Many `ideal’ students lack inventive, restless and self-reliant spirit
MARK PRUETT
Special to the Observer

Charlotte Observer - A new report from the American Academy of Pediatrics stresses the importance of childhood playtime. It reinforces my own belief that many young adults have been cheated by years of excessive schoolwork and teamwork, too many extracurricular activities, and a straitjacketed “just say no to anything risky” upbringing. I am convinced that modern childhood generally does not build enough independence and thirst for knowledge. Mark Pruett is an assistant professor in the Walker College of Business at Appalachian State University. Read the full article

Winston-Salem Journal - One of the best leaf seasons in years will peak under sunny skies this weekend in the Northwest North Carolina mountains, according to area experts and weather forecasts. Gary Walker, a biology professor at Appalachian State University, said that a cold and dry spell in September helped create particularly good colors.

“That’s good because it stresses the trees to shut down early before all the sugars are transported out (of the leaves),” Walker said.

Cool weather now will help lock in the colors, he said, while pushing those leaves that are still green to move into their colors. Read the full article

WRAL-TV - This appears to be a good weekend to go leaf-watching in western North Carolina.
Appalachian State University biology professor Gary Walker says a cold and dry spell in September helped create particularly good colors. He says that’s because it stresses the trees to shut down early before all the sugars are transported out of the leaves.

Walker says cool weather now will help lock in the colors while pushing those leaves that are still green to move into their colors. He says it’s the best fall leaf colors he’s seen in years. Read the full article

Students see history from 2 distinct views

Charlotte Observer/Catawba Valley edition - For years, Peter Petschauer and Zohara Boyd didn’t discuss what they and their families experienced during World War II.

In the years that followed, each came to America, went to college and graduate school and became a professor at Appalachian State University in Boone. Despite the pain of their pasts, they became friends more than a quarter-century ago. Read the full article

Charlotte Observer - Appalachian State University has received funding from the Small Business Administration and the GoldenLEAF Foundation to focus on wine and grape analysis and high-altitude viticulture. ASU is currently teaching courses in wine appreciation, wine chemistry and others while it develops structures to support undergraduate and graduate programs that should launch in 2007 and 2008. Read the full article

Access, affordability can be addressed, but push for more accountability could backfire
By Todd L. Cherry

Winston-Salem Journal - Education Secretary Margaret Spelling recently announced a wide range of proposals aimed at improving accessibility, affordability and accountability of higher education.

Do we really need more accountability measures? Universities are already spending valuable time and resources manipulating processes to rank highly, according to the measures used by accreditation agencies and, of course, U.S. News & World Report.

Todd L. Cherry is the Harlan E. Boyles professor in the department of economics at Appalachian State University. Read the full article

New York Times - FIFTEEN-YEAR-OLD Joe Hospodor parts his hair like Gregory Peck and plays surf music on an old-fashioned Telecaster guitar. This retro-minded teenager from Los Gatos, Calif., says he admires the Pink Floyd legend David Gilmour, but draws the line at Green Day: “I detest Green Day.”

At 12, he told his father, Andy, a computer engineer and skilled guitarist, that he didn’t want to continue basic guitar lessons with him at home. The turning point? “I saw my dad reading tab one night,” Joe said. By his own admission, Joe is now “deep into tab” downloaded off the Internet.
Tabs are now a controversial part of online guitar learning, with music publishers threatening copyright lawsuits to shut down sites offering unauthorized (and often inaccurate) transcriptions of songs.

The roots of informal musical training go back centuries. The Renaissance produced tablatures for the lute and other plucked-string instruments. According to Gary Boye, an early-guitar specialist at Appalachian State University, the earliest printed tablature for guitar appeared in a book for the vihuela, a Spanish lute-guitar hybrid, published in 1546. Read the full article