Education policy

A legal settlement reached in Los Angeles Tuesday could reverberate through schools in low-income neighborhoods across the country.

The Board of Education there approved a deal with the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups that would radically limit the practice of laying off teachers based solely on seniority.

Last December, South Philadelphia High School in Philadelphia was out of control. An outburst of racial violence prompted Asian students to boycott the school for a week. They wanted to pressure the school administration to do something about ongoing hostilities with black students. 

A new study proves what many already suspected: Your chances of getting suspended in middle school rise dramatically if you are black. 

The study, “Suspended Education: Urban Middle Schools in Crisis,” was published by the Southern Poverty Law Center, the home of Teaching Tolerance.

When I entered the classroom to interpret for the middle school parent and teacher conference, the student shouted that I wasn’t necessary. The teacher had called for my services because for two semesters she had been telling the mother that her son was flunking. And for two semesters, the mother had grinned ecstatically and said, “Thank you”—her only English words. The son had  “interpreted” to his mother that he was on the honor roll.

Everyone is worried—rightfully—about what seems to be a cross-country epidemic of bullying. The problem may be nationwide, but the solution has been left to the 14,000 school districts and the 50 states. Because we all know that bullying in Oregon is a lot different from bullying in Georgia, right?

Hundreds of guest workers are lured to the United States under false pretenses. They are ruthlessly exploited by the labor contractors who bring them here. Their U.S. employer turns a blind eye to this exploitation. And the contractor bullies the workers into paying fees and taking out loans that keep them in virtual slavery.

A new third-grader arrives at your school. He is blind. He is autistic. He is developmentally delayed.

How does your school deal with the special needs of this child?

See if this educational goal for first-graders offends you:

“Understand human beings can love people of the same gender & people of another gender.”

Some things that happen in school are just not right. 

It’s not right for a six-year old boy to be handcuffed and shackled to a chair by an armed security officer because he “acted up” in school.

Research shows that a world religions course helps reduce intolerance among students without undermining students' religious beliefs.