After lighting up the college model in Episode 1, Peter and Alli come back with the real question: if higher ed is broken… what replaces it? Jeremy Smith (PEGA6 co-founder/CEO) answers with one phrase that frames the entire episode: workforce engineering.

Jeremy argues that education shouldn’t be treated like a pipeline where students just get moved along. It should be treated like a supply chain where value is added at every stage—because the goal is not “school completion,” it’s readiness for the next step. And in his model, the customer isn’t the student (even though they pay)—the customer is the employer, because that’s where the best jobs and opportunities get decided.

From there, Jeremy breaks “job-ready” into three non-negotiables for the AI age:

Technical Skills — not “theory,” but real, usable tools and mechanics of the job (he references things like industry tools and workflows).

Soft Skills — communication, professionalism, managing up, teamwork—the things that make people actually promotable and trusted.

AI-First Approach — not just knowing AI tools, but thinking AI-first to accelerate work, then finishing with human judgment and technical fundamentals.

Then the conversation gets spicy again—in the best way:

Jeremy calls out the “college builds critical thinking” claim as a myth, arguing real critical thinking is a concrete set of skills (biases, logic, stats, fallacies) that most students aren’t systematically taught.

Alli challenges the framing: “Are we just building workers? What about leaders?” Jeremy’s answer is timing: optimize for the next step first, then build leadership later through real experience (and future “Pegas7”-type progression).

Peter hits the big fear word: pigeonholing. Jeremy flips it—being “open to everything” but skilled at nothing isn’t optionality; being skilled creates mobility. And the solution for students who don’t know their path is better “routing” earlier—he directly connects this to aptitude/fit tools like YouScience.

The episode ends with a clean cliffhanger: next week they go inside PEGA6—how it’s being built, what the accelerator experience looks like, and how close it is to launch.

If you came this far... head to www.pega6.com/dep You won't be disappointed!

Welcome to 2026 — and the Disrupt Education Podcast’s 10th year — with one word leading the charge: Bold. Peter and Alli kick off a brand-new 4-part series with Jeremy Smith, founder and CEO of PEGA6, and he doesn’t tiptoe into the conversation… he kicks the door in.

Jeremy shares his path from investment banking and multiple startup exits to building what he calls a totally new kind of higher ed: a one-year, $15K, career accelerator designed for the AI age. His claim is simple and explosive: the only thing most universities reliably provide is a “stamp,” not real readiness. Students leave with debt, time lost, and too often no practical skills—while employers are stuck spending the first year turning new hires from zero to one.

From there, the episode gets real:

Jeremy argues universities only lower prices when forced by real competition (and he believes universities can’t compete with a faster, cheaper, experiential model).

He breaks down who gets harmed by the status quo (parents, students, employers… basically everyone) and who benefits (universities).

He connects the entry-level job squeeze to a brutal reality: AI tools don’t have to be amazing to replace grads—because many grads show up unprepared.

The conversation also hits a key instructional truth you and I both love: skills only develop through doing. Jeremy uses the bike-riding analogy to torch the lecture-test-textbook model for skill-building, pushing “just-in-time fundamentals” after failure and experience—not frontloaded theory.

The episode ends by teasing Part 2: Workforce Engineering, and Jeremy’s belief that education should function less like a pipeline and more like a supply chain—starting with what employers actually need and building backward from there.

This isn’t a polite conversation about education reform. It’s a blueprint to burn down a broken model and build something that actually prepares students to win alongside AI.

If you came this far... head to www.pega6.com/dep You won't be disappointed!

What a year. 🎙

In this special New Year’s episode of the Disrupt Education Podcast, Peter Hostrawser and Alli Dahl look back on 2025 – the year disrupting education stopped being “spicy” and started becoming the norm.

They unpack:

How the podcast crossed 400+ episodes and over half a million downloads, and why it still feels like a movement more than a show

Why 2025 felt like education finally catching fire – with more CTE leaders, WBL innovators, and classroom “doers” stepping up and sharing what actually works

The impact of the student summer series (Liam, Isaac, Abby, Lindsay, and Derek) and how their honest stories exposed where the system drops learners

The global-to-local arc:

EduVitality with Kristy Volesky

State-level transformation with Dr. Gary Skeen in Virginia

District and academy models with Scott Carr and Jeff Stenroos

Human-centered change with Dr. Karen Baptiste (Dr. K) and teacher efficacy

How partnering with YouScience and running a 6-part series on aptitudes, exposure gaps, and economic development reframed everything from “pipelines” to pathways with on- and off-ramps

Why language, mindset, and individual aptitudes matter more than ever for students and educators

Stories from Peter’s own internship students and his kids that show how young people are already thinking differently about college, cost, and career

Peter and Alli close the year with gratitude for the Disrupt Education community – teachers, parents, students, leaders – and a promise: 2026 is going to be bolder, messier, and even more real.

If you care about where school is going next, this recap sets the stage.Check out www.disrupteducationpodcast.com for more!