“My children have to appear in court,” Erica Russell, the mother of two eighth-grade girls who spent eight hours in jail, said Tuesday. “They were handcuffed, slammed in a wagon, had their mug shots taken and treated like real criminals.”

“They’re all scared,” Ms. Russell said of the two dozen arrested students. “You never know how children will be impacted by that. I was all for some other kind of punishment, but not jail. Who hasn’t had a food fight?”

What do you guys think?  Link (Image from aggrotech’s Photobucket album)

This ad for the Thai Insurance Company features children from the Srisangwan School for the disabled, a project of the Princess Mother’s Volunteer Foundation. Link -via b3ta

The University of Washington Libraries has a very interesting collection of over 450 print advertisements in local magazines, city directories, and theater pamphlets of the Pacific Northwest from 1867 – 1918.

I’m particularly intrigued with this one: The Reed School of Nervous and Backward Children (1906). The ad noted:

The "family physician" notes that this school is not for the exploitation of any "fad" in child training, but is open to the acceptance of the latest developments in its line of work which have received scientific approval.

The parent notes the truly "homelike" atmosphere which is present, as indicated by the entire absence of anything "institutional."

The school was in Detroit, Michigan, and was conducted by Mrs. Frank A. Reed. According to The Handbook of Private Schools (1920) by Porter Sargent:

"Instruction is given in manual and physical training, vocal and instrumental music, drawing, painting, and the usual school subjects. The School for Stuttering and Stammering at the same address is entirely separate"

Link – via Information Junk

“Oreo’s a really smart cat… She keeps up with current events,” said Collins.

Apparently, Collins hardly even lied on the application.

“I did lie about one thing. You have to be 18 to take the test and Oreo is only two, but that could be 18 in cat years. Who knows?” he said.

Link Via Consumerist

After winning the Miss Georgia title Saturday night at the RiverCenter’s Bill Heard Theatre, Miss Capital City Kristina Higgins told pageant officials Sunday morning she wanted to relinquish the crown.

“She just didn’t think that she could fulfill the duties,” said Billy Kendall, secretary for the Miss Georgia Board of Trustees. [...]

In a statement, 24-year-old Higgins suggested her duties as a middle school teacher could interfere with the time commitment that comes with being Miss Georgia.

“Due to my current job responsibilities as a middle school teacher and the responsibilities and time commitment as Miss Georgia, I have decided to not fulfill the duties of Miss Georgia 2009. I am grateful for the opportunity to have been chosen as Miss Georgia and fully support the system and wish Emily Cook the best of luck,” Higgins said in the statement.

Link (Photo: Kristina Higgins from her MySpace account)

After painters misspelled the word "school" on the road, the sign has become the talk of the town, especially for students who attend class nearby.

Students who attend Goulds Elementary School have no problem spelling the word "school," however, whoever painted the word on the pavement spelled the word incorrectly.

Children who are learning to read and write are recommending that whoever painted the misspelled word go back to school.

Link – via Dave Barry’s Blog

Divided between the sexes, the act of snake charming with traditional flute is the role of the men, while the Vadi women care for the snakes and handle them when their husbands or brothers are not around.

‘The training begins at two, the children then are then taught the ancient ways of snake charming until they are ready to take up their roles in our community,’ said chief snake charmer Babanath Mithunath Madari, 60.

‘At twelve the children will know everything that they can know about snakes.

‘They are then ready to continue the traditions of the Vadi tribe which can be stretched back over one thousands years to India’s great Raja’s (kings).’

Link

Korea: Kimchi, a fish, some seaweed looking thing, and some colorful mystery items.

Link

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by notoriousnicholas.

Research in nine state secondary schools in England found that the vast majority of "alpha" girls were thought of as physically attractive by classmates, had long straight hair, wore make-up to school and used lots of hair accessories, when this was allowed by the uniform code.

The "alpha" boys, were perceived to be "cute". Many had gelled or styled shorter hair, carried banded sports bags and wore their ties in a "jaunty" or casual way.

Bright boys’ prowess on the playing field was also an important factor in ensuring they avoided derision.

… and two: have a "fall guy" as a friend:

Researchers also identified a "fall guy" phenomenon whereby alpha pupils gain kudos by having a best friend who is more disruptive at school, while avoiding facing the discipline that is meted out to the friend.

Link

"Going down the halls it is so cramped that it is hard not to touch anyone," Amanda Bollano said. "But if it is accidental, they won’t do anything. If it is intentional, you might get detention."

Patrick Abbazia said that he and his friends like to give each other "knuckles" and to high-five, and that to ban those actions — when fighting is the problem — doesn’t seem right.

"My mom says it’s not good for a person to go all day without touching,” the eighth-grader said.

Link

(Photo: B.K. Angeletti / Connecticut Post)

And what did she get for her trouble? Why, she was found guilty of professional misconduct, of course! Didn’t she ever heard of the adage "no good deeds go unpunished?"

Alex Dolan recorded the footage covertly at four schools in London and Leeds in 2005, exposing apparent attempts by the school to dupe Ofsted inspectors.

A General Teaching Council panel found her guilty of taking advantage of pupils, breaching their trust – and that of colleagues – and abusing her position.

Dolan was praised at a hearing of the panel last week for showing integrity, and acting as a whistleblower to expose conditions in the schools in which she had taught.

But in its judgment, the panel said it did not accept that the public interest issues raised by the film Undercover Teacher justified the use of covert filming.

Link – via Arbroath

Last month, a school in the UK banned the word "school", because it is just too negative:

When’s a school not a school? When the local ‘school’ bans it if you to ask the residents of Sheffield, UK. [...]

Linda Kingdon, headmistress of the academy explained that they had decided at a very early stage to not use the word ‘school’ as it was to be a place of learning, also because many parents had very negative connotations of school.

“Instead we want this to be a place for family learning, where anyone can come. We were able to start from scratch and create a new type of learning experience. There are no whistles or bells or locked doors”, she said.

Link

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Cerebrus.

Unfortunately, I’m sure that some idiot will see that as a challenge instead … – via Rue the Day and Miss Cellania

The Perplexikon, a blog dedicated to documenting the ortographic and linguistic phenomenon of intentional misspellings in brands, trademarks and companies, found this doozie of a school: the Kresmont Kiddie Kollege or … the KKK! Now U know!

Link – via AQFL

Remember when video games were bad for you? Mom and Dad would complain about how they tied up the television, kept you from playing outdoors, ruined your eyesight and wasted your time. That’s a thing of the past. Re-tooled videogames are now helping children and teens boost basic skills in reading, writing and math.

At West Nottinghamshire College in the U.K., computer science teachers were struggling to get teenage students into literacy and numeracy classes. The college needed to take drastic measures to assist “disaffected students”.

The resolution came in the form of Neverwinter Nights, Atari’s popular computer game. Teachers rebuilt the game to deliver educational challenges players must tackle in order to progress.

Link

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by whitespace.

In other news, it costs $200 million a day (!) to run California’s schools!
Let’s give them 10 days off and save $2 billion!

Seema Mehta of the LA Times has the story: Link

But the school officials saw it differently, and declared the his haircut a "gang symbol" and suspended the eight-grader until he got it all shorn off.

Did the school do the right thing? Or are they just being a fuddy duddy? Link [Flash clip]

The boy, whose name wasn’t released, missed the bus, took the keys to his family’s 2005 Ford Taurus and drove nearly six miles toward school while his mother was asleep, police said.

He made at least two 90-degree turns, passed several cars and ran off the rural two-lane road several times before hitting an embankment and utility pole about a mile and a half from school.

The boy told police he learned to drive playing Grand Theft Auto and Monster Truck Jam video games.

"He was very intent on getting to school," said Northumberland County Sheriff Chuck Wilkins. "When he got out of the car, he started walking to school. He did not want to miss breakfast and PE."

That boy sure is motivated to go to school! Link

Recycled paper tubes aren’t just useful for holding architectural blueprints. They can be molded into load-bearing columns, bent into trusses and rapidly assembled, and can be made waterproof and fire resistant. Because paper tubes are available in various thickness and diameters, they can be added to a structure to support more weight as necessary. Ban has said he hopes to build structures a few stories high.

The work is being done by Japanese and Chinese students working together. See pictures of the process, and a completed school at Treehugger. Link -Thanks, Chris Tackett!

Mark Champkins of the Quirky design studio Concentrate asked school teachers their most commonly used phrases … and then print them on these "Mugs of Authority"

Teachers have no need to shout themselves hoarse, repeating the same phrases over and over – now they just need to point at their mug!

(The phrases are: Put That Down, Stop Doing That, and Don’t Mess About.)

Genius! Link

Other tips include structuring time for peer tutoring every day, apologizing to students when necessary and asking students to conduct a "personal skills audit" where they focus on their individual strengths rather than their weaknesses.

The kit, designed to help Queensland teachers address mental health in the classroom, suggests social and emotional wellbeing has been linked to young people’s schooling, among other things.

The education aid has sparked a row in parliament, with deputy opposition leader Mark McArdle calling it "kooky, loony, loopy lefty policies."

Link

Now this is a clever and entertaining classroom prank: here’s Reach! A lecture musical prank by Prangstgrüp, starring Mike Barry with lyrics by Brian Jacobs. Even Prof. James Valentini, who teaches chemistry at Columbia College was amused.

Hit play or go to Link [YouTube] – Thanks Suhan Li!