Pre-reading Blog #3 (4)

Richard Rothstein is a research associate who has worked with the Economic Policy Institute and as the national education columnist of The New York Times from 1999 to 2002. He has published several kinds of articles and research work regarding education and education systems in the United Stated. Some of his publications were done by the Teachers College Press and EPI and he has also worked and collaborated as a co-author for books. Some recent works include: Grading Education: Getting Accountability Right (2008), Class and Schools: Using Social, Economic and Educational Reform to Close the Black-White Achievement Gap (2004), The Way We Were? Myths and Realities of America's Student Achievement (1998), The Charter School Dust-Up: Examining the Evidence on Enrollment and Achievement (2005); and All Else Equal. Are Public and Private Schools Different? (2003).

He analyses the fact that on average minorities and lower class students have lower school achievements compared with middle or high class students. He discusses topics such as social class differences in language acquisition, parenting styles, disciplinary practices, health, extracurricular activities that influence the learning process to come up with answers for these issues among socioeconomic groups and the commitment teachers and schools lack causing an ineffective education for this less benefited sector of society. He also believes that children should be able to graduate from high school ready for the college-level type of work, to practice responsibility in their professional, family and community lives, to be problem solvers and critical thinkers, to be creative and have artistic sensibility and be prepared to use their free time in a smart way.


David Von Drehle is a journalist who has won awards as an editor-at-large for Time magazine. Recently he has studied and analyzed political subjects such as the presidential election, the Supreme Court and the condition of male children in today’s society. He worked at The Washington Post for 15 years and he played the roles of the New York Bureau Chief and Assistant Managing Editor.

Von Drehle is a graduate of the University of Denver, which awarded him its Ammi Hyde Award for Outstanding Achievement by a Young Alumnus, and earned a Master of Letters degree from Oxford University as a Marshall Scholar. He has won many awards such as: the Livingston Award for national reporting, the American Society of Newspaper Editors Distinguished Writing prize, the American Bar Association’s Silver Gavel Award, and the Sidney Hillman Foundation Prize.

He seems to be also involved in the media especially radio and television. He has appeared on the Today show, NBC Nightly News, the NewsHour, NPR’s Morning Edition and “Imus in the Morning,” and is currently working as an expert script consultant for an upcoming HBO film.