Two education stories out today are indirectly related, but tied together they will spell the future of public education in California. First, Education Secretary Arne Duncan laid out the Obama Administration’s goals for sweeping national reforms today, including longer school days, longer school year and more performance pay. Then EdSource reported on the differences between California and the Obama plan, which could jeopardize millions in education spending for our state. What form will education reform eventually take?
Can a winning student essay help change a national policy? Col. Om Prakash's piece called "The Efficacy of Don't Ask, Don't Tell," written when he was a student at the National War College, might just do that. Published in the journal Joint Force Quarterly, the essay offers a challenge to the 16 year old policy. Prakash writes that "don't ask, don't tell…forces a compromise in integrity" that is "damaging to the unit cohesion its stated purpose is to preserve."
NASA’s LCROSS spacecraft is scheduled to hit the Moon’s surface early tomorrow morning. LCROSS’s mission is to confirm the “presence or absence of water ice” on the South Pole of the Moon’s surface. We’ll talk to a NASA scientist about the impending impact and check-in on a local school that’s working with NASA on the project.
Last week the Senate Finance Committee passed a health care reform bill by an unusually bipartisan 18-4 vote. The bill included a stick-and-carrot “wellness provision” modeled after Safeway’s health insurance system, which rewards non-smoking, low BMI employees with low premiums, and arguably penalizes smoking or obese employees with higher rates. CEO Steve Burd says it’s kept their healthcare costs flat and lowered his employees’ obesity rates, but the American Heart Association and American Cancer Association say it’s a clever way to discriminate.
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Is there any other word in the English language that is so ubiquitous, so feared, so loved and so reviled, all at the same time? Jesse Sheidlower’s book “The F-Word” is one-stop shopping for all of us who are fascinated and disgusted by the notorious f-bomb, as he lays out the history of the word and its illimitable uses. From its uses in politics, pop culture, the school yard—and some noteworthy international f-ed up phrases—come celebrate the F-Word with us!
Patt Morrison is known for its innovative discussions of local politics and culture, as well as its presentation of the effects of national and world news on Southern California.
