What We Know
“What’s an education system without profiteers? No education system at all!” says this stock tout, who notes ”unemployment is a cash cow” for investors in education stocks. Charming…..Washington State schools chief Randy Dorn said he would do away with the WASL and replace it with two better, shorter, less-expensive exams. One week into the job, he’s doing just that……All your speech are belong to us! A U.S. District court has ruled a school was within its rights when it disciplined a student for an Internet post she wrote when not on school grounds…..If you’re over 35, you rememberThe Electric Company on PBS. It’s back on the air.
What We Want to Find Out
Will Rupert Murdoch take Mike Petrilli’s advice? Mike gives Karl Rove the Marvin K. Mooney treatment over NCLB at Flypaper and encourages Sir Rupert to do the same…..If you’re homeschooled, are you more likely or less likely than average to become a teacher when you grow up? This urban homeschooler is now a NYC Teaching Fellow…..When was the last time you saw a headline like this one in the Philadelphia Inquirer: City schools have too much space?……Will parents in an East Detroit school make good on their threat to keep kids home on the state’s student count day? They’re upset about a too-stringent discipline policy. An attendance undercount would cost the school $8,000 per pupil.
What We Learned
A federal judge has ruled that a Texas school district can’t punish an American Indian kindergartner for wearing his hair long in violation of school policy……An Illinois school bus driver has been found guilty of intentionally slamming on the brakes to throw misbehaving children from their seats……Musician Quincy Jones is circulating an online petition asking Barack Obama to create a Cabinet-level Secretary of the Arts…..Britain’s Family Planning Association is running a course for youth workers who visit schools to help them “support” teenagers who view pornographic websites and magazines. It’ll stop them seeing women as sex objects. That’s the idea, at least.
How We Can Learn More
Children in the U.K. spend up to six hours a day in front of a screen, a study finds……Another excuse to devalue curriculum? Visits to museums, TV documentaries, and even walks in the park contribute to people’s knowledge and interest in science, says a new report from the National Research Council….Check out this week’s Carnival of Education at Teacher in a Strange Land, the great blog by uber teacher Nancy Flanagan.
Hey, I’m still a few years shy of 35 and I remember “The Electric Company”. Wikipedia says that it aired on PBS until 1985.
I can still sing some of the songs: “Who can turn a ‘pin’ into a ‘pine’? It’s el-e-men-ta-ry for silent ‘E’!”