[MD] Another parallel

[plattholden at gmail.com]

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