Saturday Video Roundup: edufication in the America

Howdy, folks, and welcome to Saturday Video Roundup, where today our guests tackle the tricky issue of education and politics. Up first, one of our heroes offers some thoughts on education in our ownership society.

A college education should be a road to success, not a path to bankruptcy

This weekend George Bush did something so out-of-character that it seems impossible to believe–he signed into law new legislation that will actually benefit the American people. Specifically new laws that overhaul the corrupt and bloated student loan system:
The law, which received overwhelming bipartisan support in Congress, will slash federal subsidies to private loan companies and [...]

VerseDay: in praise of transcendent poetry and good poetry teachers

In fall of 1987 I was in my first semester of an English MA program at Iowa State, and was taking a seminar in contemporary American poets. The class was an eye-opener for me, as I’d not read many poets later than Dylan Thomas, and if you’re going to be a real writer it’s always [...]

A proposed curriculum for graduate study in Interpretive Journalism: an S&R special report

Part four in a series.
I hope that by this stage of the discussion a few fundamental points are evident:

Traditional journalism - the institutional form that most of us grew up with and the codes that governed it - is in decline. For a variety of factors it has lost (or is rapidly losing) its place [...]

The rise of “subjective” journalism: an S&R special report

Part three in a series.
In the aftermath of the 2004 election I wrote a fairly jaded op-ed for Editor & Publisher lamenting just how badly our brave new world of electronic media had failed us. I said, in part:
In the “marketplace of ideas” model that gave rise to the First Amendment, rationally self-interested citizens would [...]

The end of “objectivity”: S&R special report on journalism education

Part two in a series.
Let’s begin with a brief look at how Americans view the press.

A 2004 Gallup Poll says “Americans rate the trustworthiness of journalists at about the level of politicians and as only slightly more credible than used-car salesmen.”
Only about one in five Americans “believe journalists have high ethical standards, ranking [...]

Education for the next generation of journalism: a Scholars & Rogues special report

It doesn’t seem controversial to suggest that journalism in America (and beyond) is in trouble, and there are any number of factors contributing to the malaise.
A particular concern of mine has been the decline in the efficacy of what we’ll call “objective journalism” - that is, the institutionalized press that dominated newsgathering and production throughout [...]

Saturday Video Roundup, Tuesday Special Edition: breaking developments in Miss Teen SC case

The hottest thing on the Internets right now is the video of Miss Teen South Carolina trying, unsuccessfully, to answer a painfully simple question. In this SVR Special Report, we look at new developments in this breaking story.
First, for those of you who had trouble following Miss Upton’s answer, here’s a subtitled version, which adds [...]

THEEERRRRRRE she is…..

Whether your pet peeve is the “US American” educational system, beauty pageants, the state of South Carolina or blondes, there’s something here for everybody.

When giants walked the earth…the end of “the age of rock stars…” a personal view…

I think maybe this starts at a Who concert in 1976:
I went to the concert with two musician friends of mine and some women who, for reasons obvious to me at least, shall remain nameless. Toots and the Maytals, one of the great reggae bands, opened the show. In retrospect, they played a nice [...]

Quotabull

And Brian will be back in our next hour with a look at the life- and-death question that is now being asked in Utah. Is it possible for those trapped miners to still be alive?
Well, they are cute, colorful, and they may be dangerous to your kids. Mattel is recalling more than 20 million toys [...]

Reframing the Republican lie about wealth in America

In America, the Republicans are seen as the party of money and wealth. This perception is certainly accurate in one sense - the GOP is the favored party of the wealthy elite. Unfortunately, the party is also supported in large numbers by those who have no wealth, and thanks to the policies of the Republican [...]

Ave Maria: the Holy City of Domino’s Pizza and Christian Soldiers

This week saw the first public tours of Ave Maria, the combination Catholic university/planned community envisioned by Thomas Monaghan, the former Domino’s Pizza magnate turned fervent facilitator of a new Catholic movement.
Essentially, the community seems like a perfect hermetically sealed environment–families will be able to walk to work, send their kids to school, and [...]

This land is our land…

Watch the kids. Do like they do. Act like they act. Yell like they yell. Dance the [...]

‘Natives,’ ‘Immigrants’ and ‘Pioneers’ in the Digital World

I recently had an interesting discussion with an online acquaintance. We were discussing a tagging project she’s doing for a thriving Live Journal community I referee moderate. She found the project to be very productive and educational, and I was happy to let her use her considerable skills as an organizer and archivist to clean [...]