Book Review Of Stuart Nachbar’s Book About Education And Politics
- Posted by Essays Blog in Essays Blog |
- August 28th, 2009 |
- Comments
Stuart Nachbar has created a curious novel in The Activity Ed Chronicles. Exploitation a backdrop of 1980 New Jersey, we are introduced to the murky class of school politics. He has chosen the contentious case of compulsory Activity Education, however the case could equally have been Religion or Evolution. All are subjects that have alcoholic backers and equally alcoholic detractors.
Schools and School Boards may not be the media favorites that the House or Senate may be. But make no mistake, the issues are as hotly contested, and the tactics old by the protagonists just as dirty as the big league politicians, maybe even dirtier, because of the lack of media attention.
The main character is rookie journalist Greg Mandell, just out of college, and employed for not much money as a reporter for The Ocean Republic, a bantam New Jersey newspaper. The author uses Greg in an interesting artifact, he is by no means the hero, he is the conduit finished which the account flows. The communication of writing is innovative, the account unfolds in bantam nibbles each one prefixed with a appellation and tagline, much in the fashion of newspaper stories.
The action takes place between January and June in 1980. The New Jersey School Board decide to explore whether or not to include Activity Ed as part of its regular curriculum. Any schools have already adopted the case and any have not. To resolve the issue a broadcast of public forums are planned so that the matter can be decided. Thither is a quiet certainty that although thither will be a few grumbles the majority will be in favor of commandment Activity Ed.
Rookie Greg Mandell is given the chore of covering the Activity Ed account, an assignment that he really does not deprivation to do. He quickly discovers that few care to talk openly about the case.
What looks at first compass to be a boring and mundane assignment quickly erupts into a firestorm of controversy when a questionable parent-backed group called PAST get involved. Led by the bombastic and bigoted rich woman Carolyn Lattimore, PAST are firmly committed to abolishing Activity Ed in schools, and to achieve their goal begin to establish their members on the different school boards.
Caught in the middle of the fray is a adolescent history educator, Andi Gilardi, who becomes the centerpiece of PAST’s diatribe after she permits any students to post a Activity Ed attempt in the school newspaper.
Greg finds himself torn between openly activity Ms. Gilardi and jeopardizing his job, or activity PAST who are large advertisers with the newspaper.
The Activity Ed Chronicles is a real thought-provoking activity, the author has done a real fine job of writing about the political process, and the fashion in which political skirmishes accept place. Like a chess game, mating your opponent’s King is easy once you have picked off the Pawns!
Great read, and if I was an English educator this would be a book that would I would love to evolve a class around. The potential for gaining real class apprehension from inside the pages of this novel are huge.