Obama at the UN
Listen
President Obama told the UN General Assembly today that the U.S. is a serious partner in fighting global warming, and that the country has done more in the last 8 months to reduce carbon pollution than any other time in history. He also met with Israeli and Palestinian leaders uring a push forward in the Mideast peace process. Jonathan Marcus is the BBC’s diplomatic correspondent and joins us from New York.
Technology in the Classroom
Listen
A prep school in Massachusetts is in the process of giving away its library books and replacing them with digital versions. Dr. James Tracy is headmaster of Cushing Academy in Ashburnham, Massachusetts and explains the difficult decision. We’ll also speak with Jeff Young of the Chronicle of Higher Education about another trend in education: electronic textbooks.
Flooding in the South
A flooded Pinnacle Mountain State Park in Little Rock, Ark on Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2009, after heavy rains swept across the state. (AP)
Heavy rains have pelted the southeast and hundreds of roads and bridges are underwater in the Atlanta area. The town of Dallas, outside Atlanta, had 16 inches of rain in a 48-hour period. We’ll speak to Mayor Benjamin Perry of Trion, Georgia, about how that small town is doing after days of rain.
MacArthur Genius
Listen
The MacArthur Fellowships, better known as the “genius awards” were announced today and Harvard Professor of Applied Mathematics L. Mahadevan is on the list. We revisit a conversation we had with Professor Mahadevan last year, about his work watching paint dry, fish swim and flags flutter. He brings a child’s curiosity to science and says that discovery is “seeing what everyone has seen, but thinking what no one has thought.”
Gypsy Kings Meet Led Zeppelin in Mexican Duo
Musicians Rodrigo and Gabriela. (rodgab.com)
The Mexican guitar duo Rodrigo and Gabriela’s latest CD, called 11:11, is a collection of tributes to some of their guitar heroes, including Jimi Hendrix and Al di Meola. But Rodrigo Sanchez and Gabriela Quintero play their tunes on acoustic guitars, combing Rodrigo’s dazzling lead guitar with Gabriela’s rhythm play.
Music from the show
- Ahmad Jamal, “Patterns”
- Charles Mingus, “Pedal Point Blues”
- Sun Kil Moon, “Carry Me Ohio”
- Steve Reich, “Music for Mallets”
- The Ventures, “Green Onions”
- Rodrigo and Gabiela, “Hanuman”
- Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, “Stairway to Heaven”, performed by Rodrigo and Gabriela
- Rodrigo and Gabriela, “Logos”
- Rodrigo and Gabriela, “Atman”
- Rodrigo and Gabriela, “11:11″
Thank you for that remarkable interview with Dr. James Tracy. I enjoyed his take on the 15th century technology tthat is the book and our love of it. His appreciation of the youner generation developing a new aesthetic while appreciating the old was so well and dispassionaltely articulated that I must admit, his vision has won me over. It really is about the function more than the form. It is about the child reading Chaucer more than the mode in which he reads him. This transition is not unlike the transition from scrolls to books. Greatly appreciated his vision, personal story and of course Robin’s exemplary interviewing!
Posted by Scott Dougherty, on September 22nd, 2009 at 12:32 pmThanks,
Scott
I just heard the first part of the interview with the Headmaster of Cushing Academy and the campus that is now virtual. I really can’t help but be horrified at the prospect of a school without the paper volume. As a professional librarian I spent all my time working with databases and have training that enables me to understand how resources are organized to provide the best resources. Why is something like Wikipedia allowed for school papers, when I can remember the Encyclopedia Britannica was not…our children today are not taught how to dig for information, a skill developed from books as opposed to what is provided online. I’ve used the internet as a tool for 18 years, but I would never rely upon it as a primary source of information. The advent of blogs, self-serving web sites, social networking areas, all of these have no checks and or balances. Children believe that because it is on the web it has to be true. They certainly can’t notes within an electronic copy that’s available for all time.
I can’t help but think that all the “sharing” features that come with electronic books don’t really make them better students if they really can’t comprehend what it is they are looking at.
Another fear is that this will increase the divide between the haves and have nots…You can’t utilize the e-books if you don’t have the readers. Public schools already rely upon public libraries, how will they keep up with the demand and be the equalizer.
I spend all my day on the PC for work, the last thing I want to do is spend my evening “reading”. I find the Headmaster’s logic flawed in so many ways, having to hire more “librarians” to create this virtual world and a new half million dollar space. Honestly, if I were a parent with a child in that school, I’d take my child out immediately. I’d like to see him take a Kindle to the beach and see if it gives the same warm feeling when it doesn’t work because: the seaguls got it and dumped it in the water or sand got into it and burned it out. At least a book will dry or can be wiped off…
Posted by Marina Kelly, on September 22nd, 2009 at 12:33 pmI could not believe my ears when the mayor of Trion Ga seemed more concerned with the loss of the new carpet in city hall than the loss of life after the terrible flooding on Monday. He never responded to the death of the young boy even though Robin brought it up three times.
Posted by Richard Pender, on September 22nd, 2009 at 7:42 pm