BOOT CAMP VIOLENCE
(1999) Sunspot, an online news service based in Maryland, printed a series of articles entitled “Boot Camp Violence.” The articles dated December 5 through December 8, 1999, and an additional reference to a May 6, 2000 article entitled “6 More Fired for Abuse at Boot Camps,” can be found at Sunspot's Archives. Reporters followed 14 participants’ experiences at the state boot camp facility. In a followed up report they learned only one was conforming to probation agreements and 11 have been locked up and are likely to find their way to the state prison system.

NEW DAY FOR THE ACCUSED?
(March 24, 2000) In an editorial, the Wall Street Journal speculated that the country might be experiencing a change of heart regarding school sexual accusations. They referred to a situation in Maryland where a popular long time teacher was accused of sexual misconduct by six girls and one boy. What the WSJ noted as a change, however, was that police decided to continue the investigation with some “skepticism and logic,” instead of what has happened all too often in the past: accept the allegations and prosecute. Eventually, the students’ stories fell apart when they confessed having concocted the stories out of revenge for the teacher’s minor disciplinary action. The students faced consequences and the teacher was allowed to attempt to reconstruct his reputation and life, which had been shattered by the accusations. The WSJ speculated that perhaps the “child sex abuse charge may now be losing some of its sacrosanct status…. If this is the case, this society and its justice system may be at last on the route to recovery from one of the most terrifying spasms of irrationality to have afflicted us in a long while.”

SENATORS APPROVE SCHOOL CHOICE
(June 26, 2000) A survey by the Heritage Foundation, found in the Washington Times weekly edition, June 26-July 2, 2000, reported “Nearly half of U.S. senators and almost as large a proportion of House members have sent or are sending their children to private schools, a privilege still out of reach for most Americans…. In fact, the survey by the Heritage Foundation found that those members of Congress who serve on committees responsible for education are the most likely to send their children to private schools.”

COMPASSION & TRUST TRAINING
(July 1, 2000) Science News, Vol. 158, p. 8, reported that Barry S. Hewlett, an anthropologist at Washington State University in Vancouver, Washington, is studying differences in child rearing in various African tribes. He suggests forager groups might raise their children in ways that enhance compassion and trust in the members of the tribe.

CORE CONFERENCE IN OCTOBER
(July 5, 2000) Heidi Goldsmith, Ex. Dir. Of the Coalition for Residential Education (CORE), Washington D.C. announced the First National Conference on Residential Education for Disadvantaged Children and Youth will be held October 15-17, 2000 at Girard College in Philadelphia. About 20 schools are identified by CORE as having a mission of being “Boarding schools for children from abusive/neglectful homes and poor, violent neighborhoods….” These schools are trying to provide: safety, stability, quality and relevant education, a supportive community, self-esteem building, and structure, for poor and disadvantaged students.

TEEN BIRTH RATE LOWEST IN 60 YEARS
(August 8, 2000) The National Center for Health Statistics released an analysis that teen births are now the lowest in 60 years, reporting 49.6 births last year per 1,000 girls. “The drop was particularly sharp among girls ages 15 to 17, whose rate fell 6 percent from its level in 1998 to 28.7 births per 1,000.”

REBIRTH THERAPY TRAGEDY LEADS TO CHARGES
(August 16, 2000) The Bergen Record reports three therapists and the business manager of a home-based rebirth therapy center in Golden, Colorado were charged with reckless child abuse arising from an April 18 session in Evergreen that resulted in the death of a 10 year old girl. The girl was being treated for reactive attachment disorder. Rebirth therapy is considered to be controversial among professionals who work with that disorder.

ENGLAND TO TACKLE BOYS UNDERACHIEVEMENT
(August 20, 2000) BBC News announced the British Government plans to tackle boys’ underachievement in the public school system by stamping out “the myth among boys that it is ‘cool’ to fail at school.” The action was precipitated by concerns that girls out-performed boys in the A-level exams for the “first time in the exam’s 49-year history.” There are plans to experiment with single sex classes, and encourage more men to enter the teaching profession. The opposition Tories stated “The government is going to have to face up to the fact that, as a consequence of their heavy-handed interference, they have widened the academic gap between the sexes.” (The difference in approaches between the two countries with a comparable problem is intriguing – Lon).

TEACHERS SWITCH OVER PROFICIENCY TESTS
(August 20, 2000) The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported a number of teachers are leaving their fourth grade classes, opting to teach other grades to avoid what they term students’ extreme anxiety about the benchmark proficiency test which necessitated spending most of the class time teaching to the test.

SCHOOL ROLLS HIT RECORD
(August 20, 2000) The USA Today, reported a record number of 53 million US children who are attending public and private elementary and secondary school. They reported the greatest increase to be in the number of high school students.

TRACKING POTENTIAL VIOLENCE IN SCHOOLS
(August 21, 2000) The Los Angeles Times reported many school districts are implementing programs to “identify students bent on violence. Some programs are modeled on law enforcement methods used to track dangerous criminals and analyze workplace dangers. Others are in-depth psychological surveys developed by school districts.” Critics call this an over-reaction that is only profiting those “peddling the threat assessment programs.” Wired also had an article outlining the growing incidence of electronic surveillance in schools.

PH.D CANDIDATES INTO SECONDARY TEACHING
(August 23, 2000) The National Research Council proposed that the anticipated secondary teacher shortage might be partially eased by encouraging current Ph.D candidates in math and sciences to choose that profession. They refer to a poll that reports “at least 36% of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in math and science say they have actively considered high school teaching.

BRAIN-BASED LEARNING
(August 24, 2000) Bill Hendrick, writing for the Cox News Service in the article “Brain-based learning relies on scents, sweets, sounds” outlines some of the new-age techniques being used in schools to enhance academic performance. “Among the stimuli being used in classrooms: peppermint candy (sugar and mint to invigorate); water bottles (to hydrate); aromatherapy (to rouse or calm, depending on the scent); dim lighting (to calm and focus); music (ditto); and walls painted in subdued colors (ditto) .”

ALTERNATIVE CERTIFICATION
(August 24, 2000) The New York Times reported an increasing “number of states and school districts are short-circuiting the usual route to teacher certification with their own crash courses that put new teachers in the classroom after as little as three weeks.” It reported the alternative routes are being driven by a severe and growing teacher shortage.

TEEN JOB CHOICES
(August 25, 2000) A poll by EPIC/MRA polling company in Lansing, Michigan, reported “Military and teaching careers are cool, but life on the Web is not,” summarizing their results: “Finding a fulfilling job that provides them with leisure time and a good salary is what students have said they wanted…. Medical fields and teaching were their top choices.” “People hear about the dot-com workers putting in 70 and 80 hours a week and that doesn’t appeal to them.”

PUBLIC SCHOOL FOR GIRLS
(August 27, 2000) The New York Times carried a story announcing the creation of an all-girl public school in Chicago that specialized in math, science and technology. [The issue of single sex schools and classes has been frequently in the news in the last few years, partly through court decisions denying the same arrangement for boys as a violation of equal opportunity. - Lon]

SALON.COM. QUESTIONS, REPORTS SUCCESS IN WILDERNESS PROGRAMS
(August 30, 2000) SALON.COM, an internet magazine described by some as liberal in orientation, ran a series of three stories about wilderness programs, educational consultants and parenting crises. One story, titled: “I was a hired thug for tough love” gave a powerful description of a girl’s change of heart and insights during a wilderness program. Another article entitled “New education gurus” spoke of how educational consultants “have evolved from being a predominantly white, upper-middle-class privilege to a middle-class phenomenon,” stating that “intrepid parents willing to trek through the market clutter will find more about educational consultants at www.strugglingteens.com. A third article questioned whether America is in the grips of a teen crisis, reporting statistics that show “teenagers aren’t really acting up or out more than they have in the past…If there is a serious problem here, it may be one of parenting and perception, not bad kids.”