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[Previous entry: " School of Dreams Discussion Guide" 08/07/2006 My California — My California: Journeys by Great Writers is in its fifth printing and continues to generate money for the beleaguered California Arts Council, supporting writing programs for school kids throughout the state. It's truly a Good Deed and a Good Read, featuring essays from such authors as Michael Chabon, T. Jefferson Parker, Firoozeh Dumas, Carolyn See, Matt Warshaw and 22 other California writers. All the writers involved donated their work to this great cause — I'm proud to be one of them, with my essay, The Last Little Beach Town — as did the publishers (Angel City Press and the incomparable CaliforniaAuthors.com), the artist David Hockney, publicist Jackie Green, and editor Donna Wares. Pico Iyer penned the introduction. Buy My California. Film Updates 2006 — I often hear from readers asking about the latest news about film projects. I’m happy to report that Mississippi Mud is active again and being developed as a feature film by Barbara DeFina. Stay tuned for more details. The real you in 750 words — Here’s a piece I shared with CaliforniaAuthors.com about the angst of writing the dreaded college admissions essay. School of Dreams Discussion Guide — The teachers at Hilliard-Davidson High School in Ohio shared their School of Dreams discussion guide with me when I visited with them, and I'll share it with you (with a few modifications). Excellent, thought-provoking questions from the teachers' point of view, though they are just as applicable to parents, kids and policy-makers. (Thanks to Steve Estepp, Assistant Principal.) College Prep — I had an interesting series of conversations about the college admissions arms race and the lives of high achievers with groups of parents, teachers and high school juniors at Flintridge Prep, a private school nestled in the foothills of La Canada Flintridge, Calif, where School of Dreams has been a topic of discussion and debate. From each group I heard a growing uncertainty about the future, thanks in part to escalating competition at elite college programs — and to the budget cuts at the University of California, where a longstanding promise to make room for the Golden State's top students is being broken for the first time in 44 years. Students at Flintridge, like thousands of others around the state, face being turned down by the UC system despite meeting all the requirements for admission, a dubious first for our new governor and his budget priorities, which have singled out higher education for deep cuts. “Kids are being wait listed who would have been admitted in the past,” one counselor told me. “They are crushed.” It is beyond sad to watch as the state's public schools, from kindergarten to university, once the finest in the world, decay and retreat from excellence, treated like just another crumbling old bridge or potholed highway. Except this infrastructure is for our most precious resource, our children, and will not be so easily mended. Educators Name School of Dreams a Must-Read— The editors of American School Board Journal have declared School of Dreams a “Must Read,” one of nine books published in the past 12 months celebrated in the January issue of the journal. School of Dreams a Book World Rave — The Washington Post just named School of Dreams a best book of 2003 in its annual Book World Raves. From the Post: “A masterly example of passionate yet even-handed reporting — as enthralling as Richard Hofstatder's classic Anti-Intellectualism in American Life. It deserves an A+, even without grade inflation.” Read the full review by Michael Dirda here. The Push — Read a review and a spirited discussion about School of Dreams, the days and nights of high-achieving students, why moms in India call a public school in Cerritos, California, begging to get their children admitted, and how standardized testing and Instant Messenger may be ruining kids' ability to write coherently. This and more at Diane Patterson's well-written blog, Nobody Knows Anything. Are only adults allowed to be children? School of Dreams, the future of public education, and the lives of top students are provoking some great discussions over at CalPundit and at Metafilter. Talk of the Nation on National Public Radio just had me on to discuss School of Dreams and California's Whitney High School with host Neil Conan. We talked about the lives of high-achieving students, our national obsession with standardized tests (and the difference between creating great learners and great test-takers), what's working in public schools... and what's not working. Link to the audio of the show, then fast forward to the 18:40 minute mark. Read EducationNews.org's new review of School of Dreams. Read an excerpt from School of Dreams on CaliforniaAuthors.com Read an author interview at HarcourtBooks.com. Buy School of Dreams
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