My Retirement Reading List

I have always been a voracious reader even though I tend to read slowly for physical reasons. I also have a habit of reading several books simultaneously which helps to keep me from losing interest in any one of them. Rarely do I set a book aside and fail to complete it but sometimes I may set it aside for a year or more before I pick it back up.

Since I retired as a school superintendent on June 30, 2017, I have had an appetite for historical works and in particular biographies. I learned from an author that reading biographies is a better way to learn about our history since it becomes more personalized. Great biographical authors will detail events as they were interacted in, with, or by the principle subject. So far, I have found that to be true.

There are other topics that I take an interest in that are included in the list below. Some are related to my passion as a local historian, others to my continuing interest in our public education system. For better or worse, here is my list which includes at the end the three books I'm currently reading. And just a note, regardless of how it looks reading is certainly not the only activity I'm engaged in but it is certainly one I enjoy.

Part I: Books I have read since 7/1/17 (not necessarily in order):

Ullrich, Volker. Hitler: Ascent, 1889-1939

McAfee, Andrew. Machine, Platform, Crowd: Harnessing our Digital Future

Termin, Peter. The Vanishing Middle Class: Prejidice and Power in a Dual Economy

Formisano, Ronald P. Plutocracy in America: How Increasing Inequality Destroys the Middle Class and Exploits the Poor

Kelly, Kevin. The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces that Will Shape Our Future

Callahan, David. The Givers: Wealth, Power, and Philanthropy in a New Guilded Age

Wadhwa, Vivek. The Driver in the Driverless Car: How Our Technology Choices Will Create the Future

Lewis, Michael. The Undoing Project: A Friendship that changed Our Minds

O’Reilly, Bill. Killing England: The Brutal Struggle for American Independence

Avlon, John P. Washington’s Farewell: The Founding father’s Warning to Future Generations

Orvell, Miles. The Death and Life of Main Street: Small towns in American Memory, Space and Community

Anderson, Sherwood. Poor White

Davies, Richard O. Main Street Blues: The Decline of Small-Town America

Vance, J.D. Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis

Kirk, Stephen. First in Flight: The Wright Brothers in North Carolina

Sobel, Robert. Coolidge: An American Enigma

Lewis, Sinclair. Main Street

Whyte, Kenneth. Hoover: An Extraordinary Life in Extraordinary Times

Stampp, Kenneth M. America in 1857: A Nation on the Brink

Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World

Hilton, George. The Electric Interurban Railways in America

Grant, H. Roger. Electric Interurbans and the American People

Chernow, Ron. Grant

Cooper, William J. Jr. The Lost Founding Father: John Quincy Adams and the Transformation of American Politics

Meijer, Hendrik. Arthur Vandenberg: The Man in the Middle of the American Century

Lewis, Sinclair. It Can’t Happen Here

Hitchcock, William I. The Age of Eisenhower: America and the World in the 1950s

Greenberger, Scott S. The Unexpected President: The Life and Times of Chester A. Arthur

Illich, Ivan: Deschooling Society

Merry, Robert W. President McKinley: Architect of the American Century

Hutchinson, Alex. Endure: Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance

Gave, Keith. The Russian Five: A Story of Espionage, Defection, Bribery and Courage

Caplan, Bryan. The Case Against Education: Why the Education system is a Waste of Time and Money

Dintersmith, Ted. What School Could Be: Insights and Inspiration from Teachers across America

Robinson, Ken. You, Your Child, and School: Navigate Your Way to the Best Education

Golinkoff, Roberta Michnick. Becoming Brilliant: What Science Tells Us about Raising Successful Children

Burcar, Colleen. It Happened in Michigan: Remarkable Events that Shaped History

Lewis, Tom. Divided Highways: Building the Interstate Highways, Transforming American Life

Borneman, Walter R. Polk: The Man who Transformed the Presidency and America

Meacham, Jon. The Soul of America: The Battle for Our Better Angels

Fallows, James M. Our Towns: A 100,000-Mile Journey Into the Heart of America

Churchwell, Sarah. Behold, America: A History of America First and the American Dream

Rosen, Jeffrey. William Howard Taft: The American Presidents Series: The 27th President, 1909-1913

Mayer, Milton Sanford. They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45

Jeffers, H. Paul. An Honest President: The Life and Presidencies of Grover Cleveland

Strauss, William. The Fourth Turning: What the Cycles of History Tell Us about America’s Next Rendezvous with Destiny

Potter, David M. The Impending Crisis: America Before the Civil War, 1848-1861

Socol, Ira; Moran, Pam; Ratliff, Chad. Timeless Learning: How Imagination, Observation, and Zero-Based Thinking Change Schools

White, Ronald C. Jr. A. Lincoln

White, Richard. Railroaded: The Transcontinentals and the Making of Modern America

Lewen, James W. Lies My Teacher Told Me

Hoock, Holger. Scars of Independence: America’s Violent Birth

Thoreau, Henry David. Walden

Cooper, John Milton Jr. Woodrow Wilson: A Biography

Beschloss, Michael R. Presidents of War: The Epic Story, from 1807 to Modern Times

Stoddard, Francis R. The Truth about the Pilgrims

Baker, Bruce D. Educational Inequality and School Finance: Why Money Matters for America’s Students

Halberstam, The Fifties

Boles, John B. Jefferson: Architect of American Liberty

Westover, Tara. Educated

Hetherington, Marc. Prius or Pickup? How the Answers to Four Simple Questions Explain America’s Great Divide

Meltzer, Brad. The First Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill George Washington

O’Reilly, Bill. Killing the SS: The Hunt of the Worst War Criminals in History

Philbrick, Nathaniel. Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War

Dourcet, Armand. Teaching in the Fourth Industrial Revolution: Standing at the Precipice

Luxenberg, Steve. Separate: The Story of Plessy v. Ferguson, and America’s Journey from Slavery to Segregation

Philbrick, Nathaniel. The Last Stand: Custer, Sitting Bull, and the Battle of the Little Bighorn

Part II: Books I am currently reading as of 4/11/19:

Philbrick, Nathaniel. Bunker Hill: A City, a Siege, a Revolution

Gates, Henry Louis Jr. Stony the Road: Reconstruction, White Supremacy, and the Rise of Jim Crow

Kelly, Joseph. Marooned: Jamestown, Shipwreck, and a New History of America’s Origin

My response below to this article in the Daily Mail:

One-in-five white people say the civil rights movement 'has gone too far' – while half of African Americans believe they will never have full equal rights in America, survey reveals

As I see it from my study of history, the problem is rooted in the sad fact the average person has little to no historical understanding of how the state of race relations got to this point in the first place. 

They have little knowledge or empathy for the damage inflicted by the rise of “Jim Crow” laws, the sudden end of Reconstruction, Redemption and “The Lost Cause,” “Separate but Equal” segregation which was anything but equal, the Supreme Court’s invalidation of numerous Civil Rights laws dating back to the end of the Civil War, openly racist presidents such as Woodrow Wilson among many others, tolerance for the rise of the KKK, turning a blind eye to thousands of lynchings and other terrorist acts, “Red Lining” housing restrictions for non-Whites, the “Green Book,” widespread use of Confederate symbols to intimidate, and more than a century of framing Blacks as “inferior to Whites and a danger to American culture.”

All of this has worked to ingrain racist attitudes and actions deep within our national psyche, whether we admit to it or not. And not just a Black-White problem but including Native Americans, Hispanics, Asians, and others. What we sorely need is a change to our education system that emphasizes the reality of history versus the White-washed standards we have now, as well as a serious moment of reflection on our own personal and collective values.

Speech in Wayland, Michigan for Veterans Day 2018

Veterans Day

Wayland Pine Street Elementary

November 9, 2018

Thank you for inviting me here, today. I’m certainly honored to return to Wayland and speak on such an important occasion. We’re here to honor our heroes and to simply say “thank you" for your sacrifices.

Today’s ceremony, like many that will be held around the country this weekend, honors our veterans who came from all walks of life, but shared several fundamental qualities: They possessed courage, pride, determination, selflessness, dedication to duty, and integrity -- the qualities necessary to serve a cause more important than one’s self.

Many of our veterans didn’t ask to leave home to fight on distant battlefields. Many didn’t actually volunteer. They didn’t join necessarily to go off to war because they loved to fight. They were called to be part of something bigger than themselves. They were ordinary folks who responded in extraordinary ways during difficult times. They rose to our nation’s call because they wanted to serve a country that has given them --- has given us --- so much.

Since the first shots at Lexington and Concord were fired in 1775, American men and women have been answering the call to duty. Millions fought and many paid the price on battlefields, here and around the globe, to defend our way of life. Today, soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines continue to stand up against those who seek to destroy freedom in many places around the world.

As we all know, Veterans Day began as a day of celebration and remembrance at the conclusion of the first World War. That war ended 100 years ago this Sunday, and the law that created Armistice Day, as it was called, directed that it be, quote, “dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be hereafter celebrated.” Following World War 2 and the Korean War, the name was changed to Veterans Day, to honor all veterans from every war and conflict, and also those who served during peacetime.

So, this morning it would be fitting to take a quick moment and reflect back 100 years ago, to the bloody battlefields of Europe, and the two million Americans who helped bring that horrific war to an end. The Army regiment in which I proudly served during my military career is known as the 126^th Infantry. In 1918, it included men from across west and southeast Michigan, and was part of the famed 32^nd “Red Arrow Division.” The division had fought four very difficult exhausting battles over a six-month period, in some of the worst conditions possible, that only veterans who have experienced them could appreciate. The regiment had suffered the loss of many men but was still preparing to continue the fight even right up to the war’s very last day.

A soldier in the 126^th had kept a diary and his commanding officer later published a book. I would like to briefly share what Captain Emil B. Gansser had to say on that very last day of war:

“The morning of November 11, 1918, broke with the usual accompaniments of battle. The boom of artillery guns and the crash of exploding shells, with their clouds of smoke and dirt, were still with us. The immediate cessation of fighting was not evident during the early morning hours, and no one expected such a contingency to happen so soon.

“About 9 o’clock in the morning messages were received that an armistice, or cessation of fighting, had been signed, and that hostilities would cease at 11 o’clock. This news was too good to be true, and after hearing so many rumors, this news was regarded as another hoax and little belief given to it.

“The enemy kept sending over an occasional artillery shell all along the front line until 11 o’clock, and our artillery responded in kind.

“At last the designated hour arrived, and as if to mock us for our unbelief, at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of the year 1918, the great cannons ceased their roar, and the continual sounds of the machine gun became silent. The scream of the flying shells and the whistle of the bullet was no more. The curtain was drawn on History’s greatest and bloodiest of conflicts between man.

“The suddenness of the end and the quiet created a sort of dumbness and one did not know whether to laugh or to cry. Contrary to ordinary belief, the tired soldier did not cheer. He still doubted the truth and feared it might be another trick, and waited until that night came and passed before he was convinced.

“When morning came and all was quiet, we felt assured that the peace was real and all were happy.”

America is fortunate to have had millions of brave men and women stand for freedom since our country’s founding. We owe it to them all to ensure that their service and sacrifice is always honored. And, we also want to continue to remember their families who have sacrificed much as well.

Thank you, and God bless you all.

Link to photos from the ceremony: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10155820884461039&type=1&l=fed9e1b913

Persistent Funding Gaps in Michigan K-12 Schools

Almost a year to the date, I posted on the continuing inequity of K-12 school funding in Michigan. I have since retired but you can go back and read (or re-read) that post at:

One More Time on Equity in School Funding

It is a fairly comprehensive post yet updating it with school funding data from this current school year would not make any difference. The inequity persists.

"Overall, the funding inequities we documented in the 2015 report appear slightly smaller, but persist. Compared to 2015, the national funding gap between high and low poverty districts decreased slightly — by 3 percentage points — from 10 percent to 7 percent. The national funding gap between districts with the highest and lowest percentages of students of color went from 15 percent to 13 percent, representing a 2 percentage point drop." ~ Education Trust, Funding Gaps 2018

Education Trust has released a new analysis of inequity in school funding just this past week. Here's what the report says about U.S. and Michigan schools when it comes to K-12 funding for affluent versus those schools predominantly serving low-income students. You can go back to my post linked above and see specific examples of this persistent inequity. Since our state Republican-led legislature votes each year on school funding, the blame for this inequity lies with the politicians.

Education Trust, Funding Gaps 2018

Governor's K-12 Funding Proposal Doesn't Do Enough

I'm no longer in a school superintendent's seat but that doesn't eliminate my concern as a citizen and taxpayer for the continuing underfunding of our public schools in Michigan. Governor Rick Snyder has proposed an increase for the upcoming 2019 fiscal year but it still falls way short of making up the huge $470 per pupil cut implement in Snyder's first year. In fact, as the following slide shows, my former school district lost close to a total of $2 million since that cut. This is a district that serves a high-needs population but receives less per student in the foundation allowance -- the major share of K-12 funding -- than several other districts in the county, as well as several very affluent districts in Oakland County on the east side of the state.

A study mandated by the Republican legislature (which tried to stop the study before it happened and then simply shelved the results when they were presented) found that K-12 funding was becoming less equal as noted by the conservative-leaning Detroit News. The study used a "successful schools" model that concluded the base foundation allowance should be raised immediately to $8,667. In addition, districts like Godfrey-Lee should be receiving additional funding for at-risk and English-learners well beyond that provided by state or federal grants. 

The study failed to analyze the growing need for additional special education funding, a category that has NEVER been fully funded by federal or state governments. Lieutenant Governor Calley put together a subcommittee to review special education funding and in 2017 the group reported:

"...special education funding experienced a 15.6 percent reduction (between) 2011-12 (and) 2015-16. It can be expected that a student in special education will have greater need, and therefore require additional services at a greater cost than a student not in special education. However, state and federal funding do not cover most of those additional costs." (emphasis added)

Because the law requires full services for special education-eligible students, those costs continue to be covered by a school's general fund budget that primarily comes from the foundation allowance. That means less funding for classroom instruction as a whole.

Because the legislature and governor have refused thus far to implement the recommendations of the 2016 study, a second study was initiated and the results were recently publicized. It concludes that:

"The base per-pupil cost to educate a regular education K-12 student in Michigan is $9,590, which does not include transportation, food service or capital costs, and only includes pension costs at 4.6% of wages." (emphasis added)

The study also calls for increases for students with special needs, transportation costs, and for school districts serving less than 7,500 students. When adjusting for inflation and comparing to the foundation allowance in 1995, the study's recommended $9,590 has a value of approximately $6,061 per pupil. Not quite what is needed but it takes a strong step towards closing the gap in lost revenue.

Given the legislature's propensity for personal tax cuts and massive business tax cuts that have little to do with the growing needs of our state or making our Michigan education system a "Top 10 in 10," it's highly unlikely that gap will ever shrink.