America’s public education system is foundering. U.S. test scores in most subjects are significantly lower than those of students in other developed countries: “The brutal truth [is] that we’re being out-educated,” U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan has said. But more often than not, the search for solutions is bringing teachers, policymakers, administrators, and parents into conflict rather than bringing real change to the students who need it most. Media mogul and writer Steven Brill visits Zócalo to discuss how much of the blame rests on the shoulders of teachers’ unions, and to offer his own prescription for how to save the country’s public schools. The following is an excerpt from the first chapter of Brill’s new book, Class Warfare: Inside the Fight to Fix America’s Schools. …

Few nations are as difficult to understand as India, home to dozens of languages, hundreds of tribes, and billions of people. One writer who has tried to make sense of the place is Patrick French, author of India: A Portrait, an ambitious book that draws on years of reporting and observation. French visited Zócalo on October 6th to discuss whether India, subject of so many narratives, is really rich or poor. …