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Two schoolboys were given detention after refusing to kneel down and 'pray to Allah' during a religious education lesson. Parents were outraged that the two boys from year seven (11 to 12-year-olds) were punished for not wanting to take part in the practical demonstration of how Allah is worshipped. They said forcing their children to take part in the exercise at Alsager High School, near Stoke-on-Trent - which included wearing Muslim headgear - was a breach of their human rights. One parent, Sharon Luinen, said: "This isn't right, it's taking things too far. "I understand that they have to learn...

We must be willing to redefine education. What education looks like now is an artificial construct. It was not created by people who knew or understood children or teens. It was created by bureaucrats and special interests who wanted to control children and teens. I talked with a young lady the other day – 14-years-old – who loves horses and aims to own stables and teach riding, among other things. She’s been working with horses since she was five. She’s good enough now that she “breaks” new ones and retrains ones facing changes in the use they’re being put to....

An estimated 10 percent of middle and high school students in the Delaware Valley School District are infected with a sexually transmitted disease. About two dozen teenage girls in the district have tested positive for pregnancy. And officials say there's one confirmed case of a student with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has stepped in to track down students at risk for HIV, since the infected student is reported to have had multiple sex partners in the district, officials say. School officials released the alarming figures in a letter sent home...

I was talking to a friend the other day who teaches at an elementary school and has a student whom I shall name Shakir. Shakir is ten, and he's barely literate. My friend's class is not a large one; she has five to eight students. She also has a teaching assistant, and between them, the kids receive a lot of personal, one-to-one attention. Nevertheless, Shakir still can't read. The why of this phenomenon is quite important; you see, there are lots of Shakirs in the black community. For he is one of many kids flunking his way through the educational system,...

HIGH school teachers will be issued with emergency phones and new teachers will be trained to handle problem students under new school security measures. Education Minister Jane Lomax-Smith told a Parliamentary Estimates hearing today it was part of the Government's $10 million plan, funded from 2007, to manage students' behaviour. Under the initiatives announced today: MOBILE phones will be provided to secondary teachers on yard duty so staff or police can be called immediately in the event of a security incident. THE Anti-Bullying Coalition will advise Government and non-government schools on the use of technology including mobile phones in violent...

A 14-year-old girl has been arrested and charged with murder after she allegedly killed her newborn baby in a school bathroom. Baytown, Texas, police said the eighth-grade student submerged the 7 pound infant in a Cedar Bayou Junior School toilet and jammed toilet paper down his throat so he wouldn't cry, the Houston Chronicle reported. Police have been investigating the incident since the baby was found April 2. The baby also suffered blunt trauma to his head and neck, according to a Harris County autopsy. Gerald Yoakum, the girl's attorney, claims she wasn't aware that the baby was in the...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE ISKAN, Iraq, June 26, 2008 – More than 200 adults and 80 children received medical care June 21 during a combined medical engagement at the Al Herea School in Farisiyah, Iraq. Soldiers from 3-7th Inf. Regt. usher in residents from Farisiyah and Jurf as Sahkr, Iraq, during a combined medical engagement June 21, 2008. More than 200 adults and 80 children received medical care and humanitarian aid packages during the event. U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Rhonda Roth  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Eight Iraqi medics from 33rd Brigade, 8th Iraqi Army Division, and surgeons...

...they take lingering looks at Douglass’s teachers and administrators as they work and at its students as they, more often than not, don’t work. Though eventually the Raymonds (just barely) take sides — they seem not to be fans of Mr. Bush’s program — their dismaying film isn’t really asking whether No Child Left Behind can help Douglass. It’s asking whether anything can. The film finds a few success stories among the school’s 1,100 students, but it is filled largely with teenagers who are drowning in apathy and attitude, those who seem well beyond any “To Sir With Love”-style rescue....

Lance Cpl. Nick Folse (left), an intelligence analyst with 2nd Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment poses for a photo with local Iraqi children while Cpl. Marco Vallejo passes out school supplies to the kids. School supplies were donated by teachers and students of the Oswego, Ill., Public School District #308 to give to the children. Photo by Pfc. Jerry Murphy. HAWAS — When a child thinks of school supplies, one thing comes to mind: the end of summer. No more going to the pool on hot summer afternoons. No more trips to the lake; just another year of sitting in a...

Canada's largest school board is poised to set tough targets to chop the alarming 40 per cent dropout rate among black students to 15 per cent within five years. Through mentors, teacher training and close tracking of the most needy students, the Toronto District School Board's sweeping new Urban Diversity Strategy – to be voted on tomorrow by a board committee and by all trustees next week – would aim to make all intermediate and high schools across the city more sensitive to the demographic roadblocks often facing students of differing backgrounds. The action plan would also target the 25...

Saying their son was "silenced" by his teacher for talking about hunting in the classroom, the parents of a fourth-grade student at North Bennington Graded School took their son out of school and have taken their case to the local school board. Jared Harrington's mother, Wendy Bordwell, and his father, Martin Harrington, removed their son from school with 10 days left in the school year and home-schooled the 10-year-old boy. "We are aggressively pursuing Jared's right to free speech," Bordwell said. The couple addressed the local school board Monday night to air their grievance. Bordwell said in a telephone interview...

County prosecutors allege Omar Khan, 18, of Coto de Caza, and Tanvir Singh, 18, of Ladera Ranch, broke into Tesoro High School in Las Flores to steal tests and change their own and others' grades on the school computer network.

...It's been decades since schools first outlawed failure and adopted the false mantra that all students are guaranteed success. Our national education law, No Child Left Behind, rests on two mutually exclusive wishful absurdities...schools have to raise standards so they reflect world-class college expectations...At the same time, every student, including those with learning handicaps or simply less than average ability, has to meet those elevated standards, or else the school is in trouble. There's no such thing as high standards that everybody can meet. That's why we can't all make it as major league ballplayers or Marines. The one essential...

....a new study released today by the independent, nonprofit research organization RAND Corp...Among its key findings, the study showed that the children who could especially benefit from preschool are the least likely to be in it, such as, Latinos, blacks, those whose parents have low education and those from economically disadvantaged families. [snip]Josue's mother, Esperanza Juarez, believes preschool has laid solid academic and social foundations for her son's future. "The teachers taught him manners, to wait his turn and to say 'thank you,'" she said. "This is a very good program. It will help him be more successful in his...

WASHINGTON – Voters are demonstrating widespread dissatisfaction with public schools in a series of surveys. In the latest scientifically representative poll conducted by the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice among Idaho voters, only 12 percent of parents said they would choose government school for their children if other options were available. The results were similar in other states, including Illinois, Nevada and Tennessee. The Indiana-based Friedman Foundation is using the surveys to gauge American attitudes toward school choice. In addition, the Idaho survey revealed only 4 percent of parents between the ages of 36 and 55 would use public schools...

Students earn way by sweat of brow in new program . Bruce Randolph's bold decision last fall to end social promotion, to inform parents that students who fail core academic classes will not be passed on to the next grade. "We're changing the culture," said Principal Kristin Waters. "You can't not pass anymore; you have to do the work." It's an unprecedented stance by a neighborhood school in Denver. DPS, unlike other metro districts, allows parents to decide whether their children are held back a grade until they reach high school. Few choose to hold them back. Not until grade...

State Department officials said Thursday they have no plans to close a Saudi-financed Islamic school in Northern Virginia that has failed to eliminate violent and intolerant language in textbooks. "They told us they would revise the textbooks by the 2008 school year," State Department spokesman Rob McInturff said. "We don't plan to take additional action apart from the discussions that have been going on with the Saudi government." Results released Wednesday from a federal investigation into the Islamic Saudi Academy - with campuses in Alexandria and Fairfax - found textbooks at the 900-student private school had passages that blame the...

School officials in Oceanside, Calif., are defending a scared-straight exercise that sent some El Camino High School students into hysterics. Camino High guidance counselor Lori Tauber said, "We wanted them to be traumatized."

Children gather around an Iraqi Police truck filled with pens and paper as the IP give out supplies in Diyarah, Iraq. Photo by 4th Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division Public Affairs. FOB KALSU — After being asked by family members what he or his fellow Soldiers of the 230th Military Police Company needed for their deployment, one Soldier felt the unit didn’t need anything, but local Iraqi children could use some assistance. “Fortunately we are pretty blessed, living well here on Forward Operating Base Kalsu,� said Spc. Jonathan Flanagan, a native of Lumberton, Texas. “We (have) pretty much everything...

Three high school seniors have been barred from Bloomington Kennedy High School's graduation ceremony tonight at Target Center because of what the school district is calling a prank involving Confederate flags. Rick Kaufman, a spokesman for the Bloomington School District, said three male students brought the flags onto school property Tuesday morning. He said they were suspended after "carrying and waving" the flags in the parking lot as parents and students arrived at the school. Bloomington Kennedy senior Kellie Rezac is a friend of the three boys and helped organize a protest outside the school earlier today. Rezac said the...

Children eagerly wait in line for toys and candy in Dehna Village, west of Baghdad, May 29. Iraqi army soldiers from the 6th Company, 24th Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division, partnered with the 1st Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, "Gimlets," 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, "Warrior," 25th Infantry Division, Multi-National Division - Baghdad, worked together to hand out humanitarian aid in the village. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Dustin Weidman. BAGHDAD — The line extended out the gate, around the corner and disappeared up the narrow street. The residents of Dehna Village, west of Baghdad, lined up waiting for aid May...

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. - Satya Mohan never saw students dance in the hallways before, let alone bang on lockers and doors as they often do outside his third-floor classroom at Bassick High School. Eight-and-a-half months into the school year, this teacher from India has grown used to it. "Excuse me, off to your room," he tells a student who doesn't belong in his fifth-period science class, before motioning him out and shutting the door. The dozen students who do belong in the class then set about the task of finishing an assignment on polymers and recycling. Darren Thompson, 15, a freshman...

new dimension has been added to the ongoing furore over the rejection of a plan to build an Islamic school on Sydney's south-western fringes by some muslims warning that it would lead to extremist Islamic teaching. Australian Federation of Islamic Councils president Ikebal Patel told the Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) that Islamic schools monitored by the State Government should be encouraged "or else Muslim children will be given their religious education in backyards and garages by... teachers whose credentials no one could vet. You may have some very extreme imams or religious teachers getting through to the children." Meanwhile, the...

DEARBORN, Mich. --A longtime high school wrestling coach has lost his job amid concerns a former assistant coach tried to convert Muslim students to Christianity. The Detroit News reports 35-year coach Jerry Marszalek's contract with Fordson High School in Dearborn, Mich., was not renewed. The decision was supported by 200 to 300 parents, who packed a Board of Education meeting Tuesday to support the principal's decision.

"The bursting of our collective bubble comes quickly. A few weeks into the semester, the students must start actually writing papers, and I must start grading them. Despite my enthusiasm, despite their thoughtful nods of agreement and what I have interpreted as moments of clarity, it turns out that in many cases it has all come to naught. Remarkably few of my students can do well in these classes. Students routinely fail; some fail multiple times, and some will never pass, because they cannot write a coherent sentence. In each of my courses, we discuss thesis statements and topic sentences,...

A SYDNEY council's rejection of a proposed Islamic school is a victory for racism, a Muslim community organisation says. Camden Council last night voted unanimously to reject a proposal for a 1200-student Islamic school, a decision that followed months of heated community meetings and the release of an adverse report by the council's planners last week. Mayor Chris Patterson said the council's decision was based on concerns surrounding the impact on traffic flows, loss of agricultural land, highlighted in the planners report and not on religious grounds. But the independent think tank FAIR (Forum on Australia's Islamic Relations) said the...

Australia Muslim school rejected The New South Wales town does not have a large Muslim population Authorities in an Australian town have rejected proposals to allow an Islamic school to be built there. Councillors for Camden, a small town on the outskirts of Sydney, unanimously voted against the proposed school for 1200 pupils. The councillors said they based their decision solely on planning grounds, citing an internal report about its environmental impact. The proposed development had met with fierce local opposition. Camden's authorities received some 3,200 submissions from the public about the school and only 100 in favour. Tensions reached...

Authorities in an Australian town have rejected proposals to allow an Islamic school to be built there. Councillors for Camden, a small town on the outskirts of Sydney, unanimously voted against the proposed school for 1200 pupils. The councillors said they based their decision solely on planning grounds, citing an internal report about its environmental impact. The proposed development had met with fierce local opposition. Camden's authorities received some 3,200 submissions from the public about the school and only 100 in favour. Tensions reached their height last November when two pigs' heads were left on the site of the proposed...

Now members of the Hispanic community are concerned that the sole Mexican teacher, whom they see as a positive role model for their children, was singled out unfairly because she speaks little English.

My daughter must choose one of three books for summer reading. I believe the first two are about racism and the last one about dropping the atomic bomb. Has anyone read any of these books? Any comments or recommendations? Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer I know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou Hiroshima by John Hersey

This Clovis High School yearbook is out and is raising eyebrows with pictures and quotes from gay couples who attend the school.

WICHITA, Kan. — Four Hispanic families are suing St. Anne's Catholic School over a policy that requires students to speak English at all times while at school. The lawsuit, filed Monday, calls for an end to the policy and asks for an order barring similar policies at other diocese schools. It seeks the return of one student to the school who was allegedly kicked out for refusing to sign the "English only" pledge. And it asks for court costs and unspecified damages for discrimination and emotional suffering.

Yesterday, the Board of Supervisors of Fairfax County, Virginia, near Washington, DC, unanimously voted to continue leasing county property to the Islamic Saudi Academy, which is funded by the Saudi government. The school had been criticized for using textbooks which included virulently anti-Semitic and anti-Christian language and teachings. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom issued a report last year urging the State Department to shut the school down unless it materially changed the textbooks to remove the hateful language. To quote the Commission, "Moreover, a 2006 report analyzing some Saudi textbooks from the 2005-2006 school year found that...

CHAVAGNES-EN-PAILLERS, France (Reuters) - Learning Latin, attending Catechism and hurrying along draughty corridors to prayer, two dozen boys are experiencing old-fashioned British boarding school life -- deep in the French countryside. Boxing, folk-dancing and Gregorian chant also figure on the curriculum at Chavagnes International College, a traditional Catholic English boys' boarding school in the Vendee wine-growing region on France's Atlantic coast. Housed in a 200-year-old former seminary in a region marked by France's wars of religion in the mid-16th century, it says it attracts parents who are disillusioned by the British state school system or the values of modern life....

A Twin Cities charter school is making changes after accusations that it endorsed Islamic studies at taxpayer expense. Since 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS investigated TIZA Academy in Inver Grove Heights on Wednesday, the school's attorney has said several changes would be made. The most noticeable -- an American flag now flies over the school for the first time since the academy was founded in 2003. The attorney told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS that it was a difficult day for staff and parents, as people from across the country inundated the school with threats and messages of hate after hearing what substitute Amanda...

Rebecca Maykish is 17 and dreads school so much that she stopped going regularly. In fourth grade. Those days off have come at a price to her school district and the Palmerton taxpayers who support it. Since 2004, the Palmerton Area School Board has authorized payments of more than $45,000 to help Rebecca make up for her missed school days. Rebecca's mother, Barbara, has used the money for at-home tutoring and education software purchases. She has also spent it on modeling classes for Rebecca, subscriptions to teen magazines, and travel to New York and Toronto with a summer camp. All...

Australian soldiers from Combat Team Heeler and the Mayor of Al Gharref have opened a new $350,000 village school in Iraq’s Dhi Qar province, providing a better learning environment for more than 200 local children. The new school replaces one built of mud and straw and the construction has been possible due to the stable security situation in the district. The new ‘Al Akhiar’ school has six modern classrooms, an office, storerooms, toilets, septic tank and a sealed all-weather courtyard. The Australian battle group funded the construction of the new school, using local contractors, injecting much needed funds into Dhi...

No more tag or touch football for the students at Armatage Elementary in south Minneapolis. The school now has an official "no touch" policy. Originally the rule, circulated to parents Thursday, banned even casual touching such as hand-holding and hugging. But Principal Joan Franks has now refined the policy to target aggressive and "unsafe" behavior such as play-fighting, pushing and shoving. And tag. Some parents are not happy. Nan Carlson, a mother of two children who attend Armatage Elementary, said it is "ridiculous" -- both overly politically correct and hard to enforce. "I think [Franks] has the best interests of...

Contract Canceled for High School Teacher Who Called Student's Muslim Father a Terrorist Wednesday, May 14, 2008 AP MICHIGAN CITY, Ind. — A high school teacher accused of calling the Muslim father of one of his students a terrorist will not be back next school year. The Michigan City Area Schools Board voted unanimously Tuesday to cancel the contract of John Scheimann, who has taught in the district for 19 years. The action was included in several personnel recommendations by Superintendent Michael Harding. There was no discussion. Scheimann could not be reached for comment Wednesday by The Associated Press because...

Children better prepared for school if their parents read aloud to them Young children whose parents read aloud to them have better language and literacy skills when they go to school, according to a review published online ahead of print in the Archives of Disease in Childhood. Children who have been read aloud to are also more likely to develop a love of reading, which can be even more important than the head start in language and literacy. And the advantages they gain persist, with children who start out as poor readers in their first year of school likely to...

5/13/2008 - KABUL, Afghanistan (AFPN) -- Nearly 70 members of Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan delivered backpacks, toys and school supplies to the Zabuli Education Center for Girls and Women May 8 outside of Kabul. American servicemembers from Camp Eggers visited the school as part of the volunteer community relations program to provide humanitarian assistance to the local communities in Kabul. Master Sgt. Billie Wilson, a member of Camp Eggers' Force Integration and Training division, who recently arrived at Camp Eggers, said this would not be her last trip with the program. "I did this as a means to give back,...

That $13.2 million grant Washington state won last year to enhance the teaching of Advanced Placement courses in math and science is history. It’s lost because of the financial incentives it would have provided for teachers who improve test scores. The Washington Education Association didn’t much like the idea of tying teacher pay to student performance on exams. Neither did the teachers union like the involvement of an outside party, the grant provider, in teacher-pay decisions.

A video posted on YouTube.com is causing a lot of concern among Memphis City School parents. Now were trying to find solutions. The clip labeled, "Mitchell High School Memphis ... Rape Dat Ho," was posted last month. It was flagged as offensive then taken down, but not before News Channel 3 recorded the clip on tape. The images are disturbing. They are graphic and hard to watch. It shows young men and women engaging in what one parent described as "sex with clothes on." We knew the video would get a strong reaction. We aired the video Monday to expose...

The arraignment of 14-year-old Brandon McInerney, accused of shooting an Oxnard schoolmate in the head, was postponed again Thursday and rescheduled for June. Ventura County Superior Court Judge Kevin McGee granted the delay requested by McInerney's lawyer William "Willy" Quest. Earlier, Quest said in an interview that he is working on a legal motion attacking the constitutionality of trying his client as an adult. The attorney said it will be a "very in-depth" legal issue pertaining to serious constitutional matters. Quest wants time to prepare and submit his legal motion before his client is arraigned McInerney made a brief court...

The rising price of gas for buses and food for cafeterias is forcing Bay State schools to either pass the cost on to students this fall or cut staff and programs. “Districts are facing a lot of tough choices as they make their budgets this year,” said J.C. Considine, a spokesman for the state Department of Education. “Everyone agrees kids have to get to school, and it’s essential that kids are properly fed at school. The question is how to pay for those things when the price of gas and food keeps going up.” In Boston Public Schools - with...

For school officials in Haverford Township, the challenge was daunting: What do you do when a 9-year-old student, with the full support of his parents, decides that he is no longer a boy and instead is a girl? Parents of a third-grade student at Chatham Park Elementary School approached the administration on April 16 to ask for help in making a "social transition" for their child. (Excerpt) Full story: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/pa/chester/20080503_School_challenge__Transgender_student_is_age_9.html The Haverford School District consulted experts on transgender children, then sent letters to parents advising them that the guidance counselor would meet with the school's 100 third-grade students to explain...

A local teacher is accused of wizardy for doing a slight of hand trick.

Toronto's proposed new Africentric alternative school has cleared another hurdle, as parents at Sheppard Public School have voted to welcome it under their roof. And the chair of Sheppard's school council says she will consider sending her own children to the program, which would run as a school-within-a-school for junior kindergarten through Grade 5 in an unused wing of the roomy building near Sheppard Ave. W. and Keele St. "Why not? I think it's a wonderful idea to help kids know their roots," said Rachel Moore, the Guyana-born chair of the council that approved the proposal last night after a...

The University of Florida has launched a privacy investigation, looking for students and faculty members who may have leaked confidential information about a controversial admissions decision