Obama angers teachers with comments on firings
President's support for the mass firings at a failing Rhode Island school draws rebuke from union officialsMORE ON EDUCATION
- Region slow on college readiness
- Margaret Spellings defends NCLB
- Student held after fight at MoCo school
- McDonnell lobbies for stimulus funds
- Once diversity leader, N.C. retrenches
- D.C. Insider: My morning at McKinley
- Pr. George's schools budget slashed
- What did Cuccinelli tell William &Mary?
- ISO: Former D.C. public school teachers
President's support for the mass firings at a failing Rhode Island school draws rebuke from union officials
MORE ON EDUCATION
- Region slow on college readiness
- Margaret Spellings defends NCLB
- Student held after fight at MoCo school
- McDonnell lobbies for stimulus funds
- Once diversity leader, N.C. retrenches
- D.C. Insider: My morning at McKinley
- Pr. George's schools budget slashed
- What did Cuccinelli tell William &Mary?
- ISO: Former D.C. public school teachers
Harvard gets first Egyptologist in 68 years
This may not mean much to you, but to an amateur archaeologist such as myself, this news is somewhat shocking: Harvard University is only now getting the first Egyptology professor it has employed since the last person holding the job died -- 68 years ago.
The school’s student newspaper, the Harvard Crimson, is reporting thatPeter Der Manuelian, a lecturer in Egyptology at Tufts University, will take the job. He has spent years studying and trying to publicize the work of the last Harvard Egyptologist, Professor George A. Reisner, a graduate of the Class of 1889.
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Why colleges hide mental illness
I'm still thinking about my colleague Jenna Johnson's front page piecelast week on changing college policies toward alcohol abuse. It turns out that a little-noticed amendment in the law in 1998 allows them to notify parents if undergraduate children under 21 have any booze or drug violations. If only they were as generous in letting families know when their children are suffering from mental or emotional illnesses.
The federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 may be the most frequently misinterpreted law in the land, and the most destructive of family peace of mind. It prevents universities from sharing most student information, but allows them to contact parents if a child's health or safety is at risk.
Isn't that nice. It is a shame that so many university officials have chosen to err on the side of not helping parents who haven't heard from their kid in months and wonder if something is wrong. This is the higher ed version of similarly destructive K-12 practices that deny parents information about abusive teachers, and what their children might have seen them do to other children, creating nightmares for a lifetime.
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Spellings: Rhee has "fire in the belly"
My colleague Nick Anderson reports that former education secretary Margaret Spellings touted Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee at a meeting of The Post's editorial board Monday.
Spellings predicted that Rhee would continue her work in the District if Mayor Adrian M. Fenty wins another four-year term later this year.
"I think she's fearless and has the fire in the belly," Spellings said. "If he's re-elected, I think she's here to stay and coming on."
Spellings is a long-time Rhee booster who supported her appointment as chancellor while in the Bush cabinet. Last year, Fenty chose a Spellings lieutenant, former assistant secretary of education Kerri Briggs, to become D.C. State Superintendent of Education.
