Firestorm erupts over teacher’s angry e-mail to legislators about low pay
An angry e-mail written by a teacher to North Carolina legislators with a subject line that said, “I am embarrassed to confess: I am a teacher,” might have been seen only by recipients if it were not for state Sen. David Curtis. The Republican legislator fired back an inflammatory e-mail, giving her advice on what […]
Egyptian teen attending science fair in U.S. defects, seeks asylum
A 17-year-old Egyptian science prodigy attending the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Los Angeles this month decided to use the opportunity to defect and seek asylum in the United States out of fear that he would be arrested by authorities back home. The Los Angeles Times reported that Abdullah Assem was supposed to […]
Texas superintendent tells parents: Your children’s standardized test scores don’t mean much
Paul Jones, superintendent of the Paris Independent School District in Texas, posted a rather unusual letter to parents on the district’s website. Jones informed parents that they would soon receive their children’s scores on state-mandated standardized tests and that they shouldn’t put very much stock into them. In fact, he told them they were part […]
What ‘trigger warning’ would the Bible get?
A ”trigger warning” is a short statement on a written piece of work or even a television show ( think Law and Order: Special Victims Unit) noting that the material may be sexually graphic, violent or in some other way upsetting. This month The New York Times ran a story by Jennifer Medina about the warnings that has sparked a […]
5-22-14 The Answer Sheet
Answer Sheet: Guess how many memos USDA sent to schools about healthy school lunches?Federally funded school lunches have been in the news because Republicans in the U.S. House just voted to allow some schools to get a waiver from a law that requires lunches served to students to meet new health standards. Why? Apparently some schools can’t make enough money serving healthy foods because kids don’