Hi All, This seems to be the season for book reviews that parallel some of observations made in the MOQ. For example, from a review of "Small Wonder" by Jonathan Zimmerman in the Wall St. Journal comes this summary::
"The idealization of the little red schoolhouse, Mr. Zimmerman concludes, reflects a rueful awareness that in modernity Americans 'gained the whole world of technological conveniences and lost the soul of their communities'." Compare to Lila: "The world was no doubt in better shape intellectually and technologically but despite that, somehow, the "quality" of it was not good. There was no way you could say why this quality was no good. You just felt it." (Lila, 22) The book reviewed is about one-room school houses that provided the bulk of secondary education in 19th an early 20th century rural America and how a number of important benefits of those schools have been lost. The review concludes: "Even after Mr. Zimmerman's unsentimental accounting of its defects, the one-room school shines in comparison with the over-large and remotely controlled warehouses in which too many children are educated today. Reading "Small Wonder," one wonders if Americans will ever tire of chasing after the gods of Progress and Bigness and rediscover the little things, red schoolhouses among them, that once gave us our soul." I like "soul" as a synonym for Quality. And, I like the way Mr. Zimmerman explains why the quality of modern education "is no good." You can read the entire review at: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124631953965570969.html Regards, Platt Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
