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A compendium of news from the world of education
It’s never too late…
One of the world’s most famous music performers admits that being a rock singer can be “intellectually undemanding.” In a June 28 interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today program, Mick Jagger, 70, frontman for the Rolling Stones, said he had once considered becoming a teacher. “A schoolteacher would have been very gratifying, I’m sure,” mused Jagger.
Spelling errors are unfourgivable
It was only after 235 million elementary textbooks were printed that more than 100 errors, ranging from misspellings to errors of grammar to punctuation and geographical mistakes, were detected. Despite the mistakes, Emilio Chuayffet, Mexico’s education secretary, authorized distribution of the textbooks to ensure that his country’s 26 million schoolchildren would have resources when classes started. Chuayffet called the errors “unforgivable” and immediately blamed the country’s previous administration. The textbook scandal is only one of many education-related incidents plaguing the Mexican government. Teachers took to the streets during the summer to protest President Enrique Peña Nieto’s plans to evaluate teachers and fire those who don’t pass. Many teachers in Mexico are unqualified. Before legislation was introduced, teachers could buy or sell their positions. Despite spending more on education than any other member of the 34-nation Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development to which it belongs, Mexico has some of the lowest educational outcomes and only 47 per cent of children graduate.
Yoga is a gateway drug to the occult
A judge in California rejected claims that teaching yoga as part of a public school’s physical fitness program promotes a religion and is therefore unconstitutional. On July 1, Judge John Meyer found that the Encinitas Unified School District, near San Diego, had developed its own non-religious version of yoga. However, Dean Broyles, the lawyer representing parents Stephen and Jennifer Sedlock, who oppose the school teaching yoga to their children, disagreed with the judge’s assessment. Broyles argued that yoga is a religion and does not belong in public schools, adding: “There is a consistent anti-Christian bias in these cases and a pro-Eastern or strange religion bias.” The Sedlocks claimed that displaying a poster with Sanskrit characters, greeting yoga students with the word “Namaste” and teaching yoga poses representing deities was proof that a religion was being taught. In the 2012/13 school year, the school eliminated Sanskrit and Namaste, and renamed the poses with kid-friendly names (the lotus pose was rechristened “crisscross apple sauce”). Nevertheless, Candy Gunther Brown, a professor of religious studies who testified on behalf of the plaintiffs, said yoga indoctrinates Hindu religious practices whether the person knows it or not. Judge Meyer dismissed Brown’s opinion that yoga changes the practitioner’s brain and thoughts, and acts as a “gateway drug to the occult.”
Famous sweater retired
Dale Irby, a physical education teacher in Dallas, Texas, not only retired in June 2013 after teaching for 40 years, he retired the brown sweater vest and polyester shirt that he’d worn every year for the official school photograph. It all started when Irby first began teaching. For two years running, he’d worn the same shirt and vest for the school photo. Irby’s wife, also a teacher, dared him to wear the outfit the following year. “After five pictures it was like, ‘Why stop?’” Irby said.
Alliances deter binge drinking
Gay–straight alliances (GSAs) in high schools have positive effects on students’ drinking habits, a recent study found. The results of the B.C. study, published in the journal Preventive Medicine, indicated that straight students, and girls who identified as lesbian or bisexual, were less likely to binge drink if their schools had a GSA. Schools with established antihomophobia policies “create a very different environment for all students,” commented Elizabeth Saewyc, the study’s senior author and a professor of nursing at UBC. However, the study also discovered that GSAs did not have a significant effect on the drinking habits of gay and bisexual boys. Saewyc said this fact could be tied to society’s ideals on masculinity. “Generally speaking, boys are less likely to get involved in support-type groups than girls are.”
… and milk is a gateway drug, too
Milk has always been considered part of a wholesome school lunch, until now. A vegan and physician group in the United States wants to rid schools of milk because it is “high in sugar, high in fat and high in animal protein that is harmful to, rather than protective of, bone health.”
Back to school with the Walking Dead
Zombies are teaching students about the spread of disease. The STEM program, which features units on forensics, zombies and superheroes, is designed to spark students’ interest in math and science by tapping into the popularity of zombie pandemics. Texas Instruments and the U.S. National Academy of Sciences created the STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) Behind Hollywood program, in which students learn how a zombie disease would attack humans, calculate the rate of the spread of the disease and assess how to control it as they work on creating a vaccine. The program can be downloaded for free (http://education.ti.com/en/us/stem-hollywood).
