Documentaries

“Who Needs Libraries?”

Broadcast nationally in November 2004
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As more and more information is available online, as Amazon rolls out new software that allows anyone to find any passage in any book, an important question becomes: Who needs libraries anymore? Why does anyone need four walls filled with paper between covers? This program looks at how university libraries, school libraries and public libraries have adapted to the new information world.

“Software Is Elementary”

Broadcast nationally in June 2004
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It’s the oddest thing. From pre-school up to about 8th grade you will find dozens, if not hundreds of software programs written especially for the classroom. Then in grade 9 and up, virtually nothing. This show, in exploring the reasons why, finds they involve routine and a little bit of inertia, perception and misconception, and of course standardized tests. They are a little bit the fault of the schools and a little bit the fault of the people who write educational software. In all, they represent a huge opportunity being missed.

“People & Software”

Broadcast nationally in May 2004
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Estimates are that there are as many as 20,000 educational computer programs for children on the market. But only a tiny handful ever make it onto the desks and in front of the eyes of actual school-kids. This program attempts to explain why by looking at the human roadblocks that keep educational software out of the classroom.

“The next Next Big Thing”

Broadcast nationally in February 2004
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They are the ideas that became the Pet Rocks of American education, things like New Math and Transformational Generative Grammar. They burned white hot until they were utterly rejected and then never heard from again, except in ridicule. A look at why some ideas — good ones and bad ones — end up as fads in education.

“Our School”

Broadcast nationally in February 2004
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A day in the life of the far-suburbs, out near the airport, far from the city, as lived in one high school there. Three producers spend the day with the principal, a teacher and a student in a attempt (as Thornton Wilder said of “Our Town”) “to find a value above all price for the smallest events in our daily life.”

“Trapped on the Wrong Side of History”

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Broadcast nationally in July 2003

Voted 2003’s Best Radio Documentary by Asian American Journalists Association

In 1939, Mary Kimoto Tomita, a farm girl from outside Modesto, CA took a trip to Japan to connect with the culture of her ancestors. She got on a ship to come back home to America on December 5th, 1941. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor two days later, the ship turned around and Mary was stranded, trapped in the middle of a bloody war between the country of her birth and the country of her heritage. This story - told through Mary’s personal reminiscences and her letters from the time — is a rare glimpse at a piece of the WWII experience that is not explored.

“Revenge”

Broadcast nationally in July 2003
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It seems we all love to hear revenge stories — the petty ones and the grand — even when they are painful or the recipient is blameless. And we seem to love to tell revenge stories about ourselves — even stories that make us look childish or venal. This program visits the unspoken dark place where revenge impulses lie through the stories of people who have planned revenge and those who have carried it out.

“A Tale Of Two Computer Labs”

Broadcast nationally in February 2003
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This program takes a look at the digital divide between two schools, Herndon High School in wealthy Fairfax County, Virginia which has 800 computers, and Cesar Chavez High School in the District of Columbia which has 50 computers. We look at how this disparity affects student learning and explore whether the sheer number of computers is what makes the difference, or whether it is the application of the technology with clear program goals, robust professional development and great teaching.

“Guns and Butter”

Broadcast nationally in November 2002
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In times of economic uncertainty — say, when war looms — we naturally want to know where things are headed. Economic forecasters say they have a good idea — that they can tell you with considerable accuracy which way the economy is headed. Is it more than guesswork — more than something you or I could do on our own? What tools do they use? Why do they have such confidence, and with war drums beating in the Middle East, what can they tell us about what to expect?

“The Magic Box”

Broadcast nationally in October 2002

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Today, the computer in the classroom is ubiquitous. But how did it get there? Was it an organic process, or was it driven by manufacturers looking for a new place to push their machines? Turns out it was a little of both - altruism and profit. Hear from the people who started it all; the teachers who were the very first to use computers in the American classroom, and the salespeople who put them there.