A Better Breakfast

In this Morning Edition segment, A Better Breakfast Can Boost a Child's Brainpower (8/31/06 - 4:53), Allison Aubrey reviews current thinking on an old topic, one all of us, at one time or another, have been instructed on, usually by our mothers: namely, the benefits of eating a good breakfast. One study reviewed in the piece compared students who ate sweetened oatmeal with those who had Cap'n Crunch; then both groups had theor short-term memories tested. No surprise: The oatmeal eaters did 20 percent better than the Crunch-ers.

On the same page, check out the article, "Breakfast of Scholars: What Eggs-perts Suggest," by Roseanne Pereira and Marc Silver. This earlier short piece, Breakfast Survey (5/31/2000 - 2:15) look at what people in Atlanta, Washington D.C. and Boston had for breakfast.

Classroom thoughts

• Might as well start with the obvious: what the class had for breakfast. Here's a good chance to build class-based knowledge set, and then have class do some qualitatively analysis and case studies.
  
  
• What is it with Cap'n Crunch? Why does everyone make fun of this stuff? There's even a Wikipedia entry.
  

Dixie Chicks' Summer Tour

The country music group, the Dixie Chicks, raises a number of important issues about contemporary American values, mostly related to "the incident": the remark made by Natalie Maines to a London audience some three years, at the start of current Iraq War, that she was "ashamed" President Bush was from the group's home state of Texas. Craig Havighurst's piece, Dixie Chicks Summer Tour Not All Smooth Sailing (8/31/06 - 7:18) brings the story up to date by focusing on how the continuing repercussions are affecting their current tour, including response to their new album's lead song, "Not Ready to Make Nice."

Last May, Melissa Block did this feature on their current album, Taking the Long Way (5/23/06 - 8:54). You can read more about the Dixie Chicks at Wikipedia.

Classroom thoughts

• What are your thoughts on "the incident" -- a performer's public criticism of the President, and the response it produced? What does it say about the nature of dissent and the power of consensus in the U.S.?
  
  
• While dissent may have been more widespread during the Vietnam War, in large measure because of the military draft that made young people opposed to the war subject to having to fight it, it is unclear if dissent was any more popular. The actress Jane Fonda became immensely unpopular at the time, as was the now widely admired ex-heavyweight champ, Muhammad Ali, who has largely remade his image. Check and see what people had to say at the time when he refused to allow himself to be drafted into the U.S. Army.
  
  
• Havighurst's piece refers to the 200+ country stations owned by a single company, Clear Channel Communications (@ Wikipedia). What advantages or disadvantages do you see in one company having such control?