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DURHAM, N.C. - Immune system cells of the brain, which scavenge pathogens and damaged neurons, are also key players in memory and learning, according to new research by Duke neuroscientists. Earlier studies by Staci Bilbo, an assistant professor in psychology & neuroscience, had shown that laboratory rats experiencing an infection at an early age have an aggressive immune response to subsequent infections, which also harms their learning and memory. In a study published in the Oct. 26 Journal of Neuroscience, Bilbo's team identifies the source of the learning difficulties and traces it back to the immune system itself. The researchers...

A few weeks ago, several friends and I braved the impending rainstorm and went to the National Book Festival on the Washington Mall. The purpose of attending -- besides the obvious reason of wanting to stand in the company of Hollywood actors, renowned historians and poet laureates -- was to hear David McCullough speak. As one of the nation’s most prolific writers, and author of numerous biographies including John Adams and Truman -- David McCullough is also one of only a handful of Americans to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom. While there was always an interest, it wasn’t until...

Oxford scientists believe that applying a small current to a specific part of the brain helps people learn. Nick Collins tested their deviceI’ve got rubber pads strapped to my head and someone is about to fire an electric current through my brain. It’s meant to make me cleverer, but this doesn’t feel too smart to me. My palms are sticky, my fingers are trembling and it’s hard to tell if that’s sweat pouring down my temples or water from the sponge that will conduct the charge through my skin.

Steve Perry thinks you've been lied to. The CNN education contributor says that nearly every common premise used to explain underperforming schools -- the challenges of poverty, a lack of parental involvement, an underfunded public system -- is false. As the principal of the Capital Preparatory Magnet School in Hartford, Conn., which sends 100 percent of its mostly black and Latino students to four-year colleges, Perry argues that every American child can have those same chances. We know what works. The only thing standing in the way of progress, he says, is the control that teachers' unions wield over the...

Ian McKeachie is a freckled 15-year-old who "drifted along" in elementary school. Not because he didn't love to learn or because it wasn't a good school, but because he mastered new concepts so quickly that the classroom work presented no challenge. "My teachers would usually use me as a tutor for the other kids," he says, "so I was engaged in school, just not in a way that had me learning."

CHANDLER, Ariz. - Amy Furman, a seventh-grade English teacher, roams among 31 students sitting at their desks or on the floor. They are studying Shakespeare’s “As You Like It’’ - but not in any traditional way. In this technology-centric classroom, students are bent over laptops, some blogging or building Facebook pages from the perspective of Shakespeare’s characters. One student compiles a song list from the Internet, picking a tune by the rapper Kanye West to express the emotions of Shakespeare’s lovelorn Silvius. The class, and the Kyrene School District as a whole, offer what some see as a utopian vision...

I took a job in the NYC public school system because I wanted to make a difference. I ended up living a nightmare. ... The next day, I told my 8th graders that unless they quieted down, I would hold them after school. It didn't work. Tried again. And again. Finally, as the school day ended, I stood by the door. "No one is leaving." I said. "You're all staying after school for 10 minutes." But eight and a half minutes into this after-school faceoff, Ms. P pushed her way in. "What is going on here?!" she shouted, her mouth...

For those of your who haven't found out yet, American students don't know basic history of their own country. I can't say I find this surprising because no one in my school is really that excited about history, let alone American history. I think this is a major problem with our schools and one that we must fix! The National Assessment of Educational Progress tests students every couple years to see if our education system is headed in the right direction. If we dive into the stats, it's clear to see that students have horrendous history test scores. Only 12...

An Internet forum asked this question: “Suppose you had $1 billion to spend, how would you improve education?” More than 30 people left suggestions, all of them smart, articulate, and sophisticated. But something nagged at me. I sensed there was an unstated premise that all these respondents shared. A false premise. Everyone seemed to assume that the Education Establishment is honestly trying to do a good job. The premise goes like this: These elite educators mean well. They have the right answers. But for some odd reason, they can’t quite get their act together. All that’s needed, apparently, is for...

Thanks to California's newly-enacted "Gay History" law, William Rufus Devane King will finally receive the comprehensive classroom attention that previous generations of educators had so cruelly denied. This thoroughly obscure Dixie politician left behind no major accomplishments or stirring speeches, but he represents precisely the sort of forgotten figure the Golden State legislation means to emphasize in retelling the story of America for an enlightened new generation: many experts believe that King might well qualify as the nation’s first gay vice president. In signing the bill last week, Governor Jerry Brown denounced "discrimination in education” and insisted “history should be...

It is this picture which must inform our discussion of education as we try to understand why the America of 2011 looks nothing like the America of 1911. Somewhere along the way, the baton of proud American traditions, brilliant accomplishments and upstanding virtues became a thing of shame and ridicule. Our schools, teachers and yes our parents have more and more questioned our long-held values, and have substituted expedient excuses for eternal truths.

The following applies to ALL government teachers in a GENERAL manner and is NOT NOT NOT directed at any individual here on Free Republic: Haven't we read many times, here on Free Republic, that there are many "good" teachers in our government K-12 schools. Really? Is that so? Then how can the following be "good"? Every day, ALL government teachers **willingly** go into government schools and **willingly** take a paycheck for teaching their students to think and reason godlessly. The government schools BY LAW are godlessly secular in their worldview. The children must learn to think and reason godlessly merely...

According to a shocking news report, California legislators have enacted legislation that gives the state the dubious distinction of being the first state in the nation to require public schools to include the contributions of gays and lesbians in their social studies curriculum. We can be certain that one result of this ill-advised move will subject kids to a form of what CIA spooks call "blow back" -- an inevitable result of a specific action. When I was a youngster I was teased and bullied for being an adopted child. In view of my personal experiences, should we add the...

Beginning July 1, homework will officially be considered a racist form of grading in the Los Angeles Unified School District. How the hell is homework racist, you ask? According to the Los Angeles Times, the racial make-up and urban geographic of certain students can make homework a discriminatory way of grading for some students over others. The Blaze reported: “Beginning July 1, 2011, homework assignments will comprise no more than 10% of a student’s academic achievement grade,” a memo issued last month states. It goes on to lay out the reasoning: “It is unfair to penalize or reward students for...

Pupils are expected to use effective self-regulation skills to take responsibility for their learning success. Since the 1990s this has been the guiding principle in the Norwegian school system. Yet a new doctoral thesis from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, shows that this idea falls flat on its face in real life since relatively few pupils are up for the task. Since the 1990s, policy documents and visions in the Norwegian school system have largely been based on the idea of pupils and students at all levels taking responsibility for their own learning and skills. This guiding principle has even...

Vanessa Perez was a homework scofflaw. The Marshall High School senior didn't finish all of it — largely because she worked 24 hours a week at a Subway sandwich shop. Alvaro Ramirez, a junior at the Santee Education Complex, doesn't have his own room and his mother baby-sits young children at night. "They're always there and they're always loud," he said, explaining his challenges with homework. The nation's second-largest school system has decided to give students like these a break. A new policy decrees that homework can count for only 10% of a student's grade. Critics — mostly teachers —...

As futurists observe the usage and functionality of the internet, more and more of us have predicted an end to the relevance of Public schools. Well, the Khan Academy site may be the first clear indicator that public schools really are a dead institution walking. Imagine a future world where, via a home computer, laptop, tablet or even smart phone you can access your own personal curriculum of k-12 level class work complete with lectures, follow up questions and help? Imagine it also covers subjects that public school seldom covers, like the intricacies of how banking works? Well, a friend...

The latest brouhaha concerning Sarah Palin (overshadowed "briefly" by Wienergate) concerned some impromptu remarks she made regarding the famed ride of Paul Revere. The left started crowing immediately that "these remarks prove she's addled, because everyone knows the famous line 'one if by land, two if by sea'." After the dust had settled, and disinterested authorities had time to digest it, it turns out that the gist of what she had been saying was correct: Paul Revere really *did* warn the Redcoats, that is, tell them that they had lost tactical surprise. It is true that her remarks were somewhat...

I was in the gym yesterday. No sound. I’m reading the screen. The first three readings didn’t makes sense. What is there to do in Miami? I tried to force the sentence into that mold. I focused on each letter...Oh, they meant THEIR. Maybe it’s a small thing but I admit my head was spinning a little. This is Fox News. The world is watching. Supposedly a conservative network, so they should care about language. Presumably they hire only the best editors and writers. But these poor bumblers can’t write basic English. OMG! First, let’s congratulate the Education Establishment. I’ve...

Food is vital for survival, yet less than 2 percent of America's population works in agriculture. That's a big change from 100 years ago, when over 40 percent of the workforce was toiling away on the farm. If I had been born at the start of the 20th century in Kansas, rather than at the end of the 1950s, no doubt my life would have been spent on the farm. Agriculture was labor-intensive then, requiring plenty of strong backs, human and animal alike. In addition to nearly half the human workforce, 22 million animals worked the fields. Now 5 million...