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CNN has an interesting roundtable on the case of Jennifer Keeton, who has sued Augusta State University to keep from getting expelled for not repudiating her statements about homosexuality. Keeton expressed her biblical perspective on the subject in and out of class while working toward a degree in counseling, and the school mandated a “remediation plan” that appears to have required her to renounce her Christian doctrine in order to gain a diploma from the school. The school has responded that a bias against homosexuality would disqualify Keeton from certification, a position that would put most Christians in Keeton’s position.Does...

Americans have always loved college and real estate. So why do these assets need government support? Every schoolboy knows that education leads to worldly success and material reward. “If a man empties his purse into his head, no man can take it away from him,” Benjamin Franklin’s Poor Richard advised. “An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.” To the Irish poet William Butler Yeats, learning was “not the filling of a bucket, but the lighting of a fire.” As Emil Faber, founder of the college in Animal House, put it, “Knowledge is good.” Yet there’s growing evidence that...

Dropouts Seek a Boost From Equivalency Exams Numbers Seeking a Degree Swell -- But Gains May Be Limited A growing number of Americans are taking high school equivalency tests in their hunt for any leg up in a bleak labor market. Adult-education centers across the country report backlogs and waiting lists for prep courses cramming dozens of topics and years of lessons into weeks or months. But the potential for a better job and pay that drives many to seek a General Educational Development diploma comes with a caveat: The certificate generally is of limited value unless students use it...

Business Bureau used feline as experiment to expose Internet diploma mills:Cats get a bad rap on the Internet, frequently stereotyped as LOL ignoramuses, forever shredding grammar like a half-dead mouse in what the World Wide Web would have us believe is their endless quest for "cheezburgers." Despite the pigeon-holing, cats play piano on YouTube and have their own Facebook profiles, and kitties who tweet exhibit a working knowledge of sentence construction that challenges those of their human Twitter compatriots. So it was only a matter of time before a feline got around to earning an online high school equivalency diploma....

Florida is changing its policy on youths who opt for a GED to finish high school in less than four years. Until now, those looking for a shortcut could earn the same diploma as others. But Education Commissioner Eric Smith says that's not fair... So Smith has notified school districts that all who take the General Educational Development test must now receive a high school equivalency diploma, just like dropouts who later go through the GED process.

Is it freedom of speech or lack of respect? That's the question after Thursday's graduation ceremony at John Liechty Middle School. Angry parents crowded the school's lobby demanding a meeting with Principal Jeanette Stevens to discuss the issue, but were turned away Monday morning. It comes after 15 students chose to protest their graduation speaker, LAUSD Board President Monica Garcia. The students and their parents said they chose to do so to protest teacher layoffs and increased class sizes. "We didn't stand up," said Ender Perez, who continues to refuse to apologize for Thursday's events, "we just sat in our...

The soaring costs of a college degree are prompting colleges to consider a three-year degree program. Britain has long granted a degree for three years of college. I would like to suggest a one-year degree program. And I don’t mean an associate’s degree. Here are some hard facts most colleges will never tell you and most parents could not tolerate hearing. The general requirements of the first two years at most colleges are what high school should have been. That is what junior should have learned had he not been busy getting high, getting drunk, and being socially promoted. Better...

For teens, there is no greater joy than graduating high school. Shaking off the shackles of education and claiming that hard-fought diploma is truly an epic day. Unfortunately, for several students at Bonny Eagle High School in Maine, their natural exuberance has led to some surprisingly serious problems. On Friday night, when the senior class was waiting to graduate, excitement began to grow. Students bounced a large inflatable rubber duck. The noise level rose. And then came "the kiss." When called, one student walked on stage to receive his diploma and blew a kiss to his family. The school administrator,...

Justin Denney's family watched on as he ascended the Cumberland County Civic Center stage during graduation Friday night to accept his diploma, but the superintendent told him to return to his seat Mary Denney said she can't believe how her son's taking a bow and blowing a kiss on stage was grounds for the superintendent to withhold his diploma. "I'm like, 'Did she not hand him his diploma?' I'm like, 'What's going on?'" Mary Denney said. She said she and Justin both signed a code of conduct regarding the graduation when she picked up graduation tickets on Friday, she doesn't...

'Approved' college sells diplomas to help foreign students stay in UK Andrew Norfolk Visa curbs still being flouted | Route to riches | Comment: Ed Husain A college accredited by a government-approved body as a “high-quality institution” has been selling diplomas to enable foreign students to extend their stay in Britain. An investigation by The Times has revealed that the Pakistani-run college has 1,200 international students on its rolls, despite claiming to have only 150. King’s College of Management, in Manchester, has offered places to a further 1,575 foreigners. It kept a hidden list of 207 people who were sold...

Protesting grads receive diplomas in GrottoBy JEFF PARROTT, Tribune Staff Writer Story Updated: May 17, 2009 at 4:30 PM EDT SOUTH BEND — About two dozen University of Notre Dame graduates accepted their degrees in an alternative commencement ceremony at the Grotto to protest President Barack Obama’s honorary doctorate of law degree Sunday. “Giving a law degree to a man who is very staunchly pro-choice and pro-abortion is not something a Catholic institution should be doing,” said Nicolas Charbonneau, 31, who earned a master’s degree in architecture. “Severely poor decision by the administration to do that.” Charbonneau said protesting the...

5/7/2008 - SALT LAKE CITY (AFPN) -- Don't let the education office fool you; there are some people out there who have become commissioned officers without having their bachelor's degrees. Retired Col. Bernard Francis Fisher, a Medal of Honor recipient, received his diploma in fine arts from the University of Utah during a commissioning ceremony of nine second lieutenants from ROTC Det. 850 May 3, almost 57 years after he originally attended the university. Colonel Fisher received the diploma for his remarkable career in the Air Force, bravery in combat, numerous awards including the Medal of Honor and faithful service...

New on the McDonald's menu: a takeout diploma. The British government is giving the U.S. burger chain — along with a rail company and an airline — the right to award credits toward a high-school diploma to employees who complete on-the-job training programs. The plan, announced Monday, is part of a push to improve skills among young people and offer even workers who dropped out of school years ago a chance to gain official qualifications. . . . McDonald's employees will initially be offered a "basic shift manager" course to train staff in everything they need to know to run...

Valedictorian Threatened with Loss of Diploma over Religious Graduation Message Sues School DENVER, CO, August 27, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Today, Liberty Counsel filed suit against Lewis Palmer School District on behalf of Erica Corder, a high school valedictorian who was forced to publicly apologize for sharing her Christian faith at graduation. Erica was one of fifteen valedictorians from the Lewis-Palmer High School class of 2006. For the past year, she has been the subject of criticism because the school continues to portray her as a student who engaged in improper conduct because she mentioned Jesus Christ during her speech. Before...

“A high school diploma has become more and more like Confederate money,” Gaetz says. “National industry certifications are like a Roman passport in the ancient world. You can go anywhere with them.” FORT WALTON BEACH — Here’s how officials in one Florida school district raised graduation rates, improved student discipline and lifted FCAT scores. They decided a high school diploma is the least important piece of paper they’ll leave high school with. They formed tight partnerships with business and industry, ensuring their graduates were ready to step into high-paying jobs. They did it by creating career institutes that train students...

SAN FRANCISCO A 98-year-old woman who had a nearly four-decade career as an accountant finally graduated from high school on Wednesday, 80 years after she left without a diploma. Josephine Belasco still goes out for cocktails with friends, reads the newspaper and cooks Italian dinners for her family. But she said she always regretted dropping out of Galileo High School. After her younger sister became bed-ridden with a severe case of strep throat and wasn't expected to live, she quit school to take care of her and got a job at an insurance company to help support the family. Her...

AACRAO reports that about 400,000 students - 2 percent of all college students, 3 percent of students attending community colleges, and 4 percent of students in fopros - do NOT have a high school degree! But, how can they get in without a high school degree, and what difference does it make anyway? Well, they can get in with a GED, of course, but that is not the case here. These students get in by old-fashioned 'fudging.' I have had students in my classes at the fopro where I teach who did NOT have high school diplomas. NO! I didn't...

Peoria man pleads guilty in diploma mill case Latest News more>> Truck pulling horse trailer full of illegals crashes SPOKANE, Wash. An Arizonan has reached a plea agreement with prosecutors for his role in a gigantic diploma mill operation. Richard John Novak pleaded guilty yesterday in federal court in Spokane, Washington, to conspiracy and violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Novak, who formerly lived in Spokane and now lives in Peoria, could face up to ten years in prison and (m) millions of dollars in fines. Novak is the second person to reach a plea agreement with the Justice Department...

The Harvard Civil Rights Project did Californians an enormous favor in March when it released a report establishing that high-school dropout rates in the state were more than double what school bureaucrats claimed. ... If anything made plain the insincerity of the teachers union-dominated education establishment in trying to help schools improve, it was this proof that the establishment fudged the numbers. That's why it's so dismaying to see the Harvard group throw its weight behind the educrats' continuing crusade to undermine the centerpiece of California school reforms: making passage of a comprehensive exit exam a condition for a high...

A Waldorf teenager and his family said yesterday that his high school owes him an apology because he was denied his high school diploma when he wore a bolo tie to his recent graduation. Thomas Benya, 17, and his parents, who are of Cherokee descent, said school officials at McDonough High School in Charles County, Md., disrespected him and degraded his family's heritage when they did not give him his diploma because of his bolo. School officials have said the bolo violated the school's graduation dress code. "I would like to be given my diploma by [the principal] in a...