High school student collects books for people in jail.

Greenfield (MA) High School junior Ella McDaniel is collecting books for inmates at the Franklin County Jail and House of Corrections until March 24.

According to the Greenfield Recorder, the 16-year old is going through Confirmation at her local Catholic Church and is required to perform acts of community service. McDaniel chose collecting books for inmates.

As The Recorder reports:

"I heard about a project in eastern Massachusetts that provides books to inmates and I thought, 'Why can't we do that here?'" McDaniel said. "Not only does it give (inmates) access to books, but the community at large. I'm a big believer in advocacy."

[...] McDaniel shares that among released inmates, "recidivism rates drop significantly after completing their education."

And that's just the thing. Education does work in all walks of life, but especially within prison populations. I should know. I taught prisoners. Murderers and drug dealers--the vast majority of whom would be released back into local communities largely shunned for a crime of passion--who would now lack not only education, but support from locals to begin a new life.

Prisons are often titled as a "Department of Corrections" or "Correctional Facility." Yet, so often we don't care about "correcting" the issue that led some individual to years behind bars in the first place, which is often a lack of education. We punish and punish and punish again.

There is no logic in taking away someone's freedom, leaving them in a cage, only to release them back into society and expect a positive change.

Instead of punish, it should be educate and educate and educate again.

Potential Future Education Secretary: Schools might need guns to protect themselves from grizzlies.

Don't try that polite waving bear shtick, pal.

Bears. They're the real enemy.

Betsy DeVos is Donald Trump's nominee to lead the Department of Education. Like all nominees, she needs to go through typical senate confirmation hearings where she's asked her views on a number of topics.

Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy--who represents a state that saw one of the deadliest school shootings in American history (Sandy Hook Elementary)--asked DeVos if guns have "any place in and around schools."

DeVos replied she thought the matter should be decided by individual states, specifically referencing an earlier question by another senator:

"I will refer back to Sen. Enzi and the school he is talking about in Wyoming. I think probably there, I would imagine there is probably a gun in a school to protect from potential grizzlies," DeVos replied.

Oh, sure, you're soooo polite.

The killer rampages of grizzly bears at America's schools needs to be stopped! Sure, no grizzly has ever killed an American student, but you can never be too sure when their reign of terror might commence.

But why stop at bears? If we're going to have American schools strapped to the teeth to kill anything dangerous, what's the deadliest living thing out there picking humanity off one-by-one--not including humans themselves?

Top Ten Animal Killers of Humans:
10.  Hippopotamus
9.  Crocodiles
8.  Tapeworms
7.  Ascaris Round Worms
6.  Freshwater Snails
5.  Assassin Bugs
4.  Tsetse Flies
3.  Dogs
2.  Snakes
1.  Mosquitoes

Mosquitoes kill 725,000 humans a year worldwide through disease. How America isn't raining the summer sky with bullets trying to take out mosquitoes is beyond me. Think of the children!

Nice try, slick!

Dogs? They kill 25,000 people a year around the world. That little ball of fluff dozing next you on the couch right now? He has murder in his heart. Better holster a couple of Glocks in case he ever turns on you. I'm sure Betsy DeVos approves!

Jazz hands is trying too hard, bub!

Even jellyfish, horses and cows kill more humans every year than all bears combined, never mind just the grizzly bear. That's right--an elementary school visit to a farm to watch cows being milked has the potential to turn into a blood bath at any second.

On average, twenty-two people in the United States are killed by cows every year. Hell, the Wisconsin dairy industry is just cow carnage! Get the kids in Milwaukee a six-shooter and extra ammo, stat!

Today a wave, tomorrow a knife in your back.

Sure, sure--you're reading this being rational and thinking,"Arming schools might be overdoing it to kill a mosquito...or a bear."

And I say to you:

Since when did you start hating America's children?

Born poor, born remote, born long ago, but born with a desire for knowledge.

A two minute video of a Nepalese gentleman who, at 69-years old, went back to school and is in the 10th grade.

The real highlight might not be that he went back to school. It might be the smooth soccer moves this man has for his age. I'm half his age and just felt a hamstring pull.

Plus, it should be noted, that's a world class beard.

100-year old Massachusetts woman finally becomes a high school graduate.

Clare Picciuto has lived a long life and a good life. One hundred years long, to be exact, which means she was just a teenager when the Great Depression began.

When the Depression started, Picciuto's family told her she had to quit school and get a job to support the family. According to Boston's WCVB, Picciuto's brothers were allowed to go to school, but not her--and that didn't sit well with Clare. "I didn't like it, because women should have education, too," Picciuto told the station.

Lacking formal education while she worked sewing curtains in a factory, Picciuto turned to encyclopedias and the dictionary and became self-taught.

"We'd pick up another big word and we'd find the meaning of it. And I tried to speak well if I could," she said--which, should be noted, she spoke well.

As her 100th birthday approached, Picciuto's daughter, Deborah, sought out the local school district and told them of the circumstance.

North Reading (MA) Public Schools Superintendent Jon Bernard presented Clare with her high school graduation tassels and a diploma while she busied herself with a bingo game.

"I told her that, in my opinion, her life experiences alone had earned her the honor tassel and diploma," Bernard said. "Clare was so articulate, sharp and positive. She is truly representative of all the things we should aspire to be."

When read the decree of being awarded her diploma, Clare mentioned it felt good, sat in joy, beamed and said, "I graduated!"

Nah. She graduated in those factories all those decades ago. The world is just catching up to her now.




Photo: WCVB

A man, an easel, some chalk, and all of the day's news.

In downtown Monrovia, Liberia, Alfred Sirleaf prepares a chalkboard with the latest local, national, and international news for residents to peruse. Sirleaf defines his reader base simply as the literate, semiliterate, and illiterate--with photos included on the chalkboard for those who cannot read, and Sirleaf or an assistant offering aid to those struggling to understand.

The board goes by a simple name: The Daily Talk. In a nation with a poor telecommunications network and struggling educational infrastructure, Sirleaf's endeavor is more than a conversation. It's a daily lifeline, a knowledge, a need.

Some Famous Writer Once Lived Here: Oxford, Mississippi

Some Famous Writer Once Lived Here is where we check out cities or towns that--you guessed it--a famous writer once lived. Picture the illegitimate lovechild between the US Census report and a tourist pamphlet from a local chamber of commerce. What's it like there today? Here's where we find out.



Today:  William Faulkner once lived in Oxford, Mississippi:

William Faulkner has been called the Shakespeare of America. This is startling because it's difficult to picture Shakespeare with a southern accent and brandishing a shotgun.

At some point in the last hundred years, Mississippi gave up the title to most frightening American state to Alabama after a lengthy struggle where multiple lives were lost in a muddin' fiasco involving pickup trucks and four-wheelers largely adorned in Confederate flags. No one knows what happened specifically, but rumors abound that it involved light beer, six brain cells, and Alabama coming out on top. Strangely, it was a high point in Mississippi's history.

Alabama celebrates victory and defeat at the same time.

While you can still hear the frightening pluck of banjos and subtle din of monster trucks in the distance, Mississippi does have some fairly polite, even classy areas largely infiltrated by a strange phenomenon called "education."

Although anyone who has ever seen a professor wear a paisley sweater vest knows education can be frightening, too.


The basics of Oxford, Mississippi:

Location:
Far north from the Gulf coast, Oxford is only 85-miles away via major highways, or 78-miles via the minor variety, from Memphis, TN, reminding people that while it might not be Xanadu or desirable, Memphis is nearby and sure as hell isn't Mississippi.

Do not confuse Oxford, MS, with Oxford, England. Common mistake. But Oxford, England, is 4,336 miles away and involves heavy amounts of dry humor and rejoicing in the rain.

2010 Census:

Population: 18,916 people make up Oxford, up 61% since 2000. Almost 1-in-3 residents resides in poverty though, proving that--oh, wow--oh, god. A third are in poverty? One of the best parts of Mississippi has that much poverty? Oh, Christ. I give up. Just continue on without me. I'm done.

Racial Makeup: In 2010, 13 people claimed to be of Hawaiian or Pacific Islander backgrounds. That's up from 2 people during the 2000 census. Those 2 people were horribly, horribly lost from rogue Google Maps coordinates, it appears.


What to see, what to do in Oxford, Mississippi:

The top thing to do in Oxford, according to TripAdvisor? Visit the University of Mississippi! Nothing says a sexy vacation quite like spending all day roaming a random college campus in 90-degree heat, sipping bourbon, and yelling something about rebel pride. That'll be the envy of everyone on your Instagram feed.

The University of Mississippi goes by the nickname Ole Miss, which they claim is from their old yearbook title, the Ole Miss Annual, and has nothhhhing to do with slaves calling the wife of a plantation owner "ole miss." As if Mississippi would ever do something subtly racist. It's practically the ACLU of the south after all.

No Rhett Butler here.

There's also William Faulkner's estate, Rowan Oak. It's like Gone with the Wind's Tara Plantation, except with less Scarlett O'Hara chest-thumping, and Rhett Butler actually doesn't give a damn and never wants to be seen at Rowan Oak. For $5 you can tour the house and remember all of those Faulkner books you made sure never to read in college.

Do you like feeling depressed? There's the Confederate Cemetery in town. Yes. That Confederacy. Says Regina from Memphis on TripAdvisor, it is "wonderful history." Oh, Regina, no matter how you approach cemeteries or slavery, no one ever pauses and thinks, "Well, you know, that's some little slice of wonderfulness right there."

Feeling like a little church revival? Swing on into College Hill Presbyterian Church, famous for its antebellum architecture and where Faulkner got married. Are you a Presbyterian? Do you want to be? No? You're making this difficult for all involved.

When in doubt, there's always Wal-Mart located about two minutes outside of the University of Mississippi's campus. Phew.


Where to eat in Oxford:

Are you tired of Colonel Sanders and Kentucky's claim to fried chicken? Visit Gus's World Famous Fried Chicken then. Do you know Gus? No. Neither do I. Is Gus lying about being world famous? Let's just agree Gus has overstepped his proclamation just a tad.

Ajax Diner sells fried food as well, but also has toothpicks in the ceiling. I'm not sure why, but if the food doesn't sell you, low expectations might do the trick.

Looking for awkward names for your restaurant of choice? There's Handy Andy. Admit it--you raised an eyebrow wondering what Andy's getting handsy over, too. Is he good with general contracting work? Sure, let's assume that.


Isn't Aubigny-sur-Nère, France, a sister city of Oxford?

Yes. And like most siblings, it really doesn't want to talk much.

Second guessing its parentage.

William Faulkner's thoughts on his hometown:

(In reference to Yoknapatawpha County, a fictional stand-in for Oxford in his books.)

"I like to think of the world I created as being a kind of keystone in the universe; that, small as that keystone is, if it were ever taken away the universe itself would collapse."

College dropout Bill Gates went on Reddit to tell people why a college education is important.

"Hey, I like big game. What can I say?"

This is like when a supermodel tells you it's okay to be ugly. It's easy when things worked out beautifully for you.

Bill Gates is the supermodel of this story. It's one thing if someone is telling you to go to college, but another when that person is one of the richest people in the world and a college dropout.

Bill Gates went on Reddit for an "Ask Me Anything" session, when he dropped this knowledge:

"I think the value of getting a great education - that is going to college - is easy to underestimate. The most interesting jobs require a college education. The STEM related jobs are probably the most interesting although they are not for everyone. The value of staying curious - reading a lot and learning new things even after college is also underestimated."

It's easy to underestimate college when you dropped out and still made $50 billion.

I personally enjoy wondering why STEM jobs are the most interesting though. It seems to matter who's delivering the message. I assume it's because Ernest Hemingway didn't share his opinion on life and interesting career choices and tell us that gunning down water buffalo as a career big game hunter is where it's at.

The Open Syllabus Project lists all the college textbooks students are dutifully ignoring.

Reading! I meant reading. Excuse me. Silly mistake. The Open Syllabus Project is trying to document all the college textbooks students are reading and studying with a fervent passion, no doubt.

Specifically, the Open Syllabus Project (OSP) hopes to comb over the world's college syllabi and document which books students are assigned most, regardless of subject area. The list is ever-changing, as the OSP gathers more syllabi, texts gain and lose favor.

For example, the top ten most-assigned books covering all syllabi (so far) and subject areas in parts of the western hemisphere are:

1.  The Elements of Style,
     by Strunk, William, 1869-1946
2.  Republic,
     by Plato
3.  The Communist Manifesto,
     by Marx, Karl, 1818-1883
4.  Biology,
     by Campbell, Neil A., 1946
5.  Frankenstein,
     by Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft, 1797-1851
6.  Ethics,
     by Aristotle
7.  Leviathan,
     by Hobbes, Thomas, 1588-1679
8.  The Prince,
     by Machiavelli, Niccolò, 1469-1527
9.  Oedipus,
     by Sophocles
10.  Hamlet,
     by Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616

The Elements of Style is hopelessly assigned by every desperate English professor in hopes that someone, anyone--you maybe--might be able to write a coherent sentence in a paper. It's fruitless, as every student leaves Elements in a desk drawer or closet, where it'll only be rediscovered when they graduate, clear out those closets, and donate a stack of books to the Goodwill.

The rest of the top ten is fairly explanatory. A basic biology book, some philosophical musings you won't remember, a dash of Shakespeare...and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein? The same desperate English professor who cries to sleep each night over your writing inability also hopes you'll read a little, and assigned a relatively short book with a famous name, dreaming you'll give it a shot. You won't though. That's why God made Wikipedia.

Curiosities really don't appear until you break down the syllabi by county, state, school, or subject area. Take Canada, for instance. Our neighbors to the north's top ten includes the usual--your Leviathans and Ethics--but has Frankenstein number one. Further raising eyebrows is Michel Foucault's Power at number two, while Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness shows up at number ten. Is the collective subconscious of Canada suggesting they want to control and dominate the world? Damn right. I, for one, welcome our new Canadian overlords, and bid them well.

Another mystery is the state of Alabama--and not just because it's the state of Alabama. A look at that state's top ten textbooks starts with the first seven being related to physics, with an eighth book related to astronomy. Did Alabama just discover the existence of science and the cosmos? No. That's silly. Because Alabama realized science existed all the way back in 2012, and there's been rumors of a moon in the sky being reported in Mobile all the way since the 1960s. It's just that Alabama is buying the books now to burn them.

I'm not sure if that's better than ignoring them though.

GED passing rates plummet--and for prisoners most of all.

Last year, the General Educational Development (GED) structure was changed, some say to a more difficult collection of tests. Gone was the availability to take the high school equivalency exams with a pencil and paper. Now, only students with computer access were allowed to complete the process.

This change to the modern age of computer and internet availability appeared to be fine, if not outright inevitable. Yet while statistics show high school graduation rates have risen marginally, those taking the GED are not only struggling to keep up, but in many cases the number of successful graduates via the GED program is dropping--and chief amongst those struggling are prisoners.

Internet and computer availability is supremely lacking in America's prison system. Concerns about safety and the ability to monitor prisoner activity online is one concern, while on-site testing rules and the ability to train teachers are others. Meanwhile, a segment of the civilian population often views computers as a luxury item bestowed upon criminals, and thus shouldn't be supplied.

This draconian behavior of focusing on the punishment angle and not on the correctional angle is what causes a drastic likelihood that prisoners will end up back in jail. According to an NPR report, "A study by the Rand Corporation found that every dollar spent on correctional education programs saves $5 in reincarceration costs. Since the change to the more difficult test, no one has been collecting data on GED pass rates by inmates — but experts say it's clear they are down."

And, it should be noted, not just down for prisoners. In 2012, 401,388 individuals passed the GED test. in 2013, knowing the testing structure was changing, 540,535 passed the barrage of exams, creating a bump. 2014--the first year of computerized testing with the new tests--saw only an estimated 86,000 pass out of 248,000 who attempted to earn their GED. The drop-off is dramatic.

The drop-off is so dramatic--and the cost to take the tests (roughly $120) is so prohibitive to economically disadvantaged people--that some states, like New York and over a dozen others, have either dropped the GED tests or are in the process of creating their own high school equivalency exams.

Moreover, the GED is overseen by the American Council on Education (ACE), a nonprofit organization that owns the trademark on the GED. As of 2011, ACE brought in Pearson, a British company best known for their textbooks and test administration, and turned the GED into a for-profit venture. By 2014, Pearson was solely responsible for developing the test, despite ACE's oversight.

While studies show that attaining a GED typically doesn't translate into a higher economic status, it is still usually the only opportunity available to a large segment of the American population--prisoners included--to improve their life. As Stephen Steurer former executive director of the Correctional Education Association, tells NPR, "We put so many people in prison who are uneducated, and we put them there without any resources [...] We have a golden opportunity when we put people in prison to educate them."

If Steurer had his way, prison wouldn't simply be punishment; prisoners would be forced to educate themselves. "Make part of their sentence that they achieve some skills with some sort of certification that means they can get a job that pays some kind of decent wage," he says.

It's strange, isn't it? The United States has the highest rate of imprisonment in the world, and this country takes the one opportunity to "correct" these individuals in a "correctional" facility, and decides to not only eliminate that opportunity --but make it financially profitable for an international company to earn that money on the backs of the most vulnerable in this country.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.




Yes, I have experience teaching in prison. And as I said before...

Full disclosure: I have worked on educational programs through a prison. Some of the smartest, most gifted individuals I've ever known were men who committed a violent crime--often, usually, a crime of passion. A crime I could commit. A crime you could commit. A crime any of us would commit if placed in the same situation, position, or bearing in life.

And these same men I'd trust with my life, despite the fact that some might have already taken the life of another. Because they accomplished the one thing most any of you reading this cannot do--that I cannot do--and that is correct what needs correcting in ourselves.

German organization offers free college education to those seeking asylum in the country.

Kashif Kazmi, a 21-year old Shiite Muslim from Pakistan, fled his homeland in May to seek a better life somewhere in Europe. After traveling through nine countries, he ended up in Germany, seeking asylum and protection from Taliban-controlled regions that put the minority Shiites in danger. Kazmi's sisters and father still remain back home. "And I'm so homesick," he tells NPR.

In order to find a way to bring the rest of his family to Germany, Kazmi needs to pursue higher learning--and an opportunity might have arisen for just that

Kiron University is a Berlin-based online program aimed to refugees. As NPR notes:

"Kiron University students take courses online for the first two years, working toward a bachelor's degree while they apply for asylum and acquire the paperwork and qualifications needed to enter a partner university, local to where they are, to complete the degree."

Because he is not a German citizen, nor does he have that above-mentioned required paperwork as an asylum-seeker to act as a foreign student studying in the nation, Kazmi is denied to attend local universities. Yet, with Kiron University, that changes the equation.

As Markus Kressler, co-founder of Kiron, notes, upwards of 50% of third year students leave their schooling, opening up seats which random universities want filled. And who has their asylum papers filed usually after two years? Refugees, who should have two years of online classes under their belt as well. It all makes sense, assuming Kiron can attain the funding to supply scholarships for these students--which is what Kressler is working on.

In the meantime, Kazmi is all set and will be amongst the first to try the Kiron Program.

As he told NPR, ""Today I am a refugee, but tomorrow, I hope so, I will be in the position to be able to support others."

Prisoners debate Harvard students, and the prisoners won.

The Bard Prison Initiative, part of Bard College located in Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y, seeks to change the perception of prisoners convicted of violent crime, as well as put the "correction" in "correctional facility."

Part of this initiative has led to a prisoner debate team, which started in 2014. The team takes on some of the bigger powerhouse colleges and universities throughout the country, and isn't just competing--they're succeeding. Their latest success? Defeating Harvard.

“They caught us off guard,” Anais Carell, a 20-year-old junior from Chicago, told The Wall Street Journal.

As Alex Hall, a 31-year-old from Manhattan convicted of manslaughter countered, “We might not be as naturally rhetorically gifted, but we work really hard.”

The $2.5 million budget for the program isn't supplied by the state (which cowers at using tax dollars to educate prisoners), but instead by private donations.

Studies show the Bard Prison Initiative program actually works long-term. 40% of general population prisoners end up arrested within three years of their release. Those prisons with strong educational programs have recidivism rates that drop to 22%. By comparison, the recidivism rate for alumni of the Bard Prison Initiative program during that same time period is only 2%.

Putting the "correction" back into "correctional facility." What a concept.



Full disclosure: I have worked on educational programs through a prison. Some of the smartest, most gifted individuals I've ever known were men who committed a violent crime--often, usually, a crime of passion. A crime I could commit. A crime you could commit. A crime any of us would commit if placed in the same situation, position, or bearing in life.

And these same men I'd trust with my life, despite the fact that some might have already taken the life of another. Because they accomplished the one thing most any of you reading this cannot do--that I cannot do--and that is correct what needs correcting in ourselves.

The 610 smartest colleges and universities in America, according to Business Insider

Only 610?

Well, that narrows it down.

The American southwest is apparently an education wasteland.

The Common Core Standards were adopted by forty-four states as an effort to improve student results in a variety of math and reading curriculum. Yet a recent study suggest that not only has improvement stagnated under the initiative, it might have resulted in worse performances.

According to a study at Education Week, scores have stalled or decreased--and by their metric of scoring (high school graduation rates, proficiency scores on tests, per pupil spending)--no state garnered an "A" grade. The best is Massachusetts, which earned a "B."

The American southwest/lower midwest is where the most troubling grades occur, with four of the five worst states residing there.

The five worst:
5. Arizona  (D+)
4. Oklahoma  (D+)
3. New Mexico  (D)
2. Nevada  (D)

Nevada holds the honor--or disturbance--of having the lowest percentage of graduating students from high school, at 60%.

But the worst state for education, according to Education Week's study?

1. Mississippi  (D)

Only 22% of Mississippian students in 4th and 8th grade are deemed proficient in either math or reading.

Sometimes it's hard picking on a state that's only found success in failure.

English teacher explains his top-10 reasons he quit after 33-years on the job.

The number one reason?

"1. I have attended almost 400 faculty meetings during my career. Not one has ever improved my teaching." 

150 teachers took to Seattle's streets to protest Bill Gates and the Common Core Standards.

Bill Gates is Bruce Lee.

Bill and Melinda Gates, through their foundation, have put upwards of $230 million toward establishing the Common Core Standards, using their political muscle to have the initiative moved through a variety of political hurdles to find it adopted by 45 states.

Yet, not everyone is thrilled by the Common Core Standards, which caused 150 teachers protesting in the streets of Seattle, a march that led to the doors of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

As teacher Noam Gurdle told Seattle's King 5 News, "I find the notion that educators are reluctant to be open to these crazy, untested, scientifically unproven ideas to be absolutely abhorrent." (Gurdle apparently loves to add a dash of sarcasm to things.)

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation eventually released a statement to the media, one that kills its opponents with kindness, subtly pats themselves on the back, all while ignoring the teachers' concerns.

Says the Foundation:

"Teachers guide much of our education work at the foundation. We are engaged in a constant conversation with great teachers here in Washington State and all across the country about what they need to help all their students succeed and how we can best support them. While not all teachers agree on how best to make that happen, they are all dedicated and passionate about their students. We share that passion with the educators we work with every day."




I'd like to know who guides the rest of the "education work at the foundation," if not teachers. Parents? Administrators? Bruce Lee and Batman? Who else?


Photo: Alex Wong, Getty Images, via Daily Caller.

Florida state rep doesn't want to be the bearer of bad news, but the Common Core Standards will turn your kids gay.

It's a plot by government officials, says State Representative Charles Van Sant, "to attract every one of your children to become as homosexual as they possibly can."

Van Sant told the Operation Education Conference in Orlando, FL, that he "hates to bring you that news" about the budding gay army of grade school students, "but you need to know."

And to think some thought the Common Core just limited access to a variety of great literature. Now it has to power to change sexuality!

Here's Van Sant speaking at the conference:

New York Times Debate: Can Writing Be Assessed?

The Times asked a variety of experts (middle school teacher, novelist, professor, etc. yada, same old), and the verdict?

We're all illiterate and hjgkvgc rrcktck uucjb. God help us all.

Tennessee bill might require all students to learn cursive.

There isn't much in this world that Democrats and Republicans can agree on, but apparently the need to write cursive is one.

State representative Sheila Butt has proposed a bill in the Tennessee state legislature requiring cursive be taught. The Republican lawmaker "authored the bill after being told by parents and teachers that kids today couldn’t read their handwritten notes," according to The Tennessean. Not to mention all the birthday cards from grandma and grandpa that look like indiscriminate squiggles.

It doesn't stop there. "Butt frets that the day may come when Tennesseans will no longer be able to sign their names legibly or read the Bill of Rights in its original form," says the newspaper. Because if there's one thing your average American does on a Saturday night, it's kick back and read the Bill of Rights in its original form.

But this is a noble quest, and Sheila Butt is not alone on her mission, as the entire Tennessee legislature seems to be on board, Democrat and Republican. Says Rep. Raumesh Akbari, a Democrat, “I think it’s terrible [...] because you really need to be able to write in the event that your computer or your phone or your iPad — all those batteries are dead.”

In case you're not keeping track, the reasons for learning cursive are as follows:

1.  Handwritten notes are indecipherable.
2.  Bill of Rights reading parties.
3.  Potential zombie apocalypse wiping out our electronic grid.

All valid excuses.




photo: Wikipedia

Why distracted students are a concern.

Focusing on the matter at hand--in a classroom or in life, critics say--is what's most disconcerting about the next generation of students that's grown up on smartphones and tablets, where their attention has been routinely torn to the next interesting thing.

Psychologist Daniel Goleman, an author on such matters, points to a New Zealand study in the 1970s that focused on 8-year olds and their ability to focus--then checked in on them when they were 32-years old to see how they fared. The result? Kids who learned to focus as youngsters succeeded more in life as adults.

As Goleman said, "The more you can concentrate the better you’ll do on anything, because whatever talent you have, you can’t apply it if you are distracted."

The solution? Ban, limit, or minimize technological devices, reinforce focusing behavior patters with children, maybe give up. Experts don't know.

It's okay. You probably didn't even read to the end of this post. I accept that.

In a surprise to no one, Palestinian and Israeli textbooks offer differing stories to students.

The sun rises in the east. Ryan Gosling is dreamy to women everywhere. Israelis and Palestinians aren't fans of one another. All of these are basic facts of life.

Which is why it's no surprise a recent study reports Palestinian and Israeli textbooks aren't always completely truthful or fair when recounting history between the two.

According to the New York Times, Hamas has modified Palestinian textbooks, and are more egregious--refusing to recognize modern Israel, ignoring the Oslo Peace Accord signed by Palestinian and Israeli leaders in the 1990s, describing the Jewish Torah and Talmund as "fabricated," and labeling Zionism as a racist movement whose aim is to drive all Arabs out of the Middle East.

Israel isn't entirely truthful either. The same study suggests their textbooks are equally culpable for portraying Palestine as an enemy, using misinformed historical maps, and lacking facts about Palestinian religion, culture, and daily life.

The result is that a new generation of students in Israel and Palestine will grow up with misinformed, misguided, and misled beliefs about the other side.

But, hey, at least Ryan Gosling is gorgeous, right?