Scott Rada is a digital strategist with Lee Enterprises, and Richard Kyte is the director of the D.B. Reinhart Institute for Ethics in Leadership at Viterbo University in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Kyte is also the author of "Finding Your Third Place: Building Happier Communities (and Making Great Friends Along the Way)." Follow the show on Apple Podcasts or on Spotify.
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MICROCOLLEGE is an exploration of the crisis in higher education and the innovative projects and thinkers working to address it, with a special focus on the human-scaled, place-based, meaning-oriented learning communities we call "microcolleges." The podcast is hosted by Jacob Hundt, Founder of Thoreau College, a microcollege initiative rooted in the Driftless Region of rural southwestern Wisconsin, and inspired by the model of Deep Springs College, the pedagogy of the Waldorf schools, and t ...
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Are Americans' stated values reflected in their everyday actions?
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Episode 156: Hosts Scott Rada and Rick Kyte discuss the findings of a New York Times/Siena College poll that revealed some intriguing insights into American beliefs and behaviors. The poll found that while 88% of Americans support the legalization of marijuana for medical use, our federal policies do not reflect this widespread approval. Kyte noted…
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What does decline in sportsmanship say about our society?
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Episode 155: Hosts Richard Kyte and Scott Rada discuss the concerning trend of poor sportsmanship observed at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. According to Kyte, the decline in graceful acceptance of defeat is not limited to the Olympics, but is evident across various levels of sports, from professional leagues to youth athletics. He pointed to i…
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How would you react to these four ethical dilemmas?
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Episode 154: Hosts Richard Kyte and Scott Rada are both off this week, so we looked back through our show’s archives and picked four of our favorite ethical dilemmas from the past year. This recurring weekly feature can be found at the end of each of our episodes. Topics include how to respond to a suspected bicycle thief, the ethics behind surpris…
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Episode #58: Megan Durney, Kim Vaughan - Threefold Community Farm, Chestnut Ridge, NY
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This week on the podcast I speak with Kim Vaughan and Megan Durney of the Threefold Community Farm in Chestnut Ridge, NY, just outside of New York City. Threefold Community Farm is one of the key centers for the practice of biodynamic agriculture, as well as the training of biodynamic farmers through the Pfeiffer Center. Biodynamic agriculture is a…
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What’s behind America’s declining birth rate?
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Episode 153: The number of U.S. births declined last year to the lowest level since 1979, and the rate of American women of childbearing age having babies is the lowest on record. Hosts Richard Kyte and Scott Rada discuss the many economic and cultural factors driving this downward trend, and whether this cyclical decline should be a cause for joy …
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What do teachers say is wrong with our schools?
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Episode 152: As the back-to-school season nears, we turn our attention to a recent survey by the Pew Research Center that provides a comprehensive look at what it’s like to be a teacher in America today. The findings are revealing and concerning, showing the significant challenges and stressors educators face. Hosts Richard Kyte and Scott Rada talk…
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Can summer jobs teach teens lifelong skills?
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Episode 151: Summer jobs are a rite of passage for many teens, offering a first taste of independence and responsibility. But these jobs come with their own set of benefits and challenges. On the one hand, they can teach valuable skills and provide financial independence. On the other hand, they can lead to stress, exploitation, and a delicate bala…
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Episode #57: Dr. Dan McKanan: Camphills, Intentional Communities, and the Spiritual Roots of Radical Change
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This week's guest on the Microcollege podcast is Dr. Dan McKanan, a professor at the Harvard Divinity School who is one of the foremost American scholars of biodynamic agriculture and the Camphill communities, two influential movements applying the ideas of Rudolf Steiner in practical fields. In our conversation, we learn about Dan's own formative …
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Is the self-help industry actually helpful?
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Episode 150: From best-selling books to motivational seminars, self-help has become a billion-dollar industry, promising personal transformation and success. But behind the allure of self-improvement, there are significant ethical questions. How do self-help gurus and authors profit from people’s vulnerabilities? What responsibilities do these lead…
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Is it better to be a pragmatist or an a idealist?
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Episode 149: As the fall election creeps closer, most of us think of our political divide as Red America vs. Blue America. But another way to view our nation’s fractured landscape is to sort people into two camps: idealists and pragmatists. Hosts Richard Kyte and Scott Rada discuss these two political philosophies, the benefits of each and whether …
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Why is a feeling of belonging so important for our mental health?
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Episode 148: On last week’s episode, we celebrated the release of Richard Kyte's new book, “Finding Your Third Place: Building Happier Communities and Making Great Friends Along the Way.” But this is such an important topic, we thought we’d dig into it a bit more. For those who don’t know, third places are those community spots, like coffee shops, …
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Why does America need to invest in more third places?
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Episode 147: Richard Kyte’s new book, “Finding Your Third Place: Building Happier Communities (and Making Great Friends Along the Way),” is hitting bookstore shelves this month, and he talks with Scott Rada about why we all need to find somewhere where everyone knows our name. About the hosts Scott Rada is a digital strategist with Lee Enterprises,…
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Episode #56: Dr. Richard Kyte - Finding Your Third Place
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On today's episode we discuss the concept of "third places" with Dr. Richard Kyte, author of the forthcoming book Finding Your Third Place: Building Happier Communities (and Making Great Friends Along the Way). What is a "third place"? According to Dr. Kyte: "Your first place is home, your second place is work, and your third place is where you go …
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How can books expand our view of the world?
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Episode 146: A recent study found that just 53% of American adults read at least one fiction or nonfiction book in the past 12 months, the lowest level on record. Hosts Richard Kyte and Scott Rada discuss why instilling a love for reading early is important and why avid readers are better critical thinkers who can focus more deeply. Links to storie…
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Episode #55: Eric Schwarz - College for Social Innovation, Boston, MA
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In this episode of the Microcollege podcast, join me for a fascinating conversation with Eric Schwarz, Co-Founder and CEO of the College for Social Innovation (CFSI), which offers semester-long immersive service learning internships in partnership with community organizations in the Boston area, as well as on college campuses throughout the northea…
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Why a busier life is not always a happier life
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Episode 145: A recent article in The Atlantic by Arthur C. Brooks says that the people whose lives are the happiest are able to find a balance between having enough important, mission-driven things to do in their lives without feeling overwhelmed by stress. Hosts Richard Kyte and Scott Rada talk about how to find that middle ground so you can have …
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What is lost when we no longer have a shared culture?
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Episode 144: There was a period of time in America, roughly 1940 to 2000, during which we were largely part of a monoculture. Most of us watched the same TV shows and movies, read the same newspapers, and listened to the same radio stations. Today, however, because of the Internet, that's clearly not the case. And although this feels new to many of…
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Episode #54: Andrea de la Cruz, Nathaniel Williams - The Goetheanum, Dornach, Switzerland
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Today's guests are Andrea de la Cruz and Nathaniel Williams, leaders in the area of educational courses and the youth movement at the Goetheanum, located in Dornach, Switzerland. The Goetheanum is a remarkable building, a masterpiece of modern architecture nestled in the green foothills near Basel. It is also an organization that lies at the heart …
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Has influx of money made it tougher to be a sports fan?
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Episode 143: Americans’ love affair with sports is stronger than ever. According to a poll earlier this year by Pew Research, about half of Americans say they took part in organized, competitive sports in high school or college; most Americans who played sports in high school or college say their athletic experiences improved their physical health …
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What can be done to make housing more affordable?
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Episode 142: Most economists say that the U.S. economy is in a relatively strong position. Although inflation is still a concern, overall GDP numbers are strong, the unemployment rate is low, and wages are rising. Yet in a poll from earlier this year, just 28 percent of Americans rated national economic conditions as excellent or good. There are ma…
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Can too many choices in life keep us from making decisions?
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Episode 141: Our lives are dependent on the choices we make, and in most cases, we have more choices than ever. A study by Harvard University shows that having fewer choices can promote happiness because the more options you have, the more opportunities you have to regret the choice you've made. There is also a term called the “parallelizing parado…
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Episode 140: Nearly seven months after the Israel-Hamas war began, many campuses across the country are dealing with pro-Palestinian demonstrations and encampments. Some college presidents have chosen to involve the police, which has led to hundreds of students being arrested. In addition, these protests have again stirred up a debate about the lim…
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Are these five things the secret to happiness?
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Episode 139: If you were making a list of superstar psychologists, Carl Jung would be toward the top. According to a recent story by Arthur C. Brooks in The Atlantic, the one-time associate of Sigmund Freud coined the terms extravert and introvert, along with many of the other words we use to describe mental health today. One topic he thought a lot…
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Should AI be used to help us stay in touch with the dead?
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Episode 138: There are 137 episodes of The Ethical Life podcast, and that means there are more than 6,000 minutes of hosts Richard Kyte and Scott Rada talking about various ethical issues. This also means that AI can stitch together all this information and create replicas that would sound — and possibly even think — like them. Some people already …
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Episode #53: Blake Boles - Unschool Adventures
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Blake Boles is one of the leading voices in the world of unschooling and a passionate advocate for alternative approaches to education of all kinds. He is the founder and director of Unschool Adventures, a travel program for self-directed learners, and is the author of Why Are You Still Sending Your Kids to School?, The Art of Self-Directed Learnin…
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Why should we care about privacy in a digital world?
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Episode 137: With more data accumulating about us each day, hosts Richard Kyte and Scott Rada talk about whether privacy is still important — or even possible. Links to stories discussed during the podcast: What Gen Z really cares about when it comes to privacy, David Ruiz, Malwarebytes AI hustlers stole women’s faces to put in ads. The law can’t h…
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Episode #52: Christine Deck - Deck Family Farm, Willamette Valley, Oregon
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This week on the Microcollege podcast we explore the deeply important and little discussed question of who the farmers of the future will be and how they will be educated. Our guest is Christine Deck, co-owner of the Deck Family Farm in Oregon's Willamette Valley. Together with her husband John and their 5 kids, Christine runs a diversified organic…
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Are parents responsible for the actions of their children?
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Episode 136: Earlier this year, James and Jennifer Crumbley were convicted, in separate trials, of involuntary manslaughter. In 2021, their son, then 15, shot and killed four students at his Michigan high school. Six more students and a faculty member were wounded. He is serving a life sentence, with no possibility of parole. The Crumbleys were acc…
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Episode #51: Philip Francis - Seguinland Institute, The Good Life Gap Year, Maine
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Philip Francis is the Director and Co-Founder of the Seguinland Institute, an innovative gap year program provider located in beautiful Georgetown, Maine. Philip is a native son of the region, where his parents settled to become homesteaders under the influence of Scott and Helen Nearing, authors of the early 20th century back-to-the-land classic L…
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