schools

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Islamic Schools Teach UK Kids to Chop Thieves' Hands

Texts back stoning, say Jews made into pigs

(Newser) - At a network of 40 Islamic weekend schools in the UK, some 5,000 students are exposed to textbooks that teach the following lessons: Some Jews were transformed into pigs and apes; thieves should have their hands cut off; and some crimes deserve stoning as punishment, the Telegraph reports. One...

Rupert Murdoch: Schools Can Learn From Idol

Show has tougher standards, he says

(Newser) - Place Rupert Murdoch squarely in the Waiting for Superman camp, the new documentary about how lousy the US school system is. The News Corp. chief takes to the pages of his own Wall Street Journal today to complain that teachers unions and their political cronies are being richly rewarded while...

Mom: My Boy Was Molested by Kindergarten Classmates

She's suing NYC schools for bathroom attack

(Newser) - A Queens mother is suing the New York City school district after reporting that her 5-year-old son was sexually assaulted in his school bathroom by four kindergarten classmates. "I couldn't believe this was happening to my son," mom Yenny Valero told the New York Daily News . "I...

Cash-Strapped LA Builds $578M School

And it's the district's third 'Taj Mahal'

(Newser) - The Los Angeles Unified School District is facing a $640 million budget shortfall, but you’d never know it by looking at its newest school. The Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools complex will be the nation’s most expensive public school when it opens next month, clocking in at $578...

What Happened to 'E' Grade?
 What Happened to 'E' Grade? 

What Happened to 'E' Grade?

We used it once—and not for 'excellent'

(Newser) - You can get an A, B, C, D, or F in a class—whatever happened to E? It was used at one point, writes Brian Palmer in Slate’s Explainer column . At Mount Holyoke College, which boasts the earliest record of letter grades, it was given for scores of 74...

Schools Struggle Mightily to Deal With Cyberbullying

Disciplining kids can get educators in hot water

(Newser) - As bullying methods evolve from schoolyard taunts into threatening text messages and harassing Facebook groups, schools aren’t sure how involved they should—or can—get. Some parents are increasingly desperate for educators to intervene immediately; others think educators should butt out of what kids do outside of the classroom....

Schools to Kids: Lose the Silly Bandz
 Schools 
 to Kids: 
 Lose the 
 Silly Bandz 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Schools to Kids: Lose the Silly Bandz

Teachers say the booming fad is a distraction

(Newser) - For those not plugged in to the school-age set, Silly Bandz are hot. They're like colorful rubber bands in the shape of animals or mermaids or whatever, and kids love to trade them or, to the great enjoyment of teachers, snap them in class. So much so that schools in...

French Kids Strike Over Vacation Cut

All good fun, but the cut doesn't exist

(Newser) - French schoolkids are saying "non" to a shortened summer, with young people nationwide joining wildcat strikes and staging walk-outs to denounce plans to cut a month of vacation time. Which is all very French, notes the Independent , except that the plan doesn't exist—the education minister merely called for...

Give Obama Some Credit for Education Reform Push

The president is taking political risks for the right reasons

(Newser) - President Obama ought to be applauded for pushing eduction reform, despite political risks. Obama's agenda is based on two ideas: That failing schools should face consequences and that teachers and principals ought to be evaluated based on student results. Each principle could benefit the system, writes Michael Gerson for the...

All Over New Orleans, Saints Fans Go Marching Out
All Over New Orleans, Saints Fans Go Marching Out
super bowl

All Over New Orleans, Saints Fans Go Marching Out

Side effects of Super Bowl madness include absenteeism

(Newser) - Best of luck to the candidates in tomorrow's New Orleans mayoral primary—they have the attention of just about no one. "The race isn't at the top of anyone's mind," says one candidate, understating the Super Bowl fever sweeping the Big Easy. In ordering the postponement of a...

How to Spot Great Teachers

 How to Spot Great Teachers 
glossies

How to Spot Great Teachers

Teach for America sheds light on two decades of insight

(Newser) - Teach for America is opening its books on 20 years of trial and error in figuring out what makes some teachers great and others complete busts. As it screens college applicants, it now pays special attention to two characteristics: perseverance and life satisfaction. By perseverance, it means "not just...

Schools Should Harness, Not Ban Social Networks

'Meet kids where they live: online'

(Newser) - Schools that ban teachers and students from social media may think they're keeping classrooms safe from the harassment, bullying and exploitation of social networks, but actually they're missing a chance to harness the tremendous energy kids devote to social media, Nicholas Bramble writes on Slate . By bringing Facebook, MySpace and...

French Students Protest for Right to Dress Sexy
French Students Protest for Right to Dress Sexy
LET THEM WEAR MINISKIRTS

French Students Protest for Right to Dress Sexy

Skimpily-attired kids say they're making point about freedom

(Newser) - Teenagers across France are launching titillating protests, fighting for their right to dress naughtily in school. The protests began at a school in Essonne, where 300 of the school’s 2,100 pupils came to school in miniskirts or Bermuda shorts. Soon after, some 200 students took to the streets...

Obama Speech Didn't Turn My Kids Into Commies

School budget cuts more of a worry than socialist indoctrination

(Newser) - Despite the worst fears of some right-wingers, President Obama's back-to-school speech yesterday didn't turn Mary Elizabeth Williams' two daughters into "commie zombies," she writes in Salon. Her 5-year-old decided the speech was boring and left the room in a huff, while the 9-year-old decided to "work extra...

Deal Near on Calif. Budget Gap
 Deal Near on Calif. Budget Gap 

Deal Near on Calif. Budget Gap

(Newser) - The California Legislature and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger are just steps away from an agreement that would close the state’s $26.3 billion deficit, the Los Angeles Times reports. Talks are expected to conclude today. “I don’t think there is anything that would make negotiations shut down at...

Obama Promises 600K Stimulus Jobs

Public works, schools, summer youth programs to see US cash

(Newser) - President Barack Obama promised today to deliver more than 600,000 jobs through his $787 billion stimulus plan this summer, with federal agencies pumping billions into public works projects, schools, and summer youth programs. Obama is ramping up his stimulus program this week, promising an accelerated pace of federal spending...

NYC School Official Dies From Swine Flu

City faces new wave of crisis

(Newser) - An assistant principal in New York has become the sixth person to die from swine flu in the US, reports the New York Post. Mitchell Wiener, 55, fell ill more than week ago, but didn't seek medical help until his symptoms became severe, officials said. His school was shut last...

Afghan Schoolgirls Sickened in 3rd Gas Attack

School attack is like 2 previous ones

(Newser) - Nearly 100 girls and six teachers are hospitalized in Afghanistan after an apparent gas attack on their school, the third such incident in the region recently. Five girls slipped briefly into a coma, but all are safely recovering after a poisoning that was likely the work of Taliban supporters who...

Many Mexico Schools Reopen
 Many Mexico Schools Reopen 

Many Mexico Schools Reopen

(Newser) - Millions of Mexican students are back at school this week as six of 31 states resume classes, the BBC reports. Parents and teachers spent days scrubbing down the schools with disinfectant, and many students are still wearing surgical masks as they return from their unexpected two-week break. Schools in 6...

Sharpton, Gingrich Push Prez on Schools

(Newser) - Newt Gingrich and Al Sharpton ran into each other today at the White House, on purpose, to discuss education reform with President Obama, USA Today reports. Sharpton noted that they were “two who have not agreed on anything politically,” but joined in an effort to remedy a “...

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