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OMG!, which is short for “Oh my God,” has been added to the
Oxford English Dictionary online version. Other Internet-inspired expressions being enshrined in that definitive reference tool are LOL, “Laughing Out Loud”; IMHO, “in my humble opinion”; and BFF, “best friends forever.” The dictionary states that the first confirmed use of “OMG” was in 1917.
School fees charged for mandatory courses
Some schools in Ontario are violating the law by charging students fees to attend English and science classes. The parent advocacy group People for Education released a report March 24 stating that six per cent of Ontario high schools charged students fees for English classes and 14 per cent charged fees for science. The group’s report states: “As school-generated funds become entrenched in school budgets, it will become more and more difficult for schools to go without this private funding. But the increased reliance on fees will also inevitably lead to a system of ‘have’ and ‘have not’ schools.” The group is notifying offending schools that they could be contravening provincial law.
Friend or foe
Teachers in Ontario have been advised by the Ontario College of Teachers not to “friend” students on Facebook or follow them on Twitter. Accepting student-initiated friend requests and issuing friend requests to students is verboten, as are exchanging private texts, phone numbers, personal e-mail addresses or photos of a personal nature. Teachers are also instructed to notify students’ parents before using social networks for classroom activities.
Crying foul
A child has been suspended from school for crying. Gary and Heather Clark, parents of six-year-old Brosnon, were notified by Tallwood Elementary School, in Virginia, that their son had been suspended from school for crying in class and disrupting the educational process. According to John Whitehead, president of the Rutherford Institute, a Virginia-based civil liberties organization, “There is a suspension for disruptive behavior on [Brosnon’s] school record now. And that follows you. And it’s cumulative, meaning that if something else happens, he’s now considered a kid who creates problems.” Whitehead, a constitutional attorney, calls the young boy’s suspension perhaps “the most shocking example yet of the extent to which school officials are failing in their duties to create healthy and supportive educational environments for their young charges.”
