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Some colleges will do anything to improve their national ranking. That can be bad for their students—and for higher education. Since U.S. News & World Report first published a college ranking in 1983, the rankings industry has become a self-appointed judge, declaring winners and losers among America's colleges and universities. In this revealing account, Colin Diver shows how popular rankings have induced college applicants to focus solely on pedigree and prestige, while tempting educators to sacrifice academic integrity for short-term competitive advantage. By forcing colleges into standardized "best-college" hierarchies, he argues, rankings have threatened the institutional diversity, intellectual rigor, and social mobility that is the genius of American higher education. As a former university administrator who refused to play the game, Diver leads his readers on an engaging journey through the mysteries of college rankings, admissions, financial aid, spending policies, and academic practices. He explains how most dominant college rankings perpetuate views of higher education as a purely consumer good susceptible to unidimensional measures of brand value and prestige. Many rankings, he asserts, also undermine the moral authority of higher education by encouraging various forms of distorted behavior, misrepresentation, and outright cheating by ranked institutions. The recent Varsity Blues admissions scandal, for example, happened in part because affluent parents wanted to get their children into elite schools by any means necessary. Explaining what is most useful and important in evaluating colleges, Diver offers both college applicants and educators a guide to pursuing their highest academic goals, freed from the siren song of the "best-college" illusion. Ultimately, he reveals how to break ranks with a rankings industry that misleads its consumers, undermines academic values, and perpetuates social inequality.
Opening with a powerful letter to former Tacoma police chief David Brame, who shot his estranged wife before turning the gun on himself, Norm Stamper introduces us to the violent, secret world of domestic abuse that cops must not only navigate, but which some also perpetrate. Former chief of the Seattle police force, Stamper goes on to expose a troubling culture of racism, sexism, and homophobia that is still pervasive within the twenty-first-century force; then he explores how such prejudices can be addressed. He reveals the dangers and temptations that cops face, describing in gripping detail the split-second life-and-death decisions. Stamper draws on lessons learned to make powerful arguments for drug decriminalization, abolition of the death penalty, and radically revised approaches to prostitution and gun control. He offers penetrating insights into the "blue wall of silence," police undercover work, and what it means to kill a man. And, Stamper gives his personal account of the World Trade organization debacle of 1999, when protests he was in charge of controlling turned violent in the streets of Seattle. Breaking Rank reveals Norm Stamper as a brave man, a pioneering public servant whose extraordinary life has been dedicated to the service of his community.
There's only one thing that keeps people and nations back... It's a story that explains who they are, what they can and cannot do. Breaking Rank helps you to understand the mind and unlock people's true potential." Back Cover: How can you motivate people and empower them to make better choices, when stories about their social rank have imprisoned their minds? How can people’s mindset not only negatively influence their own well-being and wealth, but also that of an entire society? This book provides a fresh perspective on the answers, as well as the tools to change that mindset. Steven Coutinho takes you on a fascinating journey into how the mind has evolved, how it is shaped by society and how it shapes society in turn. You will learn why some people think they can’t, while others are convinced they can, how the story of color has stagnated post-colonial economies, and the story of capitalism has kept the West unequal. Whether you are simply interested in understanding behavior, or are a parent, teacher or manager ready to lead change, Breaking Rank is bound to shift and sharpen your perspective. You will never look at your own behavior – or the behavior of others – the same way again. Ten things you will learn from reading this book: THE ORIGIN OF STORIES #1. Origins of emotions and thoughts: you’ll learn why some people are demotivated, and others think they “can’t”. #2. The rise of stories and why the story of color = the story of capitalism. #3. Bizarre behavior: why genocides occur, why more minorities are in jail and some groups have more children out of wedlock.​ THE MAKING OF CHOICES #4. Why people make the choices they make. #5. Why postcolonial societies show similar choice patterns that stand in the way of welfare. #6. Why the wealth in capitalist societies is so unequally distributed​ THE ROAD TO CHANGE #7. ​How mindfulness strengthens areas in the brain that increase emotional self-control and lead to improved decision making. #8. How education can be reformed by helping children understand WHO they are, WHAT they can do, and HOW they can do it. #9. How to motivate and empower people in organizations by changing the perceptions they have about themselves, their level of control and their skills. #10. How to discover the potential you already are...
Opening with a powerful letter to former Tacoma police chief David Brame, who shot his estranged wife before turning the gun on himself, Norm Stamper introduces us to the violent, secret world of domestic abuse that cops must not only navigate, but which some also perpetrate. Former chief of the Seattle police force, Stamper goes on to expose a troubling culture of racism, sexism, and homophobia that is still pervasive within the twenty-first-century force; then he explores how such prejudices can be addressed. He reveals the dangers and temptations that cops face, describing in gripping detail the split-second life-and-death decisions. Stamper draws on lessons learned to make powerful arguments for drug decriminalization, abolition of the death penalty, and radically revised approaches to prostitution and gun control. He offers penetrating insights into the "blue wall of silence," police undercover work, and what it means to kill a man. And, Stamper gives his personal account of the World Trade organization debacle of 1999, when protests he was in charge of controlling turned violent in the streets of Seattle. Breaking Rank reveals Norm Stamper as a brave man, a pioneering public servant whose extraordinary life has been dedicated to the service of his community.
The police in America belong to the people -- not the other way around. Yet millions of Americans experience their cops as racist, brutal, and trigger-happy: an overly aggressive, militarized enemy of the people. For their part, today's officers feel they are under siege -- misunderstood, unfairly criticized, and scapegoated for society's ills. Is there a fix? Former Seattle Police Chief Norm Stamper believes there is. Policing is in crisis. The last decade has witnessed a vast increase in police aggression, misconduct, and militarization, along with a corresponding reduction in transparency and accountability. It is not just noticeable in African American and other minority communities -- where there have been a series of high-profile tragedies -- but in towns and cities across the country. Racism -- from raw, individualized versions to insidious systemic examples -- appears to be on the rise in our police departments. Overall, our police officers have grown more and more alienated from the people they've been hired to serve. In To Protect and Serve, Stamper delivers a revolutionary new model for American law enforcement: the community-based police department. It calls for fundamental changes in the federal government's role in local policing as well as citizen participation in all aspects of police operations: policymaking, program development, crime fighting and service delivery, entry-level and ongoing education and training, oversight of police conduct, and -- especially relevant to today's challenges -- joint community-police crisis management. Nothing will ever change until the system itself is radically restructured, and here Stamper shows us how.
The New York Times bestseller – a “crystal-clear, constantly engaging” (Jared Diamond) exploration of the role that religious belief plays in our lives and our interactions For all the thousands of books that have been written about religion, few until this one have attempted to examine it scientifically: to ask why—and how—it has shaped so many lives so strongly. Is religion a product of blind evolutionary instinct or rational choice? Is it truly the best way to live a moral life? Ranging through biology, history, and psychology, Daniel C. Dennett charts religion’s evolution from “wild” folk belief to “domesticated” dogma. Not an antireligious screed but an unblinking look beneath the veil of orthodoxy, Breaking the Spell will be read and debated by believers and skeptics alike.
When Casey Willardson is assigned to tutor Thomas Fairbarin -- also known as Baby -- she approaches her task with great trepidation. Baby is a member of the Clan, a mysterious group of young men who do not talk to outsiders or participate in school. Baby and Casey's relationship is awkward at first, but soon they turn to each other. As the Clan drifts from it's mooring, Baby grows distant from his brother and the rest of the group that he considers family. As as Casey takes a step away from her own secure world, everything she counted on is turned upside down. Kristen D. Randle has written a story that is absorbing and unusal, insightful and outspoken, about two teenagers whose lives become intertwined -- and a collision that forces them to make difficult choices. 00-01 Tayshas High School Reading List Books for the Teen Age 2001 (NYPL)
"Breaking Blue is the first book that shares real stories of cops accused of wrongdoing and subsequently cleared. Charges may have been brought against them, Internal Affairs may have started an investigation, but in many cases, thanks to the officers body cam or dashcam videos, the true story came to light, with charges ultimately dismissed or initial convictions overturned. Sergeant Sean Sticks Larkin of the Tulsa Police Department Gang Unit and host of A&E show Live PD, presents real stories of officers falsely accused... including his own"--
Impressively researched and eloquently argued, former special agent Mike German’s Disrupt, Discredit, and Divide tells the story of the transformation of the FBI after the 9/11 attacks from a law enforcement agency, made famous by prosecuting organized crime and corruption in business and government, into arguably the most secretive domestic intelligence agency America has ever seen. German shows how FBI leaders exploited the fear of terrorism in the aftermath of 9/11 to shed the legal constraints imposed on them in the 1970s in the wake of Hoover-era civil rights abuses. Empowered by the Patriot Act and new investigative guidelines, the bureau resurrected a discredited theory of terrorist “radicalization” and adopted a “disruption strategy” that targeted Muslims, foreigners, and communities of color, and tarred dissidents inside and outside the bureau as security threats, dividing American communities against one another. By prioritizing its national security missions over its law enforcement mission, the FBI undermined public confidence in justice and the rule of law. Its failure to include racist, anti-Semitic, Islamophobic, and xenophobic violence committed by white nationalists within its counterterrorism mandate only increased the perception that the FBI was protecting the powerful at the expense of the powerless. Disrupt, Discredit, and Divide is an engaging and unsettling contemporary history of the FBI and a bold call for reform, told by a longtime counterterrorism undercover agent who has become a widely admired whistleblower and a critic for civil liberties and accountable government.
The hidden past of racial violence is illuminated in this skillfully selected compendium of articles from a wide range of papers large and small, radical and conservative, black and white. Through these pieces, readers witness a history of racial atrocities and are provided with a sobering view of American history.