Gary Bauer. Doing things right. Nashville, TN: Word Publishing, 2001.

Gary Bauer sought the Republican nomination for President in 2000, and this book Doing Things Right, is largely a result of that experience. As such, the tone of the book makes his stance on issues quite apparent, and reads very much like a long campaign speech. The book is filled with flowery rhetoric that, like all political tomes, seems to glamorize the author’s hardscrabble youth, and the many positive influences in his life, in the face of an otherwise mundane middle class upbringing

Kevin Phillips. Wealth and democracy: a political history of the American rich. New York: Broadway Books, 2002

Mr. Phillip’s book, Wealth and Democracy, stands as a continuation in many ways of his previous works considering the increasing divide between rich and poor. The collection of works that comprise Kevin Phillips’ impressive list of publications, mostly center upon the recurring theme of increasing inequality within American society, and what that widening divide is doing to us economically and politically. While the social implications of such a divide are many, these implications are less a focus of Wealth and Democracy, than are the economic and political ramifications

The professionalization of teaching: is it truly much ado about nothing?

This book focuses on the concerns about the quality and competency of teachers. The effectiveness of teachers has long been a public concern and the aspiration to reform schools has been a recurrent theme in American education. Retaining, or in some cases restoring, the public confidence in the schools is essential for the continuation of the educational enterprise

I\u27ll show you mine, if you show me yours : a brief and preliminary examination of parental report cards

This article examines the recently introduced phenomenon of parental report cards,taking a preliminary look at some of the reasons,both real and perceived, behind the concept. Increased parental involvement in the education of children is as universally applauded as apple pie and motherhood. Educators and parent-teacher organizations have, for years, encouraged greater involvement on the part of parents—encouragement that in the past seldom ventured beyond simple and generic letters from a principal or superintendent or, in some instances, a more personalized letter from a teacher. Parents have long been urged, but have never actually been required, to participate in their children’s education. Although the time has not yet come for compulsory parental education and/or actual report cards assessing the amount of commitment parents show toward their children’s education, symbolic report cards have begun to appear, in which parents are asked to assess their own performance as parents

ETHNIC MINORITIES AND RURAL POVERTY IN LAO PDR

Ethnic minorities have a significantly higher poverty incidence than the majority in Lao PDR. Based on survey data the determinants of minority poverty are analyzed, the sources of inequality decomposed, and the expected impact of polices to address minority poverty estimated. Minority poverty is found to be due to limited access to resources, while minority resource use tends to be efficient. Yet, large differences in resource use between the minority groups are found. Decomposition shows that unequal access to resources and demographic variables largely explain the majority-minority poverty gap. A strategy for alleviating minority poverty in the Lao PDR is suggested: (1) broad policies covering education, infrastructure and agricultural development can address poverty among ethnic minorities; (2) policies should be tailored to the needs of the individual minority groups.Lao PDR; Laos; poverty; ethnic minorities

All that appears isn\u27t necessarily so: morality, virtue, politics, and education

In recent years, the frequency of social critics’ attacks upon our collective “loss of virtue” has heightened. Such attacks on our “failures” now occur so routinely that we often treat the message as so obvious that it need only be mentioned to be accepted. This book attacks that message, not so much for its content, as for its method of delivery. In other words, the author is setting out to attack not the message, but the messenger since the message “virtue” is too complicated for a person to fully understand

Not a single note was played

We can all do something more than we presently are, and perhaps Mr. Geldof’s greatest gift to this university was in his very loud and powerful message to commit ourselves to something greater than ourselves. That is, there should be no doubt what a university should be doing anyway, and we all should hope that Geldof’s visit to our campus reinforces a commitment to service and doubles and redoubles our collective and individual commitments to each other and to our world

POVERTY AND LAND POLICY IN CAMBODIA

Slow agricultural development has restrained economic growth and poverty alleviation in Cambodia. The country's volatile history has left a legacy of weak tenure security and large areas of underutilized land. This study estimates the impact of access to land on poverty in a logistic regression framework using household survey data. Increased access to land is shown to significantly lower the risk of household poverty. Tenure security, land improvements and irrigation strengthens this effect. Simulations of the potential impact of a land reform package predicts a 16 percentage points fall in poverty incidence among landowning rural households and a 30-point fall when targeting the landless. The analysis suggests that improved tenure security should be at the top of the policy agenda. Given political and economic constraints, implementation of reforms remains a key challenge.Cambodia; Economic Development; Poverty; Property Rights; Land Reform