5th Graders Against Homework

Benjamin Berrafato, a fifth grade student from Seldon, New York, is fed up with homework and he's not going to take it anymore. In an open letter to his peers, Berrafato urges his fellow fifth graders to "unite against homework" and makes a case for why it should be abolished. Berrafato argues that homework is "cruel, inhumane, stressful, unhealthy," and ultimately, illegal: "Homework is assigned to students like me, without our permission. Teachers expect us to do homework, even though we'd rather not. It can be hard sometimes. We get punished if we don't do it. If we do it, we get no reward; we just don't get punished. Simply put, if we don't, we get punished, and if we do, our reward is ... nothing.
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Weapons of Mass Instruction: John Taylor Gatto's New Book

A Schoolteacher's Journey Through the Dark World of Compulsory Schooling: John Taylor Gatto's Weapons of Mass Instruction focuses on mechanisms of familiar schooling that cripple imagination, discourage critical thinking, and create a false view of learning as a by-product of rote-memorization drills. Gatto's earlier book, Dumbing Us Down, put that now-famous expression of the title into common use worldwide. Weapons of Mass Instruction promises to add another chilling metaphor to the brief against schooling.
Read full article (or comment)  |  Book's page on Amazon

Why kids hate school: sociologists explore issue in new book

University of Texas at Arlington Sociology Professors Ben Agger and Beth Anne Shelton, say the problem of ineffective education cannot be remedied by more math courses and rounds of educational testing. Agger and Shelton, co-authors of a book titled, “I Hate School: Why American Kids are Turned Off Learning,” contend that by the time American students are in junior high and high school, they hate school and cannot wait to finish an acceptable terminal level of education and establish careers and families, mimicking the suburban lifestyles of their parents.
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How to convince your parents to let you drop out of school

New article (by Oni-Chiisu): How to convince your parents to allow you to drop out of school, and/or to get a GED. Dropping out to get your GED is a tedious process because a lot of parents remain blissfully ignorant of what exactly dropping out means for the drop out and what you can accomplish with a GED. I’m going to cover that subject. (Read full article)

17-yr-old catches typo in standardized test

"...while taking his state writing test last week, the East High junior saw something that didn't make sense: The word "emission" -- as in "the emission of greenhouse gases" -- was spelled "omission." "I thought, 'Surely they're not talking about leaving out carbon dioxide altogether.' It just didn't make sense," said Stanford, 17. "It had to be a mistake." It was. Stanford, a linebacker and International Baccalaureate student, alerted English teacher Jennifer Fry, who alerted the district test coordinator, who alerted state education officials, who were, as you might imagine, embarrassed.
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Boy becomes father at 13

Baby-faced Alfie, who is 13 but looks more like eight, became a father four days ago when his girlfriend Chantelle Steadman gave birth to 7lb 3oz Maisie Roxanne. He told how he and Chantelle, 15, decided against an abortion after discovering she was pregnant. The shy lad, whose voice has not yet broken, said: “I thought it would be good to have a baby. “I didn’t think about how we would afford it. I don’t really get pocket money. My dad sometimes gives me £10.”
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North Carolina boy shot on a school bus

A middle school student who was showing off a handgun brought from home shot a friend in the leg aboard a school bus Wednesday, and the wounded boy is recovering, authorities said. Lawrence Lavon Muzzon, the father of the boy who was suspected of bringing the gun on the bus, was arrested and charged in warrants with failing to store a firearm to protect a minor, authorities said.
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Judges accused of jailing kids for cash

For years, the juvenile court system in Wilkes-Barre operated like a conveyor belt: Youngsters were brought before judges without a lawyer, given hearings that lasted only a minute or two, and then sent off to juvenile prison for months for minor offenses. The explanation, prosecutors say, was corruption on the bench. In one of the most shocking cases of courtroom graft on record, two Pennsylvania judges have been charged with taking millions of dollars in kickbacks to send teenagers to two privately run youth detention centers.
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Nine-Year-Old Creates iPhone Applications

He's only nine years old, and he's already done something most of us could never do: create an iPhone application. Lim Ding Wen, a Singapore native, created a new app for the iPhone called Doodle Kids, according to Fox News. The program lets users draw pictures with their fingers right onto the iPhone's touchscreen. To clear the screen, you just shake the phone.
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10 year old hangs himself at school

A 10-year-old boy found hanging in an Evanston school restroom had threatened to take his life, sources said today, underscoring experts' warnings to take cries for help seriously even from the very young. Scolded by a teacher, Aquan Lewis responded with a threat to kill himself the same day his body was discovered, said sources familiar with the investigation. The 5th grader hanged himself Tuesday afternoon by his shirt collar on a hook in an Oakton Elementary School restroom stall where a footprint was found on a toilet, a source said.
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Woman rapes man in Colorado

A 53-year-old Longmont woman was arrested Wednesday on suspicion that she drugged a male friend during a backyard barbecue and then raped him, police said. Janice Lynette McCarl was booked into the Boulder County Jail at 7:40 p.m. Wednesday on suspicion of sexual assault, a class-three felony. “She allegedly took unwanted advantage of this friend in a manner he did not want or approve of,” Lewis said. The man told detectives the incident happened on Nov. 9 at his Longmont house and involved “unwanted penetration.”
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Tranquility Bay Closed

Widely hated torture camp Tranquility Bay has closed down. Jamaican government officials have confirmed that the last inmate left the country on 5 January, 2009. All equipment from Tranquility Bay is being sold. It is believed that the closure is due to new passport requirements and illegal loans.
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Learning outside classes, civilization and animal souls (forum posts)

Saving Civilization
Concerning Animal Spirituality
On Men of learning
A suggestion on learning things outside of classes

Free Education Revolution

The Free Education Revolution is a rapidly growing revolution which aims to spread awareness about compulsory schooling and its flaws. Our aim is to make school optional, and we intend to do this by informing and educating people about the flawed school system. FER is owned by no one and is controlled by no one, it is a free and open revolution.

Propaganda, success, arguing and suicide (forum posts)

Success
Suicide Selfish?
Arguing anti-school positions
Pro-School is happy
Is propaganda exercising freedom of speech?

Device allows parents to track their children to within 10ft

A satellite tracking device that will allow parents to plot their child's location to within 10ft will go on sale in the UK in March, its manufacturer said. Concerned parents will be able to receive text or email updates of their child's location. Nu.M8, thought to be the world's first GPS locator device specifically designed to be worn by children, is concealed within a digital watch. It can be securely fastened to a child's wrist and will trigger an alert if forcibly removed.
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Teen killed mother in Halo 3 row

A US teenager killed his mother and wounded his father in revenge after they took away his violent computer game, a judge has ruled. The defence team for Daniel Petric, 17, had argued his addiction to the Halo 3 game, in which players shoot invading aliens, had made him insane. But the judge rejected this, saying he had planned revenge for weeks. Petric, of Ohio, was tried as an adult and faces a maximum possible penalty of life in prison without parole.
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Homework could be illegal in Poland

(Old news, but still interesting) The Schoolchildren’s Rights Spokesman has just launched a battle against setting work to do at home. The spokesman has concluded that homework is not legal, because school has no right to decide on what children do at home; moreover homework is a restriction of freedom and the right to rest, as provided by the Constitution of Childrens’ Rights.
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Police Boss Says No To DARE In Suffolk County

Suffolk County's police department is dropping DARE, the widespread school anti-drug program that has faced questions about its effectiveness, the police commissioner said. Commissioner Richard Dormer said Thursday he aimed to replace DARE with another drug-prevention program, but some local lawmakers objected to the idea. After nearly 20 years in Suffolk County, DARE isn't working, Dormer told local lawmakers Thursday. The program's 26 police officers teach fifth- and seventh-graders about the dangers of drugs, spending an hour a week in a given classroom for 10 weeks.
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Revolution, punishment and the afterlife (forum posts)

Afterlife Knowledge
what punishments do you think would work in school
A Revolution Update
We're not a Minority
Lonely?

Convincing your parents to consider alternative schooling

Something new from the wiki: Convincing your parents or legal guardian to consider alternative schooling (or no schooling at all for that matter) is tricky, but if done efficiently it may be one of the prime factors that decides your fate and whether or not your parents will back you on any decisions you make yourself.
http://wiki.school-survival.net/Convincing_Parents

Online Pedo Threat Grossly Overestimated

The Internet may not be such a dangerous place for children after all. A task force created by 49 state attorneys general to look into the problem of sexual solicitation of children online has concluded that there really is not a significant problem. The findings ran counter to popular perceptions of online dangers as reinforced by depictions in the news media like NBC’s “To Catch a Predator” series.
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Man forces kids to walk 10 miles in below freezing weather

A man in Idaho is charged with second degree murder after forcing his two children ,11 and 12. to walk 10 miles in -4 degrees centigrade (25 degrees Fahrenheit) weather. The single father of two was driving his children to see their mother when they hit a snow drift. Instead of waiting it out in the car he told his children to walk the remaining 10 miles to their mother's house.
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Compassion, factory work and good teachers (forum posts)

(Long time no forum update, sorry 'bout that)
Unconditional Love
The Elements of a Good Teacher
They are even forcing us to work in factories?
Feeling compassion toward your enemies...

Parents upset after teacher asks students to shave his face

Young girls say teacher had them shave his beard, then told them not to tell anyone about it. Mr. McLane had the class participate in a face-shaving activity with an electric razor as a story starter for a writing assignment. He later instructed the students that if they told they would not have a Christmas Party. Dr. Julia Johnson, a licensed educational psychologist in Southern California, said the event could lead to deep anxiety and confusion among the children in the classroom.
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