Christian Science Monitor: All Stories: "Test scores exceed state averages at J.S. Chick elementary school, where African-American students view themselves as leaders.
Christian Science Monitor: All Stories: "Sixteen years after it began, the controversial program is expanding, despite few documented benefits.
Vouchers are just another form of segregation, leaving those most in need left behind to deal with their needs on their own. -- David R. Remer, PoliWatch.Org.
USATODAY.com News - Top Stories: "Some colleges are reporting double-digit drops in the average SAT scores of applicants this year, even as other credentials, ...
My 15 year old daughter has been taught significantly less in her well off public school than I had been taught at her age in 1965. America's educational systems are about process and administration and have lost their grip on their first and primary role, to educate. This is extremely embarassing for the wealthiest nation in the world to continually drop in rank on education compared to other nations. -- David R. Remer, PoliWatch.Org.
Christian Science Monitor: All Stories: "Grad students are filling class time with e-mail, IM, shopping, or solitaire.
Technology is not the problem. Passing and graduating their stupid asses with ever lower standards for the sake of funding is the problem. -- David R. Remer, PoliWatch.Org.
National Geographic conducted a study of American youth's knowledge of geography. Here are some results.
Take Iraq, for example. Despite nearly constant news coverage since the war there began in 2003, 63 percent of Americans aged 18 to 24 failed to correctly locate the country on a map of the Middle East. Seventy percent could not find Iran or Israel.
Nine in ten couldn't find Afghanistan on a map of Asia.
And 54 percent were unaware that Sudan is a country in Africa.
48% of young Americans believe the majority population in India is Muslim. (It's Hindu - by a landslide.)
Half of young Americans can't find New York on a map.
Most young Americans cannot find Iraq on a map
"This should be a wake up call to America. -- David R. Remer, PoliWatch.Org.
FORGET CLIMATE CHANGE: Now we're warned about how technology is changing our brains.
She begins by analysing the process of traditional book-reading, which involves following an author through a series of interconnected steps in a logical fashion. We read other narratives and compare them, and so "build up a conceptual framework that enables us to evaluate further journeys... One might argue that this is the basis of education ... It is the building up of a personalised conceptual framework, where we can relate incoming information to what we know already. We can place an isolated fact in a context that gives it significance." Traditional education, she says, enables us to "turn information into knowledge."
Put like that, it is obvious where her worries lie. The flickering up and flashing away again of multimedia images do not allow those connections, and therefore the context, to build up.
USATODAY.com News - Top Stories: "Six middle school students in a small Alaska town were arrested Saturday on suspicion of plotting to bring guns and knives to ...
One of the unintended consequences of war not supported by the people, is that life becomes cheapened, to be used as a tool, very much as the lives of soldiers are used as a tool of foreign policy. -- David R. Remer, PoliWatch.Org.
CBS News: "Spotted two extra days by a friendly calendar, procrastinating taxpayers scrambled Monday to file their returns on time - and grudgingly give up whatever they owed."
C'mon, Americans for all their bitching and moaning, believe taxes are a civic duty, and deep down, lurks a pride for having paid for their right to bitch and moan. If they ever accept the waste of those hard earned dollars by politicians, they might actually unite to stop paying them until responsibility is restored in Washington D.C. -- David R. Remer, PoliWatch.Org.
Independent: World News: "A barren piece of desert in the heart of Ethiopia has proved once more why it deserves to be called the "cradle of mankind"."
Given the political debate over science and Intelligent Design being taught in schools, this is an important political story. -- David R. Remer, PoliWatch.Org.
Christian Science Monitor: All Stories: "Why Americans need training to be less ignorant about tax returns and other personal finances.
Now, I will never argue against more and better education. But, the answer at tax time is not more education but a simpler tax system. A flat tax's time is long overdue. -- David R. Remer, PoliWatch.Org.
CBS News: CBS Evening News: "The Encyclopedia Britannica has more than 235 years of trust and reliability. But for a lot of younger users, Wikipedia is the research tool of choice. Mike Brzezinski looks at the battle of the encyclopedias."
This is a huge story, because principles have staying power in the Encyclopedia Brittanica, but, are subject to change and revision with current fads in Wikipedia. This could spell a future generation turning its back on tried and true principles defined with blood, sweat, and years of American nation building, Revolutionary and Civil War. -- David R. Remer, PoliWatch.Org.
World Press Review: Breaking News: "Arab News, Pro-government, English-language daily of Jidda, Saudi Arabia"
Christian Science Monitor: All Stories: "Standarized tests simply mean we are setting high standards for our students."
This author is obviously a produce of our new education system. Time was, when America education was the best, tests randomly measured whether a student had learned a vast amount of information much of which is not on the test. The theory was, give a student 40 things to learn, test them on 10 of them without letting them know which 10 would be on the test, and they would be motivated to learn all 40 to insure a good grade on the test. That is how I got so smart. What is this Christian Science Monitor writer's problem, youth? I empathize. There are reams wrong with teaching to the test. -- David R. Remer, PoliWatch.Org.
Christian Science Monitor: All Stories: "A '65 percent solution' is picking up steam in some states."
CBS News: "Federal officials say the IDs of 400,000 children are stolen each year, and the victims and their parents often don't find out until years later. Consumer correspondent Susan Koeppen explains how to guard against it."
Christian Science Monitor: All Stories: "A Florida court ruling that a statewide voucher system be dismantled dealt a blow to advocates nationwide."
Christian Science Monitor: All Stories: "School loans, soaring house prices, low wages, and too-easy credit are keeping 20- and 30-somethings from making financial headway."
AP Politics: "GLEN BURNIE, Md. - Emphasizing the softer side of his agenda, President Bush went back to school Monday, touting rising test scores as proof that his education law is working."
If my 15 y.o. daughter's experience is any indication, the reason test scores are up is because federal dollars are attached to rising test scores and that is forcing teachers to teach to the test, in other words, my daughter is having dress rehearsal tests before the actual tests in which many to most of the questions are duplicated. This is not measuring what she has learned, only what she has memorized as the right answer from the practice test. -- David R. Remer, PoliWatch.Org.
Reuters: Top News: "Fewer than half received treatment, the survey found."
Christian Science Monitor: All Stories: "A decline in literacy among college grads should lead to more accountability in US spending on higher education."
CNN: Politics: "Read full story for latest details."
USATODAY.com News - Top Stories: "School districts desperate to plug budget holes are turning their buses into billboards for soft drinks, credit unions and car ..."
USATODAY.com News - Top Stories: "Students in some of the largest U.S. cities including Charlotte are getting better in math but making few significant gains ..."
Toronto Star: World: "Women who are physically abused by a partner face a similar legacy of health problems whether they live in a modern city or a traditional village, according to a new report."
Christian Science Monitor: All Stories: "If you'd like to believe that merit governs Ivy League admission policies, don't read this book."
CBS News: "About 17,000 children in low-performing Chicago schools won't get tutoring this year required by the No Child Left Behind law. Officials say private companies have chewed up funds for services that could have been provided for a fraction of the cost."
USATODAY.com News - Top Stories: "As female students march forward, more boys seem to be falling by the wayside. Not only do national statistics forecast a continued ..."
Christian Science Monitor: All Stories: "The national test of 4th- and 8th-graders also takes stock of the 2002 federal education reform law."
Christian Science Monitor: All Stories: "A federal trial shows the challenge to Darwin has evolved since creationism, but not enough."
Christian Science Monitor: All Stories: "A new documentary highlights two decades' worth of research on reaching struggling students."
Slate Magazine: "Intelligent design ducks the rigors of science."
Christian Science Monitor: All Stories: "A journalist warns that 'twisted science' may endanger America's future."
Christian Science Monitor: All Stories: "Forty years later, a teacher and advocate for children continues his crusade."
Slate Magazine: "The teachers' union sees an opening."
Christian Science Monitor: All Stories: "Even in an era of standardized tests, state governments and others are adding mandatory subjects to schools."
Christian Science Monitor: All Stories: "The improved results across ethnic lines are being attributed to wider access to high-level courses."
Independent: World News: "Officials in Philadelphia are facing condemnation from conservatives over a plan to force all students to study black history as part of the school curriculum. Under the plan, white and Latino children are unable to opt out of the lessons if they want to graduate from high school."
Christian Science Monitor: All Stories: "Billions of dollars poured into early reading programs and standards-based reforms may be making a difference."
ABC News - California's charter schools are 33 percent more likely to meet their academic goals than traditional public schools, a study released Wednesday found.
ABC News: Politics: "Members of a House Committee Question Whether Time Is Right to Expand No Child Left Behind"
Christian Science Monitor: All Stories: "This poor, agrarian state in southern India has the highest literacy rate in the country."
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