Rahm Emanuel: Both parties are failing American students

Culture wars have distracted America's K-12 system at the expense of students, says former U.S. Ambassador and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel. On this episode of The Current, Emanuel sits down with Jon Valant, director of the Brown Center on Education Policy, to diagnose what went wrong and how some schools are trying to get it right. Show notes and transcript . Follow The Current and all Brookings podcasts on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Send feedback email to podcasts@brookings.edu .

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Rahm Emanuel: Both parties are failing American students is an episode from The Current by The Brookings Institution.

This episode is 18:28 long.

This episode was published on Apr 7, 2026.

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