Book Burning Logic

Apparently a black Ops soldier veteran of Afghanistan has written a tell all that the Pentagon did not care for.  So the Pentagon bought up almost all 10,000 copies of the first run from St. Martin's Press, and demanded, and got censorship, and subsequent runs.  Foolish really, since "almost all" is not all, and no doubt soon enough wikileaks will have it out.

The whole thing is silly anyway, since whatever he said the enemy already knows, since what he did he did to the enemy.  If I toilet paper your house, and then demand it be kept secret from you that your house was toilet-papered, it seems rather pointless.  You know. So it is not much of a secret.

Such secrets are kept to make sure USA citizens, generally a fair lot, do not find out what our military is up to.

PErish You Publisher would not only assure the truth got out, it would mean royalties of $100,000 for the 10,000 copies, instead of the $12,500 or so the author most likely would earn.

Where to Post?

I've posted a note on a new twist on IPR over at my HBH blog.

FuturBooks

Had a conversation at a party last night with a web-designer who had just been hired a few months ago at Amazon.com.  Given his youth he wondered if books would disappear given the rise of Kindle and other readers.  I thought not since books, that is a library, is still one of the top five design themes for interior decoration.  Also, the coffee table books as an accent will never go away.  We'd always have books.  Another young woman, too a web designer, offered that what books we'll have in the future will be beautifully bound, as keepers.  (I think that has been done, but who knows, maybe it will come back.)  I offered that to this day when confounded I will grab a dictionary or a thesaurus off the shelf to consult, since that is faster than a computer.  I might as well have said I still use an abacus, for the looks I got.

Hang On, It Is Not That Simple

The press highlights warnings in Washington State that if we don't do something, Community Colleges will take a hit and , well...

Spending cuts won't touch certain areas, such as basic education, pensions and debt service. But Marty Brown, Gregoire's budget director, said social services, corrections and community colleges will clearly face significant losses. That could lead to larger community college classes, fewer services for ill people and more.

"It's not going to be pretty," Brown said, adding that community college classes with 40 students could soon have 70 or 75 students.


Only problem with this is a matter of physics.  A classroom built for 30 students max, now holding 40, is not going to hold 70 or 75.  Can't squeeze them all in. Of course this works in prisons, which is how the state handles budget problems (write more crimes, arrest more people, crowd them into the same jails) but insurance companies may not want to underwrite such crowded rooms.  Come up with another solution.

Dr.North on Discount Degrees

I love Dr. Gary North, for most of his work, although in some fringe areas he I disagree, with temerity.  He has been very good on educational reform, and has put out this video.  Of course he is absolutely right (although coming from a family of academics to me his "secrets" are not so secret) but in this video I think there is a fundamental error.  he shows how to get an accredited bachelors degree "wholesale" for less than $11 buck a day... but I would ask, who wants and accredited degree, at any price?

He talks of overthrowing the educational establishment, but her is only shows how to get their offerings at a discount.  He has written so much that is truly revolutionary, I wonder at this anticlimactical video.

So he shows how to get an accredited degree cheap, which I would question why one would want one at any price, and he suggests in three of his seven tactics to avoid the classroom: dual credits (high school credits for college, or vice versa), distance learning, and quiz out (what I know as "challenging the course...")  But classroom learning, with the sage on the stage, is a wonderful thing.  To me the revolutionary thing is 4 years of classroom sage on the stage learning, at a free market price.

Incidentally, he is a master marketer, and I intend to copy his format to pitch perishyourpublisher.com and seattle teachers college...

Khan and Lowe

Derek Lowe, who I suspect of being British, has an exemplary blog at http://pipeline.corante.com/.  Reading it, and his insights on chemistry and that business, I could not help but think of khanacademy.org and Khan's initiative in education.

Khan is laying out fundamental, elementary lessons that any patent could go over with any child, and both learn.  Once those elements are mastered, then the students can more specialize, based on interest, and then engage a Derek Lowe.

It seems to me in education we overpay for so little, and so many never get to where they could, that is arguing with Derek Lowe over Vinca alkaloids, or testing out some of his theories, for fun.

I know the fearful claim if kids learn the basics at home they will they will miss out on socialization that he school environment offers.  The few years that we homeschooled our kids we took care of this problem by dragging our daughters into the bathroom and stealing their lunch money.  This way they did not miss a thing.

Khan Academy

Online education has made a breakthrough, which is a game changer for education.  Note there is no interest in accreditation, just raw learning...