Youth & Education
Online games OK? Students need this one!
Sat, 04/24/2010 - 21:31 — Mike Steigerwaldby Carol Warner in EducationTechNews.com
Mind-numbing, old-school arcade games, such as Pac-Man and Space Invaders, gave gaming a bad rap. But here’s an online game that high school and college students need to play.
The Connecticut Department of Higher Education, the University of Connecticut and Connecticut Public Broadcasting teamed up to develop "Who wants to be financially responsible?"
E-mail avalanche saves tenure in Florida
Sat, 04/24/2010 - 21:26 — Mike Steigerwaldby Scott Ball in EducationTechNews.com
Near-bankrupt cities and states are pushing for fights with the teachers' unions. But the unions may have an ace up their sleeves:
E-mail.
Two weeks ago, Florida Governor Charlie Crist supported ending tenure and making public school teachers work on one-year, renewable contracts. GOP lawmakers passed legislation that would do just that and sent it to Crist's desk.
Then Crist declared he'd approve or veto the legislation according to the public's wishes.
Hundreds of thousands of teachers around the country are being told that their jobs may be eliminated in June.
Fri, 04/23/2010 - 09:22 — Dave Culver- The districts have no choice, they say, because their usual sources of revenue — state money and local property taxes — have been hit hard by the recession. In addition, federal stimulus money earmarked for education has been mostly used up this year.
- Districts Warn of Deeper Teacher Cuts
Tama Lewin and Sam Dillon, New York Times
Submitted by Evergreene Digest Contributing Editor Thomas Sklarski
Monte Wolverton
School districts around the country, forced to resort to drastic money-saving measures, are warning hundreds of thousands of teachers that their jobs may be eliminated in June.
The districts have no choice, they say, because their usual sources of revenue — state money and local property taxes — have been hit hard by the recession. In addition, federal stimulus money earmarked for education has been mostly used up this year.
As a result, the 2010-11 school term is shaping up as one of the most austere in the last half century. In addition to teacher layoffs, districts are planning to close schools, cut programs, enlarge classes and shorten the school day, week or year to save money.
Help keep Texas from rewriting history
Wed, 04/21/2010 - 08:18 — Dave CulverThe ACLU is fighting to stop this right-wing takeover of the content of public school textbooks.
Send your public comment opposing the extremist takeover of textbooks that will be studied by millions of students.
7 Ways to Get the Texas School Board Attack You for Being Too Right-Wing
Anthony D. Romero, ACLU
Submitted by Evergreene Digest Contributing Editor Bob Heberle
Adam Zyglis
College: "Let students eat government cheese"
Sat, 04/17/2010 - 09:43 — Mike Steigerwaldby Scott Ball on EducationTechNews.com
Tuition hikes are squeezing more and more students. One college has the obvious solution:
Sign up for food stamps.
Portland State University, for example, gives students all the info they need on its Web site. Signing up for the Supplemental Nutrition and Assistance Program is a snap! (Sorry for the bad pun.)
With colleges and universities charging students $50,000 a year for tuition and living expenses, no wonder some students can barely afford Ramen noodles. Government student loans only go so far. And everyone knows you need administrators — plenty of them — to run a college.
Mississippi’s Prom Scandal Just Keeps Getting Uglier
Fri, 04/16/2010 - 21:49 — Dave Culver
It’s not “scary” or “funny” that Constance McMillen has constitutional rights; everyone does. That’s part of being a citizen of the United States, gay or straight.
Byard Duncan, AlterNet
By now, the story of Constance McMillen is well known. If you missed coverage (a good deal of it by AlterNet), Adam Weinstein over at Mother Jones has a good summary today (April 6).
Long story short: McMillen, an 18-year old openly gay senior at a Mississippi high school, wanted to bring a female date to her prom (she also wanted to wear a tux). When the school board found out, it cancelled the dance and turned McMillen into a pariah. Then, after the ACLU ruled that such action was a violation of McMillen’s first amendment rights, the school allegedly held a secret prom and did not invite McMillen.
Charming, right? For the most part, the deeds speak for themselves. But there is something else: On March 23, someone named Richard Franklin wrote a letter to Mississippi’s Clarion Ledger newspaper, slamming McMillen for being uppity and the like. The full letter reads as follows:
