Do What the Man Says...he's rich.

One thing that Tyack and Cuban do a good job of is making observations from the past.  Chapter 4 highlighted several historical attempts at reform and I couldn't help but think of current examples that are similar.  The Carnegie Unit, for example, was devised by elite university presidents, men that are magnates in their field.  The Carnegie Unit became entrenched in the grammar of schooling because the "experts" said it needed to be done.  As Tyack and Cuban note, the idea of earning specific, measurable units of credit is closely aligned with the business world and earning money based on performance.  This would ensure that the hardest working students would have the best chance at going to college which would end up benefitting the economy and the country.  

Today we have our own "experts" who we listen to because of their status (aka. The amount of money they've made).  Take Bill Gates, for example.  In 2005, appearing before the governors of our country, he gave U.S. schools a failing grade using words such as "appalled" and "ashamed".  In that same speech, Gates called for "smaller learning communities"  (sounds like a modern day Dalton Plan if you ask me).  The article (see below) that I was reading went on to mention a pilot program of Gates' learning communities and how it had met with resistance from some educators in Oregon.  They were considering foregoing the proposed Gates grant of $900,000 for the next school year.  There are other examples of this type of programming happening because some rich person is upset and wants to throw money at the problem.

Don't get me wrong, the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation has done some extraordinary things ("I ain't gonna front").  They've paid for hundreds of low-income students to attend college and they are developing some of best and brightest graduates in math and science to lead future innovation.  But when it comes to the way we set up instruction at a local level, should we, as teachers, make changes because someone with a lot of money is upset?  If we agree with the ideas of Tyack and Cuban we a) probably won't be able to disallow the new reform from entering the school and b) will watch the new reform fade with time, because it too forcefully challenges the grammar of schooling.  I have another great example of this happening in South Carolina.  If you're interested (and if you've read this far) see me in class.  I would be happy to share.

In the meantime, here's the Bill Gates article:  http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/education/2002191433_gates27m.html

And, here's an excellent podcast about delayed gratification and marshmallows.  It's especially suitable for early elementary majors:

http://blogs.wnyc.org/radiolab/2009/03/09/mischel's-marshmallows/