Education

Teach (and Treat) Our Children Well

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 09:00:26 -0500

by Deborah J. Vagins

As a society, we adhere to the basic premise that, in the proper setting, children will learn what they are taught. And it follows that in learning to become positive and involved adults, children need to be encouraged and supported in their school environments.

Books, Not Bombs

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 08:30:01 -0500

by Amy Goodman

California campuses have been rocked by protests this past week, provoked by massive student fee increases voted on by the University of California Board of Regents. After a year of sequential budget cuts, faculty and staff dismissals and furloughs, and the elimination of entire academic departments, the 32 percent fee increase proved to be the trigger for statewide actions of an unprecedented scale.

Rage at UC Fee Hike in L.A., Berkeley Protests

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 11:16:55 -0500

by Nanette Asimov and Jill Tucker

LOS ANGELES - The UC regents are expected to put the final seal today on a hefty 32 percent tuition increase as students resume the protests that shut down their board meeting three times Wednesday and required campus police in riot gear to maintain calm.

Students, furious at the increase that will bring their yearly fees above $10,000 for the first time, rushed the UCLA building where the regents were meeting, throwing food, sticks and vinegar-soaked red bandannas meant to look like blood.

President Obama Comes to School (And It Is Not Good News)

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:45:36 -0500

by Ruth Conniff

It was a big, big day for the students at James C. Wright Middle School in Madison, Wisconsin, when the President came to town.

"The President of the United States is here in the same place where you walk the halls, where you learn," Wright principal Nancy Evans told the students. "Take this moment in history as nourishment."

Nightmare of a Dream Student

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 11:03:58 -0400

by Cintli Rodriguez

TUCSON, Ariz. -- I’ll refer to her as Leticia X.

She is undocumented, but has been in this country since the age of three and is a top student at her high school. Yet, unless the law changes soon, she will be unable to continue with her studies. She tells my students at the University of Arizona that it is wrong that she will not be able to attend college next year: “I consider myself a U.S. citizen. It’s the only country I’ve ever known.”

10 Things We Should Teach Every Kid About Food

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 12:03:52 -0400

by Rob Smart

Food is essential to our survival. It impacts our health and wellbeing. It has the power to bring people together.

Food can be manipulated in many ways, from cooking to processing to using it as fuel. It provides tremendous opportunities to create value, and, as such, food is big business.

Much of the food we eat starts as a simple seed, or one that has been genetically manipulated to achieve some desired objective. From there, food can be growing in any number of ways, from conventional to organic and beyond, before it finds its way to our plates.

A Nobel Worthy Effort: Ending Youth Violence From Chicago to Afghanistan

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 11:15:21 -0400

by Jesse Hagopian

President Obama has launched a new national initiative against youth violence in the wake of the brutal killing of Derrion Albert, a 16-year-old sophomore at Chicago’s Fenger Academy High. Derrion’s fatal beating by several other teens, captured on video from an onlooker’s cell phone, has inundated the nightly news and the blogosphere —prompting U.S.

The Uneducated American

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 08:35:50 -0400

by Paul Krugman

If you had to explain America’s economic success with one word, that word would be “education.” In the 19th century, America led the way in universal basic education. Then, as other nations followed suit, the “high school revolution” of the early 20th century took us to a whole new level. And in the years after World War II, America established a commanding position in higher education.

Life's Best Lessons Are Outside the Classroom

Sat, 03 Oct 2009 11:45:31 -0400

by Daniel Fireside

Jaydon Serrano pushes back and forth in his swivel chair, his back against a wall of blinking sound equipment. "I'm a little nervous and excited," says the second-grader.

"You'll do great," says his mom, Ida Martinez.

Don't Mess Around in Texas

Sat, 03 Oct 2009 10:00:55 -0400

by Suzanne Ehlers

When I graduated from high school in San Antonio, Texas, I can remember at least two dozen girls (out of a class of 600) pregnant or already with babies. It may seem astonishing now, but it was fairly normal in 1991: so normal, in fact, that our high school had responded with an academic track geared toward expectant and young mothers.