Books reviews, current events, and other musings

 
A fascinating book excerpt compares Bush's speech following the 9/11 attacks to bin Laden's comments on videotape (from BookNotes):

Both men constructed a Manichaean struggle, where Sons of Light confront Sons of Darkness, and all must enlist on one side or another, without possibility of neutrality, hesitation, or middle ground. Bin Laden stated that the events of September 11 produced a radical estrangement and categorical division between two rival camps. His discourse, moreover, helps construct and exacerbate that division, as does the broader discourse in which he participates, which helped shape practices culminating in the 11th. "I tell them that these events have divided the world into two camps, the camp of the faithful and the camp of infidels. May God shield us and you from them" . Bush made the same point in the central paragraph of his text, pressing a complex and variegated world into the same tidy schema of two rival camps. The orienting binaries of this structure-good/evil, hero/villain, threatened/threat-are much the same for Bush as for bin Laden, but, predictably enough, he assigned the roles in opposite fashion. "Every nation has a choice to make. In this conflict, there is no neutral ground. If any government sponsors the outlaws and killers of innocents, they have become outlaws and murderers, themselves. And they will take that lonely path at their own peril"

This is a thought-provoking way of viewing the events of last year. There's a good chance that I'll read Bruce Lincoln's Holy Terrors: Thinking About Religion after September 11 to see what else he has to say.
posted by Julian at 10:30 PM

 
A National Review commentary argues something that strikes me as obvious: that the intelligence agencies need brilliant analysts and leadership. Clearly, no significant undertaking will succeed unless the people running it and those providing its intellectual center possess formidable brainpower. Perhaps the National Review readership needs to be convinced that, in some situations at least, intelligent thinking is actually a virtue. I wonder whether the author, who was an assistant to the CIA director during the Reagan administration, believes that the same reasoning applies to US Presidents (from Joel on Software).
posted by Julian at 11:30 PM

 
There are several new Wallace and Gromit shorts, the first new edition of the cartoon in the last six years. They're currently shown on the BBC, but presumably they'll reach the US at some point. What's really exciting is that a full length Wallace and Gromit movie is on the way, though it won't be complete for a couple more years (from The Usual Suspects).
posted by Julian at 10:46 PM

 
In Class Dismissed: A Year In The Life Of An American High School, A Glimpse Into The Heart Of A Nation, journalist Meredith Maran provides an eyewitness account of life at Berkeley High School. She focuses on three students throughout their senior years, but spends time with teachers, parents, and others to provide a general context. Her depiction adds a level of substance and reality to the often-heard complaints about dysfunctional public schools.

Berkeley High is a fascinating place, far from the racially and economically homogeneous high school I attended. The student body includes well-off, mostly white teenagers from the Berkeley hills, along with a significant Black population from poorer families. The school sponsors various only-in-Berkeley activities, such as poetry slams or African-American literature and dance classes. Also, some innovative programs attempt to help the troubled or disadvantaged youth, while other students concentrate on a college-bound track.

The teachers, or at least the ones she discusses, are enthusiastic and capable, but the system as a whole is not working. All kinds of chaos get in the way, culminating when one of the school buildings burns down due to arson. The school risks losing its accreditation because of differing achievement levels between blacks and whites, teachers are protesting their low salaries, and the administrative structure is barely functional.

With that backdrop, Maran traces the lives of three students. Autumn is a highly motivated biracial woman struggling to get into college while supporting her family financially and taking care of her younger siblings. Jordan is a well-to-do white teenager who's depressed by the death of his father. Keith is a popular but directionless black football player who has occasional scrapes with the Berkeley Police Department. Their experiences reveal the day-by-day life of a contemporary American teenager, their desires, frustrations, and successes.

Maran sticks to her direct observations: what people do and say. She didn't explain, for example, after describing a classroom interaction, whether the students are thinking "This is exciting", "This is bogus", or "This is boring". I generally prefer Studs Turkel style oral histories, where people reveal their personal impressions. Class Dismissed was worthwhile, but a little more depth would have been an improvement.

I'd recommend this book for the human face it places the national school system, in terms of both students and teachers. How to improve the schools is actually less clear to me than before I started the book. Maran concludes with a few recommendations; some, such as increased funds, seem rather obvious, while others, such as abolishing tracking (separating students into different classes according to perceived ability) are a lot more controversial.
posted by Julian at 10:15 PM