Tuesday, April 10, 2012

The inevitable dark side of ‘school choice’ - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post

The inevitable dark side of ‘school choice’ - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post:


The inevitable dark side of ‘school choice’

This was written by Ann Geiger, who served on the Orange County School Board in Orlando, Fl., from 2004-2008. A native of Virginia, she lives in Arlington and blogs at www.publicpolicyblogger.com, where this appeared.



By Ann Geiger
At first glance, Ross Douthat’s recent column on religion seems unrelated to the reshaping of public education in the United States, but bear with me. Mr. Douthat believes the loss of a long-held “theological” center in our culture on one level demonstrates more abundant embrace of each others’ beliefs, but at the same time he sees an irretrievable trend away from shared values and common purpose to one more defined by personal choices and private pursuits.
“And the inescapability of religious polarization — whether it pits evangelicals against Mormons, the White House against the Catholic Church, or Rick Santorum against the secular press — during an election year that was expected to be all about the economy is a sign of 

NASA invites students to design technologies for deep space

NASA is inviting college students to design technologies that can be integrated into a habitat in which future astronauts could live and work in deep space.
The offer is called the 2013 Exploration Habitat (X-Hab) Academic Innovation Challenge, and it is an effort by the space agency to promote science learning and help inspire a new generation of creative engineers.
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