In Defense of the Editor Who Reported Teacher’s Dirty Net Comments

A teacher who was spending the school day online posting vulgar comments on a local newspaper’s website has lost his job. So why is everyone mad at the editor who turned him in to school officials?

Kurt Greenbaum of the St. Louis Post Dispatch e-mailed the school when he noticed the it was the source linked to a commenter who had repeatedly tried posting a dirty word for part of the female anatomy. Continue reading »

Kid Sues School for Dodgeball Injuries

Apparently using soccer balls for a game of dodgeball in the school gym was a bad idea. A twelve-year-old lost his teeth, and now his parents are suing the school.

Hasn’t he ever heard “if you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball?”

When I read the story of the lawsuit over at the NY Daily News, my first reaction wasn’t poor kid (I’m not heartless - that came next). All I could think was “wait, they still play dodgeball in schools?” Continue reading »

Teacher Canned for Using “B-Word” on Facebook

A high school English teacher who used the “b-word” on her private Facebook page is out of a job thanks to an anonymous letter sent to school administration.

To top it off - she posted a picture of herself from a European vacation holding a glass of wine. Oh, the horrors. Continue reading »

School Stages Attempted Murder on Teacher as Lesson

A bunch of kids walked into what looked like a grisly attempted murder scene when they arrived at school last week. There was blood all over, and their teacher’s head had been bandaged.

The kids - some as young as five - freaked. And the school says no biggie. Continue reading »

Obama: Energy Future Depends on Kids’ Skills

A seemingly ever-increasing population, hooked on iPods, cellphones, and GPS systems, with big-screen televisions in every room, along with the requisite complement of DVD players, DVR’s, and video game systems, uses a lot of power — and that demand is only going to grow.  The three R’s — reduce, reuse, and recycle — can only go so far in assuaging the need for energy.  Clearly, we are going to continue to need to develop new ways of generating power.  What those ways will be are anyone’s guess, but where the ideas will come from is clear — from the scientists of the future.  That’s why Michelle Obama wants states to improve science and mathematics education.
Continue reading »

School Suspends Indian Girl for Nose Piercing

A cultural ritual for an Indian tween girl in Utah turned into an ordeal for her family when her American school suspended her for it.

The AP reports Suzannah Pabla, whose father is a Sikh born in India (and hence wears a turban although he lives and works in the US), pierced her nose to connect with her Indian roots. Her school called it a violation of a body piercing ban and kicked the girl out of school. Continue reading »

The Myths of Gifted Children

Every parent thinks their kid is a genius. But for some people, their kids actually are far above the norm. They’re not just good in school — as a matter of fact, sometimes they are not good in school at all. Instead, they fall into the category of “gifted children.”

Actually, the idea that “gifted children do very well in school” is one of many myths about gifted children. Continue reading »

Teens Suspended for Myspace Pages Sue School

Two teen girls took sexually suggestive photos and posted them on Myspace. No surprise there. So why did the school suspend them from sports and force them to make an official apology to the school’s athletic board? Continue reading »