Free Republic

(CNSNews.com) -- Some high schools in Oregon are creating an optional “13th grade” in order to provide students with another year of academic support while boosting the state's on-time graduation rate. Starting with the Class of 2014, hundreds of students who have completed four years of high school but have not received their diplomas will be considered “graduates" for statistical purposes. At 69 percent statewide, Oregon had the second-lowest graduation rate in the nation for the Class of 2013, according to the U.S. Department of Education.

Tired of Cheech & Chong pot jokes and ominous anti-drug campaigns, the marijuana industry and activists are starting an ad blitz in Colorado aimed at promoting moderation and the safe consumption of pot. To get their message across, they are skewering some of the old Drug War-era ads that focused on the fears of marijuana, including the famous “This is your brain on drugs” fried-egg ad from the 1980s. […] “So far, every campaign designed to educate the public about marijuana has relied on fear-mongering and insulting marijuana users,” said Mason Tvert, spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project, the nation’s...

During a Friday conference call sponsored by Texas-based Women on the Wall, Stanford mathematician and former member of the Common Core Validation Committee Dr. James Milgram, told listeners that if the controversial standards are not repealed, America’s place as a competitor in the technology industry will ultimately be severely undermined. “In the future, if we want to work with the top level people, we’re going to have to go to China or Japan or Korea… and that’s the future we’re looking at,” Milgram said during the call that was part of a day-long Twitter campaign to target Indiana Gov. Mike...

Last week, MRCTV's Dan Joseph went to American University to give the student body a little general knowledge quiz. When asked if they could name a SINGLE U.S. senator, the students blanked. Also, very few knew that each state has two senators. The guesses were all over the map, with some crediting each state with twelve, thirteen, and five senators. So, when it comes to politics, the students at American University are a little rusty - but, they passed with flying colors when it comes to pop culture. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKaYnHlpD9M

The Texas Board of Education gave preliminary approval Thursday to dropping algebra II as a requirement for high school students to graduate, over the objections of critics who say the state is watering down its academic standards.The board opted not to toughen a major overhaul of graduation and curriculum requirements that were unanimously approved by the state Legislature in May and designed to give students the flexibility to focus on career and vocational training—not just college prep courses. …

A recent flap in a Berkeley high school reveals what a farce “fairness” can be. Because this is ultra-liberal Berkeley, perhaps we should not be surprised that a proposal has been made to eliminate four jobs as science teachers and use the money saved for programs to help low achievers. In Berkeley, as in many other communities across the country, black and Latino students are not performing as well as Asian and white students. In fact, the racial gap in academic achievement at Berkeley High School is the highest in California — no doubt a special source of embarrassment in...

Half-a-century ago, a band of Leftist thugs violently took over the administration building at Columbia University and hijacked the American education system. From that moment on, they used this system to indoctrinate - in fact brainwash - generation after generation into their cult of Leftism. For the next five decades (pseudo)-intellectuals, hiding behind tenure and “Academic Freedom,” have been spewing greater and greater nonsense designed for one purpose and one purpose only: sabotaging and eventually destroying all of Western Civilization. Don’t think so? Simply consider the fact that one of the most oft-repeated chants of the Modern Liberal movement is...

Speaking at a Washington symposium on the continuing threat posed by illegal drugs to American society, Calvina Fay of the Drug Free America Foundation declared billionaire George Soros to be an "extremely evil person" who wants to legalize dangerous mind-altering drugs. Sounding a battle cry as critical November elections approach, Fay told the assembled conservative activists that Soros, an atheist who is a major funder of the Democratic Party and liberal-left causes, is "our common enemy" and that he is determined to subvert traditional values and undermine America's families. Soros, convicted of insider trading in France, is a financial speculator...