Nothing New Under the Sun

By SAM DILLON Randi Weingarten, the New Yorker who is rising to become president of the American Federation of Teachers, says she wants to replace President Bush’s focus on standardized testing with a vision of public schools as community centers that help poor students succeed by offering not only solid classroom lessons but also medical and other services. Ms. Weingarten, 50, was elected Monday to the presidency of the national ...

Black in America. "CNN Presents: Black in America" a six-hour television event, examines the complex issues, successes and struggles of black men, women and families.

(CNN) -- History in the making was how many international newspapers viewed Barack Obama's emergence as Democratic presidential candidate, with the focus on his status as the first ever African-American to win the ticket. Newspapers described Obama as a "political giant slayer." Even before Hillary Clinton admitted defeat in the hard-fought contest, some publications were already dissecting her failed campaign, analyzing where it went wrong and what the future ...

By JEFF ZELENY Senator Barack Obama claimed the Democratic presidential nomination on Tuesday night, prevailing through an epic battle with Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in a primary campaign that inspired millions of voters from every corner of America to demand change in Washington. A last-minute rush of Democratic superdelegates, as well as split results from the final primaries in Montana and South Dakota, pushed Mr. Obama over the threshold of ...

The Prineville science teacher takes the opportunity to push -- gently and politely -- for creativity over testing by CHARLES POPE WASHINGTON -- Moments after getting a slap on the back from President Bush, Oregon teacher Michael Geisen tactfully suggested that the president rethink his landmark No Child Left Behind Act. With a disarming mix of confidence and humor that comes from facing a roomful of seventh graders every weekday, the ...

Other factors skewing results of study, federal officials posit By Kathleen Kennedy Manzo The $1 billion-a-year Reading First program has had no measurable effect on students’ reading comprehension, on average, although participating schools are spending significantly more time teaching the basic skills that researchers say children need to become proficient readers, a major federal report finds. The long-awaited interim report from the Reading First Impact Study Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader, released last ...

from Reuters By Tim Gaynor BISBEE, Ariz (Reuters) - With energy prices going through the roof, an alternative lifestyle powered by solar panels and wind turbines has suddenly become more appealing to some. For architect Todd Bogatay, it has been reality for years. When he bought this breezy patch of scrub-covered mountaintop with views to Mexico more than two decades ago, he was one of only a few Americans with an ...

from ecrivain01 and The Manchurian Letter Do you care about America and the future of the world? If you do, wake up. Start paying attention to the fact that there's a real world out there, and that strange things are happening in it. While the U.S. military is being battered to the point of nearly breaking in Iraq (where we are bogged down now over a war for oil that ...

For decades, concern has been brewing about the dumbed-down popular culture of young people and the impact it has on their futures. Social Nitwitting The dawn of the digital age once aroused our hopes: the Internet, e-mail, blogs, and interactive and ultra-realistic video games promised to yield a generation of sharper, more aware, and intellectually sophisticated children. The terms “information superhighway” and “knowledge economy” entered the lexicon, and we assumed ...

By José M. Alamillo Chicano Studies Research Center, University of California, Los Angeles   "Cinco de Mayo is not just a fiesta anymore, the gringos have taken it on as a good sales pitch. Back then we used the fiesta to accomplish something and made it work for La Raza," remarked Frances Martínez during a personal interview (Martínez 1999). As a longtime organizer of Corona's Cinco de Mayo celebration, Martínez ...