Florida Considers Religious License Plate

If you are one of those people who looks at license plates when you are in the car, you have probably seen all kinds of vanity plates that tell something about the driver. Some plates have names, organizations, or favorite teams. The purpose is obvious. The plate tells everyone what the owner of the car really cares about.

In Florida, several members of the legislature want to offer a plate that includes a Christian cross, a stained-glass window and the words “I Believe.”

The “I Believe” supporters presented a bill that would have allowed Floridians to purchase an “I Believe” plate for an additional $25. The money would have gone to Faith in Teaching, a nonprofit organization in Florida that supports faith-based school activities.

Supporters of the bill argued that if car owners can purchase a license plate to support their favorite athletic team, then they should also be able to express support for their church.

Opponents argued that the religious plate was unconstitutional because of the separation of church and state. They suggested that if the state passed the bill, it would be endorsing a particular religious preference.

On Tuesday, the bill failed to get through committee so it looks like it will not come up for a vote in this year’s legislative session, but it could still be amended to another bill.

If the bill had become a law, Florida would have become the first state to issue a religious license plate. South Carolina is also considering a similar bill that has already received Senate approval.

Source: CNN

BLOG QUESTION
If you were a member of the Florida legislature, how would you have voted on the bill to offer a religious license plate?

Do Real-World Examples Hurt Math Learning?

Do students learn math better when teachers try to relate abstract concepts to real world examples? That was the question asked by a team of researchers at Ohio State University, and their answer is surprising.

They found that students who learned abstract equations without any real world examples did better than students who learned the same concepts with real world examples.

In the experiment, two groups of college students were taught a simple but unfamiliar mathematical system. One group learned the system through pure abstract symbols while the others learned it through concrete examples like combining liquids in measuring cups.

All of the students were then asked to apply what they had learned to a new situation that used the same math. They were told to use their new mathematical system to figure out the rules of a children’s game.

The students who were taught with concrete examples did worse than the students who were taught using abstract symbols.

According to the researchers, the real-world examples got in the way of the math and the students were not able to transfer the knowledge. They found that the students who were given the concrete examples paid too much attention to the actual examples and not enough attention to the abstract concepts.

The research team has seen similar evidence with 11 year-old children, but they admit that more research is needed.

Using “manipulatives” is a popular teaching strategy for young children, but the researchers maintain that there is no research that supports the use of that strategy.

Source: International Herald Tribune

BLOG QUESTION
Do you learn math better when you are taught using real-world examples and manipulatives or when you are taught the abstract math concepts without examples?

Washington DC Considers Bike-Sharing Plan

Officials in Washington, DC have an idea that is good for the environment, will provide inexpensive transportation and could ease traffic congestion. Their idea is a simple one—bicycles.

The city is planning to start a program called SmartBike DC. Officials are planning to put 120 bikes on the streets of DC in 10 locations. For a fee of $40 a month, residents can pick up a three-speed bike at any of these locations and use it for three hours. All they have to do is swipe their membership card and off they go.

While Washington is the first city in the U.S. to try the idea, bike-sharing has been tried in several cities in Europe. In Paris, France and Barcelona, Spain, thousands of bikes are on the streets.

One of the drawbacks to the program in the past has been the theft of the bikes, but new technology may have solved part of the theft problem. Bike-sharers who do not return their bikes after three hours will receive demerits and could lose their renting privilege. If a bike is not returned in 48 hours, the last person who uses it will be charged $200.

In Washington, the cost of the bike-sharing is offset by a sponsor. Clear Channel Outdoor is partnering with the city to put the bikes on the street.

With gas prices increasing and traffic getting worse, a bike for $40 a year may sound like a really good idea for the residents of the city.

Source: New York Times

BLOG QUESTION
Should Scarsdale consider a bike-sharing plan for commuters?

Most Students Use Informal Language in School

This story should make you LOL. According to a recent study, 64 percent of the student participants admitted that they use emoticons and informal English in their formal writing assignments.

The word EMOTICON comes from the two words EMOTE and ICON. An emoticon is an online graphic that expresses an emotion like :).

Half of the students admit that they don’t follow basic capitalization or punctuation rules like capitalizing the first word in a sentence and 38 percent of the students admit that they have used shortcuts like LOL in formal writing.

So, is the use of this informal language a good thing or a problem? While some parents and teachers are concerned, the author of the study is looking at the bright side of the situation.

Amanda Lenhart, the senior research analyst for The Pew Internet and American Life Project, thinks that the use of informal language gives teachers and parents a “teachable moment” that will improve student writing.

Richard Sterling, the chairman of the Commission on Writing at The College Board points out that the rules of language are always changing. According to Mr. Sterling, comma use has decreased over the past few decades. He suggests that perhaps the first word of the sentence will not be capitalized in the future.

Finally, the study found that most students do not use their computers for school work. Two-thirds of the students said they use longhand for their school assignments and 75 percent of the students use longhand for personal letters.

Source: MSNBC

BLOG QUESTION
Do you think the use of informal language used in text messaging and blogs will cause problems for students when they have to write formal essays in school?

Peanuts and Bullies Do Not Mix

Sarah VanEssendelft is a 14 year-old middle school student in Mastic, New York. Sarah suffers from a serious peanut allergy, a condition that she has had since she was a young child. Many of the girls and boys in her class have known about her allergy since elementary school.

But, now that she is in middle school she has become a victim of bullies who use her allergy against her.

At lunch some of the girls decided they did not want her to sit at their table. To get her to leave, they brought peanut and jelly sandwiches to lunch.

Two weeks later, a boy opened a peanut butter cup near her and Sarah immediately reacted. Her throat felt tight and her lips began to swell. She was rushed to the emergency room for breathing problems.

Even after that experience some of the students did not believe that Sarah’s reaction was real. They thought she was faking to get attention.

Finally, Sarah’s parents asked the school to develop a 504 Disability Plan that treats a peanut allergy the same as it treats other disabilities.

Now all of Sarah’s classes have a no-eating designation. She also has a special chaperone that goes with her on all field trips and her bus has to be swept out and cleaned of peanut residue before she gets on.

Now if she is bullied, the students could be charged with discrimination of a disability.

More students than ever before are being diagnosed with peanut allergies. The number has doubled in the last five years.

New York and four other states already have laws that protect children with peanut allergies and some schools have banned peanuts altogether.

According to a recent report, 79 percent of students claim to have been bullied at some point in school. For those with peanut allergies, the bullying can be fatal.

Source: ABC News

BLOG QUESTION
Should schools adopt a no peanut rule to protect students with allergies?

Court Rules Against Coach in Prayer Case

Marcus Brown was the football coach for the East Brunswick Bears in East Brunswick New Jersey from 1983 to 2005. From the time he started coaching, Mr. Brown led the team in a prayer before the game.

In 2005, the school district received complaints that Coach Brown was leading the prayers. He said that the students were leading them and he was simply a participant.

Coach Brown was told to stop participating. He sued the district for violating his First Amendment right of freedom of speech. A lower court ruled in favor of the coach.

But yesterday, a three judge panel in the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the lower court ruling and found that the school district was right.

All three judges agreed that the coach is not allowed to participate in student-led prayers but they differed slightly on what the coach is allowed to do.

Judge Michael Fisher wrote the lead opinion. He said that because Coach Brown had led prayers in the past, most reasonable people would still think that by lowering his head and kneeling, he was still endorsing religion.

Judge Theodore McKee agreed that by bowing his head and kneeling, the coach is, in effect, endorsing religion as a participant.

The third judge, Maryann Trump Barry, wondered what the coach was supposed to do in that situation. If he stands and holds his head erect or walks away from the group, it could look like he is hostile toward the prayer group.

Coach Brown’s lawyer, Ronald Riccio, plans to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to rule in this matter. Mr. Riccio called the law “murky” and said that some coaches are now allowed to kneel during student-led prayers.

Source: Associated Press

BLOG QUESTION
What do you think a coach should be able to do when his/her team decides to kneel and pray before a game?

French Pass Ultra Thin Model Bill

Have you noticed when you watch TV or look at the ads in a magazine that most of the female models are skinny? In fact, many of the models are ultra-thin and have to go on near starvation diets to maintain their figures.

In 2006, a Brazilian model died because of anorexia, a disorder characterized by a fear of becoming overweight. Because of her death several countries started to look at the dangers of the ultra-thin images within the fashion industry.

Spain banned all ultra-thin models from performing in 2007 and last week French lawmakers and the fashion industry signed an informal agreement to promote healthier body images.

But, one French lawmaker, Valerie Boyer, did not think that the agreement went far enough. She introduced a bill that would make it illegal to publicly promote extreme thinness. Her bill passed the lower house of the French parliament on Tuesday and will now go to the Senate for approval.

If passed, her bill would give judges the power to fine anyone found guilty of promoting extreme unhealthy body image up to $47,000 with possible jail time.

Some members of the fashion industry are unhappy with the bill. Didier Grumbach is the president of the French Federation of Couture.

Mr. Grumbach said, ''Never will we accept in our profession that a judge decides if a young girl is skinny or not skinny. That doesn't exist in the world, and it will certainly not exist in France.”

Some psychologists are also worried about the bill. Maureen Williams, a professor at Brigham Young University in Utah said that it is very difficult to measure the effect of the media on anorexic women. The problem is too complex. She fears that the French bill does not address the complexity of the problem.

Source: Associated Press

BLOG QUESTION
Do you think seeing images of ultra thin female models in magazines or on TV affects the eating habits of teenage girls?

Healthy Lunches May Cost Too Much Money

Have you ever heard the phrase, ‘between a rock and a hard place?’ It is used to describe a situation where both options cause problems for the person making the decision. That is the situation that many school lunch coordinators find themselves.

One of the strategies used to fight childhood obesity is to provide healthier, more nutritious lunches in schools. But, nutritious food sometimes costs more money, so now school lunch coordinators have to decide whether to spend extra money for a more nutritious lunch or to cut back on some of the nutritious choices that were offered in the past.

Most schools receive money from the federal government to provide lunch to students who may not be able to afford it. Schools also are able to purchase food at reduced rates.

But, the Washington Post reports that the cost of foods like milk, grain, fruits and vegetables are getting so high that schools are now either replacing them with less nutritious substitutes or charging more for lunch.

Part of the problem is that the federal lunch program is not matching the rise in food cost so schools find themselves in that ‘rock and a hard place’ situation.

In New York City, the price of milk went up $3 million last year so the city cut back on vegetables so they could afford milk.

In North Carolina, Yoo Hoo was banned in schools but now is back because children are willing to pay extra for Yoo Hoo and that extra money can be used to pay for more nutritious foods.

What should school lunch coordinators do? Should they charge more for a more nutritious lunch or should they cut back on some of the healthier food choices to make sure that all students can afford lunch?

Source: Washington Post

BLOG QUESTION
If you were responsible for lunch in your school, what would you do? Would you use healthier foods that cost more or would you spend less for less nutritious food?

Will Obama's "Bitter" Comment Hurt Him?

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are still going head-to-head for the Democratic presidential nomination. The next big primary is in Pennsylvania where both candidates are campaigning before the election on April 22.

The big news on the campaign trail is about what Mr. Obama said last week at a private fundraiser in San Francisco, California.

He was explaining how hard it is for him to win over some middle class voters when he said, “It’s not surprising, then, they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”

Mrs. Clinton wasted no time attacking Mr. Obama’s comments. She accused him of being out of touch with the problems of the middle class. She said he sounded like an elitist and that his comments were arrogant.

Mrs. Clinton is trying to take advantage of Mr. Obama’s ‘mistake’ and Mr. Obama is trying to get past it.

On Saturday, Mr. Obama said, “"If I worded things in a way that made people offended, I deeply regret that."

Mrs. Clinton kept the pressure on while speaking at her family home in Scranton, Pennsylvania. She said that Mr. Obama’s comments could cost the Democratic Party the election in November.

She added that the Democratic Party has been seen as out of touch by male candidates in the past, and she criticized Mr. Obama for not owning up to the comments.

Source: MSNBC, www.barackobama.com

BLOG QUESTION
Do you think Mr. Obama’s statement is as bad as Mrs. Clinton says it is?

Presidential Candidates Comment on Olympics

Demonstrators around the world are using the Olympic torch’s journey from Greece to Beijing as an opportunity to express their views about China’s handling of the Tibet situation.

The Olympics are supposed to be about the unity of all people through sports. The overlapped Olympic rings symbolize the five populated continents linked together as one. But, throughout the history of the Olympics, politics has played a major role.

The 2008 Olympics appears to be headed in the same direction. The question that now is being asked of all world leaders is whether they will boycott the opening ceremonies to show their disfavor with China’s human rights problems.

So where do the U.S. leaders stand on the issue? President Bush has said at this point that he will attend the opening ceremonies because the Games are not about politics; they are about sports.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has publicly stated that the President should not attend because of China’s handling of Tibet. Now the three candidates for president have taken their positions on the issue.

Republican John McCain said yesterday that if he were president, he would only go to the opening ceremonies if China improves its record on human rights.

McCain said, “I would say right now it depends on Chinese behavior. Unless there is some progress with the Dalai Lama, including conversations with him, including stopping this brutal crackdown that we're seeing in Tibet, then I would make the decision not to go. But I would say to the Chinese, 'Look. Clean up your act here. This is not acceptable.'"

Barack Obama joined Hillary Clinton in calling for President Bush to boycott the opening ceremonies. Mr. Obama hedged a little when he added that it is still a little early to make a final decision.

Source: USA Today

BLOG QUESTION
Do you think the Olympic Games should be considered off-limits for all political issues even human rights issues like Tibet and Darfur?

HS Student Finds Mistake in History Book

Have you ever seen something in one of your textbooks that you thought might not be correct? Matthew LaClair, a senior at Kearny High School in Kearny New Jersey was upset by some of the information in the book he was using in his Advanced Placement social studies class.

The book is called “American Government.” It was written by two college professors, James Wilson and John Dilulio. Both men are politically conservative.

Matthew was most upset by the book’s treatment of global warming. In the 2005 edition, the book included the following passage: "science doesn't know whether we are experiencing a dangerous level of global warming or how bad the greenhouse effect is, if it exists at all."

Matthew took his concern to the Center for Inquiry in Amherst New York. The center reviewed Matthew’s concerns and completely agreed with his view. The center notified the publisher of the book, Houghton Mifflin Co.

A spokesperson for Houghton Mifflin said that the company is working with the authors to evaluate Matthew’s concerns. The publisher has already changed some of the material in its latest edition.

The 2007 edition of the same book has a different quote about global warming. It says, "Science doesn't know how bad the greenhouse effect is."

This is not the first time in the news for Matthew LaClair. A couple of years ago he taped a lesson in which his teacher made some religious remarks to his students. The teacher was very popular and many students and teachers were unhappy with Matthew.

Matthew says that he is not trying to stir up trouble. It’s just that when he sees something that is incorrect, he tries to fix it.

Source: Ed Week

BLOG QUESTION
Do you think Matthew was right to raise questions about the book his class was using?

Venezuela Bans "The Simpsons"

If you are a fan of The Simpsons, you should probably not plan to visit Venezuela. Yesterday, a Venezuelan TV station pulled the plug on the show because it was ruled inappropriate for children.

The government agency responsible for television content ruled that the program could violate national regulations prohibiting “messages that go against the whole education of adolescent boys and girls.”

The Simpsons was airing at 11 a.m. on Televen TV. The program has not received a complete ban; it is just not allowed to air in that time slot. The network may decide to air it at another time.

The president of Venezuela is Hugo Chavez. He was elected to his position and serves as both the head of the state and the head of the government. He was elected in 1998 and then re-elected in 2000 and 2006. He has been a vocal critic of the United States.

Mr. Chavez was influential in the decision to take The Simpsons off the air. According to a spokesperson for the network, the station had not received any complaints about the show. In fact, the show had more viewers than any other show in the history of the station.

The spokesperson added that she received a call from the government agency saying that they had received complaints.

The station replaced The Simpsons with Baywatch, a show that features female lifeguards in bikinis and “hunky” male lifeguards.

Source: Fox News

BLOG QUESTION
Do you think The Simpsons is an inappropriate show for adolescents?

Can Schools Help Kids Eat Healthy?

Can schools help kids eat healthy and stay active? A new study just released provides some good news and some bad news. Five elementary schools in Philadelphia Pennsylvania participated in a two-year experiment conducted by Temple University.

The 1,349 students involved in the experiment were in grades four to six. At the beginning of the program, 40 percent of the students were overweight.

The schools replaced soda with juice. They banned all candy and limited snacks. When kids made good food choices, they were rewarded with tickets they could use to purchase bikes, jump ropes and other athletic equipment. Students were also encouraged to go to fitness centers during recess.

The schools did not stop there. Teachers taught nutrition lessons and there were meetings held with parents to talk about healthy eating habits and fitness activities. Students were also weighed regularly in the nurse’s office.

So what happened after two years? The good news is that half as many students got fat in the five experimental schools as compared to the schools that were not in the experiment. Also, in the experimental schools the overall number of overweight students decreased by 15 percent. At the other schools the number of overweight students increased.

The bad news is that even after all of the work that was done in the five schools, 7 percent of the students still became overweight during the two year experiment.

The researchers said that they learned that programs in schools need to start at an early age and that physical activity is just as important as healthy eating habits.

They suggested that the programs should also include stores around the schools that sell food to children. They learned during the research that the average student spent $2.00 a day on snacks and that the snacks included about 600 calories.

Source: Education Week

BLOG QUESTION
Do you think your school should make any changes in the food that is served, the activities that are part of physical education and recess or the health curriculum that teaches you about nutrition and fitness?

5th Grader Finds Mistake at Smithsonian

Kenton Stufflebeam is an 11 year-old 5th grader from Allegan Michigan. He is in Mr. John Chapman’s class at Alamo Elementary School near Kalamazoo Michigan.

Kenton and his family visited Washington DC over the winter break and like many tourists they went to the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History.

When they got to the Tower of Time, a display that tells about prehistoric time, Kenton noticed a sign on the exhibit that referred to the Precambrian Era.

Kenton had learned from Mr. Chapman that the period of history called Precambrian was not considered an era; it is a timeless period from the beginning of the Earth to the Cambrian Period.

Kenton told his father and they both went to the museum’s information booth. Kenton filled out a comment card explaining his concern.

Three months later, Kenton received a letter from the Smithsonian. It appears that Kenton was right and the museum was wrong. In fact, it was a mistake that the scientists working at the museum had been upset about for a long time.

The Tower of Time exhibit was built 27 years ago and Kenton was the only person during that entire period of time to pick up on the mistake.

So what did the museum do? Did they have to take down the exhibit? Not exactly. A simple paint job did the trick. They just painted out the word “era” and the mistake was corrected.

Source: MSNBC

BLOG QUESTION
Have you ever seen a mistake that a museum, newspaper or school made that you were able to correct?

Yukon Wildlife Reserve: Let's Make a Deal

The Yukon Flats National Wildlife Reserve is in Alaska just south of the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve (ANWAR). It is owned by Doyon Ltd., one of thirteen Alaskan Native corporations established by Congress. The corporation owns 12.5 million acres and is the largest landowner in North American.

Doyon wants to make a deal with the U.S. government. It wants to trade 110,000 acres of oil-rich land in the Yukon Flats Reserve along with the mineral rights to another 97,000 acres for 150,000 acres of bird-friendly wetlands.

Supporters of the deal want to get it done before the next election. President Bush could make the trade happen with an executive order before he leaves office.

Doyon believes that the trade will provide money to its shareholders while still preserving the land that is so important to them.

But, not everyone loves the deal. Many residents of Alaska, including many who are Doyon shareholders, are worried that the deal will bring with it oil pollution that will harm the environment.

Others are worried that the money that Doyon shareholders will receive will bring with it lifestyle problems like drugs, alcohol and poachers.

Environmentalists also oppose drilling for oil in the Reserve. The Reserve is home to moose, grizzly and black bears and many other mammals. Its lakes and streams are also the breeding grounds for many of Alaska’s duck population.

How oil rich is the Yukon Reserve? It is estimated that the Reserve holds about 173 million barrels of oil. At current usage rates that is enough for only nine days of U.S. consumption.

Source: MSNBC, Doyon Ltd.

BLOG QUESTION
If you were the President, would you make the deal?

Student Gets Zero for Religious Drawing

A high school senior in Madison, Wisconsin is suing his school district for giving him a zero on an art project because he included a religious symbol in his drawing.

The student, known only by his initials AP, was asked to draw a landscape in an art class taught by Ms. Julie Millin. When he added a cross to the drawing and a Bible verse reference, the teacher refused to accept the work and asked him to remove it from the drawing. He refused and she gave him a zero.

The school district has a policy against the use of violence, sex or religious beliefs in artwork. The teacher claims that when AP signed the agreement at the beginning of the course, he gave up his constitutional rights. She maintains that his artwork was causing a problem in class. She says that students were upset by the work.

AP was outraged by her comment that he had given up his constitutional rights. He tore up the agreement in front of the teacher and received two detentions for his action.

Now AP is suing the school. His lawsuit points out that there are other religious symbols around the school, including Buddha and Hindu figures in a social studies class and a replica of Michaelangelo’s “The Creation of Man” in the school entrance.

According to the lawsuit, AP has suffered unequal treatment because of his religion even though religious expression is protected under the First Amendment of the Constitution.

The lawsuit also states that AP does not give up his constitutional rights because he is in school and had to sign a statement agreeing not to use religious symbols in his work.

Source: Fox News

BLOG QUESTION
Do you think that AP should be allowed to draw a cross in his landscape even though he signed an agreement that he would not use religious symbols in his artwork?

Should President Bush Boycott the Olympics?

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says that President Bush should consider boycotting the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics in August because of China’s poor human rights record.

The President has been critical of China for its handling of the situation in Tibet and will be visiting Chinese President Hu Jintao on August 8 when the opening ceremonies begin.

But at this point, President Bush has decided not to boycott. He has taken the position that the Olympics are about sports not politics.

Speaker Pelosi disagrees. She believes that a presidential boycott of the opening ceremony is appropriate because the purpose of the opening ceremony is to show respect for the Chinese government. She does not think that the U.S. athletes should boycott either the opening ceremony or the Games.

On “Good Morning America” Ms. Pelosi said, "If freedom-loving people throughout the world do not speak out against China's oppression in China and Tibet, we have lost all moral authority to speak on behalf of human rights anywhere in the world.”

Other world leaders are facing the same decision. French President Nicolas Sarkozy has said that he is thinking about skipping the opening ceremonies. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has already decided not to attend and Britain’s Prince Charles has also made up his mind that he will not be there.

Source: CNN

BLOG QUESTION
Do you think President Bush should boycott the opening ceremonies of the Olympics in Beijing?