Almost Nobody Graduates From College On Time
Is it true that community college "takes two years" to complete, and regular college "takes four years" to complete? Not at all! It takes much, much longer.
Teachers Want You to Know: We Don't Get Summers Off
A little over a week ago, we posted a story calling for submissions from teachers, administrators, and aides working in America's public schools. The post itself received over 1,000 comments and my inbox was backed up with hundreds of emails from teachers who wanted to share not just horror stories but successes, too.…
Gym Teacher Charged for Trying to Drag Teen Girl Into Swimming Pool
A gym teacher has been put on leave and charged with causing injury to a child after he tried to drag a 14-year-old girl into a swimming pool while she screamed and struggled to keep her swimsuit top from falling off. Another student caught everything on video.
Tell Us About Your Experience Teaching in America's Public Schools
Last month, an issue of TIME magazine hit newsstands with the grabby cover headline "Rotten Apples." The article looks at Silicon Valley's controversial involvement in bringing down teacher tenure in California—another in the pile of articles written about privatizing funds for public schools, encouraging the growth…
Is Your Child's Gamified Behavior-Surveillance App Private Enough?
The New York Times business section reports today on the mild controversies surrounding the use of ClassDojo, an application that enables schoolteachers to upload a running log of every student's behavior into a cumulative scoreboard:
Drunk Spanish Teacher Allegedly Pissed His Pants, Attacked Student
A Spanish teacher at a Connecticut high school was pulled out of class in handcuffs with very little explanation last week, and a local news station is reporting he showed up to class visibly drunk and pissed his pants in front of students.
Teacher Humiliates Teen Girl By Showing Bikini Photo at Assembly
A teacher at an English secondary school downloaded a teenage student's bikini photo from Facebook and displayed it at an assembly to teach students about the dangers of social networking. Dangers like, apparently, one of your teachers finding your photos and using them to embarrass you in front of 100 classmates.
John Oliver Calls Bullshit on Debt-Fueled For-Profit Colleges
The student loan crisis in the U.S. would be bad enough without for-profit colleges whose entire business model relies on convincing the people most desperate for an education to sign up for lifelong debt. John Oliver picked apart some of their most horrendous practices on Sunday's Last Week Tonight.
Georgia Gov. Mistakes Hispanic College Student for an "Illegal"
Nathan Deal, the conservative Georgia governor who's in a tight re-election race against a grandson of Jimmy Carter, suffered a misstep Tuesday when he mistakenly assumed a Hispanic student speaking to him at the University of Georgia was an undocumented immigrant.
The American Academy of Pediatrics now recommends that middle and high schools begin their day no earlier than 8:30 a.m. to allow for adequate rest for teens. The correct answer to "What time should school start?" is "whenever the poor teachers want."
NRA: Let's Make Schoolkids Shoot Guns "to Advance to the Next Grade"
You may have noticed that we have a school shooting problem. Well, not according to the NRA. But if we did have a school shooting problem, the NRA has a plan: Create "gun-required zones" and gun-welfare programs, and make weapons training "necessary to advance to the next grade" for Sally and Timmy.
Study: It's Your Fault Your Kids Are Dumb
Has your child had trouble at school? Have you tried tutoring, extra homework time, and everything else you can think of, with little improvement? Relax. According to the latest research, your kid's fate is already sealed.
​Where Did the Elites Go to School?
"[O]f course, most elites didn't go to state schools," writes Matt Phillips on Quartz. His subject is the debate over college debt and whether or not it's a big deal—in his estimation, the complaints about heavy individual educational debt demonstrate the narcissism of "a vocal, college-educated group" that "dominates…
GOP Candidate Gives Incredibly Stupid Interview on Sex Education
Sally Atwater is the widow of the Republican Party's most ferocious, hated political fixer. She's running to be in charge of South Carolina's education policy. If votes were awkward right-wing radio interviews on sex ed that turned adversarial, this woman would win in a landslide.
Governor Makes It Official
In fairness, the state's schools have been preparing for this day for a long time.
A new report finds that one in six teachers in big-city school districts are "chronically absent," missing more than 18 days of school per year. When you think about who they work with, it's hard to blame them.
With the close of the academic year, there are now no traditional public schools in New Orleans. The state-run school district is replacing them all with charter schools. That should fix everything.
Cops Take 1,000 Rounds of Ammo, 7 Guns From UCSB Student's Apartment
At the same time as 20,000 students gathered for a vigil honoring the victims of last week's mass shooting, cops seized 7 guns and about 1,000 rounds of ammunition from a 21-year-old Santa Barbara student who nearly shot a neighbor through the wall of his apartment.
Teacher Shaves Teen Girl's Armpits in Class
A Victoria, Australia mom is upset after a teacher shaved her teen daughter's armpits in class, in front of two other girls. The school says it's just part of the curriculum.
Duke Student Sues For Diploma After He's Expelled for Sexual Assault
A senior at Duke University who was banned from graduating after a school panel found him responsible for raping an "emotional" classmate has filed suit to get his degree so he can accept a "prestigious position" offered to him by a firm on Wall Street.
