School // Current

British kids least likely to study science

A European poll has found that young Britons are among the least likely in Europe to consider studying science subjects. However... more

ClareW
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Swedish school slapped for harsh reaction to birthday snub

The Swedish school that confiscated birthday invites from one of its 8-year-old pupils after discovering that not all the class... more

purplefox
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Schoolgirls blinded in acid attack in Afghanistan

Two men on a motorcycle used water pistols to spray acid on girls walking to school Wednesday in the southern Afghan city of... more

Future_America
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Gay Commando Attacks Churchgoers in Michigan

On Sunday, November 9, 2008 Michigan liberals sat peacefully through announcements, worship and prayer for the sick, our nation and our President-elect before staging a coordinated, disgusting and repulsive attack on worshipers and the broader concept of the church itself at Lansing's Mount Hope Church.
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Wearing secret-service style ear pieces and microphones they received the "go" from their ringleader and off they went.

Prayer had just finished when men and women stood up in pockets across the congregation, on the main floor and in the balcony. "Jesus was gay," they shouted among other profanities and blasphemies as they rushed the stage. Some forced their way through rows of women and kids to try to hang a profane banner from the balcony while others began tossing fliers into the air. Two women made their way to the pulpit and began to kiss.

Their other props?
"(A) video camera, a megaphone, noise makers, condoms, glitter by the bucket load, confetti, pink fabric...yeh."

The video camera they put to good use as they attempted to provoke a violent reaction. The image of the pink-clad folks above is one of theirs, stating in a picture worth more than a thousand words the goals of the Michigan left.

The "open minded" and "tolerant" liberals ran down the aisles and across the pews, hoping against hope to catch a "right winger" on tape daring to push back (none did).

And just in case their camera missed the target, they had a reporter in tow. According to a source inside the church yesterday there was a "journalist" from the Lansing City Pulse along for the ride, tipped off about the action and more interested in getting a story than in preventing the vandalism, the violence and anti-Christian hatred being spewed by the lefties. We'll see what he files and what his editors see fit to print.

Props were readily on display too, though some of the condoms may have been put to even more nefarious use.

An hour after police and security had collected and removed who they thought were the last of the liberals, a volunteer security person discovered two more, hiding, together, in a public restroom. While their compatriots engaged in openly violent protest in front of everyone these two snuck away to potentially stage their own protest of sorts, and only by the grace of God did one of the hundreds of kids at the church not happen upon that particular restroom in those moments. Precisely how long they'd been there and precisely what they'd been up to we don't know.

The church's response? After things settled down, the blasphemy ended, the lewd props removed and the families safe from fear of additional men and women running into and past them the pastor took the stage and led the congregation in one more prayer... not for retribution, or divine justice or a celestial comeuppance (that's what I'd have prayed for) but instead that the troubled individuals who'd just defiled the Lord's house, so full of anger and hate, would know Jesus' love in their lives and God's peace that exceeds human understandingOn Sunday, November 9, 2008 Michigan liberals sat peacefully through announcements, worship and prayer for the sick, our nation... more

soleil10
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10 responses

6 days ago

Playing The Race Card on Gay Marriage

IT HAS been widely noted that black voters put California's Proposition 8 over the top last week, with nearly 7 out of 10... more

soleil10
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17 responses

6 days ago

Recession: Even the Ivies are struggling

Graduating Ivy league seniors, faced with a depressed job market, are applying in large numbers to organizations like Teach for... more

Swiyyah
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1 response

7 days ago

Second school collapses in Haiti, 9 hurt

What the hell is going on with the schools in Haiti?? They're all decrepit I guess, if there have been 2 collapses in the... more

DailyMenendez
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0 responses

7 days ago

No on 8 Unites Different Faith Groups

No on 8 supporters managed to unite Catholics, Mormons and Protestants. No one was able to achieve this in 600 years. That... more

soleil10
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0 responses

7 days ago

Are Same Sex Parenting Studies Reliable ?

Same sex marriage advocates keep saying that the AAP, the AMA and the APA endorse same-sex parenting based on their extensive... more

soleil10
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32 responses

8 days ago

Death toll climbs to 82 in Haitian school collapse

The picture is so sad. Haiti gets hurricane after hurricane and now this...

DailyMenendez
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0 responses

11 days ago

Supersize students offered classroom comfort

Schools across Australia are snapping up super-sized chairs as school children continue to grow wider, taller and heavier. A... more

EclecticBadger
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17 responses

10 days ago

Haiti school collapse toll rises

The number of people who died from the collapse of a school in Haiti has risen to 75, after 17 bodies were found inside a... more

covelogibbs
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0 responses

11 days ago

Topic of the Week 11/7/08

Hi Currenters (Currentators, Currentians?)! It’s time for the topic of the week again, and I know you’ve been waiting... more

dcuisinot
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3 responses

11 days ago

Should kids be able to graduate after 10th grade?

High school sophomores should be ready for college by age 16. That's the message from New Hampshire education officials, who announced plans Oct. 30 for a new rigorous state board of exams to be given to 10th graders. Students who pass will be prepared to move on to the state's community or technical colleges, skipping the last two years of high school. (See pictures of teens and how they would vote.)

Once implemented, the new battery of tests is expected to guarantee higher competency in core school subjects, lower dropout rates and free up millions of education dollars. Students may take the exams - which are modeled on existing AP or International Baccalaureate tests - as many times as they need to pass. Or those who want to go to a prestigious university may stay and finish the final two years, taking a second, more difficult set of exams senior year. "We want students who are ready to be able to move on to their higher education," says Lyonel Tracy, New Hampshire's Commissioner for Education. "And then we can focus even more attention on those kids who need more help to get there."

But can less schooling really lead to better-prepared students at an earlier age? Outside of the U.S., it's actually a far less radical notion than it sounds. Dozens of industrialized countries expect students to be college-ready by age 16, and those teenagers consistently outperform their American peers on international standardized tests. (See pictures of the college dorm room's evolution.)

With its new assessment system, New Hampshire is adopting a key recommendation of a blue-ribbon panel called the New Commission on Skills of the American Workforce. In 2006, the group issued a report called Tough Choices or Tough Times , a blueprint for how it believes the U.S. must dramatically overhaul education policies in order to maintain a globally competitive economy. "Forty years ago, the United States had the best educated workforce in the world," says William Brock, one of the commission's chairs and a former U.S. Secretary of Labor. "Now we're No. 10 and falling."

hapykap's comment: Our young people are smart but it seems that the system of delivering a great education has been left to decay.

My 15 y.o. son is smarter and more talented than me but he can only go as far as what all is available to him. He is now college material and is taking college prep courses. I think it would be a great Idea for those students that prove they are ready to be allowed to move on and become their full potential; and they will probably be the ones who can bring critical change the whole world needs.

Live Learn Love Evolve, Create-Greatness and give it away...

By Kathleen Kingsbury – Fri Nov 7, 4:50 am ETHigh school sophomores should be ready for college by age 16. That's the message from New Hampshire education officials, who... more

hapykap
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57 responses

12 days ago

Owner of collapsed Haiti school arrested

"Haitian police say they have arrested the owner of a school that collapsed and killed at least 88. Police spokesman Garry... more

wiredbirds
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8 responses

12 days ago

Boy stabbed at school is recovering

A 15 year old boy is recovering in hospital after being stabbed on the premises of his school. Initially there were fears for his... more

ClareW
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0 responses

12 days ago

Brain of a bully: they like seeing others in pain

"Brain scans of teens with a history of aggressive bullying behavior suggest that they may actually get pleasure out of seeing someone else in pain, U.S. researchers said on Friday.

While this may come as little surprise to those who have been victimized by bullies, it is not what the researchers expected, Benjamin Lahey of the University of Chicago, who worked on the study, said in a telephone interview.

"The reason we were surprised is the prevailing view is these kids are cold and unemotional in their aggression," said Lahey, whose study appears in the journal Biological Psychology.

"This is looking like maybe they care very much," said Lahey, who worked on the study with Jean Decety, also of the University of Chicago.

The researchers compared eight boys ages 16 to 18 with aggressive conduct disorder to a group of eight adolescent boys with no unusual signs of aggression.

The boys with the conduct disorder had exhibited disruptive behavior such as starting a fight, using a weapon and stealing after confronting a victim.

They showed both groups video clips of someone inflicting pain on another person and tracked brain activity with a type of imaging called functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI.

In the aggressive teens, areas of the brain linked with feeling rewarded -- the amygdala and ventral striatum -- became very active when they observed pain being inflicted on others.

But they showed little activity in an area of the brain involved in self-regulation -- the medial prefrontal cortex and the temporoparietal junction -- as was seen in the control group.

"It is entirely possible their brains are lighting in the way they are because they experience seeing pain in others as exciting and fun and pleasurable," Lahey said.

"We need to test that hypothesis more, but that is what it looks like," he said.

Lahey said the differences between the two groups were strong and striking, but cautioned that the study was small and needs to be confirmed by a larger study.""Brain scans of teens with a history of aggressive bullying behavior suggest that they may actually get pleasure out of... more

DeliaTheArtist
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2 responses

12 days ago

Lesbian Teacher guilty of unlawful relationship

A Brisbane District Court jury took only five hours to find HIGH school teacher, Amanda Louise Thompson, guilty of having an... more

skyla
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5 responses

12 days ago

Cannabis College In Oakland

One of California's most lucrative cash crops is thriving above ground in Oakland, as medical marijuana has become big... more

toreyray
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1 response

14 days ago

Japan frets over growing marijuana problem

The revelation that students at the country's most prestigious seats of learning enjoy an occasional joint is hardly the stuff of headlines - unless that country is Japan.

Judging by recent coverage, Japan is in the midst of a marijuana epidemic that is ensnaring everyone from students to suburban housewives and sumo wrestlers.

A slew of arrests for drug-related offences among elite scholars has sparked widespread indignation that more youngsters are choosing to while away their university years in a fug of marijuana smoke.

While police once focused their attention on amphetamines and other stimulants, recent statistics show a dramatic increase in cases involving cannabis. In the first half of this year the number of cases in which suspects were questioned or arrested stood at 1,202, a 12% increase on the same time last year. The number of cases involving the cultivation of cannabis at home was up by almost 50%, the national police agency said.

Recreational marijuana use hit the headlines this summer when three Russian sumo wrestlers were kicked out of the sport for allegedly smoking the drug. In recent months newspapers have reported arrests for dealing, cultivating or possessing marijuana at some of Japan's best universities.

Daytime TV shows, meanwhile, blame foreign suppliers for corrupting gullible Japanese teenagers and, increasingly, bored housewives, as they move out heavily policed city centres into the suburbs.

The Mainichi Shimbun, often a progressive voice on other issues, devoted part of its front page yesterday to a fuming editorial warning of the potential ruination of Japan's finest universities by the evil weed.

Of the recent campus arrests, it says: "It is rational to believe that these cases are just the tip of the iceberg, and that 'drug pollution' at university campuses is more widespread than generally thought."

Smokers who prefer not to risk buying from dealers - who charge, on average, six times the going rate in the Netherlands - are growing their own. Accordingly, the number of people arrested for growing the plant at home, many with seeds bought on the internet, has risen fivefold over the past 10 years.

Japanese law takes a dim view of the recreational use of soft drugs. The 1948 cannabis control law calls for prison terms of up to 10 years and hefty fine for anyone found importing, exporting, growing, selling or buying cannabis.

Japanese activists are pushing for a change in the law to permit the use of cannabis among sufferers of diseases such as cancer, multiple sclerosis and Parkinson's.

"Cannabis is harmless compared to alcohol and tobaccos, but still the government overreacts and ruins the lives of anyone found with it," Koichi Maeda, the founder of the Japan Medical Marijuana Association, told the Guardian. "We asked the government to provide evidence of the harm they say marijuana causes, but they couldn't."

More in linkThe revelation that students at the country's most prestigious seats of learning enjoy an occasional joint is hardly the... more