First post-debate edition
September 11, 2014

FIRST 'INTELLIGENCE SQUARED' DEBATE OF FALL '14 IS CARRIED ON THIS SITE;
OTHERS TO FOLLOW
"Flexing America's Muscles In The Middle East
Will Make Things Worse"
to be debated Tuesday, September 30 at 6:45 P.M. EDT



#1: FOR YOUR GRANDCHILDREN AND GREAT-GRANDCHILDREN, A "COMMON CORE" CURRICULUM?

Below is a screen shot of home page for the "Intelligence Squared" debate that took place on September 9th. This debate concerned the issue your families are probably already engaged in, or will be, the "common core" curriculum for schools. Is it a return to needed rigor? A devisive mistake? We featured the live streaming of the debate here on our website during its original broadcast, and now you are invited to watch the taped broadcast here.

These are a rarity in our world these days — miraculously reasoned discussions. Remember to save the date of Tuesday, September 30 at 6:45 EDT and click back here for well informed, pro-and-con experts on "Flexing America's Muscles In The Middle East Will Make Things Worse."



If you missed it, the classmate who brought these debates to the US and to our site, the philanthropist Bob Rosenkranz, had this to say about his project when we asked him last week:

Antidote for knee-jerks

"Intelligence Squared U.S., a public charity, provides a unique forum for intelligent debate on the major issues of the day, grounded in facts and informed by reasoned analysis. It strives to transcend the toxically emotional and the reflexively ideological; and to encourage recognition that the opposing side has intellectually respectable views. In short, its goal is to create a space for civic discourse in an overly partisan nation. I was thrilled when Al Chambers suggested we make the program available on the Y'62 website."

Click here to watch the taped reprise of this lively debate. You will still be able to comment in our classmates only comment area.

Upcoming debates on Intelligence Squared this fall, all of which we will feature here on our own site, are: Flexing America's Muscles In The Middle East Will Make Things Worse (Sept. 30), Mass Collection of U.S. Phone Records Violates the Fourth Amendment (Oct. 7), Income Inequality Impairs The American Dream Of Upward Mobility (Oct. 22), Legalize Assisted Suicide (Nov. 13) and Genetically Modify Food (Dec. 3). Each will be available here — first live, and then taped, following the broadcast.

Here's the way Intelligence Squared framed the education debate:

"In K-12 education, there is nothing more controversial than the Common Core State Standards, national academic standards in English and math. Adopted by more than 40 states, they were developed, in part, to address concerns that American students were falling behind their foreign counterparts and graduating high school without the necessary skills for college and the workforce. But is this the reform we've been looking for? Has the federal government overreached and saddled our schools with standards that have been flawed from the start? Or will the Common Core raise the bar and improve the quality of our children's education?"

View the taped broadcast here.