New College in Sarasota, Florida, is part of Florida’s public university system. It has no fraternities or football team, but as Florida’s designated honors college, pumps out Fulbright scholars. It’s “a haven for brainy kids who are high-achieving and intellectually curious,” but may not [...]
Archive for the ‘Schools & Colleges’ Category
GOP House leader wants to talk about school shootings
“House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said legislation alone can’t prevent school shootings and that the U.S. must also have some kind of serious talk,” Huffington Post reported on Thursday, March 30, 2023, in the aftermath of a private Christian school massacre (read story here). M[...]
March 28th, 2023 - 3:31 pm § in Schools & Colleges
Wisconsin school officials won’t let first-graders sing about rainbows
A first-grade teacher in Wisconsin was ordered by school officials to remove a Dolly Parton song called “Rainbowland” from her students’ spring concert. Contacted by news media, the district superintendent pointed to a policy about controversial issues in classrooms. The teacher sa[...]
Florida bans Ruby Bridges movie
A couple days ago, I posted that Florida banned a book about Rosa Parks for school libraries (see posting here). Now, Florida has also banned a Disney movie about Ruby Bridges, the little black girl in the Norman Rockwell painting below (read story here). Why? Because “a parent complained ab[...]
Florida bans “The Life of Rosa Parks”
Technically, it’s under review. But the book was pulled from school library shelves months ago, which effectively prohibits students from reading it, unless they obtain a private copy here. (Read story here.) Florida is a retirement haven for rich (and not-so-rich) East Coasters. The stateR[...]
Just bleed on the desk
Idaho schools won’t provide girls with free tampons, because GOP legislators voted against it, calling it “woke,” “liberal,” and “nanny state” (read story here). That’s despite Idaho’s child poverty rate of 14.4% (see story here), which is nearly[...]
March 23rd, 2023 - 12:14 pm § in Schools & Colleges
Michelangelo gets Florida charter school principal fired
“The principal of Florida’s Tallahassee Classical School is out of a job after parents complained that their sixth-grade children were shown Michelangelo’s 16th century ‘David’ sculpture, with one parent calling it ‘pornographic,'” Huffington Post reported on “[...]
Republican wants kids to go hungry
Whether it’s to force them into dirty, dangerous, low-paying jobs (presumably including elderly and disabled people, mothers with young children, and schoolkids, because that’s who government food assistance goes to), or racism (do you see any white faces in the photo of a food bank line[...]
Flags of our fathers
Jay Collins (photo, right) is an American hero. A career Army sergeant and Green Beret, he returned to duty after losing a leg in combat (see his bio here). Collins, a Republican, was elected to Florida’s state senate in the state’s 2022 “red wave.” The first-termer is among [...]
March 15th, 2023 - 5:11 pm § in America, Biden, Donald Trump, Europe, Foreign Affairs, Politics, Republicans, Russia, Schools & Colleges
Foreign policy …
… is the most important task a president does. It’s literally about war and peace. But this poses a conundrum, because presidential campaigns are waged and won or lost on domestic issues; politics is very much a “what will you do for me” affair. (The softer and more polite wa[...]