THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN

1. THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN ED 530 SPRING SEMESTER 2010 EDUCATIONAL THEORIST PRESENTATION BY: JOE PISELLI

2. BIOGRAPHICAL FACTS • Born July 20th 1953 • Raised in St Louis Park, Minnesota • Son-in-law of a billionaire, Matthews Bucksbaum • Wife Anne, 2 daughters, Orly and Natalie

3. Educational Upbringing • Graduated summa cum laude from Brandeis University • Earned a degree in Mediterranean studies • Received a master's degree in modern Middle East studies from Oxford

4. Career Path • Began as a writer for the London Bureau of United Press International • Was eventually dispatched to Beirut, where he worked until 1981 • Ultimately ended up working for the New York Times, where he still works today

5. His Works… • Hot Flat and Crowded 2.0 • Hot Flat and Crowded • The World is Flat 3.0 • The World is Flat: Expanded Edition • Longitudes and Attitudes • The Lexus and the Olive Tree • The World is Flat • From Beirut to Jerusalem

6. Awards & Accomplishments • Pulitzer Prize Winner – International Reporting • George Polk Award – Foreign Reporting • Overseas Press Club Award - Life Achievement

7. Educational Input It is not that we are failing across the board. There are huge numbers of exciting education innovations in America today — from new modes of teacher compensation to charter schools to school districts scattered around the country that are showing real improvements based on better methods, better principals and higher standards. The problem is that they are too scattered — leaving all kinds of achievement gaps between whites, African-Americans, Latinos and different income levels. There are some hopeful signs. President Obama recognizes that we urgently need to invest the money and energy to take those schools and best practices that are working from islands of excellence to a new national norm. But we need to do it with the sense of urgency and follow-through that the economic and moral stakes demand.

8. Friedman Quotes… “Just a quick review: In the 1950s and 1960s, the U.S. dominated the world in K-12 education. We also dominated economically. In the 1970s and 1980s, we still had a lead, albeit smaller, in educating our population through secondary school, and America continued to lead the world economically, albeit with other big economies, like China, closing in. Today, we have fallen behind in both per capita high school graduates and their quality. Consequences to follow” – Thomas L. Friedman On his favorite teacher: “Now, you have to understand, Hattie was a single woman, nearing 60 at the time, and this was the 1960’s. She was the polar opposite of “cool,” but we hung around her classroom like it was a malt shop and she was WolfmanJack. None of us could have articulated it then, but it was because we enjoyed being harangued by her, disciplined by her and taught by her. She was a woman of clarity in an age of uncertainty.” – Thomas Friedman

9. What Do the Critics Say? • The World Is Flat is no more a study of global economics than Batman Begins is a social-policy treatise – Village Voice • This is a monstrous suggestion ... If (Obama) accepts, God forbid, Friedman’s advice and leaves the picture, the vision will turn into a nightmare. The Israeli government will increase the oppression, the Palestinians will turn to unbridled terrorism, the entire world will be dragged into bloody chaos. - Economist Edward Herman