Selections from EducationNews.org

EducationNews.org does a good job of selecting both education related news articles from a variety of sources, and listing recent commentaries and reports about education. When I make the time I generally find interesting items. Today was no exception.

One link was to a column titled "School Funding: Any Argument Will Do" by David W. Kirkpatrick, a Senior Education Fellow at the U.S. Freedom Foundation. In the past David Kirkpatrick has written on various topics related to education. This column focused on the illogical reasoning school districts use to fight against funding for charter schools. I think charter schools and vouchers are an improvement over general public schools, but I am afraid that any voucher system will be so watered down by teacher unions, politicians, and other people that it won't be very effective.

Another link was to an article about an incident where a young man in high school was suspended for speaking Spanish at high school. Here are the first two paragraphs:

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Most of the time, 16-year-old Zach Rubio converses in clear, unaccented American teen-speak, a form of English in which the three most common words are "like," "whatever" and "totally." But Zach is also fluent in his dad's native language, Spanish -- and that's what got him suspended from school.

"It was, like, totally not in the classroom," the high school junior said, recalling the infraction. "We were in the, like, hall or whatever, on restroom break. This kid I know, he's like, 'Me prestas un dolar?' ['Will you lend me a dollar?'] Well, he asked in Spanish; it just seemed natural to answer that way. So I'm like, 'No problema.' "
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You got that? Zach was suspended because he responded in Spanish "No problema." to a question given in Spanish. In general Americans recognize the value of knowing more than one language, but for some reason this high school wasn't willing to tolerate anything but English during the restroom breaks. Zach's father asked for a copy of the written policy on only speaking English in high school. The school admitted there wasn't such a written policy and readmitted Zach. It all seems a bit weird that the school would make a bit deal about it.

I have heard of some parents who choose to homeschool who have listed as one of their reasons is so they can pass on their culture. Then they could speak any language they want at home.