Charles Darwin published his On the Origin of Species in 1859. By 1870, Darwin's theory of evolution was widely accepted as fact (van Wyhe, n.d.). This was no easy feat, Darwin was able to provide ample evidence from his voyage aboard HMS Beagle, Darwin successfully implanted an idea. That idea took root and expanded into a deep science. The spread of ideas is at the very heart of civilization. Some ideas survive and thrive, while others wither and die in the bud. It was Richard Dawkins who pioneered the science behind the spread of ideas, and it is to him that those who rely on the spread of their ideas, such as Jonathan Kozol, pay deference. Richard Dawkins is one of those men who people will be talking about for years to come. A Google search to locate the guy yields countless results, with numerous posts created regarding Dawkins in the last thirty days. Of course, this is to be expected from a man with a Twitter account, who in an instant can recount his problems with hand luggage at the airport (Mangan, 2013). Dawkins was born in Nairobi, Kenya, in 1941. After receiving his doctorate at Berkeley in 1967, Dawkins was appointed assistant professor of zoology there. Dawkins's stay at Berkeley was brief, however, as he eventually returned to his alma mater of Oxford in 1970 as a fellow of New College (Biography of Richard Dawkins, n.d.). Numerous scholars attempt to make the leap from academia to mainstream scholarship and fail; Dawkins was successful in this regard. In 1976 Dawkins published his first book, The Selfish Gene, which has been reprinted in subsequent editions. Dawkins has since published numerous books and speaks regularly around the world. According to Dawkins, one of his greatest influences was Charles D… half of the paper… I will not die, although often a failure, it is tried and tried again. With teachers so shackled to a specific curriculum, their students can only suffer. Kozol notes that No Child Left Behind's mandates and recommended script have led some teachers to use timers in their lessons. Kozol sees No Child Left Behind as nothing more than an all-out war on teaching (Mediamouse.org, 2007). The term survival of the fittest applies not only to species, but to ideas. Good ideas have the ability to spread and infiltrate the minds of many, a trait that some ill-conceived ideas can use themselves. Richard Dawkins has identified a new replicator in the world, the meme, a replicator of culture. It is this replicator that men like Jonathan Kozol rely on. Because without the spread of ideas, Kozol's thoughts on education reform would be known only to himself.