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News & Views - Sept,
2000 Issue (page 3)
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Page 3 of 3 - Previous
PH.D CANDIDATES INTO SECONDARY TEACHING
(August 23, 2000) The National Research Council proposed that the anticipated secondary teacher shortage might be partially
eased by encouraging current Ph.D candidates in math and sciences to choose that profession. They refer to a poll that reports “at
least 36% of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in math and science say they have actively considered high school teaching.
BRAIN-BASED LEARNING
(August 24, 2000) Bill Hendrick, writing for the Cox News Service in the article “Brain-based learning relies on scents,
sweets, sounds” outlines some of the new-age techniques being used in schools to enhance academic performance. “Among the stimuli
being used in classrooms: peppermint candy (sugar and mint to invigorate); water bottles (to hydrate); aromatherapy (to rouse or calm,
depending on the scent); dim lighting (to calm and focus); music (ditto); and walls painted in subdued colors (ditto) .”
ALTERNATIVE CERTIFICATION
(August 24, 2000) The New
York Times reported an increasing “number of states and school districts are short-circuiting the usual route to teacher certification
with their own crash courses that put new teachers in the classroom after as little as three weeks.” It reported the alternative routes
are being driven by a severe and growing teacher shortage.
TEEN JOB CHOICES
(August 25, 2000) A poll by EPIC/MRA polling company in Lansing, Michigan, reported “Military
and teaching careers are cool, but life on the Web is not,” summarizing their results: “Finding a fulfilling job that provides
them with leisure time and a good salary is what students have said they wanted…. Medical fields and teaching were their top choices.”
“People hear about the dot-com workers putting in 70 and 80 hours a week and that doesn’t appeal to them.”
PUBLIC SCHOOL FOR GIRLS
(August 27, 2000) The New
York Times carried a story announcing the creation of an all-girl public school in Chicago that specialized in math, science and
technology. [The issue of single sex schools and classes has been frequently in the news in the last few years, partly through court
decisions denying the same arrangement for boys as a violation of equal opportunity. - Lon]
SALON.COM. QUESTIONS, REPORTS SUCCESS IN WILDERNESS PROGRAMS
(August 30, 2000) SALON.COM, an internet magazine described by some as liberal in orientation, ran a series of three
stories about wilderness programs, educational consultants and parenting crises. One story, titled: “I
was a hired thug for tough love” gave a powerful description of a girl’s change of heart and insights during a wilderness program.
Another article entitled “New education
gurus” spoke of how educational consultants “have evolved from being a predominantly white, upper-middle-class privilege to a
middle-class phenomenon,” stating that “intrepid parents willing to trek through the market clutter will find more about educational
consultants at www.strugglingteens.com. A third
article questioned whether America is in the grips of a teen crisis, reporting statistics that show “teenagers aren’t really acting
up or out more than they have in the past…If there is a serious problem here, it may be one of parenting and perception, not bad kids.”
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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