Interesting forum topics

On school being a place where you can make mistakes
Simple ways to defy school
Different big bang theory

State Board of Education Approves New Restrictive Homeschool Regulations

Among other things, the new regulations require annual notification of a parent’s intent to homeschool on a future form developed by OSSE (Office of the State Superintendent of Education), maintenance of a portfolio of schoolwork, and up to two annual portfolio reviews by the OSSE to determine whether a homeschool program, in OSSE’s opinion, is providing “regular, thorough instruction” in the required subjects. No guidelines are provided by the Board giving the OSSE arbitrary discretion to implement these provisions.
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Teens Challenged to do Hard Things

Alex and Brett Harris, 19-year-old homeschooled twins, are trying to give adults and teens a wake-up call. In their book, Do Hard Things, they attempt to explode the myth of adolescence. They show that prior to the early 20th century, people were either children or adults. Family and work were the primary occupations of the group we now call “teenagers.” Teens, though it was often driven by economic necessity, were given real-world responsibility. Today, few teens are expected to imitate responsible adults, but are rather immersed in a frivolous peer culture.
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Interesting forum topics

The Control Manifesto
Language Limitations
Why people do things they don't like.

Google Knols and stuff

Google has made this new thing where you can basically create your own personal Wikipedia. The thing about that is that the odds of your "Knol" pages ranking pretty well in the search engines is pretty high... So I'm making a whole bunch of School Survival pages up there. So far I've got: The teenage rebellious stage is a myth, 12 Funny Reasons Why School is Good for You, How to be a good teacher, School Survival (intro page), School Alternatives, and How To Unblock Myspace At School.

US: Help End the Torture of Youth in Residential Programs!

In a move that could have implications for D.C.’s troubled special education system, a panel of lawmakers Wednesday passed sweeping legislation that gives federal authorities the right to inspect private children’s clinics and schools. Proponents of the measure said it would protect children and their families from fly-by-night operators who promise miracle cures to mentally ill or disabled children and then warehouse the children with little regard to their safety or welfare.
Forum Post: Help End the Torture of Youth in Residential Programs!
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Some interesting forum topics (again)

What Is Evil?
What keeps us from being wicked?
Death
Students.

Bill proposed to ban students from wearing bulletproof vests to school

Someone walks into school wearing a bulletproof vest and carrying a gun. What do you do to prevent this from happening in future? Why, ban bulletproof vests, of course!
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Some interesting forum topics

Are there country(ies) without a fucked up school system?
Equality of ages
Jobs w/o skill/college
School violence-what's the cause?

Schools want troops to turn into teachers

Troops to Teachers is a federally funded program that encourages qualified military personnel to become teachers, especially in high-need areas, such as math, science, vocational education and special education.
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Why are public schools so bad at hiring good teachers?

Apparently, getting rid of incompetent teachers is really hard, and it seems there's nothing on a prospective teacher's résumé that indicates how he or she will do in the classroom (oh, the irony). They should make new teachers read this guide before they let them teach :)
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Warning over home alone children

UK: Many parents could face prosecution for leaving their children home alone during the summer holidays, a children's charity has warned. The Children's Legal Centre is calling for clarification of existing law, which fails to specify at what age children can be left on their own. Parents who fall foul of the law can face up to 10 years in prison.
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Call for more searches of pupils

UK: Teachers should be able to search pupils to stop them bringing alcohol and drugs into school, says a review on tackling bad behaviour among pupils.
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Alternatives section expanded - 10 new articles

The alternatives section has been divided into categories: homeschooling & unschooling, online schooling, dropping out/GED, and charter schools. Each of those have 3 new articles in them (except charter schools, which only has one so far). Eventually the alternatives section will (hopefully) contain info about anything anyone would ever want to know about alternatives to school :)  ... I'm also working on adding a section for alternative streams of income and interesting jobs, but that's not up yet.
Here are some of the new articles: Unschooling is Quality Time, The Legal Requirements For Home Schooling in the US, How You Can Prepare For Your GED, Eligibility and Requirements for the GED Test.

Bush signs bill overhauling eavesdropping rules

President Bush signed a bill Thursday that overhauls rules about government eavesdropping and grants immunity to telecommunications companies that helped the U.S. spy on Americans in suspected terrorism cases. He called it "landmark legislation that is vital to the security of our people."
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Alternatives to year 11 and 12 in Australia

How to get into university early and skip the last 2 years of high school in Australia.
Forum Post: Alternatives to year 11 and 12? (Australia)

Google ordered to give YouTube user data to Viacom

A US judge has ordered Google to expose to Viacom the video-viewing habits of everyone who has ever used YouTube in a decision condemned by the Internet giant and privacy advocates. US District Court Judge Louis Stanton backed Viacom's request for data on which YouTube users watch which videos on the website in order to support its case in a billion-dollar copyright lawsuit against Google.
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New webchat

We have a new webchat... this one loads faster, doesn't require Java, and has more features. You can still use the old one too, if you want... just select it before you connect. It doesn't matter which one you pick, they both end up in the same place :)