Choices

CHAIRWOMAN SIOBHAN ROURKE called the hearing of the Joint Committee on Education of the Massachusetts General Court to order at precisely 10:00 AM, Thursday, August 29, 2002. “Our committee has a full agenda, so I ask all of you who are scheduled to speak to stay within the times given you. I won’t hesitate to use this gavel to cut you off. Understood?” Those in attendance nodded and murmured, “Yes, ma’am.” “The floor is yours, Dr. Moore.” “Thank you, madam chairwoman. I am Jerome Moore, president of John Adams Community College in Gainesborough. Each of you has received a copy of our proposal to investigate an intriguing idea for the future of higher education. The introduction to the proposal indicates who was involved in this effort and how we organized for it. A member of one of our teams, Ms. Marisa Peña, will narrate the supplemental visual presentation.” Marisa rose, moved to the projector, turned it on, and called attention to the screen. “Madam chairwoman, members of the committee, let me begin by stating one part of the problem, as we see it: the soaring costs of textbooks—and a directly related part of that problem, the bundling of too much costly material for students and instructors to use effectively. “We are concerned also with the frequent issuance of new editions when little or nothing of significance has been learned in a field of study since the previous edition ... and the cozy relationship between publishers on the one hand and adopters and university bookstores on the other.” Her crisp elaboration of the points shown on the screen, on a background of her carefully selected visuals, held everyone’s attention. “To deal with those issues and to recognize how computer-literate young people are today, we propose to develop and test a radical change in the way instructors present material to students for their use: the eventual elimination of textbooks and supplements, to be replaced by reliance on information technology for teaching and learning ... student research, comprehension, organization, and writing skills to be emphasized ... true/false and multiple choice tests to be eliminated ... instructors to be guides, or tutors, rather than lecturers.... “We propose a nine-month pilot study to develop the new method and the technology required ... to be followed by a nine-month test in the classroom of the method ... including a business plan for marketing it ... to community colleges first, then to four-year colleges and universities ... and perhaps eventually to secondary, middle, and elementary schools.... We will provide written evaluations to the committee upon completion of the pilot program and test.” She finished by referring to the budget, grant request, and matching-fund amounts for each phase of the proposal. “John Adams Community College and Textdisc LLC, a recent spin-off from Back Bay Publishing, Inc., of Boston, will provide the matching funds. Thank you for your time and attention, ladies and gentlemen.” ……… Mrs. Rourke closed the questions period and said, “Mr. Robert Carpenter, president of the Lexington subsidiary of International Publications, Inc., is representing publishers in the Boston area who wish to be heard on the proposal before this committee. Mr. Carpenter, ...” “Thank you, madam chairwoman. As you stated, I do represent a number of interested textbook publishers in the Boston area. We have been providing superior textbooks for decades and, more recently, the supplements that our customers have begun demanding. No longer can instructors simply rely on a textbook and classroom lectures. They want teachers’ guides and test banks, and their students need supplements such as case studies, study guides, and self-tests—all backed by audiovisual aids. “Moreover, advances in many fields do require frequent updating of textbooks and supplements to present cutting-edge developments and discoveries in those fields. The normal cycle for new editions is three years. In addition to the time needed for authors to write and submit manuscripts, that cycle covers copyediting, proofreading, selection of visuals, formatting, authors’ revisions, final corrections, composition, printing, and adoption by those at colleges and universities who will be teaching from these materials. Bookstores at four-year and some two-year institutions stock adopted textbooks and supplements, acting as distributors for publishers. “The proposed methods of teaching our young people can never replace what textbook publishers have provided and intend to continue to provide so efficiently and economically. The use of public funds to subsidize this wild idea is ludicrous, and we ask this committee to reject it out of hand....” [Or Alternatively] THE FLAMENCO STAGE was bounded on three sides by a sea of small round tables and steel-frame chairs and on the fourth side by the room’s brick rear wall. The group squeezed into seats around two of the tables and had just been served when the warm-up dancers appeared and performed adequately. After a brief interval, the two principal dancers appeared, one from each side of the stage. The man was dressed in traditional black, high-waisted, form-fitting pants, cut-away jacket, fluted white shirt, and a low-crowned, narrow-brimmed black hat; the woman in a brilliant red, low-cut, full-skirted dress, with a red carnation in her hair. They stood poised for a moment as the guitarist began to play softly. The woman moved first: slowly, sensuously, a lace and wooden fan held in one hand, hiding the lower part of her face, her eyes flashing, as the man stood absolutely still, watching her. She began to move faster, and suddenly the sound of castanets held in her other hand and stamping heels punctuated the guitar’s now insistent melody and strident rhythm. She stopped, posing seductively, and the man began to move smoothly around her, as she turned to keep him in her sight. He paused occasionally to snap his fingers and stamp the boards with his heels. He moved toward her, she away from him, in a ritual seduction. The guitar thrummed, the castanets clacked, and heels pounded as they moved faster and faster, whirling, never touching but gradually coming together, as she began to yield to the seduction, the bulge in his pants and swell of her breasts and glimpses of ankle, calf, and thigh—all combining to be powerfully, erotically stimulating. The sounds of guitar and castanets, stamping heels, and clapping hands rose to a crescendo, then suddenly gave way to absolute silence, the dancers’ bodies poised, each with one arm raised high and the other on the waist, unmoving. He took her hand, and they moved to the front of the stage where they bowed to the rhythmic applause, whistles, and shouts of olé of the audience. Each returned to dance a solo to complete the set, to loud applause and more shouts of approval. Anisa and Greg sat at one of the tables after the others had left, finishing a pitcher of sangria, and listening to the guitarist play softly, then stridently, then softly again. Anisa glanced at Greg and broke the silence, saying, “What two distinct aspects of Spanish culture we have experienced today, Greg: the slow, graceful, stylized Sardana and the equally stylized but passionate flamenco.” Putting a hand over one of his, she continued, “Obviously you and I were as affected as our younger companions this evening. Fortunately, they have an outlet for the passions aroused.”