Reed E. Hundt, You say you want a revolution, 2000 [ ]
p.47
I said, “Certainly. I know how important television is to the country.”
“It's important to everyone,” he said.
“It's the national drug,” I said, even after having promised Blair I would not go for the glib.
p.59
Then Ted lowered his voice and said slowly, sadly, like a television newscaster reporting on a funeral, “I can't give the money away now. It's gone. You took it away. You killed Al's foundation when you lowered cable rates.”
Then he said gently, “I don't blame you. You did what Congress asked you to do. Cost the environment a billion dollars, though.”
I had no words. “What are you trying to do at that FCC?” he asked. “What are you trying to accomplish?”
“We're focusing on education,” I said lamely, and thought myself that I had hardly justified cable rate regulation with that answer.
“Well,” he said, “here's my advice: your dreams need to be worth your time.”
p.61
“You should throw this away,” he said, “and talk to them about what you care about.”
I told Blair a true story, as he directed the car to circle the building. After college I got a job as a schoolteacher in Philadelphia. I taught 7th-grade social studies. On average, in the three years at my school a child would fall two years behind in reading skills. Only half of my 7th graders would graduate from junior high school, and only half of them from high school. The best way was physically to get out: to be permitted to enroll in one of the city's magnet schools.
I had three students out of 150 who started 7th-grade reading well enough to give them a chance to admitted to a magnet school in 8th-grade. Every Saturday for several months I tutored them on how to pass the entrance exam. The day of the exam came. All my students failed the test.
In my government jobs, I wanted to make sure that schoolchildren today have a better ways to escape poverty. I wanted teachers to have better tools than I did. I wanted to make recompense for my own failings as a teacher.
Blair said, “Right now everyone thinks you're just trying to deliver a kind of politically acceptable package on behalf of Al and the Democratic Congress. But this story about the kids and how you feel, that gets across to people. You have to make your job be about yourself.”
“Because then it's worth my time,” I said, thinking of Ted Turner.
p.62
But, as he wished, I told the story of my teaching experience to the curious crowd. The applause had a quality of sympathy I had never heard before. It appeared that as Mr. Chairman, I was obliged to put at stake not only my career but also myself. Public office required not thick skin, but no skin at all.
p.63
British policy for four hundred years has been to oppose the strongest power in Europe by weaving together a combination of other countries strong enough to face the bully.
Winston Churchill
p.42
Even in the United States, a 5th of children grow up in poverty.
(Hundt, Reed E., 1948─, You say you want a revolution : a story of information age politics / Reed E. Hundt, 1. united states. telecommunications act of 1996., 2. telecommunication policy──united states., 3. information superhighway──government policy──united states., 4. internet (computer network)──government policy──united states., HE7781.H88 2000, 384.3'3'0973──dc21, 2000, ) <-------------------------------------------------------------------------->
p.47
I said, “Certainly. I know how important television is to the country.”
“It's important to everyone,” he said.
“It's the national drug,” I said, even after having promised Blair I would not go for the glib.
p.59
Then Ted lowered his voice and said slowly, sadly, like a television newscaster reporting on a funeral, “I can't give the money away now. It's gone. You took it away. You killed Al's foundation when you lowered cable rates.”
Then he said gently, “I don't blame you. You did what Congress asked you to do. Cost the environment a billion dollars, though.”
I had no words. “What are you trying to do at that FCC?” he asked. “What are you trying to accomplish?”
“We're focusing on education,” I said lamely, and thought myself that I had hardly justified cable rate regulation with that answer.
“Well,” he said, “here's my advice: your dreams need to be worth your time.”
p.61
“You should throw this away,” he said, “and talk to them about what you care about.”
I told Blair a true story, as he directed the car to circle the building. After college I got a job as a schoolteacher in Philadelphia. I taught 7th-grade social studies. On average, in the three years at my school a child would fall two years behind in reading skills. Only half of my 7th graders would graduate from junior high school, and only half of them from high school. The best way was physically to get out: to be permitted to enroll in one of the city's magnet schools.
I had three students out of 150 who started 7th-grade reading well enough to give them a chance to admitted to a magnet school in 8th-grade. Every Saturday for several months I tutored them on how to pass the entrance exam. The day of the exam came. All my students failed the test.
In my government jobs, I wanted to make sure that schoolchildren today have a better ways to escape poverty. I wanted teachers to have better tools than I did. I wanted to make recompense for my own failings as a teacher.
Blair said, “Right now everyone thinks you're just trying to deliver a kind of politically acceptable package on behalf of Al and the Democratic Congress. But this story about the kids and how you feel, that gets across to people. You have to make your job be about yourself.”
“Because then it's worth my time,” I said, thinking of Ted Turner.
p.62
But, as he wished, I told the story of my teaching experience to the curious crowd. The applause had a quality of sympathy I had never heard before. It appeared that as Mr. Chairman, I was obliged to put at stake not only my career but also myself. Public office required not thick skin, but no skin at all.
p.63
British policy for four hundred years has been to oppose the strongest power in Europe by weaving together a combination of other countries strong enough to face the bully.
Winston Churchill
p.42
Even in the United States, a 5th of children grow up in poverty.
(Hundt, Reed E., 1948─, You say you want a revolution : a story of information age politics / Reed E. Hundt, 1. united states. telecommunications act of 1996., 2. telecommunication policy──united states., 3. information superhighway──government policy──united states., 4. internet (computer network)──government policy──united states., HE7781.H88 2000, 384.3'3'0973──dc21, 2000, ) <-------------------------------------------------------------------------->
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