RE: Patt Morrison for Friday, January 27, 2012

PATT MORRISON SCHEDULE

Friday, January 27, 2012

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

 

 

1:06 –1:30 OPEN

 

1:30 – 1:58:30

The brainstorm myth: Do we really work better in groups?
Over the past century, America has increasingly put a premium on working well in groups and getting along with others.  In the 1940s, B.B.D.O adman Alex Osborn developed the classic brainstorm technique, which has since become “the most widely used creativity technique in the world.” He stipulated that the single most important rule of a brainstorming session is “the absence of criticism and negative feedback.” But it doesn’t work, according to research that has repeatedly shown that groups perform better when there is debate and negative comment is free to flow. It’s that element of human friction that’s necessary to creativity and that can often be determined by something as basic as an office floor plan – and apparently open-plan offices make workers hostile, insecure and distracted. Have Americans over-emphasized the corporate kumbaya? Or is it important to hold the team paramount?

Guest:

Jonah Lehrer, author of “How We Decide” and the forthcoming “Imagine: How Creativity Works,” an excerpt of which appears in this week’s New Yorker magazine

2:06 – 2:30

New Hampshire parents get to nix school curriculum they find objectionable

A new law that recently passed in New Hampshire gives parents the right to file an objection to any course material they find offense at their child’s public school, and the school district has to devise an alternative acceptable to the parent. No other state in the nation gives parents this much control over curriculum and the implications have some experts worried.  If a parent believes in intelligent design or creationism, should they be able to prevent their child from learning about evolution? Will the school have to provide coursework that validates their beliefs even if those beliefs are not supported by facts and accepted scientific principles? Will this kind of choice perpetuate stereotypes, or even racism? What if a parent doesn’t want their child to learn about the Holocaust because they don’t believe it happened? The new law does not require the parent to justify the reason for the objection only to state it. Some say “one size fits all” education isn’t working and that this approach gives parents more of an active role in their child’s education.  How much choice is too much? Is there a line and where should it be?

 

Guests:

Richard D. Kahlenberg, senior fellow at the Century Foundation and the author of “Tough Liberal: Albert Shanker and the Battles Over Schools, Unions, Race and Democracy”

 

UNCONFIRMED

Neal P. McCluskey, the association director of the Center for Educational Freedom at the Cato Institute and the author of “Feds in the Classroom: How Big Government Corrupts, Cripples and Compromises American Education”

 

Representative from New Hampshire

 

2:30 – 2:48

Military goes green in attempt to save environment, lives, and money

The U.S. Armed Forces burn through over 300,000 barrels of oil a day, putting troops in jeopardy who transport the fuel to front lines and costing taxpayers roughly $11 billion per year. As the long-term outlook for oil prices only goes up, the Pentagon is exploring different ways to go green, including reducing oil consumption. Energy efficiency and renewable fuels have gained even more consideration in the wake of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The RAND Corporation’s National Defense Research Institute published a study that casts doubt on the affordability and effectiveness of some of the military’s plans to go green, but virtually everyone agrees that that the military’s anticipated plan to increase energy efficiency and to use alternative-fuels could encourage a broader national cultural shift to embrace the green movement. How influential is the U.S. military in terms of setting cultural trends? Have Pentagon officials waited too long to push for more energy-efficient policies and procedures?

 

Guest:

Brian Rooney, correspondent, SoCal Connected

 

2:48-2:58:30

Bradley Whitford shows his “ART” in Pasadena

Actor Bradley Whitford is best known for playing the Deputy White House Chief of Staff Josh Lyman on the NBC television drama “The West Wing,” a role which he won an Emmy for in 2001 but he joins Patt today to talk about his slightly more artistic side. In his return to the stage, Whitford stars in playwright Yasmina Reza’s (“God of Carnage”) “ART,” a play about one painting, one very expensive and controversial painting that changes the lives of the man who bought it and the friends who watch him do it. It opens this Sunday, January 29^th at the Pasadena Playhouse under the direction of nine-time Emmy Award-winning director David Lee.

 

Guests:

Bradley Whitford, starring in the Tony Award-winning Best Play "ART" at The Pasadena Playhouse

IN STUDIO