In this Slate diary feature, the mother of a fourth-grader in Texas reflects on the pressures and oddities of the TAAS season. Deliberately arbitrary and unscientific, schools selection was based on word of mouth, reputation and experience. It took a week just to narrow the field to five schools of interest. However, according to two experts in childhood development and education, there is more to the study than initial media reports suggest, like better language abilties in these same kids and better short-term memories. Ted Halstead and Michael Lind argue that in order to solve the underlying problem of the American education system, we must equalize school funding on a national basis.
Teachers are tough to come by in the Mississippi Delta.
Pay is low, schools are short on everything except students and the stark poverty of the region discourages even the most eager instructors from sticking around. Hear NPR's Steve Drummond's report . News of possible book banning in South Africa makes commentator Mark Mathabane remember a time when he was willing to risk his life to save Shakespeare. Mathabane fought to rescue the works of Shakespeare, and overheard the white soldiers mock the idea that blacks should be given the chance to learn at all. Tens of thousands of American students may be denied federal financial assistance this year, as the Bush administration steps up enforcement of a 1998 law barring aid to applicants with past drug convictions.