Education Group at NewsCloud.com

The Nightmare We Call Our Schools | WesternFront America

A friend of mine recently wrote to me saying, "My wife is retiring in June after thirty years of teaching. A high school degree means nothing. No Child Left Behind is an even bigger joke. It is a scary situation that could lead us to third world status, but we are prepared for that since we already teach English as a second language."

Bizarre DNA of Platypus tells a story about us

There are genes for egg laying, evidence of the animal\\\\\\'s reptilian roots. Genes for making milk, which the platypus does in mammalian style despite not having nipples. Genes for making snake venom, which the animal stores in its legs. And there are five times more sex-determining chromosomes than scientists know what to do with.

Her Dream, Branded as a Threat

Debbie Almontaser dreamed of starting a public school like no other in New York City. Children of Arab descent would join students of other ethnicities, learning Arabic together. By graduation, they would be fluent in the language and groomed for the country's elite colleges. They would be ready, in Ms. Almontaser's words, to become "ambassadors of peace and hope." Things have not gone according to plan.

One Million High School Dropouts in U.S. Each Year

"When more than one million students a year drop out of high school, it's more than a problem, it's a catastrophe," retired General Colin Powell, founder of America's Promise Alliance. "It's time for a national 'call to arms,' because we cannot afford to let nearly one-third of our kids fail." His statement of urgency came during a press conference announcing the release of a study that details why nearly one in three U.S. high school students drops out before graduating and how his group plans to reverse the downward spiral of retention.

Obama: Parents Should Help Students

The standard Barack Obama venue lately has been high schools. Truman High School, Theodore Roosevelt High School, Jefferson High School. The Democratic presidential candidate has been pitching an audience-pleasing message of economic populism to crowds of a few thousand packed into each gymnasium. But he gets some of his loudest applause when he segues to education - and a bit of a lecture to mothers and fathers on how to be parents.

A Subprime Schooling

Add another group to those feeling the impact of the U.S. subprime mortgage meltdown: students and educators. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 28% of funding for America's public schools comes from local property tax. Property tax revenues, which in many areas of the country had grown along with property values, are poised to remain flat or even shrink in coming years.

Upright Walking Began 6 Million Years Ago, Thigh Bone Comparison Suggests

A shape comparison of the most complete fossil femur (thigh bone) of one of the earliest known pre-humans, or hominins, with the femora of living apes, modern humans and other fossils, indicates the earliest form of bipedalism occurred at least six million years ago and persisted for at least four million years. William Jungers, Ph.D., of Stony Brook University, and Brian Richmond, Ph.D., of George Washington University, say their finding indicates that the fossil belongs to very early human ancestors, and that upright walking is one of the first human characteristics to appear in our lineage, right after the split between human and chimpanzee lineages. Their findings are published in the March 21 issue of the journal Science.

The Year in Hate

The latest annual count of hate groups operating in the United States rose to 888 last year, capping a 48 percent increase since 2000.

(THESE are the terrorists Americans should be worrying about.)

Legislature OKs bill to put state-grown food in schools

Senate Bill 6483 relaxes food-purchasing regulations to allow schools and state-run institutions to buy fresh produce and meats from Washington farmers -- even if locally grown products cost a little more than their processed or canned counterparts.

IRIN humanitarian news: Less silence, more science could make anal sex safer

NEW DELHI, 27 February 2008 (PlusNews) - The silence and taboo surrounding anal sex is putting millions of men and women at risk of HIV, delegates attending the fourth international microbicides conference in New Delhi, India, heard this week.

Education

World class technology (embarrassment) in Seattle Schools

Birds Do It. Bees Do It. Dragons Don’t Need To.

But these eggs two of which hatched a few weeks ago were unusual: they developed from a female that had had no male of the species in close proximity for more than a decade. Judging from similar occurrences over the past two years in Britain, it appears that these lizards sometimes use a form of virgin birth in which eggs hatch without conception. The embryos are genetic clones of the mother.

Evolution battle flares in states

Creationism v. evolution in schools has been for many years a battle in the nation s culture war, and these days it s no different.

Has the University of Colorado sold its soul to the devil?

Last night, in one of the more controversial moves in some time, the CU Board of Regents elected Bruce Benson to be the university s new president. The 6-3 vote fell along party lines and marked the first time in nearly 35 years that a president has been approved by a split vote...

More Tests Please

No Child Left Behind has created the wrong kind of debate about testing. Given the lack of new funding, many states are jiggering their tests to obscure the failure of poorly performing schools and undermining the accountability that was the core goal of the program. Others are attempting to opt out of the program altogether. The process is wasteful, confusing to students, and fails to produce the information that education enterprises badly need to ensure continuous improvement in what they do