Conference 2000: American Schools and Public Choices

Rocky Mountain College, Billings, MT

Sponsored by: The Montana Committee for the Humanities, Rocky Mountain College, Montana State University -Billings, Yellowstone Public Radio, Community Seven Television, The University of Montana, Montana State University-Bozeman, and The Montana Professor

Thursday, March 9, 2000
Billings Studio Theatre

7:00 - 9:30 p.m.

Welcomes: Arthur H. DeRosier, Jr.,President, Rocky Mountain College, Mark Sherouse, Executive Director, Montana Committee for the Humanities, Ronald P. Sexton,Chancellor, MSU-Billings

Marvin Granger, General Manager, KEMC-FM/Yellowstone Public Radio, will introduce John Merrow, creator of "The Merrow Report" NPR who will conduct a discussion on school choice which will be broadcast live. Later it will be edited to one hour for broadcast by NPR. Panelists will include Stephen Arons, author of Short Road to Chaos and Compelling Belief, Bruce Biddle, co-author of Manufactured Crisis: Myths, Fraud, and the Attack on America's Public Schools, and Craig Howley, author of Out of Our Minds.

Friday, March 10, 2000
McDonald Commons, RMC

[Note: For each session there will be a speaker(s) who will make a presentation, a moderator for the discussion by the members of the panel (to be announced) and subsequently members of the audience. The sessions will be videotaped by Community Seven TV and aired later; tapes will also be made available to other interested organizations or groups.]

Welcome: Mr. John Cech, Dean of Continuing Education at RMC

First Session, 8:00 - 9:00 a.m.

Moderator: Susan DeCamp of Community Seven Television
Speaker: John Merrow on "How Well Does the Media Cover Education"

Second Session, 9:15 - 10:15 a.m.

Moderator: Victoria Cech, MSU-Billings
Speaker: Robert Proctor, author of Defining the Humanities: How Rediscovering a Tradition Can Improve Our Schools, will talk on the "Definition of the Humanities and Their Place in Education"

Third Session, 10:30 a.m. - noon

Moderator: Marvin Granger: Yellowstone Public Radio
Speaker: Craig Howley, author of Out of Our Minds. His presentation will be titled "Radical Choices"

Fourth Session 1:15 - 2:45 p.m.

Moderator: Susan DeCamp, Community Seven TV
Speaker: To be announced.

Fifth Session 3:00 - 4:30 p.m.

Moderator: Rod Svee, Superintendent, Ranchester Schools, Ranchester, Wyoming
Speaker: Stephen Arons, author of Compelling Belief and Short Route to Chaos, will provide a retrospective on this conference and others on the same topic.

Saturday, March 11, 2000
McDonald Commons, RMC

First Session 8:30-10:00 a.m.

Moderator: Ernest Rose, Dean of the College of Education and Human Services at MSU-Billings
Speakers: David Aronofsky and Rob Natelson will discuss "The Montana Constitution and the Possibility of School Choice"

Second Session 10:30 a.m. - noon

Moderator: Arthur Coffin, Professor Emeritus, MSU-Bozeman
Speakers: William Plank,Professor of French, MSU-Billings, will present "Teacher Education and the State of Intellectual Life in the Public Schools" to which Ronald Sexton, Chancellor of MSU-Billings, will offer a rejoinder.


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