What skills will students need to be prepared for an increasingly complex future? As technology continues to shape our society and our structures of communication, how should education respond? And can places of privilege foster equity and inclusivity within and beyond their communities? My name is Tristan Friedberg Rodman. This is Learned.



On Learned, we’re looking beyond test scores and college acceptance rates to understand how education can shape the future of our society — and what kind of teaching we need to bring us there.



Our guests today are Jennifer Flackett and Mark Levin, Oakwood parents in the classes of 2017 and 2021. In their daughter Franny's 8th grade year, Jennifer and Mark decided to pull their kids from school and take a year off — a sabbatical. They hit pause and traveled all around the world. Jennifer and Mark also co-created Big Mouth, an animated show on Netflix starring Nick Kroll and John Mulaney, all about the pains and pleasures of puberty. We sat down at Oakwood and talked about middle school, growing pains, sex education.