Dress Codes and Hair

Now I am glad that my school isn’t as restrictive as Desert Wind School in Socorro, TX. There, an 8th grader is missing prom and graduation because of highlights in her hair. Not purple highlights. Not 5 foot long extensions. Just highlights.

New York kids stand up AGAINST standardized tests

I wish my friends and I had thought of this!  Maybe next year.  Time to kill the tests from the grassroots, and that means us in our classrooms.  And I hope that the teacher gets OUT of trouble.

Published on Thursday, May 22, 2008 by New York Daily News
New York 8th-Graders Boycott Practice Exam But Teacher […]

miseducation

This is TAKS week here in the Texas schools. As a 10th grader, I take four tests this year. Some years we take two and other years three or four, but this is the big year that determines how well our school does compared to other schools. For us as students, every year matters because […]

more on sex education

Some teenagers are stupid!  And some are just uninformed.  They NEED to start giving us the real facts or kids will be killing themselves trying to stay healthy.  I wrote about teen pregnancy and sex education previously here and here and here.

Nobody Could Have Predicted…
from Eschaton by Atrios
And on and on…

ORLANDO, Fla. — A recent […]

NY high school kids talk about Obama, race and politics

The kids I know have a lot of opinions about race, but I’d say that in my HS, only about 30% of the kids care at all about politics, and most of them don’t know a lot about the issues. Most opinions are no more complicated that “Dude, that ain’t right.” or “Well he’s a […]

When it’s just fine to abuse kids ….

So, if my parents or guardians made me sleep in a room like this

or spend all of my time lying on the floor face down like this …

they would probably get arrested, right?  Either for child abuse or neglect.
But what about if parents outsourced abusing their kids?  What if they sent thm to places where […]

Cassie’s post discussed on the radio

On Blogging for Choice day, the 35th anniversary of the Roe vs. Wade decision on abortion, I wrote a post for my other blog about anti-abortion eighth graders at a Catholic school. That post was read on the air and discussed on the Head On Radio Network, and you can hear the whole discussion […]

Little kids in jail

When I was 8, 9 and 10 I was a bully. I hit and kicked other kids all the time. I never threatened a teacher though. But I could have.
This little boy threatened his teacher with a plastic knife or fork. And he had to go to jail. Would that happen in other “civilized” […]

Huckabee, the Constitution and the News

Would someone please tell me why the story about Huckabee wanting to change the Constitution and start a theocracy here is NOT in regular newspapers?  I am not allowed to use AlterNet or TPM or the blogs as sources for weekly “current events in politics” assignments.  And if it isn’t even news for a high […]

Helping Poor Students in Texas Schools

Good for these parents and these students! I know that I have gone to all great schools, much better than a lot of them in Texas. You should be able to get a great education even if you are poor, and I hope these families win their lawsuit.

Suit seeks to stop HISD’s $805 […]