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News & Views - July, 2001 Issue (page
1)
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Page 1 of 3 - Next
STOCK INCREASES FOR VALUES EDUCATION
(March 1, 2001) The Chicago Tribune reported the “Character
Counts” values-education program has caught the attention of the Bush White House. In the Chicago area alone, 126 schools have signed
on to use the program, 60 in the last year. If Congress signs on to President Bush’s pledge to triple federal funding for values education,
it could mean $25 million in grants for character education next year.
KINDERGARTEN COMES TOO SOON FOR BOYS?
(March 2, 2001) Dr. Leonard Sax, a Maryland family physician and psychologist published a report in the March issue
of Psychology of Men and Masculinity that claims the kindergarten curriculum “has had the effect of emphasizing boys’ weaknesses and
girls’ strengths.” Sax says “the average 5-year-old boy is performing at a level of verbal skill that is, on average, at least one
year behind the average 5-year-old girl.” He considers the “high rates of Ritalin prescriptions for young boys and the fact nearly
twice as many boys as girls are kept behind a year at some point in their education are evidence the system is not working for boys.”
STUDY CONCLUDES PETS INCREASE ASTHMA CASES (March 6, 2001) The Arizona
Republic, at reported a study showing that “asthma cases could drop nearly 40% among Americans younger than age 6 if susceptible
children didn’t have pets or other allergy triggers in their homes. The study, conducted by Dr. Bruce Lanphear, associate professor
of pediatrics at Children’s Hospital Medical Center in Cincinnati, appears in the March issue of Pediatrics. Based on an analysis
of data on 8,257 children younger than 6, it found “children with pet allergies were 24 times more likely to have asthma than those
without.”
STATE LIMITS RESTRAINTS IN CLASS
March 6, 2001) The Ottaway News reported the Massachusetts Board of Education new
regulations now prohibit schools from using restraints on students for disciplinary reasons. Allowing restraints to be used only when
students pose “imminent physical harm” to themselves or others, the new state regulations are still faulted by many for not banning
prone, floor restraints.
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