Musical Elective of the Week

The Musical Elective of the Week is: Tracy Grammer.

Liam is away and so now Sara will play...the music of a beautiful singer-songwriter struggling to overcome the death of her musical and life partner.

It was Tracy and Dave, once upon a time. Dave Carter, that is. They were a pair-- they worked together in a "marriage in music" and made the most gorgeous albums. Then one day after a run, young Dave Carter suffered a heart attack and left Tracy all alone.

The outpouring in the music community was amazing.

Well somehow life went on, and Tracy continues to sing. I recommend all of her work and especially what she recorded with Dave. Once in awhile Tracy makes it to Madison. There was a time I even harbored hopes she'd sing at my wedding. (Didn't happen..too much money). I think she'll be here again next year.

A beginner should start with Tanglewood Tree. No doubt, you'll get hooked.

love is a garden of thorns, and a crow in the corn
and the brake growing wild
cold when the summer is spent in the jade heart's lament
for the faith of a child
my body has a number and my face has a name
and each day looks the same to me
but love is a voice on the wind, and the wages of sin
and a tanglewood tree

A Topic Deserving of a Thesis

Attention graduate students: good thesis topic here. Take note!

Inside Higher Ed reports a growing interest among colleges, particularly those in the South, at recruiting Jewish students. Wow, has the world changed. (For more on that, see Karabel's The Chosen.)

Why is this happening? Here's what the colleges say: "...We’re seeing a lot of other schools recognize the value and recognize the contribution that these students are making to a college campus..."

But of course, we must ask, what does "contribution" mean? Thankfully, the reporter does raise this issue--might colleges, faced with declining enrollments and revenues, be acting strategically to target a population with high rates of college-going, and relatively higher incomes?

It would be great to know more. Specifically: How widespread is this trend? What are the discussions like inside administrative offices? Which schools are successful at upping Jewish enrollment? What are the effects? How do the Jewish students feel on these campuses? That and so much more.

So, student-- go for it! And report back on your findings, please.

What Keeps Me Going

I'm in my 5th year as an assistant professor, and I'm just starting to figure it out. Tonight I received an email that helped clarify things quite a bit...

It comes from a student who took the very first sociology of education class I ever taught. I don't want to identify him so suffice it to say that he's a first-gen college student, an underrepresented minority, who had never traveled outside of Wisconsin when we met. Upon graduation he planned on a career in law, but was accepted by Teach for America and sent to New York City. (Again, he had NEVER been outside of WI....)

I've long wondered what happened to him. Here goes:

"Professor Rab:

Hey I am so sorry and this email is long overdue. I just wanted to give you a quick update on how things are going with me. This past year I completed my 2 years with Teach For America and received my masters in elementary education from Pace University. This past summer I worked for Teach For America as a corps member adviser training the new teachers and it was an awesome experience.

I have decided to remain in the classroom teaching 4th grade at PS XXX in the Bronx. I would like to pursue administration in the future. I have been placed in a lot of leadership positions at school as only a 3rd year teacher: data specialist, data inquiry team chair, school leadership team co-chair, grade team leader, etc. My plate is really full this year but well worth it. I am in the process of applying for grad school's again for a masters in supervision and administration. Following those 2 years I would like to get my PHD in Supervision and administration as well.

I have to say that meeting you and being in your sociology of education class really did inspire me from you being so young and talented at the time and me even being interested in education. Thank you! I hope all is well with your family and work."

And that's it-- I'm staying where I am. Right here. Where clearly, despite my best efforts, I matter.

Research To Keep An Eye On...

At a retreat of the National Academy of Education last week, I heard a presentation by Greg Walton (Stanford University) that took me by surprise. This guy conducted a series of experiments that showed that simply telling black students they "belong" in college and have struggles which are common and surmountable can have a direct positive impact, increasing their college achievement. Walton's are small but randomized controlled interventions in a lab setting, which makes for great confidence in the effects he estimates. At least for this population, which I'd characterize as black college students willing to participate in an experiment (a group arguably different from the general population, and also different from the population of white students willing to participate), a brief psychological encounter in a lab seems to make a big difference. I'd need to know more before I bought stock in this one, but in the meantime, Walton's research is something I'll be keeping an eye on....

Palin's College Choices

Here's a quick post that follows up on Sara's recent post ("Palin Is A Swirling Student!") about Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin's college education.

Yesterday, the Los Angeles Times ran a story ("Sarah Palin's college years left no lasting impression") that suggests that few professors and classmates can recall Palin from her college years. Even more interesting is the insight it provides into how Palin selected some of the colleges she attended. My guess is that Palin's is not an atypical approach. One of the reasons given in the article is that her family couldn't afford -- especially from Alaska -- to make the campus visits that often are a normal luxury available to students from wealthier families.

Palin's parents -- a high school science teacher and school secretary -- could not afford the college tours so common today. Their four children were expected to, and did, work their way through college.

"We didn't have the luxury of spending a week driving around visiting universities to see what they're like," said Kim "Tilly" Ketchum, a high school friend. "We were looking at pictures of campuses."

Palin and Ketchum picked the University of Hawaii at Hilo from a brochure.

Only after arriving in Hawaii did they realize that Hilo had rainfall approaching 100 inches a year. "The rain," Ketchum said, "was disturbing."

They attended orientation but never even enrolled.

The Wasilla girls soon moved to sunny Honolulu and enrolled in Hawaii Pacific University, a small private liberal arts school. They lived in an apartment in the Waikiki Banyan and took a bus to school.

Palin, a school spokeswoman said, attended full time as a business student.

The girls studied on the beach, tried surfing and pulled straight A's, Ketchum said. "We took the basic classes -- chemistry and biology, this and that."

But there was a problem. "When you're used to having some cooler weather, you get tired of the heat," Ketchum said. "We went one semester there before we realized we needed to go someplace else."

They transferred to tiny North Idaho College, on the shore of Lake Coeur d'Alene. Palin's older brother, Chuck Jr., had gone there before transferring to their father's alma mater, the University of Idaho in Moscow.

At North Idaho, Palin and Ketchum found what they had missed in Honolulu. They lived on campus before moving to separate apartments their second semester. "It was all very quaint," Ketchum said. "You kind of felt safe."

Election Day and Schools

A number of communities are canceling classes on Election Day due to a fear about possible threats to school security and student safety, reports the New York Times ("Safety Concerns Eclipse Civic Lessons as Schools Cancel Classes on Election Day").

The headline and the article suggests that canceling classes negates the possibility of using the voting process -- which often takes place in school gymnasiums and cafeterias -- as a real life civics lesson. In the current context, that's probably true, as these schools are trying to balance safety, security and voting all on their own without the support of policymakers.

I strongly favor making Election Day a national holiday. U.S. Congressman John Conyers Jr. (D-Michigan) sponsored a bill (H.R. 63) in 2005 that would have accomplished exactly that. Since presidential elections only come around every four years, states should seek to codify election days as state holidays as well. In fact, Delaware, Hawaii, Kentucky, Maryland, Montana, New Jersey, New York, Ohio and West Virginia have already done so.

Making Election Day a national holiday would elevate the democratic process as something sacred, a protected day when real life can at least slow down and working families can easily find the time to cast their ballots and have their children accompany them if they so choose. The movement toward more early voting is certainly terrific, but there is something special about walking into a polling place on the actual election day and exercising your democratic right.

Here's an alternative initiative focused, in part, on the issue of why we vote on Tuesdays. (In short, because the Constitution says so, based on the needs of the 18th Century agrarian economy.) Why Tuesday? is supported by the likes of Bill Bradley, Jack Kemp, Norman Ornstein, Joe Trippi and Andrew Young. Cool.

Musical Elective Of The Week

The Musical Elective of the Week is Matt Nathanson.

Matt is a San Francisco-based singer/songwriter currently on a U.S. tour. (For local readers, he plays the Majestic Theatre in Madison on November 19th.) But he's originally from the Boston area -- as so many good people are. His sixth studio album, Some Mad Hope, was released in August 2007, featuring the single "Come On Get Higher."

Although I'm a very recent convert to Nathanson's music, I'd suggest that good entryways to his music would be his latest album or his first major-label release, 2003's Beneath These Fireworks that included the brilliant single "Little Victories" (used in Season 7 of NBC's Scrubs).

I'd put Matt's music and sound in the company of Howie Day, David Gray, Griffin House, and Amos Lee. He'd be a great addition to your Ipod filled with smart songwriters and deft folk/pop delivery.

Nathanson's web site is www.mattnathanson.com.

And I'll be awful sometimes
Weakened to my knees
And I'll learn to get by
On the little victories

--"Little Victories," Beneath These Fireworks (2003)

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Extra Credit--Past Musical Electives of the Week:

Hothouse Flowers
The Decemberists
Ron Sexsmith
Kasey Chambers
Lucinda Williams
Great Big Sea
Griffin House
Dave Carter & Tracy Grammer
Neil Finn
Ray LaMontagne
Stuart Stotts
Dan Wilson
Kathleen Edwards