My Previous Reads

This is a list of the books I have read and posted on this blog. As new titles are added, this post will move up. Over time, I hope to get a review done for each one.

Updated 7/29/2009

• The Beckham Experiment by Grant Wahl. My review.



• The Forgotten Man by Amity Shlaes



• Bloody Confused!: A Clueless American Sportswriter Seeks Solace in English Soccer by Chuck Culpepper



• Soccer in a Football World: The Story of America's Forgotten Game by David Wangerin



• Infinity's Shore by David Brin



• Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby



• Tested: One American School Struggles to Make the Grade by Linda Perlstein



• American Creation: Triumphs and Tragedies at the Founding of the Republic by Joseph Ellis



• America: The Last Best Hope (Vol. I): From the Age of Discovery to a World at War by William J. Bennett



• A Magnificent Catastrophe: The Tumultuous Election of 1800, America's First Presidential Campaign by Edward J. Larson



• A Man of Letters by Thomas Sowell. My Review.



• How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization by Franklin Foer.



• The Price of Liberty: Paying for America's Wars
  
  
• Fifteen Stars: Eisenhower, MacArthur, Marshall: Three Generals Who Saved the American Century



• The War Against Hope: How Teachers' Unions Hurt Children, Hinder Teachers, and Endanger Public Education by Rod Paige



• The Wisdom of Crowds by James Surowiecki My Reivew



• The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors by James Hornfischer



• Unhinged: Exposing Liberals Gone Wild by Michelle Malkin.



• Warrior Politics: Why Leadership Demands a Pagan Ethos by Robert Kaplan



• America Alone by Mark Steyn.



• Blessed Among Nations by Eric Rauchway. My review.



• The Blog of War by Matthew Currier Burden.



• Stealing Democracy: The New Politics of Voter Suppression by Spencer Overton



• The Road to Dune by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson



• Our Underachieving Colleges by Derek Bok: My review



• John Dewey & The Decline of American Education by Henry T. Edmondson III



• The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith



• Letters to a Young Conservative by Dinesh D`Souza



• Heaven's Reach by David Brin



• The New Thought Police by Tammy Bruce



• Cheating Our Kids: How Politics and Gread Ruin Education by Joe Williams My Review



• Crash Course: Imaginning A Better Future for Public Education by Chris Whittle



• Education Myths by Jay P. Greene



• Friday Night Lights by H.G. Bissinger My Review

Previously Listened To:

This is a list of the CD's I have listened to and posted on this site. Over time, I hope to get my review of each disk posted. As this list is updated, I will be moving it to the top of the postings.

Updated 2/10/2009

• OU812 by Van Halen



• Stain by Living Colour



• The Sound of Madness by Shinedown



• Into the Now by Tesla



• Coverdale-Page by David Coverdale and Jimmy Page
  
  
• Satriani Live by Joe Satriani



• Browns in Blue by The 5 Browns



• 12 Gardens (Live) by Billy Joel



• Introducing Joss Stone My Review



• Continuum by John Mayer



• Fore by Huey Lewis & The News



• Small World by Huey Lewis & The News



• Light Grenades by Incubus



• Hoobastank: Every Man for Himself My Review.



• Other True Self by Vernon Reid & Masque



• All The Right Reasons by Nickelback



• Super Colossal by Joe Satriani



• Us and Them by Shinedown My Review



• Listener Supported by The Dave Mathews Band My Review



• Headhunters by Herbie Hancock My Review



• Indian Summer by Carbon Leaf My Review



• Twentysomething by Jamie Cullum My Review



• Eastern Energy by Twelve Girls Band My Review



• Gorillaz: Demon Days My Review



• Dave Mathews Band: Stand Up My Review



• Return 2 Zero My Review



• Eldar My Review



• Bond: Classified My Review



• Carbon Leaf: Echo Echo My Review



• Living Colour: Collideoscope My Review



• Eric Johnson: Ah Via Musicom My Review



• Joe Satriani: Flying in a Blue Dream My Review



• The 5 Browns My Review



• John Mellencamp: Words & Music My Review



• 3 Doors Down: Seventeen Days My Review



• Diana Krall-The Girl in the Other Room My Review



• Vanessa-Mae: Storm My Review



• Los Lonely Boys My Review

Music Review: Introducing Joss Stone

The oddest thing about Joss Stone's third CD is the title, Introducing Joss Stone. Well forgive me for being obtuse, but Stone released two other disks a 2003 effort with covers of obscure soul sounds and 2004's Mind, Body & Soul. Now the three years since Mind, Body & Soul might account for the oddly titled third album, but as Stone's bio proclaims, this thrid disk is the first where she is truly her.

At any rate, the time between Stone's disks probably allowed her to produce a much more solid effort, as Introducing is as strong, and in parts, much stronger an effort than Mind, Body & Soul. Stone writes all but one of the musical tracks on the newest disk, only Diane Warren's "Bruised but Not Broken." Stone penned the rest herself.

To be sure, the young Briton's soul music captures the ear and gets the listener into the groove quickly. After a spoken word intro track, the diks launches into two of the stronger tracks on the disk, "Girl They Won't Believe It" and "Headturner." The tracks are the type of soul infused music that Stone fans have come to expect. While the staccato of the verses of "Girl" can be a little distracting the power of the chorus and the 1960's era girl-group feel more than makes up for the minor annoyance.

"Headturner," though is pure power and soul from Stone. Perhaps the strongest track on the disk, there is no denying the power of beat, the groove and Stone's voice. The husky tone of verses doesn't hide the power of Stone's voice and when she and her back up singers cut loose on the chorus, you can't help but feel the groove.

"Headturner" along with "Put Your Hands on Me" also gives an insight into the growing up Stone has undergone since her adolescent debut. There is an implicit understanding that Stone, as a woman, can turn heads and can seek out lovers without being beholden to anyone else. In a sense the song is much more liberating than the overtly sexual songs of some of her American contemporaries. "Put Your Hands" is certainly more overtly sexual, but it is that way without being so in your face with references.

Stone, who possesses a powerful voice, sometimes tries to tame the voice, making it a bit more ballad-esque in tone and volume, for example on "Proper Nice." It is in these points that album feels a little flat. The appeal, at least for me, of Stone is the power of her voice. While mixing up the form of songs, she should not hide the force of her voice. Even with a simple piano arrangment, Stone should let her voice loose and literally smack people on the head.

Still, if Stone can offer some musical options while not covering her voice, I can forsee a very long career for the songstress.

Now for the top three:

"Headturner," as you might imagine. I think this to be the strongest cut on the disk. It is pure soul power and the groove and backing vocals are stellar.

"Music" is a collaboration between Stone and the now less heard from Lauryn Hill. The groove is infectious and the combination of Hill and Stone make the track memorable.

"Put Your Hands On Me"--another soulful classic. Stone lets loose with the full power of her voice and womanhood. It makes me actually want to do what she asks--if I didn't feel like a dirty old man doing so.

Book Review: A Man of Letters by Thomas Sowell

When influential individuals write their memoirs, there is often something that can be overlooked or glossed over and that is teh development of a person over time. Sure, the author can look back and remember what they were like as a child or a young adult. They will be able to track important events in their life and remembers some of the unimportant ones that might be entertaining. But rarely do you get any documentation about their life.

A Man of Letters, a sort of epistlatory companion to Sowell's memoir A Personal Odyssey, provides some documentation about his life via the letters he exhanged with various people, from former teachers, mentors, roommates and even complete strangers who wrote him. The letters, and the commentary that glues them together, are provided in chronological order, and while there may be significant gaps between some of the letters, you can see by what Sowell wrote to others what was important in his life at the time and that provides a glimpse into his life that few could manage in a memoir or that few could stomach. Included in the book are letters to friends and colleagues about the disintegration of his first marriage, his son's late development in speaking (and the support group he founded later in life to help others through the same problem) as well as his fairly well known views on race, affirmative action, economics and other matters upon which he researched and wrote.

What is also impressive about the collection Sowell presents is the long term exchange of letters he had with a number of individuals, including his college roommate and an English professor under whom he studied at Howard University, with whom he corresponded for decades. In these letters, we see the struggle Sowell had to obtain and maintain an academic position, his disagreements with the manner in which colleges and universities were operated (and the growing liberal mindset of caving to whatever interests were in vogue at the time), and his deep seated animonsity toward affirmative action and admission of black students to elite colleges where they were doomed to fail. Sowell describes all of these incidents with various individuals over time.

What A Man of Letters provides, that A Personal Odyssey perhaps omits, is a personal connection. Odyssey was at times distant, more like a biography than a memoir or an autobiography. But A Man of Letters brings it home again and provides personal touches unknown in Odyssey. What is not missing, not by a long shot, is Sowell's personal trademark of speaking his mind, clearly and unapolgetically. That is what makes A Man of Letters, and indeed all of Sowell's writing excellent--the unvarnished truth as Sowell sees it.

Music Review: Browns in Blue by The 5 Browns

A while back I posted a review on The 5 Browns, five piano playing siblings with loads of talent and a penchant for classical music. Since that time, the three sisters and two brothers have expanded their appeal and their range. Their youth, and attractiveness, have made them something of a star attraction among a younger crowd, allowing young people the experience of classical music, and make no mistake, The 5 Browns are not your grandad's version of classical musicians.

Yet, there is no denying their talent. Having a piano duet is hard enough as most pianists will tell you, but having five people playing different, overlapping parts of the same piece of music is amazing.

The latest from The 5 Browns is Browns in Blue, a disc with jazz inspired piano music that reinforces their skill with a little different attitude. As with their previous albums, the disc offers solo pieces and various combinations of duets and other arrangements, including their trademark five-part arrangements.

What impresses me most about this disc is not the selection of the pieces presented but rather the ability of the artists themselves to render the mood of the piece. For example, Ryan Brown's performance on Astor Piazzolia's Retrato de Alfredo Gobbi from History of the Tango, exudes the sometimes frenetic passion of the tango, but also displays the precision of the dance as well. That the tango and Ryan's playing, can convey both is a testament to the music and muscicianship.

Lacking a clear, note by note comparison, it may be hard to judge this statement, but each piece, even the truly "classical" works by Rachmaninoff, Schubert and Debussy, have a jazzy overlay, not necessarily a improvised note or sequence, but just a feel of something a little different. One would expect such a feel from Gershwin or even the newly commissioned work by John Novacek, but not from Brahms.

The Browns included three guest artists on this disc. Violinist Gil Shaham, unknown to me until now, trumpeter Chris Botti and Dean Martin. Each of the guests provides an addition to the music and depsite being featured, fails to overshadow the piano work. Shaham teamed with Deondra and Desirae Brown on Saint-Saens' Carnival of the Animals, but it is not my favorite piece. The piece is short, barely three minutes and just as you feel immersed in the work, it ends. Although the Piazzolia selection is just one second longer, it feels more complete than Saint Saens.

Now, I like Gershwin and have not come across a piece of his music that I didn't like. But the 5 Browns and Chris Botti teaming up on Home Blues from An American in Paris, is simply stunning. (Check out the video here).Even with Botti's strong trumpet in the foreground, you can't miss the complex piano arrangements in the background. The piece is classical/jazz/blues defined.

John Novacek, who created Reflections on Shenandoah for this CD, has a wonderful description of both the history and meaning behind tracscription, arrangement and working in a multiple piano setting in Music Notes on the 5 Browns's Website. Also included on that page is a description of how Dean Martin's "Everybody Loves Somebody" came to be included on Browns In Blue.

Music, as an artform, is in part original and in part derivative. While the 5 Browns are not writing their own music (yet), there is no doubt that their "derivative" portion of their artistry provides a new sound to older works. What seems to be captivating audiences is the diverting combination of youth, skill and the fact that they appear and sound like they are having fun. As the New York Post wrote after their debut in 2005, "When these kids do Rachmaninoff, they'll make you forget about Marshall amps.” Well, you may not forget entirely about Marshall Amps (I don't), it is easy to see and hear why the 5 Browns are packing arenas and winning converts--they make classical music "listen-able" and present it without all the stuffy tuxedos and formal presentation. Classical music, just as Browns in Blue shows, can have a fun, jazzy and yes cool side.

The Wisdom of Crowds: A Review

Science fiction/Fantasy writer Piers Anthony wrote a series of books call the Incarnations of Immortality, of which the lead book was called On a Pale Horse about a man names Zane, who becomes the incarnation of Death (who rides a pale hourse). About midway through the book, Nature (another incarnation) and Zane carry on a coversation, a lecture really, about the nature of thinking. During the lecture, Nature tells him of sequential thinking, diagrammed like this -----, thinking in parallel --==-, and intuitive thinking --|||--. The discussion becomes important in the novel's climax as Zane tries to overcome the crux of the novel.

In many ways, Juames Surowiecki's book, the Wisdom of Crowds, reminds me of the parallel thinking segment, where working on different parts of a problem can often lead to a solution much faster. Surowiecki's premise, that experts are no more likely and indeed less likely, to arrive at a correct answer than a group of free thinking, but informed individuals. Looking at situations as diverse as picking a President to playing on Who Wants to be a Millionaire to the manner in which we navigate crowed sidewalks, Surowiecki looks at instances where the wisdom of the grouop is much more effective and efficient than a single expert.

In order for a crowd to work effectively, Surowiecki asserts that it needs four specific criteria--and no crowd size is not one of them--Independence from the other members, diversity of opinion (groupthink leads to bad decisions), decentralized thinking and operation and a effective method for aggregating the opinions. throughout the book, while explaining these requisites, Surowiecki discusses, using real life examples, of how the absence of these traits leads to poor decision making processes and outcomes.

The application of Surowiecki's theory is practially limitless, but in the current political context, the application can be useful. There is an old saw that says if you are dumb, surround yourself with smart people and if you are smart, surround yourself with smart people who disagree with you. The current political debate surely could benefit from a few more dissenting opinions, both for the Administration and for Congress. By having more dissenting views in a room when decisions are made can lead to better policy and better governing. Of course, in a partisan atmosphere, such independence of thought in either the White House or the offices of Congress simply is not tolerated and the American people suffer.

Despite our belief in the wisdom of experts, and we have many of them and they often make good judgments, Surowiecki is not necessarily knocking the existence of experts because they provide important insights and information. What Surowiecki argues is that experts should only be a part of some decision making processes and that we should simply defer to them on the basis of their expertise. Although he only hints at it, Surowiecki was actually on the verge of an important point.

Not only is the wisdom of crowds useful for problem solving but also has a wonderful predictative ability. The proliferation of polls, particularly political polling, is not just about assessing the mood, but a well designed poll can give hints as to what the future holds as well. Although many political pundits may dismiss polls (and dismissing poorly designed polls is proper), a well designed poll gives a pretty good snapshot in time of what is happening and what will happen in the near future. Often times, when a crowd turns out to be wrong, it is based upon unforseen circumstances, events that could not be anticipated (9/11 for instance) or a lack of information about the decision. While perfect information is impossible though, the crowd does a pretty good job of determining what is going to happen based upon limited information.

Surowiecki's book can get bogged down in details of a given situation, perhaps its most glaring weakness. At other times, Surowiecki, comfortable with his knowledge, fails to bring the reader along with him. Often times, the descriptions of psychological and economic experiments fail to properly illustrate his point or leave the reader wondering what is happeing.

Many of the situations and institutions discussed in the book lie at the heart of American society. The foundations of our society, that of a representative democracy, capitalism and the open market, public opinions and mores, and other examples of community and collective action, are based on the wisdom of crowds. Indeed, the fundamental precept of our government is the belief in the wisdom of ordinary people to govern themselves. But the true power of the wisdom of crowds is not just parallel thinking, --===--, but a combination of parallel thinking combined with intuitive thinking, that is dozens, hundredes, thousands, even millions of people coming to conclusions with incomplete information using parallel intuitive thinking. That is after all, how we behave on a regular basis, making decisions with imperfect information. A crowd simply aggregates that decision making into a collective wisdom.

Robert Heinlein at 100

Over the weekend, one of my favorite authors, Robert A. Heinlein, would have been 100 had he not died in 1988. While I have not read everything Heinlein has written and published, everything I have read contains matieral that exudes both professional class and difficult questions. Brian Doherty at Reason Magazine talks about Heinlein as the soldier, as the hippie, as the libertarian and as the iconoclast.

Doherty talks about two of my favorit Heilein books, Starship Troopers and Stranger in a Strange Land, and how it is hard to imagine that the same mind would create those two books or how the books share a common central theme.

This one-two punch of curious, powerful novels seems to indicate two opposing strains of thought. But to Heinlein, these dueling visions-a world of sinister alien bugs fought off by powerfully disciplined soldiers, and a beatific Man from Mars teaching humanity how to love freely-had the same message, as he once wrote to his fellow S.F. writer Alfred Bester: "That a man, to be truly human, must be unhesitatingly willing at all times to lay down his life for his fellow man. Both [novels] are based on the twin concepts of love and duty-and how they are related to the survival of our race." (empahsis added)

In many ways, I find myself in agreement with much of Heinlein's philosophy. Interestingly enough, I didn't pick up Heinlein until my own stint in the military. I read Starship Troopers at the suggestion of one of the officers in my unit who thought I might like the story. Turns out, while the story is fun and engaging on the surface as a coming of age story, the philosophy underlying the story intrigued me more.

My own thoughts on government, the military and society had been evolving more or less on their own and to a large extent, independently of my parents and friends. I did learn from my family I learned of the value of military service, not because of the intrinsic value of the personal discipline of the military or the team work aspects, but that the military is the bulwark against chaos that made life in America possible. Although my father and his family lived in a time of the draft (a truly anti-Heinlein principle), most volunteered for service--albeit reluctantly in my father's post-college-prank-gone-awry case. But a part of my also rebelled against the self-imposed constraints society placed on life outside of the military. The military has to be disciplined and controlled, but the rest of society, if truly free, has to also be free of governmental rules and of societal norms. In this respect, I had problems with my family and friends. I never understood how a free society can restrict itself so much.

I don't have, although I aspire to, Heinlein's flair for the written word. There are matters upon which Heinlein and I would no doubt disagree (economic matters for one), but there is one thing upon which I know we agree and I am happy that we do. It does not take a special person to realize that there are things more important than one's own self interest, whether it be family, friends, community, country or species. What makes a person special is the ability to place those other things before themselves. Whether it is Johnnie Rico and the Mobile Infantry of Starship Troopers fighting and dying to protect their home or Valentine Michael Smith of Stranger in a Strange Land sacrificing himself to help people understand love, we must accept a truth that love and duty are not two separate concpets, but opposite sides of the same coin.

Book Review: Blessed Among Nations

Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel prize winning economist, wrote a couple of books a few years ago called The Roaring Nineties: A New History of the World's Most Prosperous Decade and Globalization and Its Discontents in which he discusses one of the biggest expansions of globalization in modern times and the effects it has upon the world and the world economy. Stiglitz arguments are complicated and quite worthy. Stiglitz focuses on today's globalization effects, making lessons hard to digest.

Eric Rauchway's Blessed Among Nations: How the World Made America (Hill & Wang, 2006) however, looks at a prior era of globalization, the first modern age of globalization, the period between the end of the American Civil War and the end of World War I. The lessons Rauchway describes should be required reading for modern American leaders. Rauchway, a professor of History at University of California-Davis, focuses on major subjects in the first modern era of globalization, a time in which the ties between America and the rest of the world strengthened and the work shrank.

Rauchway first looks at the movement of capital and people into and within America. The drive westward, driven in large part by European capital building railroads and native American's moving westward from the pressure of a massive wave of immigration, created a nation with a distinctly different outlook on domestic and foreign policy than most great European powers of the day. America's growth, spurred in large part by European investment and immigration from European nations, created a new great power with a radically different outlook on world problems. Coupled with the uniquely American governmental system with the Senate representing state interests, Rauchway leads us through some very different results of America's growth as compared to European powers.

Rauchway discusses the impact of the massive immigration during the late 19th Century upon the labor movement and welfare policies of the United States as compared to the rest of world. First, unique among great powers of the time, America witnessed immigration from a whole host of nations rather than the smaller number experienced by Eurpoean powers. With immigrants from Northern Europe and Southern Europe arriving at essentially the same time, coupled with movement of peoples from Eastern Eurpope and the rest of the world, America experienced the melting pot in stark terms.

At a time when most European nations were creating and implementing their proto-welfare states, American immigrants, as the working class, did not represent the same politicla force as the working class of other nations. Language and cultural barriers presented obstacles to cohesion as a class. Furthermore, the American govenrmental system, particularly the Senate, prevented the populous eastern states from dominating the welfare and immigration policy debates as the largely underpopulated Western states, with its population of displaced American workers, prevented the growth of welfare policies and forced some changes in immigration policy or at least stalemated some of the options presented with a European flavor.

Even today, many involved in the immigration debate, particularly the Bush administration, still see the immigration debate in teh same terms as the 19th Century West, as a labor issue.

Rauchway's examination of the age of imperialism provides an important glimpse into why America grew up so differently that Eurpoe. While European powers competed on a worldwide stage for the acquisition of territory and resources, and prestige, America did not need to look overseas for such things. With an interior empire to exploit and build, America did not need to spend large segments of its GDP on conquest and administration, leading to an explosion in American wealth. At the same time, European powers invested heavily in the growing American industry further adding to America's relative power in the global arena, a power completely out of line for the age of the nation.

While the descriptions of policy development and growth provide some interesting insight, Rauchway's ending conclusions have the most salience for today. Following World War I, the United STates was the only great power left who had not suffered catastrophic damage to both land and people. But instead of accepting that role and the importance of that role, America retreated within itself. At a time when it would have been possible to export American democracy with powerful results, the United States retreated, if not causing the Great Depression, certainly accelerating its arrival.

Today, the United States is the only superpower left standing. But if the isolationist/welfarist arguments of the Democrats now in power in Congress carry the day, the demise of the rest of the world may very well be assured. Europe already stands on the precipice and abandonment by the United States will surely be the push over the cliff the Continent does not need.

America's uniqueness has often been celebrated, indeed exalted, by American historians and politicians. But the uniqueness of America is as much a product of world influences as our unique historical and political development. At the end of the first age of globalization, America hunkered down inside ourselves. It took a worldwide depression and a second World War for America to once again rise to international promince. At the end of the most recent age of globalization, such a ostrich mentality will serve no one anywhere. Furhtermore, in the coming ideological conflicts, not understanding that any and all policy decisions, even ones obstensibly in domestic policy, have worldwide implications.

America is traditionally poorly prepared for conflict and often takes months, even years to respond adequately. Can we take that chance again?

Asking the Hard Question: A Book Report

It is not that I have finally finished reading Our Underachiveing Colleges by Derek Bok, it is just that it has taken me this long to actually sit down and finish my review. All the buzz in the air at this time of the year about education, it is understandable that people are talking about the need to reform education, and Bok's book may be the best place for everyone to start, whether citizen or politician, whether your interest lies in k-12 education or higher education. While Bok focuses on higher education, the questions he presents are just as applicable in elementary and secondary education.

Among all calls for college exit exams and accusations of political bias, it is easy to forget to ask the basis questions. Unlike many books that criticize higher education as too politically correct, bastion of left-wing liberalism or having a curriculum that is out of touch with the needs of modern America, Bok takes to task the system which focuses too much on process and not enough of purpose. That is the thrust of Bok's book, what is the purpose of a college education? What should be the main themes of a college education, no matter what your major might be? Bok believes that most university officials and faculty, who are responsible for the provision and administration of curricula and policies, simply spend too much time reacting to various pressures, market, social, political and personal, that they fail to understand and account for the potential impact of their educational decisions. Too many of the decisions, Bok argues, are made from a standpoint of turf wars among faculty and not enough oversight and supervision by the administration to make the education experience a valuable one for students.

Bok asks the simple question, what should a college education provide? Bok answers with some fairly simple and straightforward answers, some we expect and some you might not. For example, of course critical thinking, writing and speaking skills make it on the list. Other goals, such as civic responsibility and preparing for a career might not surprise people. Bok also suggests, contrary to the relativist ethics currently espoused by many university settings, that character education, a favorite of conservatives should also be a goal of a university education. But fear not, liberals would also be happy to see sections on living with diversity and preparing for a global society also make the list.

In each of these sections, Bok takes us through what he believes should be taught, all based on a solid logic, and then proceeds to chastise the entire higher education establishment at one time or another for failing to achieve those goals or outright opposing the goal. From petty disputes over what should be taught in general education courses, to the dominance of faculty departments over the requirements for a major, Bok says that lack of an integrated thought about the purposes of a college education short-changes the consumer of education--the student and ultimately the employers and society that those students join upon graduation.

However, the significance of Bok's book does not start upon matriculation in college, but has proper application to the debate over reforming k-12 education. I have been just as guilty in the past of leaping in to the fray of reforming K-12 education without stepping back and looking first at what we are trying to accomplish? Some of the same goals Bok lays our for a college education also apply to K-12 education as well, namely, what are we trying to accomplish with elementary and secondary education? Certainly, skills such as reading, writing, and math skills are important. But what else should be looking to achieve? That is why things like character education--which Bok describes not as teaching a particular moral code, but asking students to examine moral questions, learning how to analyze the moral implications of particular actions and developing framework for addressing moral questions--are a questions to be asked.

Too often decision made about education occur in a vacuum, looking at dollars and cents, labor, curricula and other matters in a very narrow view. Bok reminds us that the education establishment and others involved in education need to look first at the purpose behind education and ask the hard question--what are we trying to achieve? Without an answer to that question, you can't begin the process of making education relevant, no matter what level concerns you most.

Other books I have read and reviewed

Previous Blog Reviews

The Ed Wonks on (Jan. 31, 2006)

Diane Weir on Education on (Jan. 23, 2006)

The Lonely Centrist on (Jan. 10, 2006)

Blog Interview: The Ed Wonks

In keeiping with my blogger New Year's Resolutions, This is the fourth installment of my "weekly" series of blog reviews/interviews. Previous interviews are linked to the left.

This week, the purveyors of the ultra-fine, always-readable, and darn-near-mandatory weekly post, The Carnival of Education, have kindly submitted to be this week's victim, er, volunteer for the blog review/interview. If you could care less about my opinion, scroll down to the interview.

But if you want a one-stop shop for education related links, check out the Ed Wonks. Even if the writing the Wonks generate was not worth the electrons is it printed on (and believe it is), the blog roll itself is fantastic. But the content you find on the Wonks page is a veritable roundtable of ideas. On a given week, and I chose last week, you can find posts relating to other ed blogs, class size, racism and the achievement gap, school sports, even rights of students and on and on.

While the Wonks often include a lot of links to other stories, it is the commentary that makes the site fun. Whether the commentary is substantive reflections on the value (or lack thereof) of topic discussed in the story, or a quick, pithy little statement dripping with sarcasm or disbelief, you can't go wrong and often get a little chuckle.

The entries that I like most often take the form of a questioning of the mental health/capacity of the school district smart enough to employ the Wonks, but surely rueing the day they did so. Take a post from today:

Some computer-generated reports needed in order to give grades for all first period classes were only distributed to teachers Monday morning.

So why on earth did our school's office mandate that grades for some 900 students must be turned in Monday afternoon, just 30 minutes after the students went home?

Where's the logic in that? Where's the rhyme or reason?

I can remember when teachers here in our part of California's "Imperial" Valley used to be considered as "professionals" and had about a week to generate their grades rather than one weekend.

In fact, many of the Ed Wonks screeds against California's "Imperial Valley" ask the very question, what happened to treating teachers like professionals.

Since I have cut this post a little short, I will, in the interests of your time, move right to the interview.


In 25 words or less, what is your blog about?

The Education Wonks is all about the Free Exchange of Thoughts and Ideas, especially those that pertain to the education of our young people.

What prompted you to begin blogging?

As is the case with many practicing classroom teachers, I rarely have the opportunity to participate in frank and candid discussions about issues pertaining to public education policy, reform, and various aspects of The Teaching Life. The Education Wonks is our "Window to the Outside World."

Is there a particular posting you have made in the past three months of which you are particularly proud? If so, please provide a link.

It has been said that, "Pride goeth before the fall." Having said that, I do like this post: The NEA: Where's The Democracy And Accountability?

Congratulations on the approaching one year anniversary of the Carnival of Education. What prompted you to begin the Carnival? Did you think it would be as successful as it has become? In year two, what would you like to do differently, if anything? (I know, that is three questions in one, but they are all related—see?)

As a method of encouraging the Free Exchange of Thoughts and Ideas, we began the Carnival because we sought to bring as many different educational viewpoints and voices together in one easy-to-access post. Credit for the success of The Carnival Of Education does not, however, belong to us; it’s the contributors and readers who continue to make the Carnival effort both worthwhile and rewarding.

You have posted a few items recently called Censorchimps, which I have always found amusing and alarming. In your opinion, how do or should schools justify the teaching of civil liberties with the mixed message of censoring certain, otherwise, protected speech just because schools can?

Certainly schools should encourage students to express their political viewpoints. But this must be done in such a context as to not cause disruption of the educational process or learning environment. That’s why we strongly support the right of students to freely distribute their own newspapers, petition school administration for redress of their concerns, and peacefully gather before and/or after the school day for the purpose of rallying community support.

But we are not supportive of those students who choose to disrupt the educational day with such maneuvers as walking out of class.

In short, no student has the right to deny any other student their right to receive instruction in a safe and orderly school environment each and every school day.

As a teacher, with a teen-wonk in residence, what do you think is the biggest challenge facing parents and students in the coming decade? How would you suggest we as a nation address these problems.

The WifeWonk and I feel that the most daunting challenge facing busy parents today is finding more time to spend with their children. With more Americans working longer hours to make ends meet, time is at more of a premium than ever before. In all too many cases, parents don’t spend as much time with their kids as their kids would like to spend with them.

As most educators will tell you, children who have caring and involved parents are more likely to avoid many of the problems and pitfalls of a society that often communicates (though a variety of media) very mixed messages to kids regarding parents, education, sex, and the traditional American work ethic.

You have been posting for a roughly a year and a half. Realizing that change is generally slow, what you do think has been the biggest positive change in education policy/edusphere and the biggest negative change?

The biggest positive change has been in the number and variety of voices that are out there in the EduSphere. It seems as though I’m learning of new and interesting sites every day. The discussion and debate in the EduSphere continues to rapidly increase in both quantity and quality.

The chief area of concern that I have regarding the EduSphere is that I can sense some polarization among those who write education-related sites. In the future, it’s conceivable that the EduSphere could come to resemble the larger blogosphere in that personal attacks upon writers by other bloggers and commenters could become all too commonplace.

Pie in the sky times. You are named to be the secretary of education of your state, California, by the governator, and a carte blanche to do what you want, what would be your first three priorities as Secretary of Education.

1. California has an extremely bloated, redundant, and ineffective educracy with many well-paid administrators doing little more than marking-time, planning the next remodel of their office space, attending conferences all over the country, and hiring additional staff in order to justify their own jobs.

The amount of badly-needed funds being wasted by these parasites educrats is simply staggering. Little of what goes on in these educracies has little positive effect in the public school classroom.

As many classroom teaching positions have been “downsized” in districts around the state, more than a few state, county, and local EduCrats need to be downsized as well.

Let’s spend the money in the classroom, not in the administrative suites.

2. Classroom teachers who choose to work in tough inner-city schools (and other hard-to-staff campuses) should be given a financial incentive to do so. This could take many forms such as bonuses or tax-credits.

3. There is an urgent need for a statewide competency examination for school administrators. None exists at the moment. All too many times administrative jobs are given-out by well-entrenched district superintendents like so much Halloween candy. A standardized criterion-referenced test would at least give some objective benchmark for the ranking of administrative job applicants. The areas measured could include, but not be limited to: (in no particular order)

a. Teaching methods and strategies.
b. Child psychology
c. Personnel policies and procedures
d. Finance
e. Compliance with state and federal mandates
f. Data analysis
g. Fundamentals of leadership and group dynamics

With the caveat that as the editor of my own blog and I choose the interviewees, is there a blog that you like which you would like to see interviewed in this space? Please provide a link to the blog and an email if you know one (email addresses are not published unless the address is already on the blog page)

Jenny D

My Thanks to the Wonks. Get over and check it out, if you have even the vaguest interest in educational policy and practice--get them on your blogroll!!!

Ed Note: Pursuant to a policy on the blog interviews, all comments and responses by the interviewee are posted verbatim. The only editing that is done is to make the links appear and to verify that the links are still active.

Blog Review: Diane Wier on Education

In keeiping with my blogger New Year's Resolutions, This is the third installment of my "weekly" series of blog reviews/interviews.

The Edusphere is repleat with all kinds of viewpoints, from parents and students to teachers, administrators, superintendants and even people like me with a big mouth and fast fingers for typing my tripe. But in all the hubbub, I have not found many blogs by the elected members of the education community, the school boards--except for Diane Weir. Diane Weir on Education is a blog by a member of the Westford (MA) School Committee and is a wonderful place for some insights into what goes on at the school board level of policy-making. (If any one knows of other School Board Member Blogs, I would love to know--leave a note in the comments.)

With topics ranging from local to national issues, Diane does a great job of bringing the larger national issues home and taking the local issues national as examples of what is happening in our schools. A former teacher, Diane now works in the technology field and has been a member of the School Board since May 3, 2005. Diane presented some practical thoughts about school issues during the campaign, particularly in this post on school budgeting.

I decided to interview Diane because hers is the first blog I have encountered that discusses education from the school board perspective. In addition, she regularly posts her voting record, as well as information about what happened during the Board's public deliberations. The only piece of criticism I would make about Diane's site is that she has an opportunity, not seized often enough, to inform her constituents and the large public, about the political, economic and other restraints a school board operates under. While we think of the school board as a maker of policy, often times they are relegated to only small matters because they are pre-empted by state and, increasingly, federal law. This ties their hands a great deal, putting the school board in the unenviable position of being the person at the bottom of the hill as the policy boulder rolls down from on high. And, to mix metaphors, puts the school board in the line of fire for every disgruntled parent, teacher or administrator, whether the greivance is due to the school board's actions or not.

This does not mean that I am asking Diane to make excuses for her, and her colleagues' actions (not that I have any reason to believe they would), but if more people understood how educational policy is made, we as consumers of education would understand who to take our complaints to.

So go check out Diane's site, it is informative and provides a very different perspective. On to the interview.

1. In 25 words or less, what is your blog about?

My blog covers issues in public education at the local, state and national levels.

2. What prompted you to begin blogging?

While running for School Committee, I started blogging as a way to introduce myself to voters.

3. Is there a particular posting you have made in the past three months of which you are particularly proud? If so, please provide a link.

This year we voted on a new teacher contract. I found that it was difficult for someone to understand my position to someone if they weren't familiar with the salary structure. So, I wrote a two-part series on the teacher contract.The first part described “steps and ladders” which is the salary structure most commonly used throughout the country. In the second part I gave my reasons for voting against ratification.

4. (here is what has become the requisite three part question)You use your blog as a means of communication about your school board activities. Do find that constituents read the blog? Is it a valuable means of keeping your constituents updated on your and the school board’s activities? Do you publicize the blog to your constituents?

Constituents not only read the blog, they make comments and suggest topics! That’s where I see the real value. It encourages participation and responsiveness. How great is that?

I don’t put too much effort in publicizing the blog. I’ve added the URL to my electronic signature which I use in email and when posting on a local online forum. I printed up business cards, but I can’t say that I’ve passed many out. In a small town, word of mouth is sufficient publicity. For now, my focus is on getting content up on the website and answering comments from readers.

5. As a former teacher and now a school board member, do you find your previous experience as a teacher helps or hinders or has no effect on your performance as a board member?

It certainly influences the decisions I make and the expectations I have. I left ed school an idealist, and I left teaching a pragmatist. As a board member, I try to strike a balance so that we can set lofty goals and actually reach them.

6. What are the three biggest challenges facing your school district and would you say it would be fair to extrapolate those issues to the state and even the nation?

The most immediate challenge is ensuring that our schools are safe. This year three teachers have either resigned or been dismissed. Two of them are facing criminal charges. Background checks should be handled at the state level as part of the certification process. It should be much more difficult to remain certified once you've resigned or been fired for disciplinary reasons.

We're also looking at the annual budget challenges. It's an odd dance of requesting more than you can reasonably expect to receive and then publicly lamenting the resulting cuts. I'm not a fan of this approach because it emphasizes political posturing and undervalues the management aspects of local governance.

Lastly, as a district whose students typically perform very well on state tests, the challenge for us is moving beyond this minimum level of proficiency. How do we define and measure excellence? If we don't take it upon ourselves to make these decisions, the state and federal government will do it for us.

7. Having experience education now from three at least three different angles, that is as a student, a teacher and now as a policymaker (I don’t know if you have children and if you do, as a parent), what advice would you give to all the parents/teachers/students out there about dealing with the educational system when they experience frustration?

I get asked this a lot. I ought to write a blog entry about it because there are a basic series of steps one should follow. Start by finding out what policies exists for raising complaints. There should be a well-defined process and "chain of command" to follow. Remember that part of finding a solution requires some degree of flexibility on your part. Be open to trying out suggestions from school staff.

If problems persist, be prepared to bring your concerns to the next level. Be specific in what action or response you're looking for and agree on a time line. Keep a written record of your meetings with staff. Remain persistent, congenial and focused on the solution as you bring your complaints up to the next level.

Should it get to the point where you need to go to the school board, find out if there are other parents/teachers/students who share your concern and work together. As school boards don't typically get involved in the day to day operations, find any policies that are applicable to your issue. At the very least, the board should either direct the superintendent to take specification or publically state that they will not address the issue.

If you're not satisfied with your board's response, consider running for a seat!

8. You post your voting record online (which I think is great). As a believer in choice, I noted that you were the lone dissent on a school choice vote, where the board decided against participating in the school choice program for FY06. I was hoping you can share some information about the School Choice program that was considered, its features and why you think it was defeated in the vote.

Thank you. You've reminded me that I've got to update my voting record page!

The School Choice law in Massachusetts is weak, outdated, and has been allowed to quietly fade away. Basically, each district has the option of opening up a designated number of slots at a particular grade each year. For example, you could open 10 slots in grades 9-12 and 8 slots in grade 4. Or, a district can decide not to participate in the choice program. This decision is made annually.

Students are accepted on a lottery basis. Once a student is accepted through the choice program, they must be allowed finish their entire K-12 schooling in the district, regardless of whether the district continues to participate in the choice program. Each receiving district is paid 75% of their normal per pupil expenditures, up to $5,000.

Some of the arguments made against participating in the School Choice program were that we don't have enough room in the schools, that the students who come in have had serious discipline problems, and that the district loses money because it costs more than $5,000 to educate a student. Even if these claims are true, shouldn't we, as one of the best districts in the state, be able to handle these challenges? If not, then we have no business lamenting the fact that urban districts get more funding.

9. With the caveat that as the editor of my own blog and I choose the interviewees, is there a blog that you like which you would like to see interviewed in this space? Please provide a link to the blog and an email if you know one (email addresses are not published unless the address is already on the blog page).

I'd like to recommend Kitchen Table Math. Theirs is a blog with a mission: Our goals in starting this collaborative weblog are, in order of importance: to have fun, to share ways of teaching kids math, and to support people who want to help kids learn math. A great reference for anyone frustrated with fuzzy math!

Blog Review: The Lonely Centrist

The second in a hopefully weekly series of interviews with bloggers.

For those of you looking for a practical, pragmatic and well thought out response to issues of the day, without all the partisan hype, look no further than the Lonely Centrist. Centerman, the anonymous writer of the Lonely Centrist, has spent a great deal of time focusing on issues related to campaign finance law and other election related topics, but none-the-less, his no-nonsense approach makes the writing a must see.

Centerman does not post everyday, in fact, he may go several days without posting. But don't let the lack of content quantity fool you, the quality of his writing and insights makes every word count. His knowledge of legal theory is strong, and while a Centrist, Centerman has a pretty strong libertarian streak:

Senator Carl Levin, ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, asks, "Where does he find in the Constitution the authority to tap the wires and the phones of American citizens without any court oversight?" This is an excellent question, exactly the question Congress ought to ask, and the President should have asked.

I do not wish to minimize the importance of this issue - the war against terrorism is the most important issue facing the country today, and far too many people treat it far too cavalierly - whether it is the Howard Dean and Democrats in Congress, and even more some of their far-out friends in the blogosphere, that refuse to take the threat seriously, and can only think of partisan advantage, or whether it is the Administration and some of its more aggressive supporters, who seem to be offended that anyone would question warrantless domestic spying, let alone torture as a means of interrogation.

But that said, the Centerman wishes that Mr. Levin's question - "Where in the Constitution does he find the authority?" - were asked a bit more often on Capitol Hill. Where is the authority for Congress to regulate campaign expenditures and contributions? Where is the authority for "No Child Left Behind" and the entire Department of Education?" Where is the authority for the "Gun Free School Zone" act? Where is the authority for the Department of Energy? Where, quite frankly, is the authority for much, much, much of what Congress does?

Indeed.

While Centerman has only been posting to the Lonely Centrist for a few months, he has rapidly become a regular read for me and for other campaign finance enthusiasts, such as Allison Hayward at the Skeptic's Eye and Prof. Rick Hasen.

If you have an interest in finding an opinion not nearly as rife with a shrill partisan agenda, read Centerman at the Lonely Centrist.

The Interview

1. In 25 words or less, what is your blog about?

I had wanted a place where issues could be debated without hysteria. It has become far more focused on campaign finance than I ever imagined.

2. What prompted you to begin blogging?

I was shooting my mouth off one evening over a drink, and a friend said, "you ought to blog." I really knew nothing about it - still don't, really.

3. Is there a particular posting you have made in the past three months of which you are particularly proud? If so, please provide a link.

I think my best posts were back in the summer, but if you're limiting me to the last three months, this post provided some information I've really not seen elsewhere, regarding Sam Alito's views on Voting Rights.

4. Your grasp of campaign finance and free speech issues is quite deep.
Without revealing so much as to give away your identity, can you describe your educational and professional background?

Checkered.

5. What prompted you to adopt the handle, The Lonely Centrist?

Well, as I said, I had originally intended for this blog to be a place for general discussion of issues. To be honest, I was supposed to have a partner - he was actually the Lonely Centrist, and me the Centerman. As I noted in my very first post

"Why is it that when I talk with my conservative friends I feel so liberal, and when I talk with my liberal friends I feel so conservative?"

The answer, I think, may be that the chattering classes have become so partisan and politicized, while more typical folks out in "fly-over country" have increasingly, I think, withdrawn from discussions, because they are so nasty. So the people who are talking politics are increasingly doing so in strident terms and without nuance. Some people, like Richard Hasen, have argued that I am really a conservative. I suppose that is fair enough - I voted for GWB twice. But I don't feel terribly at home in the GOP. I voted for Gerry Ford in 1976, but didn't vote Republican again until 1992 (in retrospect, a mistake at least twice). I think of myself as a moderate, at least by disposition, and my approach to politics, if not my ultimate position on any given issue, is moderate.

6. On a number of occasions you have referred to Democracy 21's Fred Wertheimer as the Most Naïve Man in America. Assuming that he is number 1, who would round out your top three naïve people in America and why?

Well, of course this is one of my few fun, recurring lines on the blog, and I restrict it to the good government types - goo-goos - who run the campaign finance reform lobbies. In other posts, I have suggested that Larry Noble of the Center for Responsive Politics is a legitimate contender for the crown, and also the American Enterprise Institute's Norm Ornstein, in this post.

I think that the efforts of reform groups really are incredibly naive in the end, although the reformers are very cynical in how they go about selling their case. But really, as I try to indicate in my various "most naive man" posts, they are naive. They seem to think that everybody in government is corrupt, except when they utter the words "campaign finance reform," and then they briefly become pure and true; and the reformers seem utterly unable to comprehend that reform itself is part of the political process, and used for partisan ends. In this, they are very naive about how government works - indeed, what government is all about.

7. Knowing that you don't necessarily speak for all centrists out there, what do you think is the biggest challenge facing those who stand firmly astride the political middle?

Renewing confidence. We've gotten into a bullying style of political debate. Bullies and thugs and the like tend to make people cower just by their swagger, their use of intimidation. We can't surrender political debate to the screamers at Daily Kos and the like. Those who believe in more reasoned debate need to reclaim the political debate. But to be honest, I don't really know how we do that.

8. If President Bush nominated you to serve as a Commissioner on the Federal Election Commission, what three things would be your top priorities?

LOL, but I'll bite.

1) Try to simplify the regulations. I would probably repeal most of them entirely - many merely repeat the statute, thus doing nothing more than cluttering things. Others have grown horrendously complex - starting over would be better than trying to amend;

2) make it harder to file complaints, including adding a provision for sanctions for frivolous complaints, and interpret Section 437's prohibition on revealing an investigation to apply to the filing of the complaint as well. Complaints are filed as political weapons and PR releases. The law says that people may not, without the written consent of the respondents, reveal the fact of an investigation publicly. Why doesn't this apply to the filing of the complaint itself? Why should a campaign be able to file a complaint against their opponent (or more typically, have a sympathizer file a complaint), and then announce that "a complaint has been filed, the first step in launching an FEC investigation into these serious allegations."
Isn't that just what the statute was intended to prevent? I think that would be a legit interpretation of the statute, and would take away some of the benefit from filing frivolous complaints. Adding sanctions would probably be challenged in court and may not survive, but I'd give it a try.

That would also cut into the use of the complaint process as a political weapon.

3) Petition Congress to rename the agency the "Federal Campaign and Political Speech Control Commission." That would make more clear to the public what the Agency does. It does not regulate elections. It regulates campaigns, and most of all, it regulates campaign speech.

9. With the caveat that as the editor of my own blog, is there a blog that you like which you would like to see interviewed in this space? Please provide a link to the blog.

Many. For openers, the Skeptic, www.skepticseye.com. Or to get off this campaign finance stuff, how about Professor Bainbridge at www.ProfessorBainbridge.com. And one more, one of the best young editorial writers out there, Ryan Sager, of Miscellaneous Objections.
You know, if I can add a parting thought, Sager is by most standards very conservative politically, but while his comments are sometimes strong, they are always fair, presented honestly and with respect, based on facts and thoughtful arguments. To me, that makes Sager something of a centrist, someone who is open and thoughtful and serious. One other favorite of mine is the Mystery Pollster, www.mysterypollster.com.

Book Report: Crash Course by Chris Whittle

For those readers who care, I have begun listing the books I am reading at the moment for no other reason but to let people know. I intend to start providing some thoughts about the books when I complete them or as ideas pop into my head about the books. The first book to get this treatment is Crash Course by Chris Whittle. Whittle, is, of course, the head of Edison Schools, one of the first for-proift school management companies in the U.S.

The book presents some very good ideas in broad strokes, but fails to follow up on any of those ideas with much in the way of plausible, concrete methods to implement those ideas. Whittle comes from a viewpoint I share, that competition among schools and school management will generally improve schooling for everyone. But large segments of this book are more like an infomercial for Edison Schools and school management companies than I would have liked. While I agree with many of Whittle's concepts, I don't think I am ready to be a full-fledged Whittle-ite.

That being said, there are some ideas that Whittle emphasizes that I am beggining to embrace whole-heartedly. Those ideas are education R&D, changes to teacher/principal education, and barriers to real school change. Each is treated below in reverse order.

Real School Change
To me, the idea of real school change is to significantly alter the manner in which we as a society deliver educational services to our kids. But Whittle correctly points out two major barriers, fear and inertia, although he doesn't call them that specifically. Fear comes in two forms, fear of change and fear of "experiementing with my kid." The first fear is understandable. Human nature understands that we must change and evolve, but change is hard, it is scary and fearing change is thus natural. But this fear can be overcome.

The second fear is that of having any education experiment done to one's own children. This is completely understandable, no one wants their kid put at a disadvantage because some egghead with a brilliant but unproven ideas wants to try out his educational theories. But unfortunately, if we are to find new ways of educating our kids, we need to embrace the idea that we have to try new ideas on real kids. I am not sure how to overcome this, since any new model will rely on parents taking a leap of faith in the hope that their kid will not be harmed in the long run.

But educational inertia feeds into our fears. For over 100 years, the basic model of K-12 education has not changed in this country. Kids still spend six to seven hours in school with time divided in to roughly equal segments. Time is spent working on specific subjects during those periods, with an adult in charge of the class and providing instruction. Simply put, inertia has caused our conceptions of proper schooling to become calcified, hardened into a mindset that does not permit any real school change. We, our parents, our grandparents and possibly even our great-grandparents were educated in the same way.

To overcome this inertia, we need to overcome our failure of imagination. Right now, we simply cannot conceive of a different method of educating kids. We assume that we must have one adult to every 20-35 kids in a classroom, discussing one subject at a time, on a strict schedule. That is the way K-12 education is done. But Whittle asks the question over and over again, explicitly and implicity, do we have to do it that way? The answer he supplies is no, and I agree.

My fraternity has a saying, "Merely because a practice is prevelant may be the poorest reason for continuing it." I don't necessarily agree with all Whittle proposes in this light, but he is right--we need to rethink our preconceptions.

Teacher/Principal Education
Right now, those in the edusphere and other places find themselves in a battle to figure out how to improve the preparation and professionalism of our teaching corps. Whittle states that which we intuitively know, without high quality, professional teachers, the greatest curriculum in the world is essentially useless. While a great teacher cannot make great students from thin air, a poor teacher can destroy the value and mind of potentially great students.

There have been many articles about the shortcomings of modern education schools. Having not been through education school, I can offer no concrete criticisms. But Whittle suggests providing specific training schools for teachers, similar to law schools. I have long thought that we should consider this approach. Whittle urges a system in which students must complete a bachelor's degree in a field other than education before going to teacher's school. Even early childhood education teachers should have a more specialized degree in say, developmental psychology before starting to learn how to be teachers.

Whittle argues, and I agree, that a stringent curriculum in how to teach coupled with a long-term apprenticeship, similar to the medical residency or attorney associateship will improve the quality of our teachers. Whittle envisision large state or regional schools, graduating thousands of teachers every year to fill the ranks with high quality educators.

But Whittle does not stop there, he seeks also to provide professional level training to principals as well. From what I understand, most principals learn their job through on-the-job training, perhaps time spent as an Assistant Principal or Vice Principal. But being a principal involves so many knowledge areas and skills, from teacher evaluation, to budgeting and cost analysis, public relations, negotiation, legal and regulatory knowledge, teh list goes on and one. Whittle envisisons a national or large regional principals schools. Not a bad idea since, the quality of a principal can impact the quality of the school, both positively and negatively.

Education R&D
This is the one idea where I am squarely in the Whittle camp. We as a nation spend practically no money on research and development of new ideas and new models for education. There is plenty of research being done on education, but no development work to take those well-researched ideas and put them into action.

Whittle points out a couple of key points. Large organziations, particularly those in the service and information industries spend a significant portion of their budgets on R&D. But Whittle provides the best comparision between national defense and education.

Surprisingly, to me at least, the United States spends about the same amount of money on national defense as it does on education (taking federal, state and local funds together). But the Defense Department spend between 10 and 15 percent of its entire budget on R&D--looking for new weapons, new tactices, new medical procedures, training regimes, you name. They are looking all the time for ways to make our military stronger and more effective.

By comparison, education R&D totals less that 1% of all education spending in America and that 1% may be on the high side. Just on a basic level, the inability to educate our kids betters is going to mean that we may have difficult developing military R&D to defend ourselves.

Whittle's call is clear--we as a nation must make a committment to spend 10 to 15 percent of education spending on R&D.

Conclusion
Crash Course is part informercial on Edison Schools and part laundry list of ideas. Whether Whittle is right about his vision for education, the fact that his ideas challenge the status quo so much makes his ideas invaluable, if for nothing else than a starting off point for debate. Get the book, look past the infomercial and ask yourself, can we do better by our kids? Are these the best ideas or can we modify them?

At least we can start by looking outside our fears, our inertia and our preconcpetions to find new ideas.

This Week's Listen: Return 2 Zero

For the most part, over the past couple of weeks, I have been listening to bar review lectures on CD in my car, in my office, in my house, yadda, yadda, yadda. But on vacation last week, in Disney I heard this band for the second time. Return 2 Zero opens the Beauty and the Beast Show at Disney/MGM Studios. With a young daughter, the show was a must. Performing as "Four for a Dollar" this a capella group provides about 15 mintues of entertainment before the show and they do a great job. This year, I decided to buy their CD--at Disney prices--Wow!!

Now a capella singing may take a little getting used to, after all, the only music is provided by the singing of the band. But if done well, and these guys do it well, the music is terrific and surprisingly quite easy to listen to. If you need an introduction to a capella, this is a good disk to get.

This disk is great!! Most of the songs are covers of easy listening standards, like "How Sweet It Is" and "Happy Together" but what makes these covers so great is the complex arrangments of the singers. In addition to the standard finger-snapping for rhythm you get in most a capella groups, Return 2 Zero also utilizes vocal beat box rhytms interspersed with backing vocals to create some fantastic harmonies and counterpoints that I think a lot of a capella groups fail to use.

So here are the favorites:

"Fly Like an Eagle." I have always loved this Steve Miller Band classic and R2Z does a great job with this cover. As an added bonus, with a capella, I finally learned some of the lyrics I always got wrong in the SMB version.

"December 1963 (Oh What a Night)" Taking a classic dance tune, recording it a capella and still making it danceable is, in my mind a tremendous feat. R2Z does a fantastic job with the arrangement, making this my favorite track on the disk.

"Moondance"--Return 2 Zero's take on this Van Morrison classic is itself a classic of harmonies and melodies.

"I'm Alright" I can never hear this Kenny Loggins classic without seeing the "Caddyshack" gopher dancing in my head. I still get the gopher in my head, but he dances a slightly different jig now.

This Week's Listen--Eldar

As jazz goes, I have tended, in the past, toward saxophone jazz, with some notable exceptions such as Keiko Matsui or Diana Krall. My taste has been more David Sanborn and Michael Bracker. But at the same time, I have always admired young artists of any genre. Thus I come to Eldar Djangirov, who performs as Eldar, an 18-year-old pianist who, I assume, has ten fingers that play like 20.

To say that Eldar is fast on the ivories would be a major understatment. In fact in the opening piece, Sweet Georgia Brown, Eldar has populated the piece with stunning explosions of notes, moving so fast you can't keep up. He clearly has technique and speed to spare. He certainly has a promising career ahead of thiem.

But Eldar commits what I consider to be a sin of the young--that technique can make up for performance. Eldar substitutes speed for soul, having not learned that sometimes one note played in context can be far better than 20 played in sequence in the same space of time. His speed and ethusiasm overshadows the music and melody. In almost all of the pieces, Eldar packs in a flurry of notes, played at blinding speed, that takes the listener out of the piece for too long--thereby destroying the piece.

I hope that, over time, Eldar learns that speed does not replace sould, that technique is no substitute for taste and jazz is as much about evoking a mood as it is about playing music.

Having said that, there are a couple of redeeming tracks.

Point of View--this is a piece with Michael Brecker. I don't know if it is my predilection for Brecker or the fact that Brecker's experience has mellowed Eldar's speed, but this piece doesn't feel as rushed. The track is polished and well played, as well as very, very classy.

Watermelon Island--this Herbie Hancock penned track reminds me of one of the many reasons I love music--it is supposed to be fun. It is supposed to make you smile and smile I did with this track.

This Week's Listen--Bond: Classified

I have, over the times I have written on this topic, talked about artists in the classical crossover genre. Bond is the first group I explored in that area and of all the artists I have explored, probably the least "classical" in nature. But the string quartet is perhaps the most well known. This is not your mother's string quartet, although all the instruments are present, but mixed with beat heavy dance grooves, a little world music flavor and wrapped in a physically appealing package, I am glad they aren't my mother's string quartet.

All four women are classically trained musicians who have taken their personal influences and what they like and mixed it well with classical music. Heavily influence by dance and club music, the band has done things from a modified classical song to a cover of Led Zeppelin's "Kashmir." In their newest studio album, there is a bit more composition by the musicians in a decent album.

What is perhaps most stunning about Classified is that various musical styles that are present. A track like "Explosive" is almost rockish in its delivery, while a few songs later you get a jazzy feel in "Fly Robin Fly" followed again by a mellow, ballad feel of "Lullaby." Several of the songs, like "Adagio for Strings" and "Hungarian" have recognizable classical influences. At times though the backing beats, synthesizers and other instruments over power the quartet themselves. This could be the groups only fault.

However, you can't argue with success, and the group is hugely successful in Australia, Asia, and Europe. The group is catching on here in the U.S. and I hope they have a long career.

Now for my favorite tracks:

"Samba"--like the name implies, a beat heavy piece where the drum track overrides the strings at times. Still a fun track.

"Lullaby"--A quiet peice--soulful and mellow.

"Explosive"--pure power--nothing else to say.

Missing Music

Having spent most of the last week listening to CD's of law lectures to get ready for the bar exam, I have not done a "This Week's Listen" in a while. I thought I could go old school, but as I said, not much happening musically. However, Michael over at Highered Intelligence posted this short little quiz about music that I thought was entertaining. So here goes.

1. Of all the bands/artists in your CD/record collection, which one do you own the most albums by?
Probabably Joe Satriani. A close second would be Van Halen.

2. What was the last song you listened to?
"Onda" by Los Lonely Boys--great piece that is largely instrumental.

3. What's in your CD player right now?
The Girl in the Other Room by Diana Krall.

4. What song would you say sums you up?
Good Question. If you look at from my viewpoint, I would probably have to say "Dream" by Van Halen, "Flying in a Blue Dream" by Joe Satriani, or "Duck and Run" by 3 Doors Down. From the viewpoint of others, I think the most likely would be "Cult of Personality" by Living Colour or "We Didn't Start the Fire" by Billy Joel since most people know about my penchant for politics and history.

5. What's your favorite local band?
Slackjaw (not really local to me, but more down in Charlottesville, VA, but I loved their stuff.)

6. What was the last show you attended?
For kids shows we saw The Wiggles, which for a kids show was quite good. For adult music--
Santana, when he was out promoting Shaman (with a young daughter, concerts are hard to go to.)

7. What artist do you consider to be very underrated?
Tesla. Everybody bashed them as unoriginal, but their straight ahead rock and roll did well. And oh yeah, their Five Man Acoustical Jam album was at the forefront of the acoustical set trend.

8. What's the worst band you've ever seen in concert?
I saw the Cranberries in concert and wasn't all that impressed. Their music was good, but I didn't really dig them live.

9. What band do you love musically but hate the members of?
Wow, a tough one. I don't really have one.

10. What is the most musically involved you have ever been?
This is it, I am a fan of music but never studied music or anything.

11. What show are you looking forward to?
Can't say.

12. What is your favorite band shirt?
I have this shirt from when Dave Matthews Band was on tour supporting "Before These Crowded Streets," for as much as I wear it and it has been washed, the shirt is in remarkable condition. Plus I love the logo.

13. What musician would you like to hang out with for a day?
For music discussion, either Diana Krall or Joe Satriani. To party, no doubt Sammy Hagar.

14. Metal question- Jeans and Leather vs. Cracker Jack clothes?
Jeans and leather.

15. Sabbath or solo Ozzy?
Ozzy

16. Commodores or solo Lionel Ritchie?
The Commodores.

17. Blackjack or solo Michael Bolton?
Anything but Michael Bolton. He is like fingernails on a chalkboard to me.

18. The Eagles or solo Don Henley?
Tough Choice, but I would go with Henley.

19. The Police or solo Sting?
Again a tough choice. Probably Sting since he has done a lot of different things. But the best musician in the Police was Stuart Copeland.

20. Doesn't emo suck?
I have no clue (seriously)

21. Name 4 flawless albums.
Van Halen--For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge
Joe Satriani--The Extremist
Diana Krall--The Girl in the Other Room
Boston--Third Stage

22. Did you know that filling out this survey makes you a music geek?
And you point is.....

23. What was the greatest decade for music?
Right now. If you can't find something that appeals to you musically, you are trying hard enough. There is great jazz, rock, punk, classical, country, crossover stuff, even rap that is being made. For someone with a lot of musical tastes, this is a great time to be a musical consumer.

24. How many music-related videos/DVDs do you own?
Four or five.

25. Do you like Journey?
Yes.

26. What is your favorite movie soundtrack?
Hmmm. Good Question. I liked the soundtrack for Singles. But for a more classical feel, probably Lord of the Rings.

27. What was your last musical "phase" before you wised up?
Each phase has its own wisdom even now.

28. What's the crappiest CD/record/etc you've ever bought?
Vanessa Carleton--I don't know the name of the album, but I get the feeling the album was put together too fast and centered on one song.

29. Do you prefer vinyl or Cd's?
CD's no doubt about it.

30. What is your guilty pleasure CD, that being the CD you love but would be ashamed to admit you have in your collection?
I can't name one. Every CD I own (even Vanessa Carleton) has an appeal that I would not be ashamed to admit.