The Sunday Education Weekly Reader: 9.18.11

Education articles are coming fast and furious these days. They concern Common Core standards, Race to the Top unfunded mandates (just discovered by state legislatures, school districts and governors as unaffordable), curriculum being taught in districts taxpayers find distasteful, etc.

We can't comment on all the articles we'd like to share, so every Sunday we will link a few stories on education we hope you will find informative with a brief description. For you readers old enough to remember, we've fashioned it after "The Weekly Reader". In a time before computers and instant information, my classmates and I enjoyed finding out about the world around us and stories that transported us beyond our classroom.

We hope these educational articles we post daily and in the "Education Weekly Reader" will spur you on to research educational issues for yourself. If you find stories you believe would be of interest to readers interested in education, drop us a line.

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Are you concerned about privacy rights for your family and student data? You should be. Here's a guide from Privacy Rights Clearinghouse for parents and college age students :


https://www.privacyrights.org/Education

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Here is a related story about two brothers convicted for using hacked information from University of Missouri students for financial gain:

http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2011/sep/15/former-mu-student-brother-sentenced-scamming-schem/

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And again, a reader gets it right in the comment section on schools receiving a $10,000 grant for environmental curriculum and practices:


http://cjonline.com/news/2011-09-15/grant-funds-earth-friendly-youth-program

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Character Training for Global Citizenship


When fifteen-year-old Kevin walked into his American History class at Cupertino High School in California, he was given a handout. He glanced at the title: "Heterosexuality: Can It be Cured?" Weird, he thought and looked around. Some of his friends were studying it, too. He read on:

http://www.crossroad.to/text/articles/ctfgc97.html

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Here's an educational quote for the week (please pass on any you would like to share):

Adults who still derive childlike pleasure from hanging gifts of a ready-made education on the Christmas tree of a child waiting outside the door to life do not realize how unreceptive they are making the children to everything that constitutes the true surprise of life.
Karl Kraus

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