Free Republic

Deputy Minister of Religious Affairs Eli Ben-Dahan (Jewish Home) on the first day of classes Monday visited the “Reishit” school in Tel Aviv, a rapidly growing religious school in the traditionally secular city. At the school, located in southern Tel Aviv, Ben-Dahan spoke before hundreds of students. Reishit boasts some 400 students, the highest number in its history. If the students "work hard they can get to anywhere they want. Any one of you can be an IDF general, a rabbi, minister, or director of a large company," remarked Ben-Dahan at the school. "We need faith in religious and state...

Students at Eastern Michigan University pursuing teaching degrees are not happy with a union promoted boycott of their services. The Washtenaw County Education Association, which is an affiliate of the Michigan Education Association, sent letters to each of the eight districts its members represent urging them not to accept student teachers from EMU because of the university affiliation with the Education Achievement Authority, MLive reported. Gov. Rick Snyder started the EAA, which is a special borderless district the state's most severely under-performing schools are placed in. Six of the eight districts in Washtenaw County support locking student teachers from EMU...

SACRAMENTO – A sweeping $3 billion agreement to give hundreds of low-performing schools smaller classes, more qualified teachers and additional counselors was revealed yesterday by the Schwarzenegger administration and the California Teachers Association. The proposal would create one of the largest pilot programs in state history, targeting 600 struggling schools heavily populated with minority students. As the Legislature worked feverishly to complete business for the year by tomorrow night's deadline, lawmakers also advanced several notable bills that would: Provide prescription drug discounts for about 5 million uninsured or underinsured residents. Make illegal immigrant students eligible for higher education financial aid...

Rocky Mountain News   To print this page, select File then Print from your browser URL: http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/speak_out/article/0,2777,DRMN_23970_4404152,00.html Speakout: Public schools given too many protections in sex abuse casesBy Suann Malone MaierJanuary 21, 2006State legislators are back in session. As a mother and a teacher, I have a suggestion for them. Every day my husband and I put our 15-year-old son Dan on the bus to his public school. Over the years, Dan's had many wonderful teachers. Most of the adults he meets at his public school, in sports and at our local church treat him with kindness. We're grateful....

The achievement gap between minority and white students has long been a stain on the bright mosaic of culturally and racially diverse school districts.From North Jersey to Cleveland to San Diego, whites as a group generally score considerably better on standardized tests than their minority peers. Whites also tend to enroll in more honors classes, while minorities are more prevalent in remedial courses.Now, one Bergen County district is introducing a sweeping concept that it hopes will bridge its gap by addressing a wide range of possible roadblocks to academic success.The initiative includes dozens of ideas. Some are in the talking...

Religious freedom sacrificed on the altar of the state 19dec03 Following the recommendation of a committee of French MPs, French President Jacques Chirac yesterday called for a new law banning conspicuous forms of religious dress in public schools. Not surprisingly, this has met an angry response from French religious leaders; the implications for their congregations are obvious. The significance of the recommendation, however, is counter-intuitive. It has more profound implications for secularism than it does for those it immediately affects. This is because it threatens the paradigmatic foundations of liberal secular thought. To the extent this decision embodies a development...

<p>Ronald J. Pestritto Mr. Pestritto, a home-schooling parent, is an adjunct fellow of the Claremont Institute and an associate professor of politics at the University of Dallas.</p> <p>The state of California is attacking the enemy of civilization: home schooling. This assault on home schooling - and the general hostility to private education - provides a lesson about the greed and ideology that drives the public school establishment and the unions that control it.</p>