Recent elite left/right media discussion and non-discussion of schools demonstrates, as Bob Somerby of Daily Howler says, that ‘no one cares about black kids!’

One month into the Just Say Now Campus Challenge, see which 10 Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) chapters are leading the pack in the competition to collect marijuana legalization petition signatures.

and the Ditz talks shit

Please help. Farm worker families live in homes surrounding fields where the toxic pesticide methyl iodide is applied. A recent scientific study by a national panel said “Adequate control of human exposure would be difficult, if not impossible.” In addition the report raised serious questions about the scientific accuracy of the federal review that was done under the Bush Administration. Please help the UFW and other environmental and farm worker groups ask the EPA to rethink allowing this toxic chemical to be used in our fields.

School administrators caught spying on kids through school-issued laptops–1984 here we come!

Given President Obama’s declared intention to revisit NCLB for the next renewal of ESEA, it is clearly time for Kosers of all stripes to come forward with their proposals for changing the evaluative climate in which the schools operate. I do think there could be more along these line, but an exemplary proposal is now online: Sam Chaltain’s “The Big Picture On School Performance.” This, then, is a critical review of that piece.

(crossposted at Docudharma)

Investment in rebuilding the nation’s infrastructure can put millions of people to work now and improve our country for the long term. The United States has some $2.2 trillion in unmet infrastructure needs. That’s a lot of work that needs to be done, at a time when 26 million people are unemployed or underemployed.

Students are being arrested for being late to class or bringing cell phones to school. This kind of overzealous policing compromises the learning process. A new ACLU report offers guidelines on creating a school environment that is respectful to students while still providing a safe learning environment.

The US went down the wrong path after Columbine, demonizing our kids and turning our schools into way-stations in the road to prisons.