Recently in Education Category

Forgive me folks. When I was asked to come on here I was asked primarily because of my interest and expertise in education. The problems arise in the fact that the issues are pretty much out there in front of you. I don't think I've tackled the bullying angle specifically, but it has been in the news recently. We've come a long way baby (as the Virginia Slims ads used to say) but we really...

One of the names that was bandied about when the tea party folks came tiptoeing over here was David Barton. I became acquainted with David Barton in college when my roommate (and best man at my wedding) had we watch a video Barton had produced. The video argued that the difference between the performance of parochial (and Catholic) schools and public schools could be explained off by the absence of prayer in public schools. He...

For those of you that get the Sunday Chronicle, you were treated to their annual school rankings. In general, the Chronicle's paper coverage has been better. They know they have to find a reason for us to justify spending the money. It's not that they did a worse job than anyone else in this department. I just have some fundamental issues with the way all people rate schools. The had different criteria depending on the...

It seems like these two words go together. Some schools took test at the beginning of the month (5th graders) while most will be taking the test in another couple of weeks. These tests sum up the efforts of schools for the entire year. Fail the test and your school is horrible. Pass the test and your school is great. Of course, today is also income tax day. What a coincidence. The test itself cost...

This subject has been hit hard, but I couldn't let it go by. I've been in education for thirteen years and I've spent ten of them teaching history. I've taught U.S. History and World History and it might be a bit of an exaggeration, but I hold history to be sacred. Therefore, I was saddened by the actions of the Texas School board this past week. Texas is the biggest market for textbook writers, so...

As only he can, Colbert explains in clear terms the "conservative victory" of the Texas State School Board's outrageous editing of textbook standards to eliminate subversives like Thomas Jefferson who coined the term "separation of church and state".  Texas has now become the  laughing stock on the nation's stage led by Neanderthals like Louie Goehmert, John Culberson, and Rick Perry, as well as religious fanatics on the school board like Don McLeroy and Terri Leo. ...

Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be Texans. Unless you want them to be taught that: * Latinos were put on earth for the sole purpose of mowing their lawns and bussing their tables. * Thomas Jefferson was a God-hating subversive. The time wasted studying the 3rd president of the U.S. would be better spent learning about Phyllis Schlafly, the Moral Majority, and NRA. * Republicans are responsible for passing civil rights legislation....

Rockheadedmama and I got into a debate during my last education post about when the right to an education began. I think what we agreed (if we did agree) is that the forefathers had it on the mind, but public education did not exist as we know it (nationwide) until the late 1800s. Naturally, some states got it right earlier than others. Thomas Jefferson's Virginia (he was an educational enthusiast) and Massachusets (home of MIT...

Guest-blogged by Gracie Cavnar.  Original piece appeared on the Houston Chronicle opinion page today, February 21, 2010:First lady Michelle Obama recently announced her sweeping national initiative to combat childhood obesity. For the first time since this epidemic emerged, a comprehensive federal effort will coordinate with nonprofit organizations and the private sector to address the broad spectrum of contributing factors to obesity that together threaten generations of Americans with chronic disease and early death. It's not...

This was a huge topic in my book, but it's become a bigger topic of late. I will tell a story I know of from the past (that is in my book). Even though I am dealing with a similar situation now, I want to make it perfectly clear that any stories I tell are from the fairly distant past and are only related to current events in topic and not any general or specific...