The Gateway Objectivists' October Meeting:
StosselFest'99 & Halloween Party
We will celebrate the work of John Stossel by watching his latest ABC
special, "Is America #1?," which compares living in the United States to
other countries around the world. Then we'll choose one of his past
specials, such as "Greed," "The Power of Belief' or "Junk Science,"
depending on what everyone wants to watch. Everyone is encouraged to
wear a Halloween costume, and we will enjoy plenty of Halloween treats.
Recapping the Roundtable
Our last meeting was a roundtable discussion
on education moderated by Joy Kiviat. We
explored the possibilities of providing primary
and secondary education through the private
sector.
First we looked at the problems with the
current public education system, ranging from
skyrocketing per-pupil spending and ever-
increasing bureaucracies to lack of innovation
and dumbing-down of curriculums to the
lowest-common denominator. Citing Andrew J.
Coulson's book, Market Education: The
Unknown History, Joy pointed out that when
parents are financially responsible for
education, they become much more involved in
the education of their children.
Then we talked about the pros and cons of
current methods to reform public education or
publicly financed choice, including tax credits,
vouchers, charter schools, and higher
accountability.
After talking about whether education is a
public good, a large portion of our discussion
focused on compulsory attendance at public
schools and the problems resulting from
ignorant parents who would not send their
children to school or educate them at home.
Although difficult, we tried to imagine what
education in the absence of government would
be like. Even with the increasing use of the
Internet, education in a group setting will most
likely continue for both social and custodial reasons.
Our roundtable discussion concluded with the
agreement that getting government out of
education will only happen once a large
political base of parents is formed.
An Emmy for Passion
If you missed it on cable, you may want to
skip it on video as well. Even so, The Passion of
Ayn Rand, the made-for-cable movie based on
Barbara Branden's biography, earned an
Emmy award for acting. Helen Mirren won for
Best Actress in a miniseries or movie, while
Peter Fonda was nominated for Best Supporting
Actor in a miniseries or movie, although he did
not win.
New Website is Coming
A new website for the Gateway Objectivists is
currently under construction. John Drake,
Internet consultant and GO member, has
volunteered to expand and redesign the
group's website. We will announce the new
URL once the site is complete and available for
viewing.
The 100 Best writers
Even though the century is not over yet, the
lists keep coming out. And Ayn Rand keeps
appearing on them.
A list of the 100 best writers of the 20th
century has been published by Writers Digest
in its October 19 issue. The list of fiction and
non-fiction writers, poets, and playwrights,
was derived from a list of more than 700 people
nominated by readers. The magazine's editorial
advisory board only ranked the top 10. Ayn
Rand was included in the list of the remaining
90 writers.
Topping the list was John Steinbeck, who was
followed by Ernest Hemmingway and William
Faulkner, Also included on the unranked list
were Anais Nin, Robert Heinlein, Winston
Churchill, John Grisham and Rod Serling.
Journal Club Postponed
until November
Our next Journal Club meeting will be pushed
back to November. Since several people who
planned to present will not be at the October
meeting, we changed the topic to StosselFest.
Anyone who was not at the inaugural Journal
Club in May can choose a journal or magazine
to present if they wish, or they can come to
listen and learn. Presenters provide a brief
summary of the journal's most interesting
articles to the group.
Don't forget!
We welcome Submissions of reviews,
articles, columns and commentary
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