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Tolerating misbehavior undercuts learning
A six-year-old boy shot and nearly killed his first-grade teacher at a Newport News, Virginia school last week. The teacher was...

Joanne Jacobs
Jan 11, 20232 min read


'You could shoot your eye out'
I saw National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation for the first time on Christmas Eve -- I'm always just a bit behind the culture -- and...

Joanne Jacobs
Dec 26, 20222 min read


'Are my kids going to be scared to come to school?'
Two teen-age boys were killed yesterday, and a boy and girl were wounded as they left their Chicago high school at the end of the day,...

Joanne Jacobs
Dec 17, 20223 min read


Feds push 'threat assessment' to prevent school shootings
The young man who murdered 17 students and staffers at a Parkland, Florida high school he once attended, was sentenced to life in prison...

Joanne Jacobs
Nov 6, 20221 min read


Woke charters stress 'anti-racism,' but parents want excellence
Urban parents' vision of a good school hasn't changed, writes Robert Pondiscio on Education Next. They want "safety, solid academics,...

Joanne Jacobs
Oct 14, 20222 min read


Scared of school: 45% favor arming teachers
I try to imagine Miss Lawson, my kindergarten teacher, packing heat. Mrs. Roston? Miss Bletsch? Of course, in my day, schools didn't have...

Joanne Jacobs
Aug 13, 20221 min read


Second wave of learning loss is coming in ’23-24
Students learned a lot less in remote classes, test scores show. “The achievement loss is far greater than most educators and parents...

Joanne Jacobs
Jun 13, 20221 min read


States limit ‘active shooter’ drills
“Active shooter drills” terrify students, but do they make them any safer? Photo: Education Week When schools do fire drills, they don’t...

Joanne Jacobs
Jun 10, 20221 min read


School police: Do they make students safer?
In response to the shooting of 19 children and two adults, Uvalde, Texas school officials want to hire more police officers, writs Robby...

Joanne Jacobs
Jun 9, 20223 min read


CA school officials must report threats — or not
Photo: Pixabay California school officials would be required to report any “perceived threat” of a mass shooting to law enforcement under...

Joanne Jacobs
Jun 1, 20221 min read


When does adulthood start?
Here's any idea that will infuriate everyone but might do some good: Let's make 21 the official age of adulthood in America. No buying...

Joanne Jacobs
Jun 1, 20222 min read


School shootings are horrible — and very rare
Terrifying parents and children is not useful: School massacres are “exceptionally rare” events, writes John Tierney in City Journal....

Joanne Jacobs
May 29, 20222 min read


The making of a mass murderer
The shooter in the Uvalde, Texas school massacre was “a lonely 18-year-old who was bullied over a childhood speech impediment, suffered...

Joanne Jacobs
May 26, 20222 min read


She watched kids play — security was called
Lenore Skenazy was walking by an elementary school in Queens, when she saw kids playing hopscotch, just as she used to do, and paused to...

Joanne Jacobs
May 14, 20221 min read
Unsafe schools drive away teachers
Classroom violence is driving teachers to quit in Oregon’s Salem-Keizer school district, reports Christine Pitawanich for KGW-TV. Despite...

Joanne Jacobs
May 2, 20222 min read


Has your child ever seen a therapist?
Florida schools are asking for students’ mental health histories on registration forms, reports Julio Ochoa on NPR. Parents worry their...

Joanne Jacobs
Sep 23, 20181 min read


The babysitter is a spycam
spycam is the babysitter, reports Ronda Kaysen in the New York Times. Working parents can use an array of security devices to keep tabs...

Joanne Jacobs
Sep 7, 20181 min read


Spoiled children
A college education isn’t intended to make people think any more, write Greg Lukianoff, a First Amendent specialist, and Jonathan Haidt,...

Joanne Jacobs
Sep 5, 20182 min read


Back to school — nervously
Notebooks, pencils, ruler, bulletproof backpack panel . . . Sales are up for “ballistic protection” for schoolchildren, reports Kevin...

Joanne Jacobs
Sep 4, 20181 min read


How many school shootings? We don’t know
More than two-thirds of school shootings reported by the U.S. Education Department “never happened,” reports NPR. This spring the U.S....

Joanne Jacobs
Aug 28, 20181 min read
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