The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Friedman

Review to appear in the next issue of Connections by Cyndi Dunlap

In my job that I get paid for (many of you think my job is NHSTE and the Christa McAuliffe Technology Conference, but these are only my volunteer jobs) I was very lucky to be involved in the National Education Summit held in Brewster on Cape Cod from October 6th through the 8th. Here leadership from 28 states across the nation, including New Hampshire, convened to discuss and strategize for two days the greatest challenges facing educators across the United States.

Teams of eight to twelve leaders consisting of representation from the respective DOEs, legislative branches, and select school districts were invited to participate in this summit hosted by CELT Corp, CCSSO (the Council of Chief State School Officers) and ECS (Education Commission of the States). Presenters for the plenary sessions included Alan November, Dr. David Thornburg, Dr. Terry Crane, Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, Dr. Richard Fairley and others.

Each of these distinguished speakers highlighted the positive changes that are happening across the nation’s schools with respect to improving student achievement, but each also addressed areas where we are not making gains, falling behind, and perhaps more importantly, just plain ignoring! Many of the issues that are being ignored are the focus of “The World is Flat”. The author takes you on his journeys to India, China, Japan, Korea, and beyond. What he describes is both enlightening and frightening! From the jacket cover, “ With his inimitable ability to translate complex foreign policy and economic issues, Friedman explains how the flattening of the world happened at the dawn of the twenty-first century; what it means to countries, communities, and individuals; and how governments and societies can, and must, adapt.” We, as educators, must be a critical component of this adaptation process.

If you have not yet purchased this book you will. How do I know this, because it was by far the hottest topic with the broadest implications at the National Education Summit. If you thought you understood what “outsourcing” is and how it is impacting our economy, our nation, and our schools, read just the first hundred pages and you will have second thoughts. I purchased the hard cover version at Barnes and Nobles on Monday (just under $20) knowing that I was traveling on Tuesday and needed “airport” reading. I made it though to page 106 due to flight delays and am struggling not to curl up on a chair and just keep on going on this gloomy Wednesday! But instead I am sitting here at the keyboard writing articles that are due on Friday. As usual, I have my assignments for Connections articles and this is one that was not assigned, but needed to be written!

The paper back version is due out in March of 2006, and I propose that every New Hampshire legislator, staff member at the NHDOE, superintendent, principal, teacher, and all other educational leaders accept this reading assignment as their own for the summer of 2006, IF NOT SOONER!

Young Adult Reading
To mix things up a bit I thought I would also include reviews and recommendations of other technology related titles. This one is from our school librarian. It was on the ALA, 2003 Best Books for Young Adults list and won Boston Globe-Horn Book Honors.

Feed by M.T. Anderson
This brilliantly ironic satire is set in a future world where television and computers are connected directly into people's brains when they are babies. The result is a chillingly recognizable consumer society where empty-headed kids are driven by fashion and shopping and the avid pursuit of silly entertainment--even on trips to Mars and the moon--and by constant customized murmurs in their brains of encouragement to buy, buy, buy. (Look inside Amazon.com review)

Flat in Deerfield
As I am beginning to understand how and why The World is Flat, I am struck by the different manifestations of flatness. In the book Friedman talks about hierarchical flattening in the military, locational flattening in manufacturing and distribution - out sourcing, home sourcing and just plain sourcing, and informational flattening in news and media. As a reality check I am trying to apply this to my own life.

In my small town of Deerfield a group of us has created our own online newspaper. It has been a lot of work on the part of a dozen or so people. Take a look at it at ForumHome.org. It looks good. As a matter of fact I think it looks as good as the regional paper in towns adjacent to us The Hookset Banner or The Manchester Mirror , both of which are part of the Union Leader group. This is part of a larger movement called citizen journalism . We did not set out to be citizen journalist. As a matter of fact we had not heard the term when we started. In our case there was a convergence of our desire to communicate what was happening locally in an underserved print news area and technology . I think this is the Deerfield version of flatness.

We got our feet wet and are now ready to move on.

Our second book will be The World is Flat: A Brief History of the 21^st Century by Thomas L. Friedman, available from Amazon for $10.88 in paperback. This is one of those books that you hear about one day and then hear about it again three times the next week. I first heard about it from a neighbor who works in the university system’s Chancellor’s office. This was a book that the New Hampshire University System Board of Trustees chose to read and discuss as a group. It was also the book mentioned by former governor of Maine, Angus King, in Bob Sprankle’s podcast, by David Warlick at the NHSTE Annual dinner and finally by Cyndi Dunlap. Now seems to be the time.

Here is how you can participate. If you just want to hum along, just read. Chris Hunewell just gave me some tips on counters for the blog so at least I won't feel so alone. If you would like to contribute, log in and make a comment. If you would be willing to post, just email me at dboisvert@SAU53.org and I will set you up. I would love to have more people posting, so that we can get more conversation going and so that I don’t feel guilty if I don’t post every week. Feel free to contribute whatever strikes you. I would love to see reviews of articles, children’s and young adult titles and recommendations and reviews of other books - whatever is on your mind. My goal is for my first post to be next weekend. Now, if I could only find a way to blog my laundry.