Parents ‘n Schools

Here is a recent essay from Fast Company’s e-letter listing books I’ve discussed here in the past, have read myself or are otherwise on my reading list for one day. I’m sure they all have value in the schooling industry. I’m sure almost no one will ever read them for that. Heavy sigh.
GLO
gordotto@parentsnschools.com
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(GLO — August 2010 — From one year ago, when Mr. Webber published his book. This perspective underlies the argument for “PD for Parents”, as an engine for broadening education and facilitating learning around the clock and around the calendar.)
Alan Webber, in his book “Rules of Thumb”, articulates his Rule #11 as “We’ve moved […]

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Presently reading a book titled “When China Rules the World” by Martin Jacques, which presents the author’s view that unlike prior communist regimes (ie., Russia), over the next 40 years China will not assimilate into Western and capitalist and democratic culture, but rather will maintain and preserve its own 5000 year old culture and become […]

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From Peter Drucker (The New Realities / Post-Capitalist Society / The Age of Discontinuity):
“Every few hundred years there occurs a sharp transformation. We cross a “divide”. Within a few short decades, society rearranges itself — its worldview, its basic values, its social and political structure, its arts, its key institutions. Fifty years later, there is […]

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Finished reading the excellent book by Simon Winchester titled “The Man Who Loved China”, chronicling Sir Joseph Needham and his work through the past century unlocking the mysteries of China’s scientific discoveries. It is excellent insight into China’s, and the world’s, past and present.
Some excerpts:
“The man who is selected to come to China, must be […]

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Robert Fulford in his National Post commentary recently described a newly published book by Barbara Demick providing insight into personal lives within the now 65 year old totalitarian regime in North Korea:
“She leads us carefully and thoughtfully through desperate lives. A kindergarten teacher reports that the hardest part of her job was watching her pupils […]

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Peter Drucker, in his “The Practice of Management” wrote this about management:
“Performance: The Test of Management”
The ultimate test of management is performance. Management, in other words, is a practice, rather than a science or profession, although containing elements of both. No greater damage could be done to our economy or to our society than to […]

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Just finished the excellent new book “What Would Google Do?” by Jeff Jarvis, exploring the fundamental question posed by the title for the benefit of any variety of organization (he excludes only two — PR and lawyers — from future “Googlification”):
“The question I ask in the title is about thinking in new […]

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(GLO — July 2010 — From a couple summers ago… still spookily descriptive.)
I realize it seems a little silly to repeatedly declare that everything I read is about public education, and I would stop doing it EXCEPT IT’S TOTALLY TRUE!
And it’s starting to scare me a little bit.
It happened again today.
I picked up […]

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Seth Godin’s new book “Linchpin” is an excellent look at the workplace and the kind of skills and attributes that are key to success in the modern workplace. Early in the book, Mr. Godin is critical of the way kids are schooled (in factory fashion, for factory outcomes, for factory-dominated-times).
School does a great job of […]

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