Free Republic

HARTFORD — Mary Jo Andrews, Carol Poehnert and several other West Hartford mothers of children with mental-health problems had quietly met for eight years, usually over dinner, to share their experiences and frustrations, and to trade tips and shortcuts learned while navigating the treatment system. Then the Sandy Hook School tragedy happened in December 2012. "And we decided we needed to get out and do some advocating,'' Andrews told 70 parents and health care professionals at a forum at the Institute of Living Wednesday evening. It is the first of a handful of planned sessions — part of an effort...

Pop Quiz: We ask college students - Can You Name One U.S. Senator? How Many U.S. Senators for Each State?

The University of Michigan would not explain how it is responding to death threats and racial epithets that were reportedly issued by pro-Palestinian activists at students who oppose a resolution to divest from Israel. University of Michigan police were first contacted last week after two pro-Palestinian activists shouted “threats of violence” at a student who refused to support their boycott initiative during a “sit-in” at the student government’s headquarters. The Washington Free Beacon has further learned that the pro-Israel student received death threats and that others have allegedly been called “kikes” and “dirty Jews” by backers of the virulently anti-Israel...

PUEBLO COUNTY, Colo. - Middle school students moved their lesson from the classroom to the shooting range. It wasn’t your typical field trip. A group of students in Pueblo County was firing live ammo and learning about gun safety. "I'm very excited, today we're going to come out here on the gun range and shoot a little bit. The past week we've learned about the revolutionary war," said Jonah Statezny, a Craver middle school student. "My favorite part is shooting guns. When I was little we used to go to the shooting range," said another student, Danielle Cooper. ... Appleseed...

There is growing evidence that charter schools are empowering parents, pioneering fresh teaching methods, encouraging state and local innovation and help students escape underperforming schools.

Amy Chua, the "Tiger Mother" who launched a thousand panic attacks among ambitious but lenient parents, is back with an almost-great book about why some groups achieve spectacular success in America while others languish. Written with her husband Jed Rubenfeld (both are law professors at Yale), "The Triple Package" examines a number of groups who've succeeded in this country and advances a thesis about why groups (and nations) prosper or decline. The success of Asian-American immigrants (this principally includes people from China, Japan, Korea and India) is legendary. Less familiar is the bounding achievement of Nigerian immigrants. Though they account...

The federal government has lost track of tens of thousands of foreign students who came to the U.S. to study and then took jobs, often in violation of the terms of their visas, according to a new internal audit. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement doesn’t even consistently collect information or have the tools to monitor all of the foreign students who take part in the optional practical training (OPT) program, the Government Accountability Office said in a new report released late Friday. “The problems with OPT are extensive and serious. The report not only calls into question the department’s oversight...

Students and parents rejecting costly college loan burdens Higher education accompanied by student debt is losing its appeal for many college-age Americans and their parents. The result could be a move by many colleges and universities to find ways to cut costs and even offer tuition discounts.

Cancel the philosophy courses, people. Oh, and we're going to be shuttering the political science, religion and pre-law departments too. We'll keep some of the English and history folks on for a while longer, but they should probably keep their resumes handy. Because, you see, they are of no use anymore. We have the answers to the big questions, so why keep pretending there's anything left to discuss? At least that's where Erin Ching, a student at Swarthmore College, seems to be coming down. Her school invited a famous left-wing Princeton professor, Cornel West, and a famous right-wing Princeton professor,...

"BAGHDAD — A group of Sunni militants attending a suicide bombing training class at a camp north of Baghdad were killed on Monday when their commander unwittingly conducted a demonstration with a belt that was packed with explosives, army and police officials said."

A 1000 high school students checked into this guy's hotel...after the initial shock..*smiles*...he gets to record this......ENJOY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaDCfA1uxh0

Alert parents are becoming aware that sexual abuse of students by teachers is not just an occasional problem rather something that is happening in every state in America. However some administrators choose to ignore sexual misconduct and even when it is discovered perpetrators often go unpunished.

Americans love sports, as evidenced by the fact that the Super Bowl last Sunday was the most watched television event in history. While the game was a blowout and boring because of it, people didn’t tune in to see a tie, they watched to see one team beat the other, unambiguously. But sports, at least on the professional level, are just about the last bastion of meritocracy left in the country, and the damage its loss will bring to the future is immeasurable. There were controversies this week in Silver Spring, Maryland, and with comedian Jerry Seinfeld that will have...

[Video] SHOCKING: Students Sign Petition to Imprison All Gun Owners in Concentration Camps February 3 2014 by Dan Cannon Share This Post Wow. Just wow. This video really makes me lose faith in my generation. Either these people simply don’t care what they are signing or they really agree with imprisoning legal gun owners and repealing the Second Amendment. Either way – not good. In the video, Mark Dice, who is known for his videos where he gets people to sign outrageous fake petitions, showing just how uneducated most people are on the issues, asks students to sign a petition...

Common Core State Standards are under pressure by parents and lawmakers are getting the message. They are using legislation to boot the U.S. Department of Education’s indoctrination of students in their districts.

As those in power continues to hang onto the 19th century model of education or accept Common Core indoctrination for their students, parents are moving toward becoming the “deciders” as they chose charter and private schools, homeschooling, and online programs, it is leaving thousands of empty school buildings all across America. According to a recent study among the cities with vacant school buildings are

It is no secret that our culture as a whole is descending into an ever-deeper sexual confusion. Recently two examples of this were in the news.In the first article which I summarize here, a Canadian couple have chosen to raise (impose upon?) their child a “genderless” upbringing. For now, they have refused to tell any of their family or friends the sex of their child, whom they call “Storm,” and groom and dress the infant child ambiguously.I would like to provide excerpts of a much longer article here and comment as we go. As usual, the article is in bold,...

Elementary and middle school students had an opportunity to have fun while at the same time learning about the Founding Fathers and the importance of the Constitution and Bill of Rights at a Freedom Camp held in December 2013.

The scores are in from the 2012 Program for International Student Assessment, which, every three years, tests 15-year-olds from the world's most advanced countries. For the United States, the report card is dismal. The U.S. ranking has fallen to 17th in reading, 21st in science, and 26th in math. Florida, one of America's diverse mega-states, competed separately in the PISA exam, and scored below the U.S. average. In the academic Olympics, the American superpower is a mediocrity. Ranked one through seven in test scores in reading, science and math were Shanghai-China, Singapore, Hong Kong-China, Taiwan, South Korea, Macau-China, Japan. Also...

Tuesday, December 03, 2013 Illinois high school requires parents to self-identify as liberal or conservative An assignment sent home from an Oak Forest, IL high school government class is raising eyebrows among parents who are shocked by the questionnaire they and their children are required to fill out. The questionnaire (below) has the parents identify their positions on a number of highly-charged issues, and then places them on a "political spectrum." The survey is part of Oak Forest High School's Common Core curriculum, which according to the school district's website is to ..."provide a consistent, clear understanding of what students...