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News & Views - Jan, 2001 Issue (page
2)
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Page 2 of 3 - Previous | Next
ISN’T THERE A BETTER WAY?
(December 13, 2000) The Governor of California, Gray Davis is sueing 18 school districts to force them to improve conditions
in their schools in response to a lawsuit against him for “alledgedly failing to provide decent learning conditions to all California
schoolchildren,” according to the San Francisco Chronicle. (Doesn’t this take the blame game a little far? –Lon)
EDUCATION INVESTMENT SEEN TO INCREASE
(December 26, 2000) An article in The Christian Science Monitor, analyzes President-elect Bush’s anticipated impact
on education by citing a Merrill Lynch 1999 report: “Private companies, which now account for 10 percent of the $740 billion education
market, are making inroads into the K-12 market. The failure of public schools is opening up a ‘big investment opportunity’ for new
entrepreneurs.”
DEVELOPING BRAIN CHANGED BY CHILDHOOD ABUSE
(December 29, 2000) In research conducted by Dr. Martin H. Teicher, of the McLean Hospital, Belmont, Massachusetts,
it was concluded that childhood abuse and neglect contributes to “permanent physical changes to the developing brain—changes that
could cause psychological problems in adulthood.” One of the interesting patterns detected was in the bridge between the two hemispheres
of the brain: “Neglect was the more likely factor to reduce the size of the bridge in boys, but sexual abuse had no effect. In girls,
sexual abuse was associated with a decrease in the size, but neglect had no effect.”
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN BOYS ARE NOT ALLOWED TO
BE BOYS?
(January 2001) Parent Power: The Education of Boys,
implies the answer to the above question is that boys’ writing skills are significantly below girls’ skill levels. Boys outnumber
girls in special education classes three to one. Boys take fewer Advanced Placement tests, 45% compared to 55% of girls; and fewer
boys than girls are going on to college. A statement by Archibald Montgomery, headmaster of the all-boys’ Gilman School in Baltimore,
Maryland is quoted: “Schools, for the most part, are dominated by women, and boys are taught to the “rhythm of girls.”
BOY FACES JAIL FOR SLAPPING GIRL’S BOTTOM
(January 3, 2001) The Electronic Telegraph, reported a teenage
boy in Northern New Mexico is facing the possibility of two years in a juvenile prison for slapping a “girl on the bottom for a joke.”
The girl did not complain, the girl’s mother said she would not have pressed charges and the boy’s mother said, “It’s political correctness
gone mad.” However, a teacher who saw the incident reported it to the police who “are using forensic scientists to determine the force
of the slap to decide whether to charge the boy with criminal sexual contact or merely assault and battery.”
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