As a Christian, you don’t have to do things the way the rest of the world does them. And that includes healthcare. You see, Medi-Share members are exempt from Washington’s new mandate to buy health insurance (H.R. 3590). MediShare isn’t insurance. It’s a community of more than 36,000 Christians who follow
the biblical model of sharing and paying each other’s medical expenses—much like the early church did 2000 years ago. In fact, Medi-Share members have saved and shared more than $550 million in medical bills since 1993. And because we promote and support healthy biblical lifestyles, participation is affordable. So if you’re worried about the new healthcare bill, relax. Call or visit www.medi-share.org today. And enjoy the freedom that comes from being part of the caring body of Christ.
Call 1-800- PSALM -23 (800-772-5623) or visit WWW.MEDI-SHARE.ORG . Medi-Share is a Christian Health Care Sharing Ministry and its participants are exempt from the mandates that require most Americans to buy health insurance as defined in the legislation.
• 36,000 Christians who want to pay your medical bills • Health consulting and education • Prayer support of fellow members Medi-Share is not health insurance. Medi-Share is not available in Montana.
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A u g u s t 2 7, 2 0 1 1 / V O L u M E 2 6 / N u M B E R 1 7
CONTENTS F E AT UR E S
42 Educational ooze
BACK TO SCHOOL From tightening budgets to growing charter schools, slow moving trends are changing American public education
44 Money for nothing
Big increases in educational spending by the government have not yielded a better educational product
47 ‘Their lives have value’
A former basketball player takes on the tall task of teaching at-risk kids in Union City, N.J.
50 Soft sell
Tax-funded charter schools founded by Turkish Muslims are trying to practice but not preach
53 Higher idols
44
Crazy U shows how we value college far too much and far too little
54 Career crisis
The job market has not been friendly to the college graduates of 2009, 2010, and 2011
56 Math - tears = Khan academy
An increasingly popular online program is teaching children across the country to love a subject they once dreaded
59 No safe havens
Economics and finance have not escaped the onslaught of anti-Christian thought
5
ON THE COVER: Illustration by Krieg Barrie
27 54
66
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Joel Belz
Not just kids’ stuff
Longer life expectancies give new perspective on the Fifth Commandment
P RoBin MoelleR/istock
I
f just one of the Ten Commandments seems directed especially at children, which would you say it is? That’s not so hard, you reply. It’s the Fifth Commandment, of course—the one that says, “Honor your father and your mother.” If you’re really with it, you remember that this is the first commandment with a promise attached. “Honor your father and mother— that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.” Do it right, and you get not just the immediate surface benefits that come with doing what God says is right, but extra points as well. It’s a bonus question—the kind of thing kids love. But I’ve been startled in recent days to discover that it’s not only kids who have to think about honoring their moms and their dads. I turned 70 earlier this month—and surprising as it may seem, I’m finding scores and even hundreds of people in my age group who are preoccupied with what it means to honor their parents. It’s the result of a whole new demographic the world has never experienced. Because life expectancy just keeps extending itself, the earth is increasingly dominated by the highest proportion of older people we’ve ever known. So the challenge is on us: Will we ignore that elderly cohort? Will we just tolerate them? Or will we honor them? For my wife Carol Esther and me, the challenge has come on two fronts—one personal, and the other communal. As you read these lines, we’ll be spending the last part of August moving her parents, now approaching their 90s, into our Asheville, N.C., home to live with us. Carol’s father retired some years ago from Conrail and enjoys a modest pension. He’s also a South Pacific veteran of World War II and qualifies for a variety of benefits Uncle Sam provides to aging soldiers. But he’s also a victim of Alzheimer’s, needing extra personal care. So we’re persuaded the best way we can honor her parents’ present situation is to hold them close while they walk through this darkening valley. Email: jbelz@worldmag.com
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We understand that not everybody gets to do that. Our home, our schedules, our circumstances, and our sense of God’s call lend themselves—we think!—to an adventure of this nature. Not for a second are we suggesting it’s the right approach for everyone wanting to honor aging parents. Indeed, that’s why Carol and I have also happily added our energy and time to the development of a proposed nonprofit “active adult living community” called Brow Wood—a place where full-of-life Christians sharing many similar values can choose from a variety of secure living situations. They can plan and build full-scale homes. They may want less ambitious cottage quarters, or even more modest independent living in condominium-type apartments. They may want to be sure emergency help is nearby if they need it. Or they may already be seeking assisted living—with meals provided and future access to skilled physical and mental services. All this we are developing in a magnificent master-planned community high on a bluff of Lookout Mountain, Ga. Brow Wood has close access to metropolitan Chattanooga and is adjacent to the 350-acre campus of Covenant College, providing access to many of its academic, musical, athletic, and cultural benefits. You can learn much more by sending me a note or email, or just by going to browwood.com. And you might well start getting acquainted with similar developments in your own area of the country. My point in mentioning all this here is to illustrate the energetic range of possibilities open to folks—at any age— who are serious about honoring their parents. But a word of warning seems appropriate. The possibilities are so boundless, and the variety (including the range in costs) so extensive, that no one should procrastinate in launching the process of learning all you need to know. Carol and I have been at it, pretty seriously, for five years now. And we still feel, in some senses, that we’re just little kids beginning to learn how to be serious about the Fifth Commandment. A A u g u s t 2 7, 2 0 1 1
WORLD
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World Magazine - 8” x 10.5”, 0.2” bleed - Designer: EM - Disk Date: 7/29/11
BACK TO SCHOOL. With study notes, book introductions, character profiles, and specially written theological articles, the ESV Student Study Bible helps students understand and apply God’s Word. Its clean page layout keeps the reader focused on the meaning of the passage. Adapted from the highly acclaimed and best-selling ESV Study Bible, the ESV Student Study Bible is the most comprehensive and content-rich student Bible available today. This is a one-stop resource for students who are serious about God’s Word.
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www.crossway.org
8/8/11 2:45 PM
Dispatches NEWS HUMAN RACE QUOTABLES QUICK TAKES
Moment of decision NEWS: Will liberal evangelicals accept scheme mandating that insurance plans cover abortion drugs?
KEVORK DJANSEZIAN/GETTY IMAGES
BY MARVIN OLASKY
>>
on the fence with the goal of minimizing offense to liberal evangelicals and Catholics, the Obama administration has made a decision that’s distressing many of his Christian supporters and should distress all of them. The federal Department of Health and Human Services () proposed on Aug. that all insurance plans, except those offered by churches or seminaries, cover the entire cost of prescription birth control pills, including abortion drugs such as Ella and Plan B, with no copays. Unless public prot ests change the minds of Obama and Company, that proposal will become a mandate at the end of next month. The -recommended exception is so narrow that Carol Keehan, president of the Catholic Health Association, called it “the parish housekeeper exemption—that’s about all it covers.” The Associated Press led one story on
the decision by noting the dismay of Catholic medical personnel who had “defied” their bishops to support Obamacare, expecting that they would receive a conscience exception. The proposal itself is bad and so is the philosophy behind it. wants to define a religious organization only as one that “primarily serves persons who share its religious tenets” and “has the inculcation of religious values as its purpose.” Unless the Obama administration backs down, thousands of Christian missions, hospitals, crisis pregnancy centers, and relief agencies that serve all comers, not primarily parishioners, will no longer be considered religious organizations. The definition seems BAD PLAN: Prescription like one more likely to arise contraceptives in a Muslim country that at a drug store reluctantly allows churches on Aug. , in as long as they don’t reach Los Angeles. A U G U S T 2 7, 2 0 1 1
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Dispatches > News
program operations may have ended on July , but officials will finally lock the doors on Aug. after an unusual posthumous tribute. The agency will eulogize the monkeys, dogs, cats, mice, spiders, and other animals that perished during space shuttle experiments.
LOOKING AHEAD Glenn Beck rally
Those who can’t fly to Israel to attend former Fox News host Glenn Beck’s “Rally to Restore Courage” can certainly watch on Beck’s website. The event kicks off on Aug. with a program featuring Beck, controversial pastor John Hagee, historian David Barton, and religious leaders. An Aug. event near the Western Wall concludes the proIsrael rally.
ago on Aug. , an employee at the Louvre Museum in Paris hid Leonardo da Vinci’s th-century masterpiece Mona Lisa under his coat and walked out the museum’s door, setting off frenzied investigation. Vincenzo Peruggia, the Louvre employee who stole the painting, was finally caught two years later when he tried to sell the masterpiece to a gallery in Florence, Italy.
U.S. Open begins
—with reporting by Edward Lee Pitts
Those wanting to comment on the regulation can go to regulations.gov. In the slot for “select document type” choose “proposed rule.” In the slot for “enter keyword or ID” type “HHS-OS---,” then press “search.” You’ll be at a page where you can type your comment.
Mona Lisa theft centennial A century
MLK Dedication
Performances by Aretha Franklin and Stevie Wonder and a speech by President Barack Obama will headline the Aug. dedication service for the newly created Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial in Washington, D.C. The King monument will border the Tidal Basin on the National Mall and take the address Independence Ave.— a tribute to the Civil Rights Act.
By the time the U.S. Open Tennis Championships open Aug. in New York, Swiss star Roger Federer will be . And nabbing another Open title won’t be easy for the man who won all five Opens from to . Since , only three men or older have taken home Grand Slam singles titles.
NASA: NASA/MCT VIA GETTY IMAGES • MONA LISA: JEAN-PIERRE MULLER/AFP/GETTY IMAGES • BECK: SEBASTIAN SCHEINER/AP • KING: MARVIN JOSEPH/THE WASHINGTON POST VIA GETTY IMAGES • FEDERER: MICHAEL REGAN/GETTY IMAGES
beyond their existing membership. And yet the apostle James described “religion that is pure and undefiled” as one in which Christians “visit orphans and widows in their affliction.” He didn’t write that only church members should receive visits, and he condemned those who preach to the destitute, “‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body.” Mary Ann Walsh, director of media relations for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, offered a pungent analysis of the proposed regulation, which “conveniently ignores the underlying principle of Catholic charitable actions: we help people because we are Catholic, not because our clients are. There’s no need to show your baptismal certificate in the hospital emergency room, the parish food pantry, or the diocesan drug rehab program.” Some Catholics are threatening a break with the Obama administration on this issue. Michael Sean Winter wrote in National Catholic Reporter, “Keeping the rule as is would give me great pause in casting my ballot for Barack Obama next year, not because he failed to do right by my Church, but because anyone who fails to grasp the constitutional issue here probably should not be entrusted with the post of Chief Magistrate under that same Constitution.” I haven’t heard the same semi-ultimatum from liberal evangelicals, but let’s hope the largely Protestant “Circle of Protection” (see p. ) will take a strong stand in favor of protecting religious liberty and not just governmental programs. Christians from past generations who formed religious organizations to provide homes for orphans or witness against slavery would be surprised to learn that their groups weren’t really religious. A
NASA animal eulogy Shuttle
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NASA: NASA/MCT VIA GETTY IMAGES • MONA LISA: JEAN-PIERRE MULLER/AFP/GETTY IMAGES • BECK: SEBASTIAN SCHEINER/AP • KING: MARVIN JOSEPH/THE WASHINGTON POST VIA GETTY IMAGES • FEDERER: MICHAEL REGAN/GETTY IMAGES
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So, Are the Skies Really Gonna Part?
Hurray God!
Dale Goodrich
Jeanette Sharp
How do we get to Heaven? On September 11th, that question unexpectedly ceased to exist for over 3,000 people. This short book sheds light on the answer! Join Dale Goodrich as he describes his 9/11 Pentagon experience, and then offers a compelling “salvation 101” message! Great for individual or church outreach.
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Dispatches > News
‘Catastrophic’ Brad Phillips of the Persecution Project Foundation gave members of a U.S. House subcommittee a stark assessment of what’s happening in the Sudanese border state of South Kordofan during a congressional hearing on Aug. : “The issue is genocide.” The region that includes the Nuba Mountains lies just north of the disputed border between northern Sudan and the newly created Republic of South Sudan. (South Sudan formally gained its independence on July .) Eyewitnesses and a report say that northern military forces are bombing and killing civilians suspected of loyalty to South Sudan. A leaked report in June described “aerial bombardments . . . significant loss of civilian lives, including of women, children, and the elderly; abductions; house-to-house searches; arbitrary arrests and detentions . . . summary execution . . . mass graves; systematic destruction of dwellings; and attacks on churches.” The report described photos of “mangled and mutilated bodies of civilians, some cut into halves, including women and children.” Phillips, also project coordinator for Voice of the Martyrs in Sudan, said during a -day visit to the region in July, Nuba residents told him that Sudanese troops particularly targeted churches and pastors, believing all Christians were loyal to the south: “Anyone fitting this description was either killed on the spot or arrested and never seen again.” The estimates the violence has displaced at least , civilians, but local officials estimate the number at ,. “Whatever the numbers involved,” said Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., “we can be sure that the suffering of the people in Southern Kordofan, especially the Nuba people, has been catastrophic.”
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DYING FOR THE CAUSE In the growing crackdown against unregistered churches, Chinese authorities sentenced house church leader Shi Enhao to two years of “re-education through labor” in late July. Officials charged the pastor and deputy leader of China’s Christian House Church Alliance with holding “illegal meetings and illegal organizing of venues for religious meetings,” according to the Texas-based ChinaAid. The highprofile detention came weeks after members of Shouwang Church— Beijing’s largest unregistered church— began attempting to meet outdoors for worship. Authorities have blocked access to an indoor meeting space and arrested at least churchgoers meeting outdoors. Zhang Mingxuan, president of the house church alliance, wrote to Chinese president Hu Jintao asking for Shi’s release and calling for freedom of worship: “Even if you misunderstand me or even kill me or imprison me, I still have to tell you the truth,” Zhang said in a letter translated by ChinaAid. “As long as Christians can freely worship God, I wouldn’t mind dying for this cause.”
LONDON: ANDREW COWIE/AFP/GETTY IMAGES • INSET: MATT DUNHAM/AP • SUDAN: PHIL MOORE/AFP/GETTY IMAGES/NEWSCOM • SHI: HANDOUT CREDIT
After rioters torched a -year-old family business in south London during the city’s worst riots in years, the stunned owner of the House of Reeves described what assailants took from the landmark store: “No one’s stolen anything,” said Graham Reeves. “They just burnt it down.” London rioters offered no unified reason for their early August rampage that burned buildings, looted stores, smashed windows, and wreaked havoc across London and surrounding cities. Though the first riots erupted after police fatally shot a -year-old man in a low-income neighborhood, even the victim’s fiancé doubted that Mark Duggan’s death spurred the widespread riots. “It’s not connected to this anymore,” said Semone Wilson. “This is out of control.” British Prime Minister David Cameron labeled the cause of violence “mindless selfishness” and recalled Parliament from its summer break to confront the upheaval. By Aug. authorities had arrested in five days’ rioting in London alone, and Cameron said, “There are pockets of our society that are not just broken, but frankly sick.” News reports speculated that some rioters were protesting the government’s recent austerity measures designed to make drastic spending cuts in a country with massive debt. But Twitter messages from rioters promoting the mayhem mostly described where to meet, not why. Meanwhile, another mob of citizens responded to a different kind of Twitter message: posts organizing local clean-up efforts. Hundreds of volunteers wielding brooms and rubber gloves cleared broken glass and dumped trash from London streets after finding clean-up locations next to hashtags like #riotcleanup and #prayforlondon.
8/11/11 2:38 PM
BARRETT: HANDOUT • INDONESIA: HERI JUANDA/AP
London fights back
Numbers cruncher
DAviD bArrett helped make church statistics count By miNdy Belz
>>
Over a career spanning more than five decades, the British scholar, who spent most of his career in the United States, provided extensive research on global Christianity used by church leaders, mission and other religious institutions, and secular scholars alike. To do that, he combined a gift for unearthing already collected statistics with a talent for tracking church leaders around the world who could provide up-to-date, close-to-the-ground human intelligence. According to Johnson, who now directs the Center for the Study of Global Christianity, Barrett traveled to every country in the world between 1965 and 1980, collecting a network of more than 1,000 local experts. “He did some of it on horseback, some on motorcycles,” said Johnson: “Friends called him the first Indiana Jones.” As a result, Barrett became a long-time contributor to the Encyclopedia Britannica and published
RestRicted bArrett: hANDOut • iNDONesiA: heri juANDA/AP
LONDON: ANDrew COwie/AFP/Getty imAGes • iNset: mAtt DuNhAm/AP • suDAN: PhiL mOOre/AFP/Getty imAGes/NewsCOm • shi: hANDOut CREDIT
If you happen to know that there are 2.2 billion Christians in the world, making it the world’s largest religion, you probably have David Barrett to thank for it. Barrett, who died Aug. 4 at age 83, was “the first one to figure out how to measure the church,” according to his colleague Todd Johnson, who served as co-editor with Barrett on the second edition of the World Christian Encyclopedia. Trained as a mathematician before he was ordained as an Anglican priest, Barrett in 1965 founded the World Evangelization Research Center. In 2003 it became the Center for the Study of Global Christianity, based at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. In addition to compiling the first edition of the Encyclopedia—a 10-year effort first published in 1982—Barrett also compiled a companion reference volume called World Christian Trends.
the highly regarded International Bulletin of Missionary Research. His findings led to practical transformations. Over time Barrett was able to map what would become known in missiology circles as “unreached people groups.” At Southern Baptist Mission Board headquarters (now the International Mission Board) in Richmond, Va., where Barrett served as a research consultant, administrators studying his numbers realized only 3 percent of their mission force was serving in unreached areas. That was 1989, and today 80 percent of Southern Baptist missionaries are in places with unreached people groups, according to Johnson. Johnson was collaborating with Barrett on a new project at the time of the demographer’s death, The World Christian Chronology, which Johnson says will contain the “13,000 most significant events in Christian history.” Does all the numbers-crunching and analysis feel like a ministry? I asked. “It is a witness to accurately show what is happening to God’s people around the world,” said Johnson. “One of the things we have done over the years is show that Christianity is not a Western religion. That’s very important for people considering the claims of Christ.”
More than 2.2 billion people—or nearly a third of the world’s population—live in countries where either government restrictions on religion or social hostilities involving religion rose substantially between mid-2006 and mid2009, according to a study released Aug. 9 by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. Only about 1 percent of the world’s population lives in countries where government restrictions or social hostilities declined. Government restrictions rose substantially in China, Iran, Saudi CANING: A shariah Arabia, Indonesia, and law official whips a Egypt. man in indonesia.
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Dispatches > News
After the downgrade With U.S. credit and credibility falling, a congressional “super committee” has its work cut out for it
REID: Billionaires, oil companies, and corporate jet owners are to blame.
TOTALED RECALL Wisconsin Democrats and labor unions have very little political momentum going into the elections after they failed to capitalize on six attempted recalls of Republican state senators. Four of the senators survived, ensuring the Republican majority in the Senate, and of the two whom the Democrats knocked off, one was in a liberal district and another was under a cloud of marital scandal. Barack Obama won all six districts in , showing that now, despite a flood of money from national labor unions and Democrats, as well as the prolonged fight over limits on public unions, those voters largely remain in the Republican camp. State Democrats said they still hope next year to recall Gov. Scott Walker, the Republican behind the bill that cut state employees’ pensions and collective bargaining power. But Walker has already won a large political battle. On the day of the recall elections, he signed redistricting legislation that the Republican legislature passed in July, putting in place new maps that will likely make it tougher for Democrats in . The maps are subject to court challenges.
REID: J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE/AP • DARLING: RICK WOOD/MILWAUKEE JOURNAL-SENTINEL/AP CREDIT
Soon after Standard & Poor’s Aug. downgrade of the United States’ credit rating, defensive Washington policymakers defaulted into blame-game mode. The U.S. Treasury Department blamed the rating agency’s flawed judgment. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., blamed billionaires, oil companies, and corporate jet owners. David Axelrod, a top advisor to President Obama, and Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., used identical language in calling the action a “Tea Party downgrade.” Republicans also engaged in the tactic: The Republican National Committee dubbed the move “the Obama downgrade” while House Speaker John Boehner said the downgrade is on the Democrats. But state-run Xinhua News Agency in communist China, which is America’s largest foreign creditor with . trillion in Treasury securities holdings, came the closest to winning the blame game when it warned that the United States must face its “addiction to debts.” The downgrade to +, coming after Congress approved an increase in the nation’s borrowing limit, proved the problem is the debt, not the debt ceiling. Will the new rating spur Congress to step out of the partisan trenches and seek real spending reform? That task now falls to a congressional “super committee.” Under the agreement to raise the debt ceiling, this -member panel, evenly split between Republicans and Democrats, has until Nov. to find . trillion in additional budget savings over the next decade. The eroding confidence in Congress displayed by both the nation’s voters and by its financial markets suggests that hopes are not high for the prospects for success of yet another committee. S&P, in explaining its downgrade, blamed “the lack of apparent willingness of elected officials as a group to deal with the . . . fiscal outlook.” Even if this committee somehow rises to the task and agrees to . trillion in cuts, it may not be enough: S&P said it preferred trillion in savings. The House-passed budget, authored by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., tops that figure by achieving nearly trillion in federal savings over the next decade. These are accomplished by substantial changes in entitlements such as Medicare. But in an Aug. speech in which he defended America as a “Triple A country,” President Obama only called for “modest adjustments” in entitlements. With the nation facing tens of trillions of dollars in unfunded entitlement obligations, a first-ever credit downgrade, plunging markets and an unemployment rate stuck at percent, modest may not be the most hopeful adjective.
GOP VICTORY: Sen. Alberta Darling faced a recall but retained her seat.
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KEVIN DIETSCH/UPI/LANDOV
in Washington
CAIR’s cops
The FBI won’t work with a controversial Islamic group, but the LAPD is fostering close ties By JIll NelsoN
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The FBI severed tIes with the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIr) several years ago, citing connections to terrorist groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood. The Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department is charting a decidedly different course—embracing and commending CAIr—and several Christian leaders in southern California are blowing the whistle. L.A. County Sheriff Leroy Baca praised CAIr during a video message sent to the organization, thanking its members for their friendship and commending them for their exceptional representation of the Muslim community in America. The Los Angeles Police Department followed suit during an event at the Islamic Center of Southern California in May when Deputy Chief Michael Downing told a reporter that Americans shouldn’t “demonize” the Muslim Brotherhood since the group has evolved and changed since its inception. The FBI, however, has refused to work directly with CAIr’s national office in Washington or any of its 30-plus local chapters across the nation since the group was named an “unindicted co-conspirator” in the Holy Land Foundation trial in 2007. During testimony on Capitol Hill in March, FBI Director Robert Mueller explained that
the agency has “no formal relationship with CAIr because of concerns with the national leadership.” Steven Klein, founder of Concerned Citizens for the First Amendment, and Coptic Christian activist Joseph Nasralla joined forces on July 29 for a demonstration in Los Angeles against Sheriff Baca, calling on the L.A. County Board of Supervisors to fire Baca. “I fled to America with my family because of the violence directed against me because of my Christian faith,” said Nasralla, founder of The Way tv satellite network. “Sheriff Baca must be fired and the County should apologize to all of us who have suffered at the hands of the Muslim Brotherhood.” This isn’t the first time that critics have questioned Baca’s unequivocal support of CAIr. Baca testified before Congress at a Muslim radicalization hearing in March and was challenged by U.S. Rep. Peter Cravaack, R-Minn., to
“They might be using you, sir, to try to implement their goals.”
CREDIT
kEvIn DIETsCh/upI/lAnDov
—Rep. peteR CRavaaCk
explain his cozy association with CAIr. “Basically, you’re dealing with a terrorist organization. I’m trying to get you to understand that they might be using you, sir, to try to implement their goa ls,” Cravaack said. Baca replied by challenging the FBI to bring any charges to court. “Baca and the LAPd have allowed themselves to become brainwashed, thinking that these folks have evolved into Mr. Rogers, into a kinder and gentler people,” Klein told me. Since 2006, Baca has created two Muslim outreach programs (one is funded by taxpayers) designed to create trust within the local Muslim community and hire law enforcement officers Muslims can identity with. He was elected to a fourth term as sheriff last year and has been criticized for accepting gifts, adding friends to the payroll, and releasing inmates from the Los Angeles County Jail. Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman and cofounder of CAIr, stated in 2003 that if Muslims were to become a majority in the United States they would endeavor to replace the Constitution with Islamic law. A
BRAINWASHED? Baca testifies before Congress.
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8/10/11 11:17 AM
Dispatches > News
Restart with Russia
Good news for children living in Russia’s overcrowded and underfunded orphanages: A new adoption agreement with the United States could mean more orphans find permanent homes in the West. Leaders from the two nations signed an adoption accord last month that ends months of tension between the two former superpowers: After a Tennessee woman returned her adopted Russian son alone on a Moscow-bound plane last year, Russian authorities threatened to halt U.S. adoptions but instead pressed for a formal agreement with more oversight. The accord mandates Russian approval of U.S. agencies operating in the MORE OVERSIGHT: Stephen and Debra Diebold, of Blue Springs, Mo., adopted Gabriel from Russia. country and requires U.S. agency workers to track adopted Russian children until age . Tracking could include occasional home visits to monitor for signs of abuse or neglect. (U.S. State Department officials say the agreement doesn’t give Russian officials direct authority over U.S. families after they finalize adoptions.) The accord requires Russian officials to provide more information on orphans’ social and medical histories— a step designed to ensure that U.S. families have a better understanding of children’s needs before they adopt. Adoption advocates hope the agreement will boost a slowed process: U.S. families adopted , Russian orphans in but only , in . But the need hasn’t diminished: An estimated quarter-million children live in Russian orphanages.
NAMES CHANGE
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Iraqi civilian deaths since July 500 400 300 200
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100 0
JUL ’10 AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC JAN ’11 FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL
Deaths of Iraqi civilians have dropped— in July compared to for July —but insurgent attacks across the country continue to claim a daily toll: An Aug. car bombing of a Catholic church in Kirkuk wounded and nearly destroyed the building. With violence widespread, Washington and Baghdad are considering keeping as many as , U.S. troops in the country beyond the year-end departure deadline. Five U.S. military personnel died in Iraq in July, compared with in June, the highest number in two years.
DIEBOLDS: SUSAN PFANNMULLER/KANSAS CITY STAR/MCT/NC • IRAQ: HADI MIZBAN/AP • CRU: HANDOUT CREDIT
IRAQ’S CONTINUED TOLL
Campus Crusade for Christ has changed its name to Cru. The ministry Bill and Vonette Bright founded in said its former name presented obstacles to the group’s mission because the word campus does not represent all of its ministries and the word crusade now carries negative associations. “Our surveys show that, in the U.S., percent of the people willing to consider the gospel are less interested in talking with us after they hear the name,” the Cru website states. “We are changing the name for the sake of more effective ministry.” Coral Ridge Ministries, the ministry D. James Kennedy founded in , also announced it has changed its name to Truth in Action Ministries to reflect the organization’s mission of “not just educating people on social issues and biblical worldview, but motivating and activating them to make a difference for the Kingdom.”
SOURCE: ICASUALTIES.ORG
Available in Apple’s App Store: Download ’s iPad app today
8/10/11 9:07 PM
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8/8/11 12:34 PM
Dispatches > News
Enemies unite
Perry’s day of Prayer
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christian, republican, anti-nuclear activist MArk hAtfield was not a typical senator by Edward LEE Pitts
Oregon’s longest-serving U.S. senator, Mark Hatfield, who died Aug. 7 at the age of 89, was a study in contrasts. An outspoken evangelical Christian of Baptist background, the pro-life Hatfield once wrote that the “cornerstone of all our freedoms is freedom of religion.” But the moderate Republican who served from 1967 to 1997 had a rocky relationship with the then emerging Religious Right. “To identify any political agenda with Christianity is a miscommunication of the Gospel, plain and simple,” he wrote in his memoir, Against the Grain: Reflections of a Rebel Republican. “We would all do well to infuse our personal, spiritual ethics into politics rather than bringing more politics into our religion.” It was at Hatfield’s urging that Christian leaders in the late 1970s formed the self-regulating ECFA to oversee the compliance of ministries and avoid an emerging threat of government intervention. Seeing the atomic bomb destruction of Hiroshima as a young Navy officer at the end of World War II, Hatfield became an antiwar activist. Dubbed “Saint Mark” by his colleagues, Hatfield joined the nuclear freeze push, often went against his own party in opposing wars from Vietnam to the Persian Gulf, voted against all military authorization bills and, as chairman of the appropriations committee, redirected money from Ronald Reagan’s Pentagon budget to social programs. For nearly three decades Hatfield managed to walk along this partisan divide between conservative and liberal. But his deciding vote against a balanced-budget amendment in 1995 infuriated conservatives and eventually led to his retirement a year later.
hAtfield: MichAel lloyd/the oregoniAn/Ap • perry: pAt sullivAn/Ap CREDIT
Thirty thousand people packed into a Houston stadium Aug. 6 for a day of prayer and worship organized and led by Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who planned to announce his bid for the presidency soon after. The event organizers denied that the day of prayer, called “The Response,” was political—Perry was introduced on the big screen without his governor’s title. At the service, Perry said God’s “agenda is not a political agenda. His agenda is a salvation agenda.” He read from Bible passages in Joel 2, Ephesians 3, and Isaiah 40, and then closed with prayer: “As a nation, we have forgotten who made us, who protects us, who blesses us. And for that we cry out for your forgiveness.” He also prayed for protection and wisdom for President Obama. This year Perry has held other days of prayer for rain since Texas is under one of the worst droughts in its history.
Crossing divides
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strAnge: dAvid MAiAletti/the philAdelphiA inquirer/Ap • syriA: louAi BeshArA/Afp/getty iMAges • egypt: AMr nABil/Ap
Despite sectarian divisions between Shiite Iran and Sunni al-Qaeda, the U.S. government declared what many long suspected: The Iranian regime and the global terrorist network are working together. The U.S. Treasury Department reported in late July that Iranian officials are allowing al-Qaeda operatives to use the country as a base to transport money, arms, and fighters to operations in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Though the two groups maintain stark differences, they share a common goal: opposing U.S. forces in the Middle East. Iranian officials denied the accusations, but the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned six al-Qaeda members it said run an Iran-based operation. Since the alQaeda members likely don’t have assets in the United States, the move is largely symbolic. But Treasury undersecretary David Cohen said establishing the link is important: “By exposing Iran’s secret deal with alQaeda allowing it to funnel funds and operatives through its territory, we are illuminating yet another aspect of Iran’s unmatched support for terrorism.”
Remembering the fallen
HATFIELD: MICHAEL LLOYD/THE OREGONIAN/AP • PERRY: PAT SULLIVAN/AP CREDIT
STRANGE: DAVID MAIALETTI/THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER/AP • SYRIA: LOUAI BESHARA/AFP/GETTY IMAGES • EGYPT: AMR NABIL/AP
Dads, vets among s killed in Afghanistan
The day after President Obama made a somber journey to Dover, Del., to salute the remains of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, announced that its forces had tracked down and killed the Taliban fighters responsible for shooting down their helicopter. The Aug. attack resulted in the largest single day’s loss of American life since the start of the Afghan war—as Taliban fighters using a rocket-propelled grenade shot down the Chinook helicopter, killing U.S. soldiers, including Navy s, and eight Afghan soldiers. “The crash they were in was so horrific and the state of remains such that there was no easy way to see this was this person or this was that person,” said Van Williams, the public affairs chief for the Dover Air Force
Base’s mortuary affairs operations, which handles the bodies of all fallen soldiers. Most of those aboard were Team Six members, the same elite counterterrorism group that killed Osama bin Laden, though none of those killed took part in the bin Laden raid, according to military officials. The team was flying to rescue soldiers pinned under fire in a valley west of Kabul, in one of the thousands of nighttime operations by special forces in Afghanistan. One member, Matthew Mason, had lost part of his left arm during fighting in Iraq in . Others, like Aaron Vaughn, , left behind wives and young children. Kimberly Vaughn said on
’s Today show that her -year-old and -month-old “will take away his love for Christ.” Vaughn’s grandmother Geneva Vaughn said, “He’s with Jesus today . . . he told us when we saw him last November that he wasn’t afraid.” Elizabeth Strange said of her son Michael Strange, , “He was supposed to be safe . . . and he told me that, and I believed him. I shouldn’t have believed him because I know better.”
MOURNING: Charles Strange III (left) and his sister, Katelyn (right), hold a photo of their brother Michael Strange outside their home in Philadelphia.
Islamic turn
ANOTHER SIDE OF SYRIA
News of new sanctions on the embattled Assad regime weren’t well received among one group of Syrians thought receptive to change: Christians, who make up about percent of the population. Even as street violence in Syria entered its sixth month, amid reports of , civilians killed by security forces, most church leaders fear more a future without President Bashar Assad. What will come next, they fear, will be sectarian violence similar to Iraq -, or a Sunni-led regime obliged to Saudi Arabia or Wahhabi militants. The Obama administration on Aug. announced new sanctions against Syria’s state-owned bank, limiting the country’s ability to export oil. White House spokesman Jay Carney said that Syria “would be better off without President Assad.” But one Syrian church leader told there’s less talk in Syria of a post-Assad era: “The West tries to pull Syria’s legs into a war, which I think is too far.”
Six months after mainly secular protesters filled Cairo’s Tahrir Square and toppled the Egyptian government, tens of thousands of Egyptian Islamists packed into the same Cairo square on July , calling for the government establishment of Islamic law. The gathering marked one of the largest Islamic demonstrations in Egypt’s history, and a sea of signs and banners held blunt messages: “Islamic law is above the Constitution.” Another: “Islam is the identity of Egypt, its past and its future.” The demonstration followed the military’s decision to allow a panel of pro-democracy activists and moderate religious leaders to draft guidelines for forming a constitutional congress that will convene after November elections. Islamist groups protested and some, particularly the Muslim Brotherhood, remain the most well-organized political organizations in Egypt. Secularist activists who led the February revolution have weakened under the pressures of internal battles and divisions. A U G U S T 2 7, 2 0 1 1
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8/11/11 3:25 PM
Dispatches > News
Money, meet mouth Mitt Romney gives a lot, Rick Perry gives a little, and the other GOP candidates give no information about their church and charitable giving By EMily BElz photo illustration by Krieg Barrie
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he gave $1.9 million to the Mormon church. The disclosure form didn’t show capital earnings. The foundation may account for only part of his giving, so calculating the percentage of his income that he gives away is difficult. Romney has a “temple recommend,” which means a Mormon bishop interviews him every two years and confirms, among other things, that he is paying the church 10 percent of his income. Romney gave millions to the church through the foundation over the last two years, but then the foundation didn’t give anything to the church between 2004 and 2007, raising the question of whether he tithed privately rather than through the foundation. “One of the vehicles [the Romneys] use for their charitable giving is their charitable foundation, but it is not the only vehicle. They also contribute directly from their personal accounts,” said Eric Fehrnstrom, Romney’s spokesman. “In some years, the charitable
“i was naïve enough to think that if i provide everything beyond what is legally required that i would be applauded.” —mike huckabee
foundation has been inactive or not as active as it has been recently so it doesn’t give you a completely accurate picture of all the Romneys’ charitable giving. We haven’t made any decision on releasing tax return information.” In general, providing that kind of detailed personal tax information isn’t in a candidate’s political interest. The campaigns for Michele Bachmann, Ron Paul, Tim Pawlenty, and Herman Cain did not respond to a request from WorLD for charitable giving information. Mike Huckabee was an advocate for public officials releasing their tax returns when he was governor of Arkansas, but when he released his own records, he reaped controversy. “I was naïve enough to think that if I provide everything beyond what is legally required that I would be applauded,” he told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in 2001. “What I found was all I did was hand over fodder for people in the print media and political opponents who like to file ethics complaints.” The only member of the GoP presidential field who has volunteered his personal tax returns—Perry—has reaped some controversy, too. Perry is a man who regularly speaks about his Christian faith. Most recently, on Aug. 6 he spoke at a prayer rally in Houston that drew almost 30,000 (see p. 14). But despite his public commitment to his faith, Perry has given a pittance of his income to Christian organizations. Since 2000, Perry and his wife Anita have donated to churches $12,668—or 0.47 percent of their income—according to their personal tax returns. They have not donated personal income to any other Christian nonprofits. Perry grew up in the Methodist church and is a member at Tarrytown
CREDIT
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney appears to be the frontrunner in the GOP presidential field in more ways than one. Thanks to the fact that only one Republican candidate, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, has released personal tax returns, Romney appears to lead the current slate of candidates in charitable giving. Given the prominent role religious faith plays for many of the GoP candidates— along with their calls for less public spending and more private enterprise, including charity—the lack of disclosure on personal giving could prove decisive. Though Romney hasn’t released his personal tax returns, he has given away millions through the Tyler Charitable Foundation, whose records are publicly available. From 2000 to 2009, Romney and his wife gave $6.4 million through the foundation, with $4.6 million of that then going to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, where Romney is a member. The second-highest recipient of the Romneys’ gifts is the Mormonaffiliated Brigham Young University, where all five of their sons attended, underscoring the family’s commitment to their Mormon religion. Romney waived his $135,000 salary while he was governor of Massachusetts and pledged in the 2008 campaign to donate the $400,000 presidential salary to charity if he was elected. The Romneys are worth between $190 million and $250 million. Because Romney hasn’t released his personal tax returns, information about his income over the last decade is spotty, based on financial disclosures filed while he was the governor of Massachusetts and a presidential candidate. In his 2003 disclosure, for example, he reported no income because he waived his salary, but W O R L D A u g u s t 2 7, 2 0 1 1
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United Methodist Church in Austin, the same church President George W. Bush attended when he was governor. But Perry told the Austin American Statesman last year that he attended the nondenominational Lake Hills Church more frequently than the Methodist church. He has given $5,503 to the Methodist church since 2000, $2,850 to Lake Hills, and smaller amounts to five other churches. In 2007, when he reported income of over $1 million, he gave $90 to his church.
In total, his charitable giving is a bit better: He and his wife have given 3.3 percent of their income over the last decade—above the national average of around 2 percent but below the biblical standard of a 10 percent tithe. Perry has given the most money to the Texas Gov ernor’s Mansion Restoration Fund, and the second most to the Texas Association Against Sexual Assault, an organization where his wife is a consultant. The only candidate other than Perry to publish his personal tax returns is
President Barack Obama. Obama has slowly edged up his giving, from under 1 percent of his income in 2000, to 1.4 percent in 2003, then up to 6 percent in 2006, and peaking at 13.6 percent last year. During his term, President George W. Bush gave an average of 9.3 percent. The Clintons gave an average of 24 per cent of their income when Bill Clinton was president, though a few of those years they published a statement of their income and giving rather than the tax returns themselves. A A u g u s t 2 7, 2 0 1 1
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8/11/11 1:08 PM
Dispatches > Human Race GUILTY A Texas jury found polygamist leader Warren Jeffs, , guilty of sexually assaulting two young girls that he forced into “spiritual marriages,” and on Aug. sentenced him to life in prison. Jeffs fathered a child with the older victim when she was . Until his arrest, Jeffs, who is the ecclesiastical head of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, had eluded authorities while marrying women and girls and presiding over sect marriages of underage girls to older men.
SAVED When -month-old Minhaj Gedi Farah arrived with his mother at a Kenyan field hospital last month, he was severely malnourished and so weak he couldn’t cry. A picture of his -pound frail frame—protruding ribs, sunken eyes, and hollow cheeks—spoke of the plight of thousands of Somali children caught in the worst famine in years. More than , children have died, but for Minhaj, there is hope: After days of medical care, the infant had gained a pound and doctors expected him to leave the hospital soon.
CHARGED Tracy Edwards, the man who years ago led police to serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, is facing charges in the drowning death of a homeless Milwaukee man. According to authorities, Edwards, , and co-defendant Timothy Carr were arguing with Johnny Jordan before they threw him off a bridge.
DISCOVERED Investigators say a newly discovered vial of serial killer Ted Bundy’s blood may be key to solving decades-old cases now that
his complete profile will be uploaded into the ’s national database. Before his execution in , Bundy confessed to more than murders, but investigators never identified all of the victims and long suspected he killed many more.
REPLACED
DISMISSED
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The Navy has announced that former astronaut Lisa Nowak, , will receive an “other than honorable” discharge and reduced retirement pay over a incident in which she drove across the country under bizarre circumstances to confront a fellow service member who had started dating her love interest. Nowak has been working at the Chief of Naval Air Training station in Corpus Christi, Texas, since her dismissal from .
Texas billionaire and philanthropist Charles Wyly, , died after an Aug. car accident near Aspen, Colo. In addition to conservative causes, Wyly, cofounder of the Michaels craft store chain, contributed over million to candidates. Among the largest recipients: Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who has received more than , from Wyly and his younger brother Sam since . The brothers faced charges over insider stock trading and tax evasion.
Labor Day weekend marks the first time since that comedian Jerry Lewis, , will not host the Muscular Dystrophy Association’s annual telethon. , which gave no explanation for the change, has not yet named a new host.
JEFFS: TONY GUTIERREZ/AP • FARAH (BEFORE): SCHALK VAN ZUYDAM/AP • FARAH (AFTER): JEROME DELAY/AP • EDWARDS: MILWAUKEE COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE/AP • NOWAK: RED HUBER/AP • LEWIS • ERIC MCCANDLESS/MUSCULAR DYSTROPHY ASSOCIATION/AP • WYLY: HANDOUT CREDIT
LAST GIG: Lewis hosts the telethon.
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8/2/11 1:31 PM
Dispatches > Quotables “This country has changed. We’ve lost something.” AARON BIBER, an -year-old business owner in the riotplagued Tottenham neighborhood of London, on the recent violence and looting (see p. ).
HAROLD METTS, Democratic state senator from Rhode Island and co-sponsor of a voter law in that state, on widespread opposition to such laws within his party.
“Pregnancy is not a disease, and children are not a ‘health problem’—they are the next generation of Americans.” Cardinal DANIEL N. DINARDO, Archbishop of Galveston-Houston, on a decision by the Obama administration to require health insurance plans to cover birth control and abortion drugs without a co-pay (see p. ).
“We we’re not aware of how the lemonade was made, who made the lemonade, [or] what the lemonade was made with.” Midway, Ga., Police Chief KELLY MORNINGSTAR on shutting down a lemonade stand set up by three local girls. City law requires sellers to obtain business and food permits.
METTS: /VICTORIA AROCHO/AP • BIBER: DAN KITWOOD/GETTY IMAGES CREDIT • EASY BAKE OVEN: HASBRO • DiNARDO: PAT SULLIVAN/AP
“I’m all for party loyalty, but God gave me a brain and I use it.”
HASBRO in a statement announcing the Easy Bake Ultimate Oven. The toymaker has since relied on a -watt bulb as the heat source for its bestselling Easy Bake Oven. Since new rules passed by Congress will ban the bulb in favor of energy-efficient lighting, Hasbro will this month introduce a new oven with its own internal heating element.
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“A new way to bake for the next generation of chefs.”
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metts: /Victoria arocho/ap • biber: Dan KitwooD/Getty imaGes CREDIT • easy baKe oVen: hasbro • DinarDo: pat sulliVan/ap
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Dispatches > Quick Takes
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A tepid economy doesn’t just mean high unemployment and concerns about inflation. For children across the United States, deflation—or more accurately falling Tooth Fairy prices— are the real concern. A recent survey conducted by credit giant Visa found that children on average received . for every tooth left under a pillow at night, down from an average of in . And the percentage of children receiving nothing for pulled teeth rose from percent last year to percent in . Just under percent of children still receive just a dollar or less from the Tooth Fairy and his parental proxies.
A new product is designed for young men who want to look tough without the risk of looking ridiculous. Sagz Jeans, a New Jersey company, in August unveiled a type of jeans that sag but also clip on to special boxer shorts so that they won’t fall all the way down. Brothers Irese and Mark Davenport told the Reuters news service that they came up with the idea when they noticed that sagging jeans hampered their teenage children’s mobility. “They’re holding their pants up not being able to play sports, basically being unhealthy because of the attire they were wearing,” said Mark Davenport. Dwayne Howard, creative director of Sagz, says the company is making the best of a controversial but inevitable style. “Young folks, they will sag no matter what,” he said. “What we are trying to do is offer a better alternative.”
If you’ve seen a -foot-wide island floating through the Earth’s troposphere, two British art school graduates would like to hear from you. Made with durable polyurethane with fake foliage decorations, the heliumfilled island replica was last seen above a British music and arts festival on July . Creators of the “Is Land” project Sarah Cockings and Laurence Symonds say security guards saw a pair of youths cut tether lines, allowing the , sculpture to float skyward. “Due to ignorant vandals, the original Is Land is currently floating at an unknown height somewhere within the atmosphere,” the creators wrote on Is Land’s website. “However what goes up must come down, so the hunt is on. If what looks like a floating chunk of earth turns up in your Nan’s back garden, or if you think you see a new planet intercept your easyJet flight to the Algarve, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.”
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BONGO: HANDOUT • ILLUSTRATION: KRIEG BARRIE • SAGZ JEANS: HANDOUT • IS LAND: © NICK CARO CREDIT 2011
Download ’s iPad app today; details at worldmag.com/iPad
8/10/11 4:35 PM
EVANGELISTA: AMY SUSSMAN/GETTY IMAGES • CLINT BUFFINGTON: HANDOUT • TALLEST BUILDING: ZJAN/WENN.COM/NEWSCOM • CRACK COCAINE: © 2008 BY AUSTIN ANDREWS/ZUMA PRESS/NEWSCOM
Bonni Marcus and Jack Zinzi spent Aug. papering their Park Slope neighborhood in Manhattan with fliers offering a substantial reward for the return of their favorite companion, Bongo. The couple said Bongo went missing the day before and they were offering hundreds of dollars for Bongo’s return. But Bongo isn’t a dog. Or a cat. Or even alive. The pair say they will pay if someone can return their lost monkey Beanie Baby. “Bongo’s simply a member of our family,” Marcus told the Brooklyn Paper. A search on eBay.com revealed a used replica of Bongo had been sold for .
MESSAGE RECEIVED
BONGO: HANDOUT • ILLUSTRATION: KRIEG BARRIE • SAGZ JEANS: HANDOUT • IS LAND: © NICK CARO CREDIT 2011
EVANGELISTA: AMY SUSSMAN/GETTY IMAGES • CLINT BUFFINGTON: HANDOUT • TALLEST BUILDING: ZJAN/WENN.COM/NEWSCOM • CRACK COCAINE: © 2008 BY AUSTIN ANDREWS/ZUMA PRESS/NEWSCOM
Fashion model Linda Evangelista argued in a New York family court on Aug. that French billionaire Francois Henri-Pinault should be paying her at least , per month in child support for the -year-old son they had out of wedlock. To get to the , figure, Evangelista argued that the French billionaire should provide little Augustin with -hour nanny care, as well as a cadre of armed drivers and even a , per month vacation allowance. Skeptical Manhattan Family Court Magistrate Matthew Troy noted, “That would probably be the largest support order in the history of the Family Court.” Troy is expected to decide on a dollar amount in September.
There may not be such a thing as a free lunch, but subscribers to programs like Assurance Wireless sure aren’t paying for it. Through a little-known effort by a little-known Federal Communications Commission program called the Universal Service Fund, Americans qualifying for government assistance or living with incomes below percent of the federal poverty line qualify for no-cost cell phone service as well as free cell phones. Who pays for the ostensibly free lunch? Regular bill-paying cell phone users. Assurance Wireless, a subsidiary of Sprint, and other service providers like it get per month from the Universal Service Fund for providing minutes of cell service and phones to qualifying participants. In turn, the program gets funding from taxes on paying customers. Supporters of the program call cell phone access a civil-rights issue. But in an interview with the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Robert Rector of the Heritage Foundation called the program “particularly wasteful and unnecessary.”
Perhaps annoyed by the worldwide attention generated by Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, which opened as the world’s tallest building in , Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal announced plans in August to build a one-kilometer-tall skyscraper in the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah. Bin Talal’s Kingdom Holding announced on Aug. that it had signed a . billion contract with the construction firm Bin Laden Group to build a ,-foot tower replete with a hotel, apartments, and office space. If bin Talal succeeds, his skyscraper will exceed Dubai’s Burj Khalifa by more than feet.
A message in a bottle tossed into the Atlantic Ocean more than five decades ago recently made its way into a beachcomber’s hands in Turks and Caicos Islands, southeast of the Bahamas. Paula Pierce of Hampton Beach, N.H., said her father tossed the bottle into the Atlantic near their seaside family motel sometime more than years ago with a note inside that read “Return to Ocean Boulevard and receive a reward.” Clint Buffington, who combs through beach trash for messages in bottles and posts the findings on his blog, found Pierce’s father’s erstwhile Coke bottle and made contact with the New Hampshire woman. No word on whether she plans to honor her father’s pledge.
Perhaps striving to become the crack cocaine capital of the world, Vancouver health officials announced plans in July to provide the Canadian city’s crack users with free crack pipes beginning later this year. Based on the philosophy behind Vancouver’s needle-exchange program, health officials with the city say that if they can provide crack users with sterile crack pipes, the city will save money on medical treatment for diseases spread from crack user to crack user who share pipes. Meanwhile other healthcare advocates in Vancouver are agitating for a so-called safe inhalation site where the city’s crack users would come and smoke crack in the presence of doctors and nurses without police interference. Vancouver already operates a taxpayer-funded site where heroin addicts may inject drugs with legal impunity in the presence of healthcare professionals. A U G U S T 2 7, 2 0 1 1
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WORLD
8/10/11 4:38 PM
Janie B. Cheaney
ALREADY CLOSED
Allan Bloom’s famous critique of higher education still speaks despite weak assumptions
W O R L D A U G U S T 2 7, 2 0 1 1
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KRIEG BARRIE
I , some idea of what an “educated” person looks like ruled the curriculum. The literature, survey, and introductory courses were meant to stretch our minds and plant a shared notion of what it took to make a civilization. Unbeknownst to me, the ground was shaking under my loafer-clad feet. At Cornell University, Professor Allan Bloom experienced the quake firsthand. In the spring of he went to see the university provost about a black student whose life had been threatened by a black faculty member because the young man refused to take part in a campus demonstration. The provost clucked sympathetically but insisted nothing could be done at the moment, with tempers so high. Best to stand down for now: Once the students had vented their frustration the way would be clear for better communication. “This,” Bloom wryly noted, “was a few weeks before the guns emerged and permitted much clearer communication.” In short, the black students and faculty got their way. So in time did the Hispanic students, the gay students, and the female students: Every group got their grievance counseling in the form of “studies” courses. Even white males got something out of the mayhem—that is, the freedom to write their own ticket. Administrators abolished all the core requirements, and replaced them with lists of “field” courses to choose from. The entire university system turned upsidedown, leaving students basically in charge of their own education, self-ticketing their way through four (five, six, seven) years of increasingly dubious value at higher and higher prices. Bloom’s experience at Cornell, and the degeneration that followed, became the theme of The Closing of the American Mind (), the most controversial book of the year. I’ve been rereading it, and while most of his insights are as relevant today as they were then—or more so—his weaknesses show in the underlying assumptions.
One assumption: that the modern university is a product of the Enlightenment. But no, the modern university took root in the medieval world, based on the idea that all truth is God’s truth and all knowledge is unified in Christ (Colossians :). From the beginning its doors were open not just to the privileged, but to ordinary boys who showed promise and aptitude. In time, more and more people could take advantage of a university education, and shifting ideas altered its mission from training clergy to providing a liberal education for inquiring minds. Leading to another assumption: that the university is, or should be, the bedrock of civilization. A young person fortunate enough to attend a four-year university is looking at one golden opportunity: “In this short time he must learn that there is a great world beyond the little one he knows, experience the exhilaration of it and digest enough of it to sustain himself in the intellectual deserts he is destined to traverse,” Bloom wrote. “[These years] are civilization’s only chance to get to him.” Bloom was writing about himself—a son of immigrant parents, plucked out of lower-middleclass obscurity to have his mind blissfully opened by the University of Chicago. But even then, higher education had abandoned the idea of absolute value. The citadel later sacked by ’s radicals (many of whom were within its walls) had already lost confidence in itself. A “bastion of civilization” that collapses in ignoble dust when the yelling gets loud enough is hardly worthy of the name, much less of Bloom’s reverence. The real bedrock was back in the workingclass neighborhood where he grew up, where few had read Plato but most knew there was a God to whom they were accountable. Simple, eternal verities are what civilization rests on: industriousness, commitment, faith. The university owed its life to the absolute truth it did so much to tear down. Now its walls surround nothing but noise; its mission is hopelessly confused. Bloom knew what was wrong but not how to fix it. His book is less a diagnosis than a funeral oration. A Email: jcheaney@worldmag.com
8/9/11 4:56 PM
WM0811_BestDocs_VisionVideo 8/5/11 1:15 PM Page 1
More Than Dreams For decades, a phenomenon has been recurring in the Muslim world. Men and women, without any knowledge of the Gospel and without any contact with Christians, have been forever transformed after experiencing dreams and visions of Jesus Christ. Here are five stories of former Muslims who now know Jesus as their Savior, recreated in docu-drama format and produced in their original languages with English subtitles. Meet Khalil, a radical Egyptian terrorist who was transformed when Jesus appeared to him; Mohammed, a herdsman in Nigeria who found the deep love of Christ; Dini, an Indonesian teenager who became a Christian on a night that Muslims individualize their prayers to Allah; Khosrow, a young Iranian man who was depressed and without hope; and Ali, a Turkish man in bondage to alcohol. 187 minutes total. DVD - #501117D, $19.99
The Fanny Crosby Story
Robber of the Cruel Streets: George Müller
C.H. Spurgeon: The People’s Preacher
George Müller (18051898) was a German playboy who found Christ and gave his life to serve Christ unreservedly. His mission was to rescue orphans from the wretched street life that enslaved so many children in England during the time of Charles Dickens and Oliver Twist. Müller did rescue, care for, feed, and educate such children by the thousands. The costs were enormous for such a great work. Yet, amazingly, he never asked anyone for money. Instead he prayed, and his children never missed a meal. This docu-drama presents his life story and shows how God answered prayer and met their needs. It is a story that raises foundational questions regarding faith and finances. Also included are two special documentaries on Müller and some of the lives affected by his work. 59 minutes plus 30-minute documentary. DVD - #500939D, $19.99
Here is the intimate story of one of the greatest preachers in the history of the church. We follow him from his youth where, as a young preacher, he is surprisingly called to minister in London and soon captures the love and respect of the nation. He goes on to become one of its most influential figures. This powerful, inspirational docu-drama faithfully recreates the times of C.H. Spurgeon and brings the “people’s preacher” to life as it follows his trials and triumphs with historical accuracy. Made by the award-winning Christian Television Association and filmed on location in England, Scotland, France and Germany, this film vividly captures the spirit and message of a man whose eventful — and sometimes controversial — life is highly relevant to the twenty-first century. 70 minutes. DVD - #501345D, $19.99
The Reckoning
This is the amazing biography of the blind hymn writer, Fanny Crosby. As the writer of more than 10,000 hymns, all penned after the age of 40, she is credited with authoring more verse than any human in history. The tragic mistreatment by a charlatan masquerading as a doctor blinded Fanny shortly after birth. Nevertheless, she learned to function as a sighted person except for her inability to read. Fulfilling the roles of wife, mother, friend, teacher, nurse to the sick during the cholera epidemic, humanitarian to the poor and disenfranchised, and friend of presidents — Fanny Crosby was an exceptional woman by any standard. Her legacy lives on through the thousands of hymns that are still sung today. 46 minutes. DVD - #4733D, $14.99
In September 1939, war erupted in Europe as Germany invaded Poland. Eight months later, Hitler publicly broadcasted that he would not invade Holland due to their neutrality during World War I. Within hours, this promise became a treacherous lie that engulfed the small country in World War II. Prejudice and persecution spread. The preservation of human life became a life-and-death mission for a small minority of ordinary Dutch citizens. The Reckoning: Remembering the Dutch Resistance is the international award-winning documentary that captures the compelling story and eyewitness account of six survivors in wartorn Netherlands during World War II. With the revelation of Hitler’s “Final Solution” and the uncertainty of liberation, it reveals the intensely human aspect of the Dutch struggle against Nazi tyranny. 96 minutes plus extras. DVD - #501177D, $19.99
Buy any three DVDs on this page for only $29.97! Use promo code “WMDOC5” for this special offer. — OR — Buy all five DVDs on this page at the special, low price of only $39.99! Save $55! Use item #97997D for the set.
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8/8/11 12:40 PM
“Is there an alternative for my son?”
124 McComb Avenue | Port Gibson, Mississippi 39150 | Tel 601.437.8855 | Fax 601.437.3212
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8/11/11 8:57 AM
TwenTieTh CenTury Fox
Achievement Honor Faith
Reviews MOVIES & TV BOOKS Q&A MUSIC
Caesar’s legions MOVIE: Rise of the Planet of the Apes makes for good summer fun
TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX
BY MEGAN BASHAM
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in his career, Andy Serkis has to be wondering if anyone will remember that he was once good at playing people. Sure he gets cast as a normal man now and then, but it’s unlikely any of those roles are going to be as memorable as his turn as Gollum in The Lord of the Rings, the titular monster gorilla in King Kong, or now Caesar, the genetically altered chimp in Rise of the Planet of the Apes. To say that Serkis steals the show would do him a disservice—he is the show, and thanks to him it’s a show that GOING APE: ends the blockbuster season of Caesar leads on a decidedly high note. a rebellion.
Email: mbasham@worldmag.com
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Executives at Twentieth Century Fox were wise to hold this prequel to Planet of the Apes till August. Not only did they avoid competing with Harry Potter and a host of superheroes, but for audiences weary of mythically proportioned good versus evil stories, their man versus monkey plot feels refreshing by comparison. In perhaps the least typecast role since Clint Eastwood sang show tunes in Paint Your Wagon, James Franco plays Will Rodman, a brilliant research scientist who discovers a potential cure for Alzheimer’s. Will knows the drug works because he administers it to his own dementia-suffering father (John Lithgow). But when a misconstrued violent outburst from one of his test chimps shuts down his project, he’s left with only one surviving subject still displaying the effects of the drug–baby A U G U S T 2 7, 2 0 1 1
WORLD
8/11/11 11:38 AM
Reviews > Movies & TV
W O R L D A U G U S T 2 7, 2 0 1 1
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Whistleblower by Alisa Harris
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K B, a Nebraska police officer, takes a lucrative job with a military contractor tasked with helping forge a fragile peace in post-war Bosnia. One night, she oversees a nightclub raid and watches a string of battered girls, some not much older than her own teenage daughter, hobble out—the “whores of war,” as one man puts it. But when Kathryn sees chains in a padlocked room and photographs of her co-workers abusing young girls, she begins to trace the evil back to those assigned to keep the peace. Expect realism and righteous anger from Whistleblower (rated for intense violence, sexual assault, and language)—based on the true story of a peacekeeper who uncovered sex trafficking in Bosnia and discovered that the people supposed to protect the Bosnians were exploiting them. Rachel Weisz brings a tight-lipped intensity—and at moments, an inspired fury—to the role of Bolkovac, but her character remains opaque. She tells one young girl that she is helping her to atone for the fact that a judge took her own children away, but her reasoning strikes a discordant note. Whistleblower evinces a grim ambition to grind its viewers’ faces in the muck of human corruption, but the camera lingers on horrific violence in a way that eventually seems plain sick. The bomb-pocked setting lacks any touch of warmth, even in the safe house where the girls take refuge. Kathryn can trust no one, and the film plays this masterfully to a suspenseful end. But after Bolkovac’s story ends, the real story continues. The contractor, DynCorp in real life, retained its government contracts. In Afghanistan, DynCorp employees hired a child prostitute as entertainment, and in Iraq, badly mismanaged a . billion contract. Bolkovac blew the whistle but corruption went on, which makes Whistleblower’s ending feel a little hollow.
WHISTLEBLOWER: SAMUEL GOLDWYN FILMS • RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES: TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX
Bridge on horseback, but once we get to that point, we actually care about those monkeys and why they are on horseback. Science fiction of this sort practically begs for a moral, but except for a mild “it’s dangerous to monkey around playing God” theme, there’s little here to provide a teaching moment. But since the film also avoids veering into Darwinist territory, perhaps that’s . The kids have to go back to school soon enough, and Rise of the Planet of the Apes offers one last shot at some great summer fun. A
ANIMAL ATTRACTION: Caesar and Will.
MOVIE
See all our movie reviews at mag.com/movies
8/11/11 11:39 AM
THE CHANGE-UP: RICHARD CARTWRIGHT/UNIVERSAL STUDIOS • JERUSALEM COUNTDOWN: PURE FLIX
chimp Caesar. Once Will smuggles Caesar home, he discovers that the animal’s burgeoning intelligence requires not an owner, but a father. As it develops from there, the film is heavy on action without, thanks to Serkis as Caesar, skimping on emotion. Together he and the team of wizards create a three-dimensional, fully sympathetic character who carries the story even when it flirts with the ridiculous. With the mind of a child trapped in the body of an animal, Caesar is inherently pitiable. He becomes more so once he reaches adolescence and his aggressive instincts start to take over. Will is forced to deposit him at a primate sanctuary run by scoundrels of the Dickens school of villainy (make Nicholas Nickleby’s schoolmaster Wackford Squeers an ape house manager and you have a perfect picture of Brian Cox’s role) and inhabited by alpha-apes that would put a prison yard to shame. Yet much like its forbear, improbable as it all is, it works. The biggest thing separating Rise of the Planet of the Apes (rated - for language and action violence) from the popcorn pack is that the fun carries through its entire running time (a feat even the dream team of Steven Spielberg and J.J. Abrams failed to pull off a couple of months ago). In a summer filled with ever more expensive, ever longer, and ever more tedious action sequences, when the final showdown between man and scientifically manipulated nature comes, it is riveting stuff. To be fair, it’s hard to beat the awesomeness of a horde of screaming monkeys riding across the Golden Gate
MOVIE
The Change-Up by Michael Leaser
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have been all the rage recently, most notably Judd Apatow’s pro-life Knocked Up and The -Year-Old Virgin, which promotes abstinence until marriage. Following in that vein is The Change-Up, though with a much higher ratio of raunch to values than its predecessors. Dave Lockwood (Jason Bateman) and Mitch Planko (Ryan Reynolds) have been best friends since childhood, but while Dave has become a successful lawyer with a beautiful family, Mitch has embraced adultescence. Each envies the other, and after they both openly wish they had the other’s life, à la Freaky Friday, they wake up the next morning in each other’s bodies. Body-change comedies are excellent vehicles for teaching the protagonists valuable lessons about themselves and their body-switch partners, and The Change-Up succeeds on that front. Married men and women would appreciate Dave’s realization of how very much he loves his family, and his implicit warning to the irresponsible Mitch that his wife “Jamie and the kids mean everything to me.” Both Bateman and Reynolds deliver fine performances against type, though Reynolds has the more difficult, and thus more impressive, job of channeling the reserved and conflicted married man into the natural intensity that is one of his strengths as an actor. Leslie Mann (Judd Apatow’s real-life wife) offers up another stellar comedic turn as Dave’s wife. Sadly, screenwriters Jon Lucas and Scott Moore (The Hangover) have mired their story in so much profanity, gratuitous nudity, and disgusting dialogue that the lessons Dave and Mitch learn are practically lost in the -rated filth. The film even stoops to include a pornographic film shoot that it attempts to play for laughs with severely offensive humor. One of Ronald Reagan’s favorite stories was that of the incurable optimist, the boy who plowed his way through a pile of manure, convinced that a pony had to be in there somewhere. If the viewer wades through The Change-Up long enough to find the toy pony buried in its excrement, I would recommend taking a shower immediately afterward. Use Lava.
BOX OFFICE TOP 10 . -,
CAUTIONS: Quantity of sexual (S), violent (V), and foul-language (L) content on a - scale, with high, from kids-in-mind.com 1̀ 2̀ 3̀ 4̀ 5̀ 6̀ 7̀ 8̀ 9̀ 10 `
S V L
Rise of the Planet of the Apes* PG-13 .................. The Smurfs PG ......................... Cowboys & Aliens PG-13 .... The Change-Up* R ................. Captain America: The First Avenger* PG-13 ... Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part * PG-13 ........... Crazy, Stupid, Love* PG-13... Friends with Benefits R..... Horrible Bosses R.................. Transformers: Dark of the Moon* PG-13 .....
*Reviewed by
THE CHANGE-UP: RICHARD CARTWRIGHT/UNIVERSAL STUDIOS • JERUSALEM COUNTDOWN: PURE FLIX
WHISTLEBLOWER: SAMUEL GOLDWYN FILMS • RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES: TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX
MOVIE
The Jerusalem Countdown by Megan Basham
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seem to be warring with each other in Christian production company Pure Flix’s latest release, The Jerusalem Countdown, based on the best-selling novel by John Hagee. One is a tightly paced, well-acted thriller where a pair of government agents track a group of terrorists intent on detonating nuclear bombs on U.S. soil. The other is a muddle of apocalyptic prophesying and barely veiled sermonizing. As a thriller, the film works surprisingly well, as an evangelism tool, decidedly less so.
David A.R. White turns in a nice performance as agent Shane Daughtry as does Anna Zielinski as the operative who teams up with him. Truncated though it is by the film’s other aims, the espionage plot calls to mind the television show , building tension as a would-be writer (Carey Scott) discovers that spying on his neighbor will either get him the story that jumpstarts his career or get him killed. Unfortunately, every time The Jerusalem Countdown starts to draw the viewer in, it
veers off into disjointed scenes relating to the end times. If all the prophetic Easter eggs superimposed on the plot are off-putting to a Christian, there is little chance a nonbeliever will find them engaging. Similarly, if some of the dialogue comes off churchy to a church-goer, imagine how those who’ve never haunted a pew will respond. While it is plausible for an agnostic husband and his Christian wife (singer Jaci Velasquez) to argue about salvation, it is less likely that two agents in the midst of a heated manhunt are going to stop and discuss their thoughts on Jesus. Better to have authentic characters and leave the evangelizing to another story better suited for the purpose. That said, though the end-times ending borders on camp, it also acts as a nice cliffhanger set-up for a sequel. If Pure Flix decides to make a franchise out of Hagee’s fiction, it will draw more eyes by paring to solid storytelling than by indulging all the author’s superfluous obsessions. A U G U S T 2 7, 2 0 1 1
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WORLD
8/11/11 11:44 AM
Reviews > Books
A well-stocked backpack
approach to common student mistakes concerning time management, sex, Books for navigating classrooms and filling grades, relationships with in the gaps BY MARVIN OLASKY parents, and other things that might seem simple but rarely are. L W’ Words Made Walter Olson’s Schools for Misrule: Legal Fresh (Crossway, ) is a comAcademia and an Overlawyered America pilation of the noted writer’s (Encounter, ) takes on the law essays on literature and culture. schools that are fountains of arrogance One of them is particularly relevant to a and hatcheries of bad ideas like class back-to-school issue, since Woiwode eviscerates the public-school action suits on demand, establishment for court takeovers of school “Deconstructing God.” He funding, and transnational quotes testimony by J. “rights” trumping the U.S. Gresham Machen before Constitution. Other bad news: Only Senate and House Committees in on the percent of high-school question of whether to seniors have a minimal level create a U.S. Department of of “proficiency” in history, Education that could propel according to the National “uniformity in education” Assessment of Educational across this vast land: Progress. Good news: Larry Machen said such uniforSchweikart and Michael mity was “the worst state Allen, authors of the excellent A Patriot’s History of the into which any country can fall.” United States, have produced a companEighty-five years later we’ve fallen ion volume available in paperback, The into a pit. George Yancey’s Patriot’s History Reader: Essential Compromising Scholarship: Religious Documents for Every American and Political Bias in American Higher (Sentinel, ). Education (Baylor U. Press, ) quietly David McCullough, who writes books documents prejudice in state and other such as that entertainingly teach secular schools against Christians and history, gave The Wall Street Journal four conservatives. In Already Compromised reasons why students don’t know much (MasterBooks, ) Ken Ham and Greg about it. First, personnel: “People who Hall zero in on Christian colleges that come out of college with a degree in are becoming secular look-alikes. education [are] often assigned to teach Alex Chediak’s Thriving at College subjects about which they know little or (Tyndale, ) offers a commonsense
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not hing.” Good history teachers love history, and “you can’t love something you don’t know any more than you can love someone you don’t know.” McCullough gave “method” as another problem: “History is often taught in categories—women’s history, African-American history, environmental history—so that many of the students have no sense of chronology. They have no idea what followed what.” Third, many textbooks have become “so politically correct as to be comic.” Fourth, “They’re so badly written. They’re boring!” William Bennett’s America: The Last Best Hope (three volumes) is an overall history that is not boring. And here are a few old favorites of mine: Shelby Foote’s wonderful three-volume work, The Civil War; Booker T. Washington’s Up from Slavery; Amity Shlaes’ The Forgotten Man (a great history of the s); and Whittaker Chambers’ Witness, which shows how Communism’s faith in Man opposes the Christian faith in God. Robert Shogan’s War Without End is a readable history of the s and the cultural conflicts that intensified then. By the way, students also display a dismal knowledge of economics. Economic Facts and Fallacies (Basic, , second edition) by Thomas Sowell and Back on the Road to Serfdom (, ), edited by Thomas E. Woods Jr., may be useful here. The latter book shows that the more Washington attempts to keep the economy on an even keel, the more it develops bubbles or conditions of stagnation. (I’d add a parallel: The more some pastors criticize free markets, the more they undercut religious freedom as well.)
Comic cash cow
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THE BOSTON GLOBE
With graphic novels—extended comic books— economically a lake of fresh water within a parched publishing world, those who want to learn why and how to dive in should read two books by Scott McCloud: Understanding Comics and Making Comics (Harper, and ). I’ve had fun writing two graphic novels that came out last month, and Echoes of Eden, both published by Kingstone. —M.O. Email: molasky@worldmag.com
8/8/11 10:55 AM
NOTABLE BOOKS
Books for educating and disciplining children > reviewed by
Give Them Grace Elyse Fitzpatrick and Jessica Thompson Why do so many Christian parents revert to a works-based system when it comes to childrearing? Why do we spend so much time piling on rules and teaching the law? Give Them Grace teaches, “Christians know that the gospel is the message unbelievers need to hear. We tell them that they can’t earn their way into heaven. . . . But then something odd happens when we start training the miniature unbelievers in our own home. We forget everything we know about the deadliness of relying on our own goodness and we teach them that Christianity is all about their behavior and whether, on any given day, God is pleased or displeased with them.” In this important book, a mother and daughter challenge the thinking found in most Christian child-rearing books.
Famous Figures of Medieval Times Famous Figures of the American Revolution
Cathy Diez-Luckie These wonderfully detailed and historically accurate paper figures provide a way for children to expand historical learning with creative play. Each book includes full-color paper figures and colorable ones, printed on heavy card stock. Clear markings show where to insert brass brads so the figures can move. The books include a short biography of each historical figure and a reading list. The Revolutionary War book includes Betsy Ross, Molly Pitcher, Daniel Boone, and a continental soldier, along with Jefferson, Washington, Patrick Henry, John Adams, Franklin, and Revere. The Medieval Times book includes Justinian, Theodora, Charlemagne, William the Conqueror, Richard the Lionhearted, Joan of Arc, Francis of Assisi, Genghis Khan, Marco Polo, and Leif Erickson.
What We Believe, Vols. 1 and 2
John Hay and David Webb This excellent, Bible-rich worldview curriculum in four hardback volumes begins with God (Who He is, What He is like, His works of creation and redemption). Volume looks at what it means to be made in His image. Each lesson presents a “big idea” and uses stories, discussions of art and literature, definitions, exposition, and Scripture to explore that idea. Whether the lesson is “Who are the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit?” or “Can you trust your feelings?” portions will be appropriate for children from elementary age through early high school. The books make clear that a Christian worldview grows out of our relationship with Christ and not from a set of abstract principles.
THE BOSTON GLOBE
Look at My Eyes: Autism Spectrum Disorders Melanie Fowler
Melanie Fowler has a master’s degree in special education and had worked with children on the autism spectrum. Despite her experience and her Christian faith, she felt overwhelmed when her own son received a - (pervasive developmental disorder—not otherwise specified) diagnosis. She wrote this primer so that other parents could benefit from the things she learned to help her son. You’ll find frank advice about getting a diagnosis, choosing the right early therapies, and avoiding quacks. Fowler provides honest insight into grieving, strategies to deal with behavior problems, and advice for handling insurance companies. The book contains insights from her husband Seth, who provides a father’s perspective, and a directory of helpful websites and materials for at-home activities. Email: solasky@worldmag.com; see all our reviews at mag.com/books
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SPOTLIGHT In Sex, Mom & God (Da Capo Press, ) Frank Schaeffer continues his “God Trilogy” (, Oct. , ), in which he lays out in toographic detail the sexual and other foibles of his famous father Francis, and some of his own. He combines these sharp details with much more softfocused memories of his sainted mother Edith. As Schaeffer describes his mom (and more or less provides a gloss for the entire book): “God suffered by comparison to my mother.” Schaeffer can be witty and ironic and, like the stopped clock that is accurate twice a day, some of his observations hit their mark. However, the tone, which vibrates between shrill and creepily oedipal, undermines the book’s readability and credibility. In the end, Schaeffer’s open, unsubstantiated, visceral disdain for theological and political conservatives makes Sex, Mom, & God little more than a textbook example of the ideologically driven close-mindedness he professes to hate. —Warren Smith
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WORLD
8/8/11 10:56 AM
Reviews > Q&A
Not dead yet
Students taught about the death of culture and Christianity should hear the other side from sociologist BRADLEY WRIGHT BY WARREN COLE SMITH
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fessor Bradley R.E. Wright. It’s astonishing that a professor in one of the most liberal scholarly fields in one of the most liberal parts of the United States should deviate from academic orthodoxy, but Wright’s books include Christians Are HateFilled Hypocrites . . . and Other Lies You’ve Been Told () and Upside: Surprising Good News About the State of Our World (). Wright says mainstream media paint gloomy pictures of Christians, and Christians
sometimes paint gloomy pictures of themselves and of the world—not because these pictures are true and accurate, but because they reinforce strongly held ideologies and sell well. You indict the mainstream media, but you also single out doomsday evangelicals for writing negative things about the Church and the world. What are they doing, and what’s the harm in it? It’s not done out of malice, but they’ll find the worst statistics, and tell them in their first
chapter, and then spend the next eight chapters telling you how to fix the problem. As for what’s wrong with it, first you must ask, “Is Christianity served by inaccuracy?” People respond to fear messages. But our perception of evangelical Christianity becomes skewed. To use an analogy: Plane crashes make news because they’re so rare. But because most plane crashes make the news and car crashes rarely make news, you’d think that plane travel is
CHRISTOPHER CAPOZZIELLO/GENESIS PHOTOS
T books, articles, and movies about our imminent demise as a civilization has become a growth industry. The threats vary: global warming, the drug war, /, the decline of morals or civility or democracy. But college students and sometimes younger ones are likely to hear repeatedly that American society is going to hell on a bobsled. Not so fast, says University of Connecticut sociology proW O R L D A U G U S T 2 7, 2 0 1 1
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Data games Wright, in Christians are Hate-Filled Hypocrites, criticizes Christian leaders who make statements like “evangelical youth are only about percent less likely to engage in premarital sex than non-evangelicals.” But he has a general point to make about the waving around of statistics generally: “You might think that only the most accurate and important statistics see the light of day, so we can trust what we hear. Ah, wouldn’t that be nice. In fact, if you believe this, I should probably tell you that politicians don’t always keep their promises, television advertisements exaggerate their products, and investment opportunities in spam emails are rip-offs.”
CHRISTOPHER CAPOZZIELLO/GENESIS PHOTOS
dangerous when, in reality, it’s safer than driving. Bad or misused statistics blind us to real problems because we need to be able to prioritize problems. Let’s explore some of these myths, beginning with a famous example: the “fact” that Christians have a higher divorce rate. What’s wrong with that statistic? It’s just not true. I’m a Christian and my wife’s a Christian. We went through a rough patch in our marriage a few years ago, and we got a lot of help from the
church we attended. To me, it didn’t make sense that this sort of support wasn’t working for Christians on a large scale. So I did the research, and found that it does. Evangelicals have a lower divorce rate. Academia is satisfied that evangelical divorce is less. Also, greater church attendance correlates to lower divorce rates. So how did this myth start? They are mostly problems of methodology: including people in the Christian group because they’re not something else, or excluding them from the evangelical group because they don’t self-identify as evangelicals. I prefer to ask people what church they attend, and put them in one of six or seven categories. Attendance data is easier to obtain and tends to be more accurate than asking people to self-identify or take a theology test. You identify other myths. For example, another popular belief is that young evangelicals are leaving evangelical Christianity. Truth or myth? Mostly myth. In any generation, the young are less religious than the old. The relevant question is to compare young generations now to former young generations. Today’s kids are about where their grandparents’ generation was when they were the same age. If you look at the data [sociologist] Rodney Stark compiled, church attendance
was greater in the th century than in the th century. The related myth is that evangelicals are converting to Catholicism. What I’ve seen indicates that the flow from the Catholic Church to evangelicalism is greater than evangelicalism flowing to the Catholics. But evangelicals converting to Catholicism is newsworthy because it’s unexpected. What about the myth that abstinence programs don’t work? Data on abstinence programs is mixed. What I see is a correlation between church attendance and not having sex. Premarital sex is at high levels, for Christians and non-Christians, but comparatively, there is a significant difference. In Upside, you make the case that there’s less hunger and poverty than ever before, and in general the world is a better place today than in the past. There are some things that are worse, but on the whole the world is a better place. Hunger has decreased, but technology means our awareness is becoming greater. Life expectancy is going up, which is a problem for Social Security, which was designed for a group of people who died younger. Sexual behavior outside of marriage has increased, and that is a problem from a Christian perspective. In terms of government: Democracy has significantly
increased over the last years. The percentage of people experiencing democracy is larger than ever and still growing. I punt on global warming. The world’s getting warmer, but we do not definitively know why. However, you can’t just blame rich countries. Higher national wealth leads to greater care for the environment. The solution might be to make the mid-range countries richer, so that they can afford the solutions richer countries are now implementing. Is premillennial theology, which has been popular among evangelicals, a part of the cause for these myths? That’s actually the starting point for Upside. Many Christians have an expectation that things will get really bad, really fast, so they tend to look for the bad things and ignore the good. A A U G U S T 2 7, 2 0 1 1
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8/8/11 11:32 AM
Reviews > Music
Actors’ albums
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while Laurie sticks strictly to a setlist of blues and jazz classics (15 on the basic edition, 18 on the deluxe), leading off, appropriately enough given the charac ter he plays on House, with “St. James Infirmary.” But, if his intention was to submerge his ego or to make his affection for blues and jazz unmistakable, his settling for many of the most overperformed songs in those genres will have people who love jazz and the blues as much as Laurie does comparing his renditions of songs like “Buddy Bolden’s Blues,” “John Henry,” and “It Ain’t Necessarily So” to those of other performers and— well, it will have such listeners conclud ing that perhaps those for whom singing the blues is a calling rather than an avocation do it better. Not that Laurie sings or plays the piano badly. He does both adequately at least when not doing both adequately at best. Perhaps next time he’ll find 15 or 18 Laurie old blues and jazz songs that haven’t been overrecorded and thereby not only avoid the problem of unflattering comparisons but also intro duce his audience to music they might not otherwise discover. Bridges’ album doesn’t contain any blues or jazz (although it’s easy to
imagine the chord changes of “Tumbling Vine” surviving and maybe flourishing under jazz treatment), no doubt because it’s an outgrowth of his Academy Award–winning performance as the deliquescent country singer “Bad” Blake in the 2009 film Crazy Heart. It is not, however, a direct outgrowth so much as a fruition, a reaping of what was sown during the recording of the Crazy Heart soundtrack on which Bridges sang five songs and held his own amid performances by the likes of Buck Owens, Waylon Jennings, and the Louvin Brothers. Although a steel guitar occasionally weeps in the background, Jeff Bridges is less a country album than a soul searching folkrock album with country echoes. Frankly, it might not even sound all that country to anyone who doesn’t associate it with Bridges’ portrayal of Bad Blake. But whatever it is, Bridges’ sandpaper tenor voice suits it well. Now for the irony: By at least partially inhabiting a character—a fiction—Bridges has made a more believable and individualistic human statement than Hugh Laurie has by completely shedding the character of Dr. Gregory House. A
bridges: unimediA emi/unimediAimAges inc/unimediA emi/newscom • LAurie: rALph orLowski/Ap
It’s not exactly The Battle of the Network Stars, what with one of the participants’ being more famous as a film star than a tV star, but the new albums by the actors Jeff Bridges (Jeff Bridges [Blue Note]) and Hugh Laurie (Let Them Talk [Warner Bros.]) bear being pitted against each other if only because together (and at loggerheads) they say more about ambition, its attendant pitfalls, and how to avoid some of them than they would alone. One statement they make is that ambition and pride need not be syn onymous. Neither Laurie nor Bridges comes off the way Bruce Willis did, for instance, when at the height of his Moonlighting career in 1987 he released The Return of Bruno—i.e., like a celebrity cashing in on his renown while the cashing in is good. Rather, both Laurie and Bridges have approached their latest projects with a seriousness that’s obvious just from a perusal of the credits. Both have enlisted firstrate producers (T Bone Burnett in Bridges’ case, Joe Henry in Laurie’s) who have in turn enlisted first rate supporting casts, and neither has insisted on “expressing” himself by hogging the songwriting. Quite the opposite, in fact. Bridges’ name appears on only four of his 11 tracks (and two of those as a cowriter),
Email: aorteza@worldmag.com
8/9/11 4:30 PM
kevin winter/getty imAges
Hugh Laurie does well enough with a new CD, but JEFF BRIDGES does better By ArsEnio ortEzA
NOTABLE CDs
Five new pop-rock releases > reviewed by
Back Pages America The recent death of America’s long-estranged third member, Dan Peek, points up this almost pleasant enough all-covers album’s main problem: It could use another voice. Vocally, Dewey Bunnell and Gerry Beckley may be up to Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Simon and Garfunkel, and solo Brian Wilson, but the Zombies are clearly beyond them. As for Fountains of Wayne’s “A Road Song,” Bunnell and Beckley’s sounds exactly like the original—except for one measure near the end when it almost turns into “Sister Golden Hair” then doesn’t. One Beer, One Blues Big Bill Broonzy Broonzy spent almost half his threescore years demonstrating the depth and breadth of acoustic blues better than anybody else except Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters. Yet he gets less attention than either, maybe because, unlike Johnson, he didn’t have a hellhound on his trail and, unlike Waters, he’d died before the blues had a baby and called it rock ’n’ roll. This excellent -song overview/introduction suggests no answers, but its inclusion of “Tell Me What Kind of Man Jesus Is” ensures that it asks profound questions.
Drums Between the Bells
For some singer-songwriters, rerecording their youthful catalogues is simply a business move. For others, though, it makes sense as well as dollars. Take, for instance, Randy Newman, who at has just released The Randy Newman Songbook Vol. (Nonesuch), his latest installment of solopiano renditions of songs that he originally wrote and recorded between and . The main reason that Newman’s revisiting his oeuvre matters is that, more than any other popular composer, his reputation, and therefore the predispositions that one brings to his work, has changed. When he first recorded “Yellow Man” () and “My Life Is Good” (), he was known for his unflinchingly lacerating satire, and therefore even a trifle like “Short People” was scrutinized for misanthropic intent. But since then Newman has composed and performed the songs for the Toy Story trilogy, revealing a more sensitive side, and, voila, even the flagrantly insensitive “Lucinda” () takes on an elliptically tender dimension.
Relient K is for Karaoke Relient K
KEVIN WINTER/GETTY IMAGES
BRIDGES: UNIMEDIA EMI/UNIMEDIAIMAGES INC/UNIMEDIA EMI/NEWSCOM • LAURIE: RALPH ORLOWSKI/AP
Brian Eno Eno’s insistence that this album represents a technological breakthrough in adapting the human voice to music makes one wonder whether he’s ever heard of Laurie Anderson. Still, if it’s by keeping his head in the sand that he dreams up soundscapes as eerily beautiful as these, more power to him. As for the poetry of Rick Holland read to the soundscapes by an assorted cast, it’s as far as it goes. But the music goes further on its own—as the deluxe edition’s voice-free bonus disc confirms.
SPOTLIGHT
On the surface, this is a good-natured trifle: seven songs made famous by Cyndi Lauper, Tom Petty, Justin Bieber, They Might Be Giants, Gnarls Barkley, Tears for Fears, and Weezer, played with skill and affection by one of Contemporary Christian Music’s more reliable (“relieble”?) indietype bands, with the only theme being that there is no theme. But no theme doesn’t necessarily mean no purpose. After all, the original performers just might hear these versions, admit they’re good, and wonder what makes Relient K tick. See all our reviews at mag.com/music
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WORLD
8/9/11 4:34 PM
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Mindy Belz
DOWNGRADE NATION
DAN COOPER/ISTOCK
Are U.S. economic doldrums tied to a spiritual downturn?
A owned the future? Now we are a pessimistic bunch and not only with regards to the economy. Our president may say that “we will always be a Triple-A country” but many of us know the leading indicators say otherwise. As economists look to the three tenets of growth—capital, labor, and productivity—they see trouble in the West. And as leading demographers take the temperature of the church, they find American evangelicals in downgrade status as well. In the United States large debt burdens— percent of —hamper capital formation. The retirement-age population in the West will nearly triple in the next years, raising pension and medical costs just as our labor force shrinks. And while U.S. productivity is steady, the quality of our labor force and industrial savvy suggest that our competitiveness already may be waning. (If you’ve called customer service lately regarding your phone service, your dishwasher, or your mortgage balance, you know what I mean.) As economist Dambisa Moyo puts it, “Without actively re-skilling the population and meaningfully redirecting capital towards constructive investment rather than parasitic consumption, America will remain on a perilous path of long-term economic decline.” Moyo believes that our loss of economic muscle will forfeit U.S. military might and political supremacy— downgrades already hinted at. The cover of her book, How the West Was Lost, depicts a bill with Chairman Mao on its face instead of Ben Franklin. Economic downturn, she suggests, is tied to a downfall in moral will: “The story of the West’s rise and fall is primarily a tale of how it has viewed, stored, and wasted its capital,” she writes, as the West has behaved in the last years like “a profligate son, squandering the family wealth garnered over the centuries.” It’s perhaps then not a coincidence that this month’s comprehensive study of global evangelicals shows Western—and particularly American— evangelical leaders to be among the world’s most pessimistic. Email: mbelz@worldmag.com
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The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life conducted the survey at the Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization in Cape Town last year. It found that evangelical leaders from the Global South are especially upbeat about their future, while leaders from the Global North are notably downcast. Of those surveyed from sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, Central and South America, percent say they expect progress for evangelical Christianity in the next five years, but only percent of leaders from the Global North—Europe, North America, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand—expect the same. Most leaders in the Global South— percent— say that evangelical Christians are gaining influence in their countries. By contrast, percent of leaders in the Global North say that evangelicals are losing influence where they live. U.S. evangelical leaders are especially downbeat— percent say evangelicals are losing influence in the United States. To everyone surveyed, the rise of secularism and emphasis on consumerism are seen as the greatest threats to evangelism—much more threatening than government restrictions on religion or, say, the influence of Islam. Pew conducted the survey in nine languages among more than , delegates from countries. That’s a unique set of respondents who are geographically, culturally, and ethnically diverse, and among the most engaged church leaders around the world. Having attended the Cape Town event, I saw a Congress that reflected the sunniness of church leaders from what we used to describe as the Third World, or the havenots. During breaks the Brazilians were the most boisterous in the hall, and the Africans were everywhere back-slapping one another. Even our dress divided us, with darkskinned delegates in flowing, colorful tunics and robes, while we Northerners trended black or khaki. Beyond those superficials, the pessimism of American evangelicals is perhaps understandable, but not particularly biblical. Economically and spiritually, we are beset by our material plenty, yet somewhere along the way have lost the confidence shown by our poorer brethren, or to say with the psalmist, “I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the L in the land of the living!” A A U G U S T 2 7, 2 0 1 1
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Educational o From tightening budgets to growing charter schools, slow moving trends are changing American public education by Marvin Olasky
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-- , but we’ve heard a complaint: You emphasize Christian schools and homeschools but don’t pay enough attention to public schools. So in this issue we’re highlighting trends in public schooling: We’ll come back to Christian education throughout the fall. In describing public-school rates of change, “trends” may not be the right word: Change takes so long that we should call them “oozes.” One public education ooze: tighter budgets in most states, but not the radical cuts that appeared in newspaper scare headlines this spring. Educational budgets have expanded so much that schools often have as many administrative personnel as teachers, as our article on p. shows. Is all that extra expense the result of educators’ empire-building? Much certainly is, but schools do face more behavioral problems than they did a generation ago, in part because of the growth of single-parenting and the burdens children bring with them to school. A sidebar on p. notes that fixing education begins with fixing marriage. A second ooze: corruption. Some public schools have great Christian teachers—we profile one on p. . Others have corrupt administrators and teachers. On p. we have a column on Atlanta’s sad story, but throughout the summer similar tales of administrative cheating on tests emerged from Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C., and elsewhere. A third ooze: the growth of charter schools, which offer alternatives within public-school systems. Although severely hampered because teachers cannot talk about Christ, charter schools have the potential to innovate, and some emerge from surprising backgrounds: On p. we profile a chain of Muslim-originated ones. One lesson I derive from these varied stories is that researchers have found little correlation between spending and educational success. For example, last year the affluent Carmel (Calif.) Unified School District spent almost , per student, three times more than the middle-class Norris School District, yet the students had similar test scores. Similarly, the Center for Investigative Reporting found that Oakland spent about , more per student than the demographically similar Moreno Valley Schools. Students in both districts had similar test scores. That money can’t buy wisdom is even more evident in the higher education realm. More parents are angry about college costs, but so far plenty still are willing to write checks (p. ). Many parents and students think that a college degree virtually guarantees a good job, but that’s no longer the case (p. ). Students may increase their employability by majoring in economics or finance, but parents who think those fields are spiritually safe havens are over-optimistic (p. ). We do have some good news. The poor quality of math education has been an oozing story for decades, so on p. we tell the story of a free, online math-teaching program, Khanacademy.org, that has caught on both among some public-school teachers but also homeschoolers. No bells and whistles, and its inventor doesn’t have a teaching degree, so it’s great that America still allows clever innovators to make a difference. A
W O R L D A U G U S T 2 7, 2 0 1 1 LIAM NORRIS/CULTURA/GETTY IMAGES
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Money for nothing
Big increases in educational spending by the government have not yielded a better educational product
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city not replace , teachers who are retiring or leaving on their own. In Detroit, struggling because of dramatic population and tax base declines, school district leaders in February warned that all , of the district’s unionized employees could be laid off. This summer the school system said that only mostly non-teaching jobs will be cut and that all remaining employees will take a percent pay cut. Education reformers say exaggerated warnings of massive teacher layoffs and of big program cuts are standard practice, as is the education establishment’s message: Reduced spending will jeopardize the quality of education received by current and future students. But Rob Eissler, the Republican chairman of the Texas House’s Public Education Committee says, “There’s years of data showing that increased spending on education has not moved the dial on average student achievement. Yet our behavior has been that if we just put more money into schools they’ll improve.” Neal McCluskey of the libertarian Cato Institute has documented the inefficacy of federal spending on K- education, which rose percent from to . Total real spending per pupil (counting all sources of money) rose percent, from , to ,. Yet, since the early ’s the scores of -year-olds on the National Assessment of Educational Progress—often called “The Nation’s Report Card”—are virtually unchanged. So if all that extra spending hasn’t led to significant improvement in average student achievement, what has it bought? For starters: more teachers. Over the last years the notion that low student-teacher ratios improve learning and student achievement has become deeply ingrained in American thought. The student-teacher ratio nationally today is .-to-. In it was .-to-. From the - school year through - the number of public-school teachers across the nation grew percent, almost twice the . percent growth rate in public-school enrollments. Eissler says the academic evidence shows that schools could move back at least half-way toward those higher sera student-teacher ratios without harming the quality of education, saving tens of billions of dollars in the process. Layoffs wouldn’t be necessary: The perennial double-digit turnover rate among teachers means that higher student-teacher ratios could be achieved within a few years via attrition.
APRIL CASTRO/AP
W T on the State Capitol in Austin this spring to protest proposed cuts in state funding for K- education, some carried signs claiming that tens of thousands of teachers would be laid off. To varying degrees similar alarms went off in Wisconsin, California, and others states where legislatures struggled with how to respond to big projected budget deficits. By late June, when the Texas legislature finally passed its biennial budget, it turned out that state spending on K- education in and is “cut” only in the sense that schools will be getting a . billion increase in state funding next year instead of the . billion hike they would have received under the state’s previous school funding formula. To be sure, some Texas teachers did get layoff notices, especially in districts hardest hit by declines in revenue from local property taxes. But thanks to Texas’ continuing population growth, the number of new positions in the coming school year could exceed the combined effect of layoffs and attrition. In states with less growth, or even more intense budget pressure, teacher layoffs have been a bigger concern. Arizona saw the number of public-school teachers shrink percent in the - school year, the last year for which data are available. North Carolina teachers’ ranks fell . percent that same year. Yet even in those places the relentless teacher attrition rate—half of all teachers nationally leave the profession voluntarily within five years of starting—has reduced the number of layoffs that were necessary. Not that the public is widely aware of that. When tens of thousands of teachers get layoff warning letters it is typically big news. Not so when the number of layoffs turns out to be dramatically smaller. For example, stories from financially troubled California early this year screamed that tens of thousands of teaching jobs were on the chopping block for the - school year. But state lawmakers ended up attaching a last-minute measure to California’s budget package that requires school districts to keep the same number of teachers for the approaching school year as they had last year. New York and Detroit announced big teacher layoff programs this spring, and reporters wrote big stories. The final totals received scant notice. Negotiations between the city of New York and its teachers union preserved the jobs of all , teachers who’d been warned they might be laid off. In return for keeping those jobs, the union agreed to let the
by Dan Reed
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APRIL CASTRO/AP
/ SOUR CASH: Teachers, parents, and students gather at the Texas State Capitol, protesting proposed cuts to public education on March , .
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—Dan Reed is a Texas journalist
PROBLEM PARENTS Fixing schools depends on fixing families first by Mitch Pearlstein
Many conservatives define our public-school problems in terms of teachers unions, administrator organizations, colleges of education, and the rest of the educational establishment holding oligopolistic sway. In essence, they are looking to governmental change to fix what are, in large measure, the results of social and spiritual problems. Do great educators and great schools make enormous differences in the lives of all kinds of students—from the most fortunate to the least—every period of every day? Of course they do. But many more kids than we may think have such holes and disorganization in their home lives that they find it too hard to concentrate and work hard enough so as to perform well enough academically. Looking less individually and more communally (as in largely fatherless communities, of which we have vast numbers), it’s clear that neighborhoods in which more than percent or percent of children are born outside of marriage are not particularly conducive places for even middling achievement. Peer pressure, for example, can be perverse anyplace, but tends to be especially poisonous—as in epithets about “acting white”—where strong families aren’t buffers. Or consider not just everyday ants-in-pants, but the specific matter of Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, a real affliction that affects not a large proportion of people but a large number of them. Many researchers say ’s fundamental causes are genetic, not anything social, such as parents. Let’s accept that. But don’t constant pressures and accompanying crises—the very kinds often entwined with family fragmentation—trigger and ignite genetic predispositions? Whether it’s as strictly defined, or some other state of mind with fewer if any explanatory pages in any psychiatric textbook, it’s clear that sizable numbers of children have an extra hard time concentrating on their schoolwork because of unfilled holes in their lives. A Educational Testing Service report concluded that educational progress was unlikely apart from “increasing marriage rates and getting fathers back into the business of nurturing children.” Fixing education, like charity, begins in the home. —Mitch Pearlstein, founder and president of Center of the American Experiment in Minneapolis, is the author of From Family Collapse to America’s Decline
KRIEG BARRIE
Still, the growth in the number of teachers relative to enrollments does not account for all the extra government spending. Education reformers point to the number of school administrators. Nearly million students attended Texas public schools in the - school year, up percent from -. The number of classroom teachers in the state’s public schools rose percent during the same period. But “administration” and “professional staff”—superintendents, principals, educational program leaders, and other school district bosses who typically hold advanced degrees and earn the biggest paychecks, along with accountants, computer programmers, audio-visual technicians, secretaries, and so forth—ballooned percent to percent in Texas over that same decade. Texas now employs nearly as many full-time publicschool employees who don’t work in a classroom as those who do—, compared to , in . The Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District provides a good case study of administrative bloat in public schools, says Cindy Mallette of The Red Apple Project, the education finance watchdog arm of the Texas chapter of Americans For Prosperity. The Cy-Fair district covers a huge swath of suburbia and exurbia northwest of Houston, and with ,-plus students is the third-largest in the state. The Texas Comptroller’s office has called it one of the state’s most efficient districts in terms of how it spends its money and the results it gets as measured by student achievement. Yet even that “model” district is so top heavy that it requires secretaries to support , administrators, managers, and non-teaching professionals. That total includes a superintendent whose base salary before retiring in June was ,, plus eight assistant and five associate superintendents, principals and vice and associate principals, counselors, directors and assistant directors, coordinators, media specialists, academic coaches, education diagnosticians, and psychologists. “If conservative, fiscally responsible Texas has this problem, you can bet that less fiscally sound states are dealing with it too,” Mallette says. Cy-Fair school board member Bill Morris says flatly, “We have not spent money wisely.” In late he won election over the board’s former president by focusing on issues like Cy-Fair’s billion debt, its attempts to grab more tax money, and a large achievement gap between white and minority students. He also tapped into public outrage over a palatial million football stadium/sports arena/special events complex opened in . Since then the district has sold more construction bonds, but can’t afford to staff or cool eight of the new schools that were to have been built with the bond money. Cy-Fair’s former superintendent and supportive board members had argued that the district needed more, not less tax money, and that the district budget had been cut to the bone. Morris says, “I don’t buy that. And a lot people here and all around the country don’t buy that.” A
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‘Their lives have value’
NAJLAH FEANNY/GENESIS PHOTOS FOR WORLD
A former basketball player takes on the tall task of teaching at-risk kids in Union City, N.J. by Tiffany Owens
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G P G is “Mr. G” in his Union City, N.J., world history classroom, where he stands at -foot- with “Truth or Die” dog chains hanging around his neck. In his class th-graders learn that history is more than memorizing facts and dates: It’s also about learning that individual choices shape society and that individuals can make history. “My students want purpose,” Gonzalez says, moving his hands as he speaks: “They want to know that their lives have value . . . that they mean something.” Like other public-school teachers around the country, Gonzalez faces off against crippling social norms such as teen pregnancy (his school has an on-campus nursery), drug use, and gangs. “Our most chronic problem is apathy towards school work and lack of motivation,” explained guidance counselor Laura Marcos. Gonzalez echoes that observation: “Kids disregard caution or warning because [they feel] life doesn’t matter that much.” Gonzalez contends that if students realize their life has purpose, they’ll be less likely to throw it away—so he’s using his history class to make that point. An example: His students read Marc Antony’s eulogy of Julius Caesar and then wrote eulogies of their own, answering Gonzalez’s question—How do you want to be remembered? They dressed in black, brought flowers, and one-by-one read their stories in class. One freshman girl wrote from the perspective of her -year-old daughter. Others told stories of greatness, of helping their community, of going to college. “What are / SCHOOL OF you doing ENGAGEMENT: right now to Gonzalez at José start that?” Martí Freshman he asked his Academy.
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class, knowing he might not get an answer. Teaching, he says, is like watching a tree—“some days it doesn’t seem to grow.” But he’s doing something right: Gonzalez was the José Martí Freshman Academy Teacher of the Year. And he has seen some of his students turn around—one former student visits him every day and runs an anti-drug campaign. “He gets it,” Gonzalez says. Gonzalez has walked the public-school halls for three years now, compelled there by his own sense of purpose. Invited to play in a summer pro league that was sometimes a steppingstone to the National Basketball Association, he chose to return home instead: “I remember writing in my journal one night that I don’t want to be a person who is seen on . I want to be a person kids can see every day.” For him, becoming an athlete was a miracle. His mother contracted German measles during her pregnancy and doctors, suspecting her baby would be born deformed, urged abortion. His parents refused: Gian Paul turned out to be the strongest baby in the hospital. He became a Christian in high school and during college realized basketball was not just a sport but a way of life and a linchpin for inner-city youth. He started one organization that brought basketball, friendship, and hope to incarcerated teenagers, and is now—along with teaching—running three others: a group that teaches young boys about
“The love of God . . . [is] something I want to share in all angles with others whether it’s outright preaching . . . or staying after school with kids—that’s preaching about Jesus with your time and body language.”
LOOKING FOR INTEGRITY Reporters draw baffling lessons from Atlanta schools scandal by Bill Newton
The headline of the Associated Press article read, “Atlanta Schools Created Culture of Cheating, Fear, Intimidation.” The headline should have read, “Integrity Lacking in Atlanta Schools.” The article reads like a defense attorney’s closing argument in a criminal case: Ten years of widespread cheating in schools out of approximately in the Atlanta Public School system. Teachers and principals intimidated and bullied into fabricating inflated test scores, but it’s not their fault—the evil “No Child Left Behind Act” made them do it. The article does not mention any lack of personal integrity! The article suggested that Congress enacted a law establishing unreasonable standards. The law’s attractive rewards for good results purportedly forced “good” people to cheat to get the rewards. Administrators had to cheat to get needed money. Principals had to get
results so funds and bonuses would come through. Teachers faced “mafialike” pressure to meet the unreasonable goals and expectations of superiors. Apparently, not one ethical administrator, teacher, principal, or parent uncovered this massive fraud. Did any teachers really care about students’ learning? Did anyone ask what we are teaching the children by doing this? The lack of integrity over a long period of time is the real story. Atlanta Superintendent Beverly Hall resigned days before the report of these violations went public, saying she did not know about the cheating. Plausible deniability? Hall either knew and encouraged the behavior, or did not want to know and willfully ignored years of opportunities to discover this on her own. The principals and the teachers who kowtowed to this pattern of behavior should also be ashamed. If they had
been honest, they might have had to resign and find another job. They might have been fired. Those alternatives must look good to some now who are facing criminal charges, jail time, and fines. But there is more. The cheaters robbed thousands of students of a real education and real hope for a future. Their behavior was unethical but also irresponsible and selfish. Teachers and administrators who knew of the cheating and said nothing also share culpability. All their students learned lessons from their inaction.
/ NOT-SO-SUPERINTENDENT: Hall.
GONZALEZ: NAJLAH FEANNY/GENESIS PHOTOS FOR WORLD • HALL: VINO WONG/ATLANTA JOURNAL CONSTITUTION/AP
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mentorship and accountability, an intramural basketball team that encourages academic achievement, and a multi-media organization, “Truth or Die,” that teaches about the influence of media. The public schools have welcomed the abstinence messages of his organization. Although he isn’t always able to speak explicitly about his faith, Gonzalez is hopeful: “The love of God . . . [is] something I want to share in all angles with others whether it’s outright preaching . . . or staying after school with kids—that’s preaching about Jesus with your time and body language.” This fall, he’s taking on a new challenge: Instead of teaching history, he’s writing and teaching a new class for the city’s most at-risk students, of them in all. The students, selected by their teachers, show academic, social, and emotional “growth problems,” and school principal Joe Polinik hopes the new class will be a place where they learn how to “make better decisions.” The class will cover not only note-taking and goal-setting, but also conflict resolution and ways to refuse drugs and gangs. Gonzalez is asking his students to create wellresearched multi-media projects for their school about how those problems hurt the community. He’s hoping the projects will teach students to do more than resist: “If a student feels his life matters, [he’s] willing to fight for it.” A
/ ASSIGNED CHEATING: Students at Emma Hutchinson School in Atlanta. Hutchinson has been identified as one of schools involved in the test cheating scandal.
This lack of integrity on such a massive scale shines a light on the culture that has developed within the “Education Establishment.” This establishment now proposes “solutions”: Either eliminate standards completely, or remove any incentives for genuine
results. Both approaches lead to hopelessness. Politicians who propose one-size-fits-all solutions also deserve blame. The educational needs and solutions of the Bronx, San Bernardino, Boise, and Birmingham are very different.
No legislation will solve the ethical lack of integrity exhibited in Atlanta. Integrity is a heart issue. The heart of the matter is the human heart. Unless teachers, administrators, and principals believe integrity is more important than a job, a performance evaluation, or a bonus, this problem will continue. It may change form, it may change location, it may change symptoms, but addressing the heart is the solution, not changing laws, requirements, or incentives. Solomon said the heart is the “wellspring of life.” Unless we as a culture address heart issues with heart solutions, embarrassments will continue to pop up with ever-increasing regularity.
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Soft sell Tax-funded charter schools founded by Turkish Muslims are trying to practice but not preach by Les Sillars & Alicia Constant in Albuquerque
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A the Albuquerque School of Excellence in New Mexico proclaims, “College ready, Career ready, Life ready.” The building is a former Safeway, freshly painted neon orange and yellow. Inside, Chinese dragons, colorful butterflies, and self-portraits adorn the bright blue, yellow, and red halls, remnants of a recent art show. Many of the charter school’s K- students are members of minorities from the neighborhood, drawn by its academic rigor and focus on science and math. One of its eighth-graders won first place in the New Mexico Science and Engineering Fair. Last school year, ’s first, included celebrations for Black History Month and Cinco de Mayo. It plans to add a high school and uses a science-oriented curriculum popular in Texas public schools. parents seem pleased. Lewanna Ramsey, the mom of an eighth-grader and a special-needs sixth-grader at , says she appreciates principal Ahmet Cetinkaya’s open-door policy. “At a public school,” she says, “you hardly ever see the principal or other staff. Here, I’m always in Mr. Cetinkaya’s office.” But there’s a bit more to the story. is tied to sympathizers of Fethullah Gulen, a charismatic Turkish Muslim cleric now living in rural Pennsylvania. “Gulen,” according to Daniel Pipes of the Middle East Forum, “is probably the most subtle and capable Islamist now active.” His millions of followers around the world promote his moderate brand of Islam partly through their businesses, cultural foundations, and media but primarily through schools and colleges—several hundred on five continents. Ask Cetinkaya about ’s relationship to Gulen and he shifts in his chair and looks away. He and three of his teachers are from Turkey. In the United States, Gulen’s supporters have in the last decade founded about charter schools in states. Many work with low-income students and have an impressive reputation for academics, especially in science and math. Gulen charter schools combined draw perhaps , students and hundreds of millions of tax dollars. About years ago in Texas a group of Turkish businessmen founded the Cosmos Foundation Inc., now the largest charter school operator in the state with “Harmony”-branded schools. lists Cosmos as a “partner” in its charter application with the state: Principal Cetinkaya and at least one of his teachers formerly worked for Harmony in Texas. After Texas, the largest networks are in Ohio, where Concept Schools Inc. operates Horizon Science and Noble academies (with six others in neighboring states), and California, where the Magnolia Foundation has schools. Some Gulen schools are academically weak but many are impressive. The Texas High School Project, a public-private alliance that offers grants to help prepare low-income students for col/ IN HARMONY? lege, selected Harmony schools for its Testing a homemade -school list of “T-STEM Academies.” hovercraft in his physics class at The K- students at Pinnacle Academy Harmony Science in Oakton, Va., have collected almost Academy High two dozen medals and awards over the School in Houston. last two years at Virginia State Science MICHAEL STRAVATO/ Olympiads and other competitions, THE NEW YORK TIMES/REDUX
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/ SUBTLE AND CAPABLE: Gulen at home.
until the conditions are ripe.” Supporters claimed the tapes were doctored, and Turkey’s government, now led by an Islamist-sympathizing party, dropped the charges in . In Gulen received permanent residency status in the United States. He now lives with a staff on an estate near Saylorsburg, Pa., about an hour’s drive north of Philadelphia. Gulen regularly refuses interviews and claims no connection except inspiration to the school movement that bears his name. But Islamist-watchers are concerned that these “Gulen-inspired” schools intend to help promote Islam—not by proselytizing or even by teaching Turkish culture, but by showing peaceful, community-minded Muslim educators. What’s wrong with that? calls Gulen the “most powerful and influential Islamist movement in Turkey . . . a semi-state within a state.” Followers mentor young people to “prepare them for future careers in legal, political, and educational professions, in order to create the future Islamist Turkish state.” In the United States, Gulen-inspired charters are unlikely to promote Islam directly, according to an American businessman who lived in Turkey for years. ( agreed not to name him because he still owns a business and travels there.) Instead, he said, Gulenists try to make appreciative parents and students more accepting of Islam. The long-term approach, he said, is to “just practice Islam—we don’t even have to preach—and people will realize the justice of our system and convert.” Many American evangelicals have become adept in criticizing and opposing militant Islam. The Gulen schools offer a new challenge: When Christians shirk from developing schools for low-income students, Gulen moves in. A
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earning a meeting with President Barack Obama at his inaugural White House Science Fair last fall. The schools have generated critical examination. A New York Times article in June detailed how the Harmony charters seem to favor local Turkish businessmen in awarding building contracts. While a large majority of Gulen charter staff and teachers are usually American, the administrators are usually Turkish. Every year the schools import several hundred male teachers from Turkey on H-B temporary worker visas ( in , according to a Philadelphia Inquirer report), making them one of the largest users of such visas in the country. Gulen administrators claim that quality science and math teachers are hard to find, but teachers unions and some parent groups find that hard to believe. The Oklahoman quoted Jenni White, president of Restore Oklahoma Public Education, asking in May, “If Oklahoma teachers are being laid off, why are we as Oklahoma taxpayers paying people from not even inside our country to come and teach our children?” Gulen himself came to the United States in to receive treatment for diabetes after a long career as an imam in Turkey. He had already found favor in some Western circles for preaching nonviolence, tolerance, and public service (hizmet), a message based on a moderate version of Islam called the Nur (light) movement. In the then staunchly secular Turkish government indicted him for promoting an Islamist state, according to the Middle East Media Research Institute (): Footage of Gulen appeared on Turkish television advising followers to “move in the arteries of the system, without anyone noticing your existence, until you reach all the power centers . . .
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Higher idols Crazy U shows how we value college far too much and far too little by Les Sillars
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FERGUSON: JACK SHAFER
N “ has got the best out of education; no man who sacrifices everything to education is even educated.” That’s from G.K. Chesterton’s essay “The Superstition of School.” Chesterton would have appreciated Andrew Ferguson’s Crazy U: One Dad’s Crash Course in Getting His Kid into College (Simon & Schuster), which describes the idol to which many high-school students and their parents offer sacrifices of time and money. Our choice of college, Ferguson writes, involves “our deepest yearnings, our vanities, our social ambitions and class insecurities, and most profoundly our love and hopes for our children.” His book shows how our culture values higher education far too much in one sense and far too little in another. Journalist Ferguson dissects the world of college admissions with wit and common sense. He explains how the famous U.S. News college rankings measure facilities, cost, selectivity based on percentage of applicants rejected, reputation, and so on, but not whether students actually learn anything. Administrators treat the U.S. News college rankings as a misleading blight on the educational landscape but they “read it, feed it, and fidget all summer until the new edition arrives, and then wave it around like a bride’s garter belt if their school gets a favorable review.” At its most intense the process has become, in Ferguson’s telling, astonishingly cynical and manipulative. Some schools, for example, send out tantalizing non-acceptance acceptance letters intended to keep mid-level prospects on the hook while waiting for the top students to decide. On the other side, the self-congratulatory application essays, the coaching sessions designed to inflate scores, the community service that advertises a big heart—it all teaches teenagers that to get into the right college you have to create
When Ferguson researched the book last year, colleges charged more than , per year, up from a handful only a decade ago. He covers a variety of factors but the short answer is that colleges raise prices because they can.
the right persona. “It coated their every undertaking in a thin lacquer of insincerity,” he observes. The process occasionally coated Ferguson Ferguson in a thin lacquer of rage, especially regarding financial aid. Colleges require parents to fill out a government form called , an examination of household finances so detailed as to be “proctological,” to determine how much need-based assistance to offer. Ferguson likens this to letting a used car salesman snoop through your checkbook before sitting down to negotiate (although, in fairness, colleges have an obligation not to shower donated money on people who don’t need it). Why does college cost so much anyway? When Ferguson researched the book last year, colleges charged more than , per year, up from a handful only a decade ago. He covers a variety of factors but the short answer is that colleges raise prices because they can. Fees go up because third-party payers (that is, taxpayers) flood the market with cash via government-subsidized grants and student loans ( billion per year). This is all driven by prospective students and parents ready to sacrifice too much for the prestige that goes with a degree from an elite college. They do all this with only vague notions of what an education should be and no idea if the institution they chose provides it. That’s crazy. Even crazier are Christian parents and students who buy into this modern version of the superstition of school. Regardless of whether a Christian or secular college best fits their needs, they should know what they’re getting into and take steps to support students’ faith. An excellent resource is J. Budziszewski’s How to Stay Christian in College, but the real solution is a Christian understanding of the purpose of education. “Education ought to be a searchlight given to a man to explore everything,” proposed Chesterton, “but very specially the things most distant from himself. Education tends to be a spotlight; which is centered entirely on himself. . . . But the only final cure is to turn off the limelight and let him realize the stars.” A
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Career crisis The job market has not been friendly to the college graduates of , , and by Dan Reed
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J ME that if he studied hard, made good grades, and took an internship he’d land a good job in his field upon graduating in May from the University of Oklahoma. But for months after earning his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, he worked every day at a health food store. “It was a daily frustration, having put forward the time and effort to get that degree and it being used to work in a health food store,” McElvaney says. “I’d worked there part-time for a couple of years, and they let me stay on and get all the hours I wanted after I graduated, so it was pretty much full-time. It was kind of a sweet deal, except that it wasn’t what I wanted to be doing with my life.” McElvaney finally landed a job this February as a designer/draftsman with the same large industrial heating and cooling design and manufacturing company in Oklahoma City where he interned during his junior year at . He counted on at least a job offer from that firm upon graduation, but the company by then was laying off people. Despite many contacts and interviews with other companies in Oklahoma and in the Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, Denver, and Atlanta areas, he didn’t receive a job offer until the Oklahoma City company resumed hiring early this year. Hundreds of thousands of college graduates over the last four years can identify with that story. Only about percent of the nearly . million May college graduates had a job lined up by the time they walked across the stage (same as in ). Another quarter of ’s grads are headed to graduate school. That leaves half of all bachelor’s degree earners this year—almost , of them—still looking for career-launching jobs. The good news is that is shaping up to be a better year for college hiring than either or . The National Association of Colleges and Employers () says employers expect to increase their college hiring by an average of percent—but that’s far from full recovery mode. In , in the wake of the financial meltdown, college hiring tumbled percent. It remained nearly / DAILY FRUSTRATION: flat in . Thus, even with McElvany holds his diploma the projected percent at Dodson’s Health Food and increase in collegiate hiring Vitamins in Norman, Okla. this year, more college grads STEVE SISNEY/GENESIS PHOTOS
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than in the years before the meltdown are waiting tables, moving back home without a job, or taking positions that don’t require a college degree. In a normal labor market, says Philip Gardner, director of the Collegiate Employment Research Institute at Michigan State University, “Seniors who start looking in the fall usually have a job by spring, and those who start in January usually have one by about the time they graduate.” The past two years, though, have been hard: Many and graduates will “struggle to get their careers back on track,” says the ’s Edwin Koc. Grads from and won’t be competing for the jobs companies want to fill from the latest crop of new graduates, Koc says. Instead they must convince recruiters who typically go after older, more experienced job seekers to give them the first shot they never got upon leaving school. He predicts that some college grads who didn’t get hired in , , and will make it into their first “career path” job only in or . And that’s only if the current stuttering economic recovery takes hold. Those dim career prospects have caused some academics to fret publicly about a “lost generation” of college grads. Richard White, director of career services at Rutgers University in New Jersey, says that’s “too strong and dramatic.” Still, he says, “recent college graduates will have a much more difficult time starting and sustaining their careers than earlier generations.” The disappointments will be particularly Today’s college students feel better about themhard on those whose self-esteem has far selves than college freshmen of the s did. San surpassed their talent (see sidebar). Diego State psychology professor Jean Twenge, Many are making adjustments to writing in the online British journal Self and their dreams and career plans. Brett Identity, noted that in about half of the Mackey, from Van, Texas, east of Dallas, freshmen surveyed marked themselves as above graduated in May from Baylor University average in social and intellectual confidence. That’s with a degree in international studies: - percentage points higher than in . “I’d wanted something more related to “Having some degree of confidence is often a my degree, overseas, maybe doing govgood thing,” says Twenge. But she sees a growing ernment work or development work. disconnect between self-perception and reality: But there just wasn’t anything there that “It’s not just confidence. It’s overconfidence.” At would support me that I was qualified fault, she says, is the self-esteem “every child is for.” special” mentality and “tiger” parents who push On a tip from Baylor’s career services their children to achieve. office Mackey looked into a Leadership Jeffrey Arnett, a psychology professor at Development Program at Allstate Clark University, doesn’t object to Twenge’s Insurance. He wound up being one of findings, but he says the overemphasis on seven Baylor grads hired into Allstate’s negative stereotypes might overshadow positive corporate offices in Chicago: “At first I trends. He points to lower rates in crime and wasn’t very interested, but once I looked substance abuse among college students, and into it I started getting excited. It’s just greater willingness to perform community sersomething I’d never imagined I’d be vice: In , percent of college freshmen said doing.” they would likely participate in public service, John Challenger, head of the compared to nearly a third of freshmen in . Challenger, Gray & Christmas outplaceJanelle Mills, a junior at Stetson University in ment consulting firm, is not entirely Florida, says she and her peers get tired of pessimistic about today’s college “entitled” and “lazy” labels. She says the study graduates and their career prospects. contains some truth about overconfidence: Besides, he says, “maybe it’s better for “Kids are being encouraged to be the best that this generation to have some tougher they can be. . . . Modesty and humility are no times to fight through. Look what going longer common and are becoming harder to find.” through tough times did for some of our —Tiffany Owens great generations in the past.” A
Delusions of grandeur?
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Math - tears = Khan academy .
Across the country in San Ynez Middle School in Santa Barbara, Calif., Joe Donahue uses Khan Academy to teach his th- and th-grade math classes. Donahue requires his students, all on netbooks, to master—at their own pace— topics by the end of the trimester. During class time Donahue walks around the room, answering questions and helping those falling behind, as students work on Khan Academy. He says the difference is huge: “They keep telling me how much they enjoyed what we did. I had kids asking, ‘Can we work in here at lunch? I want to finish a concept.’ They never did that before.” Despite the different types of education Reilly and Donahue provide, their students are now all watching the same videos and learning the same topics, thanks to Khan Academy. Some education experts say the online classroom
DAI SUGANO/SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS/MCT/NEWSCOM
T. . That’s how Shannon Reilly’s homeschool math session with her th-grade daughter, Morgan, usually ended. Working out of a textbook without a teacher’s manual, she found herself at times unable to explain math problems to Morgan. In January, the West Virginia resident heard about Khan Academy, a free online classroom. Khanacademy.org has hundreds of -minute videos explaining math concepts, along with electronic practice problems that track a student’s progress. Reilly traded the textbook for the program and asked Morgan to watch videos and spend minutes each day working on the problems. The tears are gone and Morgan enjoys math now. Her test scores have risen from below grade level to scoring in the th percentile in certain sections.
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SCOTT STRAZZANTE/GENESIS PHOTOS FOR WORLD
An increasingly popular online program is teaching children across the country to love a subject they once dreaded by Angela Lu
DAI SUGANO/SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS/MCT/NEWSCOM
SCOTT STRAZZANTE/GENESIS PHOTOS FOR WORLD
is a way to improve math learning in America, where student test scores rank th in the world, well behind economic competitors such as China, South Korea, Germany, and Canada. Critics, though, acknowledge Khan’s usefulness but don’t think it gives American students the innovative, competitive edge they need. -- , Khan Academy began when Sal Khan, a hedge fund analyst (see sidebar), started making videos to tutor his cousins. The videos, which feature Khan’s narration explaining a problem as he digitally writes it on a black screen, started garnering a large following. Viewers left comments expressing how much the videos have helped them: “First time I smiled doing a derivative,” read one. Khan started getting letters from parents who thanked him for teaching their children math concepts they had tried so hard to convey, and Khan realized that he was on to something. Homeschooler Reilly likes the simplicity of Khan’s videos: “He talks well. He makes it very fun. He draws a little sketch so it’s more like he’s a human instead of just a math guy.” In , Khan quit his job and started working on Khan Academy full-time. With grants from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Google, he was able to expand his site, making over , videos that have been watched more than million times. His next project is to translate all his videos into the world’s major languages to provide his classes to anyone with an internet connection. Last year, Khan added a practice component to the program. The computer continually generates problems until
the student correctly answers in a row. Then the student can move on to the next topic or “module.” The modules start from addition and subtraction and continue all the way up to calculus. To encourage students to learn more, students can earn badges if they watch a certain number of videos, work quickly, or master a lot of modules. Teachers have found their own ways to incentivize doing math. When Donahue’s students complete a module, he rewards students with stamps by their names and gives them raffle tickets for a weekly drawing for silly prizes. The stamps let the students see where they are in relation to the rest of the class and create competition among the students to do more math. Other teachers give students printouts of the Khan Academy badge to stick on their notebooks when they receive digital badges. Harsh Patel, a Teach for America member, teaches thgrade math at Omar E. Torres charter school on Chicago’s South Side. Having watched Khan’s videos in high school and college, Patel remembered the site when he started teaching last year. Almost all of his students come from lowincome families. The school did not have enough computers for every student, so he scraped together computers from friends and family until he had enough for half his class. Starting last December, he split his class in half. One half would listen to him teach about math topics for state standardized tests, while the other half worked on Khan Academy. After half an hour, the two would switch. / FUN WITH SUMS: Harsh Patel works with a student in Chicago (above); Khan recording an algebra example from a bedroom closet in his home in Mountain View, Calif. (previous page).
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doesn’t show the bigger picture of how math applies to the As the students worked on Khan Academy, they would real world. He says Khan’s lectures and multiple choice often ask each other for help on different sections. Patel questions teach students how to get the right answers, but noticed that students didn’t know how to teach their classdo not spark a deeper interest in math. mates and would just end up telling them the answers. So he “Math should be developed in an environment where handpicked several students who were further along and you can dig in, mess around, and play with the numbers,” taught them how to teach others. Meyer said. When he taught th-grade remedial algebra, Khan Academy also allows teachers to gauge how their each class would focus on solving a problem: One day he put students are doing: A dashboard shows how much time stuup a picture of a giant pyramid of pennies a man had created dents spend on videos and questions, which questions they over many years, and students were curious as to how many get wrong, and where they need more help. The dashboard pennies were in the pile. He then taught arithmetic helps teachers like Patel pinpoint where students struggle sequences and other topics necessary so that students could and pair them with peers who understand the material. figure out how to solve the problem themselves. If Patel sees that several students are getting the same Other teachers share Meyer’s concern about Khan types of problems wrong, he meets with them in a small Academy’s lack of context. Both Patel group outside of class time and Donahue plan to add a project and explains the concept to component to their classes, where them. That way, the students can watch Khan’s videos to students who understand learn certain skills and then use the material don’t have to them to answer practical questions. listen to things they already Meyer doesn’t think Khan should know. be used in class to replace a teacher. Patel found from Unlike having a teacher in the room, standardized tests that his Khan’s videos cannot make eye students gained one to three contact with students, pause and years of math knowledge Sal Khan, a -year-old Bengali-American, lives in answer questions, or have a relationafter using Khan Academy Mountain View, Calif. His wife gave birth to a girl ship with students. Still, he sees the for a semester. One student, last month. He has taught a variety of subjects to benefit of Khan Academy as a Jocelyn, had hated math, millions of students around the world but doesn’t but quickly caught on to have a teaching degree. Instead, he has three supplementary tool in math classes if a student misses a Khan Academy, eagerly degrees from the Massachusetts Institute day of school or needs extra mastering modules and of Technology—a in mathematics, a help with a certain topic. He continuing on to new in electrical engineering and computer also believes that it would topics. She would ask Patel science, and an in electrical engineerbe helpful in situations questions about what she ing and computer science. He also picked where high-quality teachers was learning: By the end of up an from Harvard Business School. are not available. the year, her scores showed Khan mostly teaches math and Patel agrees: “This that she advanced ½ years math-related topics such as physics, kind of stuff really in math. economics, chemistry, biology, levels the playing “This is the way a lot of astronomy, and computer field in bad schools education is heading,” Patel science. But he has also where teachers said: “When students are started teaching history, aren’t good or if older, they don’t need to be including U.S. history, the students have a spoon-fed what they do and French Revolution, and bad home don’t need to learn. I think Napoleon’s conquests. In environment. If it’s moving in a better preparing lectures on kids can learn direction where they topics outside his fields by themselves, choose what is interesting, of expertise, Khan anyone can do and they can start learning acknowledges that he online learna lot more independently.” reads Wikipedia to get ing. If teachers a basic picture. When can teach kids he appeared on The to learn by critics. Dan Meyer, a former Colbert Report he themselves, math teacher at San reassured his audience the possibilities Lorenzo Valley High School, that he checks out are limitless thinks Khan Academy is the footnoted sources with online ideally suited for teaching in Wikipedia articles. learning.” A standardized tests, but
Super smart trumps a teaching degree
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No safe havens Economics and finance have not escaped the onslaught of anti-Christian thought by Jerry Bowyer
KEYNES: ORONOZ/NEWSCOM • MARKOWITZ: ZUMA PRESS/NEWSCOM
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C , warned about anti-Christian thought in areas like sociology or psychology, suffer from the illusion that majoring in economics or finance is “safe.” Not so, and the work of one of the giants of economics, John Maynard Keynes (–), is a case in point. Keynes’ milieu was that of the “Cambridge Apostles,” a once-Christian debate society that changed under Keynes’ leadership: “We were, in the strict sense of the term,” he wrote, “immoralists.” Richard Deacon’s history, The Cambridge Apostles, shows how the fruit of this immorality was what “apostles” called “the higher sodomy”: Homosexuality was, in their view, a higher way of life than traditional heterosexual pairings, because it added sexual affection to the already allegedly superior intellectual friendship of men. Keynes endorsed the atheistic views of fellow “apostle” G.E. Moore, who, having presented the con argument when the society debated whether to allow God as a member, led the chant “God, out! God, out!” Keynes said that the chief benefit of Moore’s atheism was that “we entirely repudiated a personal liability on us to obey general rules. We claimed the right to judge every individual case on its merits, and the wisdom to do so successfully. This was a very important part of our faith, violently and aggressively held, and for the outer world it was our most obvious and dangerous characteristic. We repudiated entirely customary morals, conventions and traditional wisdom.” Part of the traditional wisdom that the Keynes circle repudiated was classical economics, which emphasized work and savings in an environment of economic freedom and sound money. Labeling classical economics “Puritanism,” Keynes argued that people saved too much and that government through inflationary policies could push consumption, which would create more jobs. Thrifty people would therefore see their purchasing power reduced, and a powerful government could directly increase the amount of spending through public works.
We shouldn’t make too much of this, since the economic flaws of Keynesianism are not directly related to the sexual interests of his “apostles,” but his sense of wanting to do away with the ethics of the real apostles was. If economics is not a safe haven, what about finance? Harry Markowitz (-) is the father of Modern Portfolio Theory, for which he won the Nobel Prize in economics. The autobiography that he submitted to the Nobel Committee mentioned only two philosophical influences—Charles Darwin and David Hume: “In high school I . . . was particularly struck by David Hume’s argument that, though we release a ball a thousand times, and each time, it falls to the floor, we do not have a necessary proof that it will fall the thousandand-first time. I also read The Origin of Species and was moved by Darwin’s marshaling of facts and careful consideration of possible objections.” According to Peter Bernstein’s Capital Ideas, which is largely the story of how Markowitz’s ideas came to dominate the academic world and much of the financial industry, Darwin’s argumentation and research “really moved” the -year-old. Just as Darwin built a biological theory on a doctrine of random, unpredictable genetic variations, Markowitz eventually built a financial theory on random, unpredictable price variations. Professors told Markowitz to read the works of free-market, Austrian-school-trained John Burr Williams, who learned economics in order to be a better investor. Markowitz, though, rejected the classical view and replaced it with one befitting the philosophical skepticism he learned from Hume. He explained to his Nobel Prize audience that his theory is “concerned with investors rather than manufacturing firms or consumers”: Forget underlying economic factors when valuing investments, but evaluate random variations in prices away from the long-term average. Again, it’s not wrong for financial planners to read Hume, but the intellectual connections are worth contemplating. Bottom line: No discipline escapes the overall intellectual trends of our time. A —Jerry Bowyer is an economist and journalist
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Notebook LIFESTYLE TECHNOLOGY SCIENCE HOUSES OF GOD SPORTS RELIGION
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August tradition LIFESTYLE: The school year is beginning sooner and the school day is lasting longer throughout the country BY SUSAN OLASKY
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T six persons in the United States will be an elementary or secondary student— million in all. Another million will be in college. Altogether nearly one-fourth of U.S. inhabitants will be attending school. Add to that the . million teachers and college professors, and . million administrators and support staff, and it becomes clear that for many Americans the new year begins in August or September rather than January. Since the number of public elementary and secondary students has grown percent. Private-school enrollment grew at a
Email: solasky@worldmag.com
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slower percent rate. The expansion of pre-K programs helps explain the big increase in the number of public-school students, especially at the elementary level. Forty states now have government-funded pre-K programs, mostly serving -year-olds. Since the number of children attending public pre-K programs has increased percent, from . million in to . million in . Not only are children starting school younger, they likely spend more time each day in the classroom. The Obama administration is pushing hard to increase the hours students spend in school, especially students A U G U S T 2 7, 2 0 1 1
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Notebook > Lifestyle schools say they will have the first day of class before Sept. , up from percent in the late s. According to Schooldata.com, school opening dates differ widely by region. In most of the Southeast, most schools open before mid-August. In contrast, in New York, New Jersey, and a swath of states in the upper Midwest, most schools still open after Sept. . End-of-year closing dates also vary widely by region, with more schools in the Northeast closing in late June rather than May.
Shopping for school
F OOD STUFF
Tops on most back-to-school shopping lists: clothes, shoes, and school supplies. Lower on the list: books and laptops, perhaps because consumers have switched to cheaper alternatives—smart phones and tablets like the iPad. One item on many back-toschool shopping lists: school uniforms. French Toast School Uniforms says , more students nationwide will be wearing uniforms this upcoming school year. That’s partially because uniform manufacturers have been able to convince school officials that uniforms, in the words of French Toast president Michael Arking, “keep the children focused on academics and make it easier to ensure safety on school grounds.” Another manufacturer, Classroom School Uniforms, says uniforms help school districts fight bullying, a major concern. Anecdotal data supports the benefits of uniforms, but the scientific research is unclear. In England, retailing chains are competing to see who can make the most indestructible uniforms. According to The People, Marks & Spencer, Tesco, and Asda are selling shoes with a special coating to keep them from getting scratched, socks with heel and toe reinforcements, and coated clothes “so liquids like fizzy drinks run off.” —S.O.
Do you know what the Vikings ate for dinner? What a typical meal of a wealthy family in Roman Britain consisted of, or what food was like in a Victorian Workhouse?” That’s how the online History Cookbook begins. It divides human history into British-centric periods beginning with prehistoric and moving through Romano-British, Saxons and Vikings, Normans/Medieval, and through the Tudors, Stuarts, etc. Each section has background information on the period, food and health facts, recipes, and videos showing people in costume preparing the food with technology from the period. So whether you’re in the mood for Roman pottage cooked on an open fire, or Victorian beef stew with dumplings cooked on the range, you can learn how here (cookit.ebn.org/historycookbook/index.php). —S.O.
SCHOOL UNIFORMS: MARIO TAMA/GETTY IMAGES • SCHOOL SHOPPING: TIM BOYLE/GETTY IMAGES • HISTORY COOKBOOK: HANDOUT
Retailers look forward to July and August because the back-to-school season ranks right behind Christmas for sales, accounting for about percent of annual sales. Two groups, ShopperTrak and PriceGrabber, have offered predictions about this year’s back-toschool shopping season. ShopperTrak, which measures foot traffic in more than , stores, estimates spending will rise about percent this year—but says that isn’t necessarily good news for brick-andmortar stores. It expects shoppers to spend less in stores and more online. PriceGrabber, a division of the credit-reporting agency Experian, thinks shoppers will spend less this year, but also predicts they will use online price comparison websites to help them find bargains. PriceGrabber says percent of shoppers last year expected to spend more than , but this year only percent expect to spend that much. Last year percent expected to spend more than , but this year only percent expect to. The high unemployment rates among teenagers, who won’t be able to spend as much as they have in years past, poses a problem for retailers. —S.O.
UNIFORM PURCHASES
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CREDIT
in poor performing ones. Two programs initially funded by stimulus money— Race to the Top and the Investing in Innovation Fund—make Increased Learning Time a priority. Some states have dealt with the effects of the bad economy, though, by cutting classroom time. This could become a battle during the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act later this year, since longer school days mean more money for teacher salaries. Although state and local officials set school calendars, a certain uniformity used to exist from state to state. That’s no longer true. Labor Day may mark the traditional end of summer vacation, but this year percent of public
Notebook > Technology
Organic thinking
Utah compost company aims to make the most out of America’s vast supply of leftovers BY DANIEL JAMES DEVINE
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ECOSCRAPS:HANDOUT • GOOGLE STREET VIEW: BEN BIRCHALL/AP • TRUE ENERGY: HANDOUT
SCHOOL UNIFORMS: MARIO TAMA/GETTY IMAGES • SCHOOL SHOPPING: TIM BOYLE/GETTY IMAGES • HISTORY COOKBOOK: HANDOUT
I S L C , tall mounds of rotten vegetables, coffee grounds, and sawdust are steaming at degrees Fahrenheit. It’s not a desert dump yard, just the facilities of EcoScraps, an innovative organic compost company started by three Brigham Young University classmates who dropped out of school to launch their business. With revenues expected to approach . million, their risk seems to be paying off. EcoScraps’ compost mix, sold by the bag in Utah, Arizona, and Colorado stores, is free of the chemical additives, bone meal, or animal manure often found in other soil mixes. (Garbage and pesticides can also be found in compost from less scrupulous companies.) Instead, EcoScraps gets its key ingredients—fruits and vegetables—from local grocery stores and food banks, which can reduce disposal costs percent by dropping off expired produce at the company’s yard. There, the food is chopped up, mixed with wood shavings and coffee grounds from Starbucks stores, and allowed to decompose until a proper balance of nutrients is achieved. “Everyone involved is getting some sort of benefit out of it,” says Dan Blake, . Blake hit on his business concept at an all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet, when he realized how much leftover food was
Google snoops Internet search giant Google is once again embroiled in criticism over privacy practices after reporters learned its “Street View” cars— mounted with cameras that capture images of city blocks viewable on the Google Maps website—were also capturing the locations of millions of laptops and smart phones around the world. The cars recorded the unique addresses that Wi-Fi enabled devices broadcast to anyone within to feet. Until late June, Google had stored these device addresses and locations in its public web databases. Assuming a snoop knew what to search for, the info could have revealed a device owner’s home, workplace, or favorite restaurants. —D.J.D. Email: djdevine@worldmag.com
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headed for landfills. Nearly percent of available food in the United States is ultimately thrown out, and by converting some of it into a useful product, EcoScraps makes money ( percent to percent profit) and cuts down emissions of methane, a greenhouse gas. The company’s food suppliers have latched on: “They love the fact that they can do what’s good for the environment and save money at the same time,” said Blake. EcoScraps has two production centers in Utah and Arizona and plans to expand to Texas and Southern California within the next six months.
THREE’S A BUSINESS: Ecoscraps founders inspect product.
KEEPING COOL
We take refrigeration for granted in the United States, but it’s a big problem in underdeveloped nations where power supply is unreliable. The -based company True Energy has a solution for temperature-sensitive but vital medical products like vaccines: a refrigerator that keeps itself cool for days without power. The fridge works by converting a secret internal material from one phase to another (such as from liquid to solid) while plugged in. If power is lost, the phase change reverses itself, absorbing heat and maintaining temperatures beneath degrees Fahrenheit for days on end, even if outside temps soar past . True Energy hopes eventually to apply the technology to more commonplace tasks, such as preventing food spoilage. —D.J.D.
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Notebook > Science
Scrubbing mission
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rocket engines. In the early days of space flight, workers routinely poured thousands of pounds of trike on the ground to evaporate. Later testing showed it hadn’t: Instead, it created underground plumes as deep as feet. The breakdown products of trike can cause cancer and birth defects, and may take years to degrade naturally. The lingering contaminants the ground, are separated from Florida’s DOWN TO EARTH: Jackie Quinn of pours a mixture of which breaks primary aquifer by a layer of Emusified Zero Valent Iron, which trike into clay, but federal law still is used to clean up contaminated harmless requires to clean up: It’s soil, into a beaker with water. byproducts. been spending million to It’s a promismillion a year to purify area ing approach, but the cleanup will cost groundwater. A new method of dealing the agency about million over the with the chemicals involves injecting a next three decades. mixture of iron dust and corn oil into
PICKED POISON The African crested rat, a foot-long rodent with bristly hair and black-and-white stripes, has an astonishing self-defense strategy. It chews the bark of a highly toxic tree—long used by African hunters to coat arrow tips—and smears its mouth along a strip of hollow hairs on its back that absorb the poison. When threatened, the rat flares its fur and invites predators to take a sickening and sometimes lethal bite. Researchers reporting on the rat in Proceedings of the Royal Society B aren’t sure why the rodent doesn’t drop dead itself. —D.J.D.
Judgment calls Two federal court decisions in late July had big implications for scientists. In the first, Chief Judge Royce C. Lamberth of the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., ruled that federal money can fund embryonic stem-cell research. Lamberth had briefly halted taxpayer funding for the research one year ago after plaintiffs argued such grants were illegal, but in his final decision he deferred to a higher court’s opinion. The plaintiffs may appeal, but in the meantime Obama administration support of the controversial research is flowing freely. In the second case, a federal appeals court ruled - that human genes can, indeed, be patented, reversing a District Court opinion that had decided such patents were invalid. The case involves patents that biotech company Myriad Genetics holds on two genes known to predict breast and ovarian cancer risk (see “Ownership stakes,” July , ). The court arguments hinge on whether isolated fragments are markedly different from occurring in nature. The Supreme Court could ultimately weigh in. —D.J.D.
NASA: MICHAEL R. BROWN/FLORIDA TODAY • AFRICAN CRESTED RAT: DPA/PICTURE-ALLIANCE/NEWSCOM • LAMBERTH: J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE/AP
J of the space shuttle Atlantis on Kennedy Space Center’s three-mile landing strip in Cape Canaveral, Fla., marked the th—and final—flight of a shuttle. The space agency has finally scrubbed the -year shuttle program, but it will spend another years cleaning up toxic chemicals on the cape after a half-century of rocket launches. Florida Today, a local paper, reported that records show sites at Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station polluted since the Apollo moon missions of the s, including during the earliest shuttle launches. (Today’s launches follow strict environmental rules.) The main contaminant, trichloroethylene (“trike”), was a solvent used to clean
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JULIA CHRISTENSEN/AP
The space shuttle program may be over, but a massive cleanup effort will have to go on BY DANIEL JAMES DEVINE
Notebook > Houses of God
CREDIT
JuliA Christensen/Ap
Grace Gospel Church, Pinellas Park, Fla.
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Notebook ok > Sports
Sharpe words
A silver-tongued Hall-of-Famer delivers a grand speech on his sad life BY MARK BERGIN
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JASON MILLER/GETTY IMAGES
athletics often carries with it the opportunity to speak. Shannon Sharpe took full advantage of that curious reality during his induction into the National Football League’s Hall of Fame. The former Denver Broncos and Baltimore Ravens star took the Canton, Ohio, stage for more than minutes on Aug. , delivering what many consider among the best acceptance speeches in the hall’s -year history. What made it great? Take a listen: “It’s time for me to give Mary Porter a face for all who don’t know who she is. . . . My grandmother was a very simple woman; she didn’t want a whole lot. My grandmother wanted to go to church and Sunday school every Sunday. She wanted to be in Bible study every Wednesday. And the other days, she wanted to be on a fishing creek.” Sharpe’s ode to his deceased grandmother, who raised him and his two siblings like her own, wound through stories of sacrifice, kindness, and simplicity. When he first realized he was in line to make millions of dollars, Sharpe asked his grandmother what she’d like him to buy for her. She said she’d like a house just decent enough to keep her dry through a night of rain. She’d never had as much. “That’s what drove Shannon,” Sharpe said, referring to himself in the third person. “That’s what got me here.” Sharpe spoke of a “five-alarm fire” raging within him to escape the poverty of his youth. He recounted memories of burlap bed sheets, pots and pans scattered across a concrete floor to catch the drips of a leaky roof, and the impossible monthly decisions whether to pay utility bills or buy groceries. The struggle of such circumstances pressed him to outwork athletes of greater natural ability. It pressed him to insist on achievement by sheer force of will. And he did it all for the grandmother who loved him. That is the stuff of great speeches. But Sharpe’s single-minded dedication to making it in the produced casualties, too. Obscured between the applause lines and self-deference, a subtext of broken promises and tattered relationships revealed a deeply flawed and burdened man. His discussion of his children was nothing short of heart-breaking: “I didn’t want my kids to live one hour in the life that I had, let alone a day. And I neglected my kids. I missed recitals. I missed football practice. I missed graduations. I was so obsessed with being the best player I could possibly be that I neglected a lot of people. I ruined a lot of relationships. But I’m not here to apologize for that, because it got me here. And it got them to a life they never would have enjoyed had it not been for that.” Pursuing a dream at all costs can get expensive. Without apology, Sharpe asked those closest to him to pay dearly. And in hindsight, he is without remorse, filled instead with a twisted sense of gratitude: “Thank you for making all those sacrifices other kids didn’t have to make so your dad could live out his dream.” A great speech? Perhaps. A great life? Hardly. Email: mbergin@worldmag.com
8/11/11 1:46 PM
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Notebook > Religion
Making the
A killer Christian?
Norwegian murderer Anders Behring Breivik reveres Christendom, not Christ BY TIM DALRYMPLE
the powerful monoculture that united Western Europe. “Christendom is essential,” he writes, because it’s “the only cultural platform that can unite all Europeans” against their enemies. Breivik affirms the superior authority of science and logic, voices no belief in the deity of Christ, and openly doubts the existence of God. He speaks of “Christian-agnostics” and “Christianatheists,” or those who reject the beliefs but defend the “cultural legacy” of Christendom. Indeed, Breivik himself appears to be an agnostic who affirms belief in God and Christian symbols for pragmatic reasons. Perhaps Breivik is simply beyond the categories that apply to sane people. But he is also a chilling example of the disintegration of European secularism, the way in which it leaves many straining for a more transcendent, unifying vision of life, and the hollowness of a “Christianity” that lacks the essential relationship with Christ that gives Christian faith its vitality, direction, and purpose. Breivik
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TOP LEFT: PAULA BRONSTEIN/GETTY IMAGES • TOP CENTER: AAS, ERLEND/AP • TOP RIGHT: PAULA BRONSTEIN/GETTY IMAGES • WALLIS: ALEX WONG/GETTY IMAGES • BREIVIK: AP
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S the Norwegian Anders Behring Breivik exploded a bomb in Oslo and gunned down children on a nearby island, he posted a ,-page manifesto in which he cites the “Lord Jesus Christ” three times. Breivik explained meticulously the religious nature of his mission to defend the Christian West against “cultural Marxists” and the encroachment of Islam. For years, critics who sought to pose a moral equivalence between Christian and Muslim fundamentalists would counter examples of Muslim terrorism with figures like Timothy McVeigh, Olympics bomber Eric Rudolph, or Holocaust Museum shooter James von Brunn. The only problem was that all of these figures expressly rejected Christianity. This might explain the eagerness with which Breivik was labeled a Christian. The New York Times called him a “Christian extremist,” the Oslo chief of police called him a “Christian fundamentalist,” and political writer Andrew Sullivan called him a “Christianist,” the same term he uses for leaders of the Religious Right. The attempt to smear conservative Christians with the blood of Norwegian children was swift, unseemly, and, as it turns out, unjustified. Breivik clarifies that he is only a Christian in the “cultural” sense. He is not a “Religious Christian,” he says, because he possesses no “personal relationship with Jesus Christ.” The object of his devotion is not Christ or Christianity, but Christendom,
In the weeks preceding the Budget Control Act (), which raised the debt ceiling and mandated cuts in government spending, faith groups sought to influence the negotiations. Those same groups now seek to frame how the is understood and applied. A group called “The Circle of Protection” released a statement in late April opposing cuts to “programs for the poor.” Leaders of the Circle, including Jim Wallis of Sojourners and Galen Carey of the National Association of Evangelicals, emerged from a meeting with President Obama on July singing the praises of his administration. Eight days later, officials from mainline Protestant denominations and the National Council of Churches orchestrated their own arrest in the Capitol Rotunda for “faithful civil disobedience” in favor of tax increases instead of spending cuts. After Congress passed the , as Wallis again promoted the “nonpartisan” Circle of Protection, he praised Democrats for their defense of anti-poverty programs and condemned Republicans. Then a new group entered the fray, called Christians for a Sustainable Economy (), claiming the poor ( are best served not through welfare programs but through a streamlined government that reduces the debt, stewards resources, and promotes the growth of a free economy. circulated a letter (which, in full disclosure, I co-wrote and Marvin Olasky and others signed) making the moral case for debt reduction and far-sighted stewardship, and requesting a meeting with the president. The White House has not yet responded. —T.D.
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Vice President of Advancement & Business Development The World Children’s Center is a 710-acre master planned (3 phase) and sustainable “Green” boarding school community currently under construction 40 minutes outside Atlanta, Georgia, USA. The Center is seeking a “seasoned” vice president of advancement and business development focused on National/International philanthropy as well as new business development to oversee development and operations and achieve a seven year/one (1) billion dollar capital campaign. The VPA will manage a team to ensure goals are met, work plan and tactics are well conceived and acquired. The person must be extremely organized and detailed and have the ability and history to manage time and work as well as the ability to multi-task and perform their duties in a goal-oriented environment. This person must also have the ability to interact with individuals whom will provide significant giving capacity as well as posses the poise and diplomacy that is required. He/She must have the ability to travel nationally and internationally if necessary. Excellent interpersonal skills are required. This person will report to Founder and President only. Minimum 10+ years of development
I TEACHERS URGENTLY NEEDED IN experience as well as posses a proven track record with major donor/capital campaign and MONGOLIA! ELIC has an urgent need for solicitation of major gifts, grant research and proposal writing (federal as well as teachers of English in Laos. This is an outinternational). Pursue relationships with all relevant foundations, corporations, individuals and standing opportunity for singles, couples, donors that are interested in, but not limited to the following: health and humanitarian efforts, families and second-career adults. Twoeducation, arts and music, sustainability, environment, bricks and mortar campaigns, etc. It is essential that the individual posses the style, stature, and interpersonal skills to relate well and year commitment. Opportunities to return to work effectively with all stakeholders, board of trustees, board of directors, friends, donors, to North America. Serve on a vibrant team. volunteers and community at large. Teach at the university level to future leaders in every sector. Previous teaching A very competitive compensation package will be offered to the experience not required. Complete training successful candidate. Please e-mail your resume and cover letter to: provided. Summer opportunities also dwhitney@worldchildrenscenter.org available. Thirty years of sending and caring for teachers in Asia. Additional www.worldchildrenscenter.org strategic opportunities in Laos, China, Vietnam & Cambodia. We can get you there. www.elic.org. (888) 475-3542. I Homeschooling? Need help with math? DIVE into Math with Interactive Video 5/18/11 5:20 PM Lessons on CD-ROM that teach every WCC_1/4pg.indd 1 lesson step by step in Saxon Math. Available for Math54 thru Calculus and Physics; $50 per title. www.diveintomath.com; (936) 372-9216. I Struggling writers? Homeschool? Lesson plans, Step by step composition. For samples visit us online at: www.thewritefoundation.org. I OPEN YOUR OWN READING CENTER: Make a difference in the lives of others. Operate from home. It’s needed. It’s rewarding. Great results. NOT a franchise. Earn $30-80/hr. We provide complete training and materials. www. academic-associates.com; (800) 861-9196. I Homeschool Online Classes—4th-12th Grade, Christian Worldview: Math, English, Bible, Science, Art, History, Business, Computer, Foreign Languages, Geography, Music, and unique electives. www.LandryAcademy.com.
journalism education I CU majors in journalism— www.cornerstone.edu/journalism.
church announcements I IN SOUTHEAST ALABAMA, TRINITY CHURCH meets 9:45 for Bible study, 10:45 Worship-congregational Hymn singing. www.trinity-dothan.com; 4426 W. Main Street, Dothan, AL 36303. I New OPC church in Aiken, SC, Classical Reformed; (803) 257-2334.
church plants I PCA Church Plants near US Military bases worldwide. Info: www.MINISTRY TOTHEMILITARYINTERNATIONAL.COM.
church evaluation I Does Your Church Measure Up? www.churchevaluation.com.
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NEWS KNOWLEDGE TRUTH From the publishers of WORLD Magazine
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abortion, as Romney does, then he is not truly pro-life. The pre-born human being is a person and should not be executed because of the crime of the father.
“Can a Mormon be president?” ( ) If Mitt Romney becomes the Republican nominee, whatever his faults, religious or otherwise, no likely opponent on the ballot will be more worthy of our support. Evangelicals are smart enough to dismiss Mormon doctrines, but let’s not throw out the presidency with the doctrinal bath water. . , Fairfax, Va.
Palm Bay, Fla.
“Take a stand against Rand” ( ) My sincere thanks to Marvin Olasky for shining a light into a dark corner of American conservatism and on the entanglement of power and compassion. It’s disconcerting to profess our love for God, yet find ourselves in bed with Mammon.
Issaquah, Wash.
Apart from doctrinal issues that identify Mormonism as a cult, Mormonism is based on the obviously fraudulent claims of its founder, Joseph Smith. If an appealing, intelligent candidate such as Mitt Romney cannot determine truth from error in choosing his religion, how can I as an American citizen trust him to interpret correctly all the high-level intelligence that will cross his desk daily? . Bend, Ore.
For those who would not vote for Mitt Romney due to his Mormonism or other flaws, I have two words for you: Supreme Court. To give Barack Obama two more appointments to the high court is to be complicit in the destruction of this country.
health plans is just as burdensome. I know several people who could not afford the premiums and so didn’t purchase the coverage; they were then penalized (again) at tax time for the violation. The system is onerous unless one is here illegally, indigent, or has reached the middle class. Hudson, Mass.
“Mixed oaths” ( ) If a candidate believes rape and incest are acceptable exceptions for
I remember reading Rand in a college philosophy course way back in . Rand promoted selfishness as a virtue and Jesus taught us to deny ourselves and follow Him—quite a contrast. Conservative support for her philosophy and the recently released movie is really hard to understand, especially by conservatives who claim to be Christians. Capitalism without Christianity is a really bad idea. Lancaster, Pa.
Bergunj, Bangladesh / around the world
Washington, N.J.
I will never knowingly vote for a nonChristian to run my country.
La Verne, Calif.
“Focus on Mitt Romney” ( ) did a pretty good job summarizing the hardships imposed on small businesses by the Massachusetts healthcare plan. However, the hardship it imposes through heavy premiums on lower-income residents who work for businesses that do provide Send photos and letters to: mailbag@worldmag.com
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A U G U S T 2 7, 2 0 1 1
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Rand correctly identifies the insanity of coerced benevolence and the idiocy of the welfare state, but she wrongly concludes all unselfish acts are evil. She got a few things right but, alas, was neither the first nor the last to miss the Main Thing. Jim Latimer Lexington, Ky.
“In search of self” (July 16) Andrée Seu nails it again with her column about a woman who left her marriage to “find herself.” In today’s world it’s no surprise that non-Christians wander about with no guidance or values trying to find a purpose, but it’s a great tragedy when Christians do the same thing. Where is the fear of the Lord, the hope of eternity and lasting rewards? WiLLiam t. GiLLin Colorado Springs, Colo.
I loved the line Seu quoted from her late husband: “Don’t worry about what people think of you. They don’t even think of you.” Terrific advice for this man-fearer. anne WeGener
Springville, Ind.
“Lesser lights” (July 16) I appreciated this article about the compact fluorescent bulbs vs. incandescents, and I’m thankful to hear that some folks are concerned about the federal law. When I heard about what our government was soon to bring forth, I was terrified. Fluorescent lights often trigger my migraine headaches, and I’ll be forced to live with those in my home? Janice HiLL
Blackfoot, Idaho
“Cars 2” (July 16) I see so much more in Cars 2 than most reviewers. It really resonates with people old enough to remember the older James Bonds, Star Wars, and Mission Impossible. It’s also a whodunnit and an international adventure, a teaching travelogue. As well, the descriptions of the strengths and foibles of different automobile models, vintages, and countries of origin is so on-target. Jay Sinnett
Greenville, S.C.
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“A rebel pursued” (July 16) Pastor Tchividjian has a very narrow view of what Dr. D. James Kennedy’s ministry was all about. Kennedy understood and taught the dangers of the “elder brother” syndrome, but he also called his congregation and the whole nation to confront the culture with the Truth and stop “wallowing with the pigs” in the manner of the prodigal. Having read the interview, I better understand why Coral Ridge Presbyterian split. tom morr
Williamsburg, Va.
“Storm warner” (July 16) Kudos to weatherman Bill Gray for standing up to proponents of man-made global warming, which is a sham. Global warming has been and is being used as a scare tactic to influence public policy and opinion, and it has to stop. marco micHeLetta Sterling Heights, Mich.
“Well-founded fear” (July 16) After reading the article about the beheading of Abdul Latif, I am furious about the three-picture sequence in the sidebar, ending with the photo of the terrorist thrusting a knife into Latif’s neck. There are enough horrible images in the world without WORLD adding to the list. Jim craWford Scottsdale, Ariz.
“The promise and the overpromise” (July 16) Thank you so much for the book reviews. When Helping Hurts has made all of us at First Baptist Church rethink helping in every area, from the church’s benevolence fund, to missions, to our Family Care Center. In working with the poor in our small, rural community, we have come to describe them as the “huntergatherer” group. They go from service to service, public and private, gathering up what they can at each one. It seems a sad and unintended outcome of the governmental programs put in place supposedly to help the poor. Karen Leif
St. Johns, Mich.
“No controversy?” (July 2) I’m so grateful to Marvin Olasky for
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recommending Ann Voskamp’s One Thousand Gifts. It has been transforming and comforting as well as disturbing as I examine how I overlook my gifts and blessings.
Are You Teaching Children Everything They Need to Know about God?
.
Lenoir City, Tenn.
“Facing the pressure” ( )
© 2011 Bob Jones University. All rights reserved.
Where biblical Christianity has been embraced, it has produced repentance, life, hope, protection of women and children, improved health, and all things positive. Where Darwinism has been embraced, it has brought death and destruction. The Bible waits, without error or a grant from Templeton Foundation, to be read and believed and to transform lives. ..
Rochester, Minn.
We read this series with great interest since the eldest of our quiver is and on the cusp of this stage of life. The big question we have is: Where are the parents? Certainly there are no formulas for finding a mate, but we feel pretty strongly that we ought to be involved in the process with each of our children.
Broken Arrow, Okla.
Corrections Children’s Home Society and Family Services is a secular adoption agency. One hundred and thirty-four families responded to the Ethiopian adoption study by Parents for Ethical Adoption Reform (“Orphaned no more,” July , p. ). Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R) is a Missouri congresswoman (“Contrary to conscience,” July , p. ).
LETTERS AND PHOTOS Email: mailbag@worldmag.com Write: Mailbag, P.O. Box , Asheville, - Fax: .. Please include full name and address. Letters may be edited to yield brevity and clarity.
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KRIEG BARRIE
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Prepares future Christian leaders through an intensive study of God’s purposes throughout world history
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Andrée Seu
THE GOOD TEACHER
All I really needed to know I learned on a kindergarten field trip
KRIEG BARRIE
T
a good kindergarten teacher are as elusive to me as those of brain surgery. I saw many on display in the first moments of Miss Stewart’s year’s end field trip to the strawberry farm. I had heard that teachers need to make rapid-fire decisions a day, but this is slanderous. Unless you mean before recess. I walked into what seemed like pandemonium, but soon discerned that it was controlled pandemonium. Miss Stewart immediately looked up from a huddle and walked over to me, beaming through a face of about summers, thanking me for volunteering to chaperone, and telling me that my granddaughter has been very excited that I will be coming along. That was already four more things than I would have managed in her shoes—noticing the extra person in a crowd; doing triage of priorities; instantly summoning a mental connection between the new person and the right student; making the person feel, for a second, like the only one in the room; remembering to say thank you; recalling something pertinent about the student’s psychological state from last week. Amid the chore of slathering children with her own sunblock, and outfitting the ill-prepared with plastic bags to sheathe doomed paper lunch bags, Miss Stewart was approached by the closest shaved Asian head I have ever seen outside photos of a Tibetan monastery, and the following conversation ensued: “My head will hurt.” “What do you mean, Chun?” “If someone hits me, my head will hurt.” “Well, Chun, that’s true for all of us, even if we have hair.” This went on for a few more volleys until the plaintiff was satisfied. Then Miss Stewart remembered to have the one whose turn it was feed the lone guppy. I was assigned four children to bring back alive. Miss Stewart came to me with their names on an index card and mine on top, and asked if she had spelled my name correctly. (Seriously.) Then we were soon shoehorned onto two buses, and I watched Miss Stewart from my seat a few rows back, she bantering playfully with her -year-old seatmate about his speckled sunglasses. I have noticed that things like , new tolerance policies, green regulations, evolving social sensitivities, and state guidelines governing appropriate teacher-student conduct in school settings have made me slightly paranoid and slow-reacting in a testing situation like a school field trip. I felt like a foreigner in a country he hasn’t read up on enough. But
Email: aseu@worldmag.com
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Miss Stewart evinced a natural savoir faire, deftly dispensing caring touches and confident admonitions throughout the day. A good teacher, I also observed, is someone who knows, by instinct, when to rein in the five kids who got up from the picnic table to chase butterflies in the tall grass. She has mastered the thing that I failed at utterly in my try at teaching: allowing the low murmur that does not become loss of control. I noticed Miss Stewart sat with the children on the benches that the tarpaulin shade didn’t reach in the -degree sun while Farmer Bob gave city kids the real deal on insects: “Bees are good; butterflies are bad.” (He really said that, it was a riot. The uncontestedness of the message, the tabula rasa receptivity of his subjects, all edified me on the ease with which Mao must have honed the Red Guards.) Then he let us loose in straight rows of shin-high plants with our white Styrofoam drinking cups, making criminals of us all as we stuffed our mouths with the warm sweet overflow. By day’s end, hygiene verities about sharing water bottles, and conventional wisdom regarding the prudence of always washing fruit before partaking, went by the wayside, as we rounded up to take count for the bus ride home. I freaked when I couldn’t find Ethan—one of my only four charges—but Miss Stewart somehow heard me, as she was fielding port-a-potty issues, and tossed off rescue: “I just saw him over there,” she motioned with her chin. The only smart thing I did all day was bring a unruled tablet in my pocketbook, which came in very handy for the return trip. I had brought it in case I got ideas for an essay. But I didn’t, so it served us well for tic-tac-toe and drawing Greyhound dogs and butterflies. A A U G U S T 2 7, 2 0 1 1
WORLD
8/9/11 11:08 AM
Marvin Olasky
THOUSANDS LEFT BEHIND
P
Be thankful, son, that you go to an American school—maybe
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KRIEG BARRIE
J P have told the story of th-century evangelist D.L. Moody visiting Scotland and opening his talk at a local grade school by asking rhetorically, “What is prayer?” To his amazement, hundreds of children’s hands went up. Moody called on a boy near the front, who promptly stood up and answered, “Prayer is an offering up of our desires unto God, in the name of Christ, by the help of His Spirit, with confession of our sins, and thankful acknowledgment of His mercies.” Moody, recognizing that as the answer to question No. in the Westminster Catechism, responded, “Be thankful, son, that you were born in Scotland.” Should our children be thankful that they were born in America? In one sense, of course: Even most of the poor among us are materially, technologically, and medically better off than most people at any time in history anywhere in the world. In a second sense, of course: As Lee Greenwood sang, “I’m proud to be an American, where at least I know I’m free.” But what else do our children know? Educationally, how do American children compare with their thcentury Scottish counterparts? The Scots of Moody’s time learned that God created the world and them, but American children typically hear a murky story of ascent from the muck. Educrats talk about children developing high self-esteem, but that often turns into a desperate search for crowd-esteem. Neither lasts. Beyond the lack of education in what’s most important—our knowledge of God—slouches a frequent lack of education in what’s needed to get a good job. The -year-old No Child Left Behind () plan was supposed to help children stuck in bad public schools. The bipartisan deal that greased its passage gave liberals what they wanted, a huge increase in dollars from taxpayers. It was supposed to give conservatives a way to demand that schools push their students to become proficient in reading and math. After a decade, it looks like proponents snookered conservatives. U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan acknowledges that , of the nation’s , public schools could be declared failing this fall—so he
wants to dumb down the passing grade. He’s like the corrupt teacher who sees percent of his students fail, and gives them C’s anyway. Duncan says grades of F will demoralize public-school administrators and teachers, but what about the students who are demoralized now, or will be once they graduate without adequate skills? Should schoolchildren in Detroit be thankful for their educational opportunities? The National Institute for Literacy estimates that percent of Detroit adults (more than , individuals) are functionally illiterate. That means difficulty in performing everyday tasks such as locating an intersection on a street map, reading and comprehending a short newspaper article, or calculating total costs on an order form. According to “Addressing Detroit’s Basic Skills Crisis,” a paper produced by the Detroit Regional Workforce Fund, half of the , functionally illiterate adults have a high-school diploma or . That means they have been lied to, passed from grade to grade or test to test without gaining basic skills. Yes, not one child was left behind—tens of thousands were. And what about those who do well enough to go to college? Tests of basic reading and math are helpful in elementary school, but Michigan State University professor Jerry Weinberger recently complained in City Journal that an emphasis on test-taking among older students has crowded out the study of history, science, literature, and anything that requires creativity. Weinberger said his students link education not to learning how to think but learning how to pass standardized tests. Throughout its history has favored educational innovations such as tax credits and vouchers. Particularly and unabashedly, we’d like more children to learn what prayer is, but in general we favor opportunity and diversity over one-size-fits-all approaches. Bill Gates, now the largest private grantmaker in education, recently praised in the Wall Street Journal the “very positive characteristics” of vouchers, but said “the negativity about them” among some groups has kept his foundation from supporting them. Too bad. The status quo is broken, the fix hasn’t worked, and the alternative proposal we’re hearing is: Shovel more dollars into the jaws of failure. A Email: molasky@worldmag.com
8/9/11 11:19 AM
CARLOS CAMPO . GALEN CAREY . LISA SHARON HARPER SHANE CLAIBORNE . RICHARD LAND . ALEJANDRO MANDES EVE NUNEZ . JASON L. RILEY . MATTHEW SOERENS JIM WALLIS . JENNY HWANG-YANG . AND MORE
KRIEG BARRIE
OCTOBER 20–22, 2011 . CEDARVILLE UNIVERSITY . CEDARVILLE, OHIO . CEDARVILLE.EDU/G92 17 OLASKY.indd 3
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Health care
for people of faith
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