necessary exchange of ideas without encouraging potentially harmful debates.
Meira encourages educators to recognize that this is not the first time in history when risk and uncertainty have plagued the classroom due to broader social conditions. What’s different this time, she says, is the addition of concerns about developing technologies like AI, which adds a level of instability. But, she says, the purposes of schooling—which can include different visions of equipping young people to participate in democratic communities—remain educators’ to define and enact, and independent schools are uniquely positioned to do that. One potential challenge Meira identifies is the paradoxical nature of clearly defining values and purpose, thereby shaping the makeup of the school’s community. To what degree are we inadvertently creating less ideological diversity within our schools, and how do we think about the trade-offs inherent in those choices?
- Go to the episode page for highlights, discussion questions, key takeaways, and additional resources.
Episode 95: Shaping Future Citizens Through Dialogue
Available November 3, 2026
What’s the difference between deliberation and debate? And how can teaching students to practice deliberation help them form valuable civic and life skills? That’s the work Mia Charity leads through the Close Up Foundation, and describes that work in conversation with NAIS president and host Debra P. Wilson on this episode of New View EDU.
Coming from the perspective of more than 20 years in various roles at Close Up, Mia discusses the value of civic education to the future of young people. She shares her belief in programs and opportunities that encourage proximity to others whose experiences are vastly different from our own, and that instill the curiosity and listening skills needed to understand disparate points of view. She encourages schools to open more opportunities for students to practice deliberation, community-building, and personal agency to help them build the skills they need to become productive citizens in the future.
- Go to the episode page for highlights, discussion questions, key takeaways, and additional resources.
Episode 94: A Member View on AI in Schools
In this Member View EDU episode, host Andi Gabrick, editor of NAIS’s Independent School magazine, sits down with Brent Kaneft, head of school at Wilson Hall in South Carolina, to get his thoughts on how AI is impacting schools, and how Brent approaches his headship in an era of rapidly evolving technologies.
Some of the key questions Andi and Brent explore in this episode include what practices school heads can engage in to stay on top of how quickly things are changing, the role of schools in equipping kids for the future in this type of environment, and tensions or challenges around AI that play out in school communities.
- Go to the episode page for highlights, discussion questions, key takeaways, and additional resources.
Episode 93: Educational Design in the Age of AI
“I think the big rupture that's happened in education recently is AI.” That’s how Carl Hendrick begins his conversation with host Debra P. Wilson, identifying a clear dividing line between the educators who approach AI as “this is the end of the world,” and those who see potential for its use. Coming from a background in the science of learning, Carl has a unique perspective on what he thinks the exciting opportunities are to advance our understanding of learning in new ways, and where he believes a more traditional, human-centered approach remains invaluable.
With the aid of AI, Carl says, we may be able to get better, more granular data on student learning to help inform classroom practice, and offload some of the more time-consuming and less effective tasks that take up teacher time, like administrative work. He says teachers’ real strengths lie in their ability to mentor, motivate, and inspire, and the advent of AI tools in education can free them up to do those things in a more targeted and informed way. He also notes that AI can help resolve concerns about the reliability of human grading, assessment, and curriculum design, offering the opportunity to level-set appropriately for students and minimize quality differences across different settings.
- Go to the episode page for highlights, discussion questions, key takeaways, and additional resources.
Episode 92: Reducing Harm in a Digital World
As technology advances at an unprecedented pace, school leaders have to make rapid decisions about how to manage the risks and opportunities. What can we learn from the history of public health prevention strategies about proactive risk management, and how can we help kids grow and develop in an increasingly digital world? Host Morva McDonald brings together two experts from disparate backgrounds to share their thoughts on AI, social media, and navigating the delicate balance between preparing kids for the future and mitigating harm.
Barry Davis, author of The Preventioneers, and Laura Tierney, founder of The Social Institute, discuss the current landscape, what concerns them, and what excites them about developing technologies. They agree that one challenge facing schools right now is the division of responsibility for harm reduction. While students, parents, faculty, and school leaders all have varying degrees of responsibility for safe technology use, there is also a larger institutional and governmental role that lies with companies and legislators.
- Go to the episode page for highlights, discussion questions, key takeaways, and additional resources.
Episode 91: The Digital Delusion
“Our children are less cognitively capable than we were at their age.” This startling premise begins Jared Cooney Horvath’s book The Digital Delusion, and it’s the starting point for his conversation with New View EDU host and NAIS President Debra P. Wilson. From there, they delve into the neuroscience behind the claim and how an education steeped in technology is changing how students learn and engage with the world.
Jared shares the research linking greater reliance on technology in the classroom to weaker cognitive outcomes and talks about the mechanisms that may underlie the decline. He discusses a phenomenon he calls “Google dementia” and shares how untethering classroom experiences from a lived, three-dimensional, spatial experience diminishes key aspects of memory formation. Deeper learning, he says, requires a more analog approach to work with human development.
- Go to the episode page for highlights, discussion questions, key takeaways, and additional resources.