Shows
Razib Khan's Unsupervised LearningJack Despain Zhou: in defense of trackingOn this episode of Unsupervised Learning Razib talks to Jack Despain Zhou, executive director of the Center for Educational Progress (CEP). Despain Zhou is a graduate of Western Governors University, and is completing his J.D. at Temple University. A former cryptographic analyst for the US Air Force, Despain Zhou is better known as a former producer for Jesse Singal and Katie Herzog at Blocked and Reported under the pseudonym Tracie Woodgrains. Despain Zhou’s mission with CEP is to push for individualized learning programs “where every student can advance as far and as fast as their curiosity an...2025-08-051h 16
Razib Khan's Unsupervised LearningJack Despain Zhou: in defense of trackingThis is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.razibkhan.comOn this episode of Unsupervised Learning Razib talks to Jack Despain Zhou, executive director of the Center for Educational Progress (CEP). Despain Zhou is a graduate of Western Governors University, and is completing his J.D. at Temple University. A former cryptographic analyst for the US Air Force, Despain Zhou is better known as a former producer for Jesse Singal and Katie Herzog at Blocked and Reported under the pseudonym Tracie Woodgrains.Despain Zhou’s mission with CEP is to...2025-07-1915 min
The New Liberal PodcastBuilding Excellent Schools ft. Jack Despain ZhouWhat would it mean for America's schools to focus on excellence? Jack Despain Zhou is the founder of the Center for Educational Progress, a new think tank focused on promoting academic excellence. He joins the show to talk about whether we've gone too far in the pursuit of equity goals in education, how we can support and challenge students at every ability level, whether or not tracking is a good idea, and ultimately what a vision of a stronger education system could look like. To get bonus episodes, support us at patreon.com/newliberalpodcast or https://cnliberalism.org...2025-07-161h 03
Astral Codex Ten PodcastBayes For EveryoneA guest post by Brandon Hendrickson [Editor’s note: I accept guest posts from certain people, especially past Book Review Contest winners. Brandon Hendrickson, whose review of The Educated Mind won the 2023 contest, has taken me up on this and submitted this essay. He writes at The Lost Tools of Learning and will be at LessOnline this weekend, where he and Jack Despain Zhou aka TracingWoodgrains will be doing a live conversation about education.] I began my book review of a couple years back with a rather simple question: Could a new kind of...2025-06-1429 min
Clearer Thinking with Spencer GreenbergHow to unleash student potential in education (with Jack Despain Zhou)Read the full transcript here. How bad are things in US education? Why does it seem that educational progress has stagnated? What parts of the US education system should be reformed? Is it better to group students by skill level or by age? How useful are standardized tests? Why is there so commonly a disconnect between what cognitive science tells us about how people learn and the practices that are actually implemented in classrooms? How much do we know about what it's like in schools today? What did the No Child Left Behind act get wrong? What...2025-04-241h 18
The ThoughtStretchers PodcastCentering Educational ProgressDrew Perkins talks with Jack Despain Zhou about his project to establish a new think tank called Center for Educational Progress. Links & Resources Mentioned In This Episode2025-02-2655 minThe ThoughtStretchers PodcastCentering Educational ProgressDrew Perkins talks with Jack Despain Zhou about his project to establish a new think tank called Center for Educational Progress. Links & Resources Mentioned In This Episode2025-02-2655 min
Aged Well PodcastDEI, Airplanes, and Dumb MemesThis is getting shared a lot, so you know what, fine. Against my better judgement: challenge accepted. I’ll take the bait.But if I’m going to take the time to do this, you have to hang around a minute afterwards for my explanation of why liberals shouldn’t share memes like this anymore. You have to hear me out on why this falls under a rhetorical umbrella that is too worn out and raggedy to keep any of us on the left dry anymore.Dave's Dispatch is a reader-supported publication. To receive new po...2025-02-1942 min
Blocked and ReportedEpisode 247: The Zizians' Reign of Terror (with Tracing Woodgrains)This week on Blocked and Reported, Jesse is joined by our furry friend Tracing Woodgrains/Jack Despain Zhou to discuss the rationalist trans murder cult. Plus, revisiting the DEI scandal at the FAA.zizians.infoEffective Altruism’s Problems Go Beyond Sam Bankman-Fried - BloombergNet Negative – SinceriouslyGood Group and Pasek’s Doom – SinceriouslyContainment Causes Suicidality | Mental EngineeringJay Leo Winterford (Jacob Ray Pekarek) Obituary - Estes Park, COin your dreamsMystery in Sonoma County after arrests...2025-02-101h 11
Quillette PodcastUnreliable SourcesIona Italia talks to Jack Despain Zhou (aka "Tracing Woodgrains") about the decline of standards at Wikipedia as a result of the obsessive efforts of ideologically motivated editors. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices2024-10-2521 min