Educating for Democracy: James Traub

January 15th, 2026

”Universal public school is America's greatest invention.”

We discuss the role of schools to form effective citizens in our democracy. It’s necessary to prioritize the teaching of our history and our government.

James Traub is a journalist, historian, and author of The Cradle of Citizenship: How Schools Can Help Save Our Democracy.

Your civic action toolkit recommendations from James are:

  1. Push back against corrosive technology, especially in schools

  2. Read books!

Let’s connect! Follow Future Hindsight on Instagram: 

https://www.instagram.com/futurehindsightpod/

Discover new ways to #BetheSpark: 

https://www.futurehindsight.com/spark

Follow Mila on X: 

https://x.com/milaatmos

Read The Cradle of Citizenship

https://bookshop.org/shop/futurehindsight 

Sponsors:

Thank you to Shopify for supporting the show! Sign up for a $1/month trial at shopify.com/hopeful.

Early episodes for Patreon supporters:

https://patreon.com/futurehindsight

Credits:

Host: Mila Atmos 

Guest: James Traub

Executive Producer: Mila Atmos

Producer: Zack Travis

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Resist and Organize: Daniel Hunter

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The Library Changemaker: Amanda Jones