Patt Morrison for Thursday, 3/17/2011

PATT MORRISON SCHEDULE

Thursday, March 17, 2011

1-3 p.m.

 

CALL-IN @ 866-893-5722, 866-893-KPCC; OR JOIN THE CONVERSATION ONLINE ON THE PATT MORRISON BLOG AT KPCC-DOT-ORG

 

1:00 – 1:40

OPEN

 

1:40 – 2:00

Don’t trust a candidate by his moniker

“Voters deserve to know the true identity of the individuals they are asked to elect,” says California senator Leland Yee. He has introduced a bill that aims to keep candidates honest when translating their names into a foreign language. In the past, some politicians have purposely corrupted Asian character based languages such as Chinese, Korean and Japanese to misrepresent their actual names, replacing them on the ballot with popular Asian names or even with appealing words or phrases. If Senator Lee’s legislation is approved and signed by Governor Brown, Trusty McHonestguy’s days on the ballot will be numbered.

 

Guests:

Leland Yee, California State Senator (D-District 8 – San Francisco, San Mateo)

WILL CALL IN

 

OR

 

Adam Keigwin (KEHG-winn), Chief of Staff to Leland Yee, California State Senator, (D-District 8 – San Francisco, San Mateo)

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2:00 – 2:40

Education band aid: make teachers more valued. But how?

Raise teachers’ status in the U.S.—recruit more qualified candidates; train them better; pay them more—that’s the takeaway from a new report being presented at a U.S. Department of Education conference this week. The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) report, which compares education systems in more than 50 countries, ranked American students 15^th in reading, 19^th in science and 27^th in math. The report suggests that the problem with the American public education system isn’t that we spend too little—in fact, only Luxembourg pays more per elementary student—but that we spends disproportionately, on areas like bus transportation and sports. It’s a steady refrain that the general will wants better teachers and better education for America’s youth, but are we willing to cut buses and sports programs like football to get there? The recommendations seem sound, but are they realistic? Patt talks with one researcher about the report’s findings and a school that is putting that theory to practice.

 

Guests:

NOT CONFIRMED:

Andreas Schleicher, senior official at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), where he directs the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA); he is also the co-author of the new report, “What the U.S. Can Learn from the World’s Most Successful Education Reform Efforts”

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TBA, teacher with The Equity Project (TEP), a charter school in New York City that is publicly funded but privately run and offers its teachers $125,000 a year—more than double the national average teacher salary

CALL THEM @

 

WEB PLEASE LINK:

Read the PISA report: http://www.mcgraw-hillresearchfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/pisa-intl-competitiveness.pdf

The Equity Project: http://www.tepcharter.org/

 

 

2:40 – 3:00

Is L.A. ready for a tsunami in Santa Monica Bay?

We’ve all watched Japanese citizens face three tremendous disasters in recent days and have been amazed at their calm, cooperative demeanor. In contrast, Angelenos rioted in the streets and destroyed cars and storefronts when the Lakers won the NBA championship last June, supposedly in celebration. Is this city ready to face a disaster as all encompassing as the 9.0 earthquake, the tsunami and nuclear power plant explosions that hit Japan this past week? How will the citizens of Los Angeles act when a real disaster hits? Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is here to outline emergency preparations and plans, but will we all listen?

 

PATT: The mayor is having a press conference tomorrow at noon on the state of emergency preparedness in the city and county.

 

Guests:

Antonio Villaraigosa, mayor of the City of Los Angeles

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