The sad state of newspapers is something never far from my mind. I'm a black-ink addict and value what a free and vibrant press contributes to our civic discourse and our democracy. Unfortunately, the dailies are hemoraging more red ink than they are printing black. Readership is down, advertising is down, spirits are down.
Much of this has been attributed to the dessertion of young people from the daily paper habit. They get their news on-line.
Why bring this up yet again? This mornnig I was reading Tony Wagner's excellent book, The Global Achievement Gap: Why Even the Best Schools Don't Teach the New Survival Skills Our Children Need -- and What We Can do About It (the sub-head is way too long, Tony). Wagner argues that while children may be learning to read, they "are not learning how to think or care about what they read." Much of this he attributes to "teaching to the test" where teachers spend far more time preparing students get ready for standardized tests then teaching them to think critically. In other words, we are creating a generation of people who don't know why what is in the newspaper is important (whether it appears on- or off-line) nor do they know how to use what they read well enough to ask tough questions or reason through complex issues.
The consequence, however, is not just that we may be losing the chance to get our fingers dirty reading each morning, but that we will lose a vital pillar of our democracy because we aren't raising students who understand what it means to be well-informed. Blogs and Facebook applications alone won't do it.
This is an unintended consequence of having the media be part of the Wall Street economy. The news outlets give the market what it wants (or try to); those that try to deliver what they think their mission mandates may kill themselves financially. This is one time that I think markets are wrong. We must have a robust press if we are to have a robust democracy.
I'll report more on this book when I finish it. In the meantime, I can only hope that serious education reform is high on the agenda of the incoming Obama administration and that anyone with thoughtful advice -- Democrats, Republicans, Independents, hell, Socialists and Communists, too -- is invited to help solve this pressing problem.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
A New Morning in America
I have to admit that I was nervous last night. I voted early and then spent the day canvassing in the nearest battleground state. I saw the energy and excitement, the lines at the polls, and the army of volunteers. In my head, I knew that Obama would be our next president and that a victory would likely be by a significant margin. I was doing what I could to to help. But still, as the early returns came in, I was nervous that something was going to snatch this away.
This morning, the energy and excitement are still there and nothing can change the outcome now.
So how did it happen? Why was Obama successful where Kerry and Gore were not?
There will endless disection of McCain and Palin's missteps and opportunities lost as well as Obama and Biden's successful moves. In the end, however, I think that there are four major causes:
- First, divisive politics has played itself out. It seemed that even those who played that game were sick of it. It's exhausting. Any government that emphasizes ideology too much over practicality unltimately falls in on itself (no matter what the ideology). People have real problems and, here among the general populace, it is pretty obvious that the challenges we face are enormous and that it is going to take all of us pulling together to solve them. Obama has tapped into that desire to be one country again.
- Second, the kid came to play. Obama's team ran a campaign designed to win. From the fund raising to the efforts on the ground, these folks understood that they had to organize, mobilize, and execute. Although the big bucks get the attention, the innovation, discipline, and execution were an equal part of the victory. Howard Dean may be the unsung hero here as he was the one pushing for a 50-state strategy early on; coupled with Obama's message and delivery, it was a strategy that just out-matched McCain.
- Third, the next generation is ready to take on the responsibility of leadership. With McCain's defeat and Obama's victory, we are seeing a true generational transition. The contest in four years will feature Obama and a Republican from his age cohort. Stepping up to shouldering our challenges comes just in time because there is plenty of work to do. This is when we of the post-WWII/post-Vietnam cohort step out of the shadows and look the future square in the eye.
- Fourth is luck. Had the economy melted in December instead of October, the outcome of the election might have been different. Show me a successful candidate who thinks luck wasn't a factor in his or her victory and I'll show you one who is lying.
We should be proud that we have elected our first African-American president. It is a divide that needed to be crossed. We have not worked out all of the issues of race relations but we have raised them to a new (and hopefully more productive) plateau.
We should also be proud of the roles that Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin played in this race. Though neither of them will be in the White House this time, no one will be surprised when a woman is on a national ticket again nor will we be shocked if she wins. In fact, we'll be surprised if a woman isn't on the ticket. That glass ceiling has been shattered.
Senator McCain was particularly gracious and generous in his concession speech. If we had seen more of that John McCain in the campaign, he might have been delivering an acceptance speech instead. It was not to be for Senator McCain but we should all be proud of his long and continued service.
I was drawn to Senator Obama early in the primaries. Despite the lack of a long resume, he inspired me in ways that the other candidates did not. I felt that was important -- as important as the ideas and the specifics (or lack thereof) in the policy proposals. But the job we have before us will not be solved by one man no matter how charismatic he may be. He is going to need us to be as passionate, as involved, and as ready to work as we have been over the past two years. We didn't just elect him; we elected us.
This morning, the energy and excitement are still there and nothing can change the outcome now.
So how did it happen? Why was Obama successful where Kerry and Gore were not?
There will endless disection of McCain and Palin's missteps and opportunities lost as well as Obama and Biden's successful moves. In the end, however, I think that there are four major causes:
- First, divisive politics has played itself out. It seemed that even those who played that game were sick of it. It's exhausting. Any government that emphasizes ideology too much over practicality unltimately falls in on itself (no matter what the ideology). People have real problems and, here among the general populace, it is pretty obvious that the challenges we face are enormous and that it is going to take all of us pulling together to solve them. Obama has tapped into that desire to be one country again.
- Second, the kid came to play. Obama's team ran a campaign designed to win. From the fund raising to the efforts on the ground, these folks understood that they had to organize, mobilize, and execute. Although the big bucks get the attention, the innovation, discipline, and execution were an equal part of the victory. Howard Dean may be the unsung hero here as he was the one pushing for a 50-state strategy early on; coupled with Obama's message and delivery, it was a strategy that just out-matched McCain.
- Third, the next generation is ready to take on the responsibility of leadership. With McCain's defeat and Obama's victory, we are seeing a true generational transition. The contest in four years will feature Obama and a Republican from his age cohort. Stepping up to shouldering our challenges comes just in time because there is plenty of work to do. This is when we of the post-WWII/post-Vietnam cohort step out of the shadows and look the future square in the eye.
- Fourth is luck. Had the economy melted in December instead of October, the outcome of the election might have been different. Show me a successful candidate who thinks luck wasn't a factor in his or her victory and I'll show you one who is lying.
We should be proud that we have elected our first African-American president. It is a divide that needed to be crossed. We have not worked out all of the issues of race relations but we have raised them to a new (and hopefully more productive) plateau.
We should also be proud of the roles that Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin played in this race. Though neither of them will be in the White House this time, no one will be surprised when a woman is on a national ticket again nor will we be shocked if she wins. In fact, we'll be surprised if a woman isn't on the ticket. That glass ceiling has been shattered.
Senator McCain was particularly gracious and generous in his concession speech. If we had seen more of that John McCain in the campaign, he might have been delivering an acceptance speech instead. It was not to be for Senator McCain but we should all be proud of his long and continued service.
I was drawn to Senator Obama early in the primaries. Despite the lack of a long resume, he inspired me in ways that the other candidates did not. I felt that was important -- as important as the ideas and the specifics (or lack thereof) in the policy proposals. But the job we have before us will not be solved by one man no matter how charismatic he may be. He is going to need us to be as passionate, as involved, and as ready to work as we have been over the past two years. We didn't just elect him; we elected us.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
