Cultured Media

A California appeals court ruled that parents must be certified teachers in order to home school their children. The decision has sent a chill through the nation’s growing home schooling community. We’ll look at trends in home schooling and new attempts to regulate it.

The interview is with:

• Mike Donnelly, staff attorney, Home School Legal Defense Association
• Rob Reich, associate professor of political science and ethics in society, Stanford University
• Gretchen Roe, home schooling parent for the past 14 years; part-time home schooling community liaison for Calvert School

Listen on the Diane Rehm Show

One of the few African-American, female billionaires describes how to empower women all over the world and her life as a musician, entrepreneur, advocate for the arts, and philanthropist. I’m going to guess that I don’t agree with her politically (and how can someone who has made money with BET advocate for women not being exploited?) but I am glad that she advocates for women’s education in third world countries. Did you know that 75% of women in the world are illiterate?

Listen to interview with Sheila Johnson

I recently browsed though the book, The Best Old Movies For Families: A Guide to Watching Together. Boston Globe film critic explains how to introduce classic films like Bringing Up Baby and North by Northwest to younger viewers without having them looking for the remote. Burr breaks his titles down according to age group, creating the best movie guide we know for future filmistas. My local library recommended this book back in October 2007. I enjoyed browsing through this book and might use it in the distant future. My wife watched over three-fourths of the movies listed during her childhood. You might be offended by some language and crass/ironic humor of this book if you are the home-schooling Christian subculture. This book is more for the family that wants to watch less Barney and more Marx Brothers, than it is for someone wanting to totally shelter their children from the evils of the world. And by old movies, Burr means 1970.

Jim Lehrer hosts By the People: Citizenship in the 21st Century, a documentary to air on PBS this month, featuring some of America’s most talented and influential leaders debating the rights and responsibilities of citizenship. The one-hour special will show highlights of the dialogues in Democracy project that By the People is undertaking in partnership with the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. A major focus of the broadcast is the By the People convocation that took place in Williamsburg, Virginia, from November 8 through 11, with the goal of creating thoughts for a new Declaration of Citizenship in the 21st Century.

The convocation brought together a diverse group of approximately 50 influential Americans, reflecting diverse perspectives. Among the participants were: Nathan Baxter, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Central Pennsylvania;David Davenport, former president of Pepperdine University; Lisa Madigan, Illinois Attorney General; Leo Melamed, Chairman Emeritus, Chicago Mercantile Exchange; Robert Moses, founder of The Algebra Project; Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist; and Indianapolis 500 driver Janet Guthrie.

Watch over an hour’s worth of the documentary at By The People: A National Conversation about America in the World.

Are you tired of listening to music on your iPod during your morning commute? You can listen to literature in the public domain (and even some licensed books) at LibraVox and AudioBooksforFree

These books do not have professional actors reading them however, so it’s hit or miss on whether you find the reader’s voice irritating. Although it’s hit or miss with professional voices–I still find the reader’s voice of copy of Brothers Karamazov annoying.

Also, you might find the interface of the Internet Archive more appealing than LibraVox. It’s the same content however.

Fifty-seven million Americans are too poor to be considered middle class and too wealth to qualify for government assistance. A sociologist describes the housing, education, health care, and debt challenges facing families living on the financial edge.

The main gist of this book is that a single mother cannot support four children on $30K per year, especially if they have medical conditions or mental disorders. This is the near-poor that does not want to be on government assistance, but is financially on par with the working or non-working poor due to their circumstances.

Katherine Newman: The Missing Class on the Diane Rehm Show

Family physician, research psychologist, and author Dr. Leonard Sax explains why many of today’s young men and boys are unmotivated and uninterested in school and in life. He found five factors that contribute to their decline and offers suggestions to get them re-engaged in life.

On the Diane Rehm Show

Frank Burd and Ed Klein are Philadelphia public school teachers who were attacked on the job. Both Burd, a math teacher, and Klein, a music teacher, talk about the difficulties of teaching in inner city schools. Fresh Air