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News & Views - Dec,
2000 Issue (page 1).
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Page 1of 3 - Next
EDUCATION CHOICE LINKED TO ACHIEVEMENT
(September 19, 2000) The Manhattan Institute for Policy Research reported a study that concluded: states allowing families
the greatest number of education choices in the form of charter schools, home schooling, vouchers etc., saw higher levels of academic
achievement in their students as measured by Scholastic Assessment Tests (SAT) and the National Assessment of Education Progress exams
(NAEP). Jay Greene, who conducted the study, said “Simply providing families with additional options in the education of their children
has a larger independent effect on student achievement than increasing education spending or reducing class size.”
MEDIA PRESSURES GIRLS TO MATURE TOO SOON
(October 2000) The Girl Scout Research Institute concluded a study that found an alarming number of girls as young
as 8 worry unduly about looks and popularity, bolstering the view that sexual content in movies, television and music is aging children
before they are emotionally ready.
TV IN CHILDRENS’ BEDROOM
(October 2000) A recent survey from the Annenberg Public Policy Center found that 47 percent of parents allow their
children to have televisions in their bedrooms, strongly suggesting a high percentage of parents have given up trying to restrict
objectionable TV from their children.
AFRICAN BOARDING SCHOOL FOR INNER CITY YOUTH
(October 3, 2000) According to Time
Magazine, Robert Embry, head of the Abell Foundation, asked Baltimore principals five years ago what they most needed. They answered,
“Help us remove the 5% of students who are disruptive and make it almost impossible for the other 95% to learn.” The foundation’s
response was to use the $5 million a year they donated to Baltimore education to send some of the trouble-makers to Baraka, a boarding
school 6,000 miles away in rural Kenya. Although only about 40 students a year attend this school, many of them have successfully
transitioned back to Maryland with positive results. The article also points out that although Newt Gingrich was severely criticized
in 1994 when he advocated residential solutions for troubled youth, there are several other residential schools being established
to give a residential option to troubled youth.
ABUSIVE CHILDREN IN AUSTRALIA
(October 5, 2000) Woodbury Reports’ contacts in Australia report increased discussions about the growing numbers of
parents suffering abuse from their hands of their children. Citing a 40 percent increase in phone calls to Parentline, most calls
relate to violence by young males, aged between 11 and 18 against their mothers.
PARENT REPORTED TO CPS OVER RITALIN
(October 9, 2000) According to the Christian Science Monitor, a public school district in New York reported a parent
to Child Protective Services for putting his son at risk by taking his son off Ritalin.
NO PLAYGROUND
(October 24, 2000) Charles W. Colson, with Prison Fellowship Ministries, writes a commentary at worthynews.com,
citing a new school in Atlanta, Georgia that was constructed with everything but a play-ground, as an example of a growing tendency
towards an attitude that fails our sons “in order to make little boys behave more like little girls.”
STUDIES SHOW POSITIVE FOR CHARTER SCHOOLS
(November 8, 2000) Education Week,
reports the Center for Education Reform’s finding that “50 of 53 studies conducted since 1995 show charter schools to have been innovative,
accountable for results, and successful in providing new opportunities for children and reforming the traditional education system.”
Copyright © 2000, Woodbury Reports, Inc. (This article may be reproduced without prior
approval if the copyright notice and proper publication and author attribution accompanies the copy.)
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