kerkko.fi

A father marched his two children to a police station to have them charged with assault after catching them attacking another teen. The father was so enraged with his kids that he sold his 17-year-old son's car and 15-year-old daughter's horse as further punishment.

The pair admitted to picking on their bullying victim because he wore glasses, the same reason their father said he was bullied as a child. The father said following the assault, which left the victim with a broken jaw, his two children would face court next month.

Click here to download:

Illustrated-Guide-to-PhD.pdf (23 KB)

(download)

Click here to download:

Illustrated-Guide-to-PhD.pdf (23 KB)

http://matt.might.net/articles/phd-school-in-pictures/

Several months ago, a state-funded school in an illegal Israeli settlement in the West Bank was fined for segregating white Jewish students from non-white Jewish students. Now, the Israeli education ministry has agreed with the white parents' request to allow the school to continue its racial discrimination under private funding. Israeli law does not ban racial discrimination by private organizations, even schools. A court interpreted these laws to also apply to illegal settlements, which are located in areas supposedly under Palestinian control. The Palestinian Authority does not allow racial discrimination, but due to the Israeli military occupation, it has no authority over the area.

15-year-old Cennet Doğanay was banned from classes for wearing a headscarf, as it went against the new French law banning religious signs in schools. She was only allowed into school after shaving her head. Cennet's mother said her daughter had tried everything: "a beret, a bandana, but they still refused to let her into class." Cennet told journalists: "I respect the law but the law does not respect me."

The books in your house matter more to your children than your education or income. A study recently published in the journal Research in Social Stratification and Mobility found that just having books around the house (the more, the better) is correlated with how many years of schooling a child will complete.

The study found that growing up in a household with 500 or more books is "as great an advantage as having university-educated rather than unschooled parents, and twice the advantage of having a professional rather than an unskilled father." Children with 25 books in the family household completed on average two more years of school than children in homes without any books.

There is something in possessing a book that's significantly different from borrowing it, especially for a child. You can write your name in it and keep it always. It transforms you into the kind of person who owns books, a member of the club, as well as part of a family that has them around the house. You're no longer just a visitor to the realm of the written word: You've got a passport.

http://www.salon.com/books/laura_miller/2010/06/02/summer_book_giveaway/

When Veronica Rodriguez opened Wesson Attendance Center's Yearbook, she did not find a trace of her lesbian daughter Ceara Sturgis after a long battle with school officials to include a photo of her daughter wearing a tuxedo in the school's 2010 yearbook. "It's like she's nobody there, even though she's gone to school there for 12 years," Rodriguez said.

"We are informed by legal counsel that decisions of federal courts completely support the district in this regard. It is the desire of the Copiah County School District to inform that its position is not arbitrary, capricious or unlawful, but is based upon sound educational policy and legal precedent," Copiah County Superintendent Ricky Clopton said in a statement.

http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/index.php/site/comments/school_cuts_gay_student_photo_from_yearbook/

A northern Mississippi school district decided not to host a high school prom after a lesbian student demanded she be able to attend with her girlfriend and wear a tuxedo. The Itawamba County School District's policy requires that senior prom dates be of the opposite sex.

"It is our hope that private citizens will organize an event for the juniors and seniors," school district officials said in a statement. "It is in the best interest of the Itawamba County School District, after taking into consideration the education, safety, and well being of our students."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/11/mississippi-prom-canceled_n_494555.html

Laptops issued to high-school students in the well-off Lower Merion School District of Philadelphia have webcams that can be covertly activated by the schools' administrators, who have used this facility to spy on students and even their families.

The spying was revealed when a pupil was disciplined for "improper behavior in his home", and the Vice Principal used a photo taken by the webcam as evidence. The class action suit was brought on behalf of all students issued with the laptops.

http://www.boingboing.net/2010/02/17/school-used-student.html

A teacher at a high school in Queens caught 12-year-old Alexa Gonzalez doodling on her desk with a lime green magic marker. Instead of just erasing it, the school called police and the girl was walked out in handcuffs. A day later, the principal of a public school on Staten Island nearly suspended 9-year-old Patrick Timoney for playing with an action figure who had a 2-inch gun.

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/education/2010/02/06/2010-02-06_grade_for_common_sense_f_.html