school

Michelle Obama’s campaign against America’s obesity problem is starting with school lunches, but perhaps there’s an aspect of the obesity problem that no one’s focusing on: the socioeconomic element.

In a seminar covered by Lylah Alphonse at the Children’s Museum in Boston, two researchers — Dr. Elizabeth Goodman and Dr. Beth DeFrino — explained how social and biological factors affect the health of children, of which there are many. Mrs. Obama might be on the right track by improving school lunches, but it might be more difficult than it sounds. How is an already budget-crunched school system supposed to improve its cafeteria meals?

“With cash-strapped schools cutting recess and sports programs in order to make ends meet, children are spending more sedentary time at their desks and less time being physically active — if they’re at school at all,” Lylah writes.

She also cites a few startling statistics. Overweight/obese children are 59% more likely to miss more than two weeks of school, and since schools with low test scores due to No Child Left Behind, they are at even higher risk of obesity.

“Having to work to put food on the table trumps the hallowed family dinner hour, and if the only stores you have access to don’t carry fresh produce — or if it’s prohibitively expensive — you can’t tout ‘eat leafy greens’ as the solution.”

From In The Parenthood.

Do you think your high schooler spends too much time socializing and not enough time studying? This may not be a bad thing, according to a new study from the University of California, Los Angeles. A survey of 629 12th graders revealed that students with the highest GPAs were the students with the most friends.

Actually, it wasn’t just “most friends” but “most friends that attended the same school.” “We found that within an adolescent’s friendship group, those with a higher proportion of friends who attended the same school received higher grades,” said Melissa R. Witkow, the study’s lead.

That doesn’t mean friends from outside school are harmful.

“These friendships are still important in terms of fulfilling adolescents’ social needs, and they are not necessarily always detrimental to achievement,” Witkow said. “For instance, friendships that form in academic settings outside of school, such as at an enrichment class, may very well promote achievement.”

We’ve been told (by television mostly) that high achievers are treated as outcasts in school, but really, maybe high-achieving students have the most friends because they do so well in school.

From USA Today.

I’ll be honest: I have no idea how certain things become popular with kids. For example, Zhu Zhu Pets? I would never have guessed in a million years that fake hamsters would be the Tickle-Me Elmo of 2009. The latest hot thing are Silly Bandz, colorful, stretchy bracelets. Now, schools in Texas, Pennsylvania, New York, and Florida for being distracting or even dangerous.

Apparently the main reason for the ban is that kids are using them as “projectiles and stingers.” Makes sense. They are BRACELETS. Also, there seems to be a conflicting message, because many schools are using Silly Bandz as rewards or selling them at fundraisers.

Do you think Silly Bandz should be banned? Also, can someone explain the appeal?

From On Deadline. Photo by glassblower.

Sending our little ones off to kindergarten is probably one of the most memorable milestones we’ll reach as parents. It’s an exciting time, but it can be emotional and take some adjustment on the part of both the parent and the child.

Most children today start school with some sort of previous experience in preschool. This not only prepares them academically, but emotionally as well. In spite of that, we all still know the difference between attending preschool and going into “big kid school” is huge.

My youngest completes her last week of preschool this week. And in the fall she will embark on the journey that is kindergarten. Lucky for me, I’ve done this before and have a little insight into ways I can better prepare her for school.
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It’s to be expected that some cheating goes on in high school. A survey at a Midwestern high school asked anonymous juniors about their experiences with dishonest academics. It turns out high school kids cheat frequently. OK, very frequently.

87% of kids admitted to looking at someone else’s answers during a test; 70% said they had studied from or provided test questions/answers. More than half said they had worked with a partner on take-home tests. And while we all know the book is better than the movie, more than half of the students said they had watched a film adaptation to do a book report.

Interestingly, all of the students asked agreed that they believed cheating was wrong. So it’s not a case of moral dissonance, but deliberately doing something they know is wrong. Have the pressure of getting good grades pushed kids too far? Or are they just being lazy?

From Strollerderby. Photo by zeligfilm.

I think we can all agree that public schools are underfunded, and that volunteer parents are an invaluable part of what helps out kids’ education system. But what if volunteering were made mandatory? In San Jose, CA, the Alum Rock Union Elementary School District is working on a proposal to require the families of its 13,000 to commit to at least 30 hours of volunteering each school year.

Proponents of the required volunteering say that parents helping out the school system creates a strong “culture of parent-guardian-family participation.” The effect is greater than the work itself; it encourages student achievement, and gets parents actively involved in their kids’ lives.

But on the other hand, do we want to force help from parents who have no interest in being there? Would it even be feasible to ask 30 hours from parents? Also, I guess we wouldn’t necessarily call it “volunteering” anymore.

What do you think — is mandatory parental involvement at schools a good idea?

From the New York Times. Photo by Writing Program PTW.

It’s May. I know that it’s May based on the weather and of course the calendar says it is. But there is another way that I can tell what time of year it is: my kids have gone crazy. Before you start jumping to conclusions, I can assure you that it’s not just me. All the moms I chat with at the kid’s schools, at birthday parties or moms I run into simply out and about, all end up saying the same thing to me. “I don’t know what is going on with my kids but…”

Whether it’s a bad attitude, being overly emotional, more sibling bickering, or just general unruly behavior it seems that all the kids have something going on.

All kids go through phases and periods, just like adults, when they are a little more cranky than usual. But this appears to be happening to all the kids we know. After about the 20th conversation I had regarding this odd phenomenon, I began to give it some serious thought. And I came up with something.
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According to the U.S. Department of Education, 223,190 students aged from preschool through high school were the victim of institutionalized violence at least once in 2006-2007. Of those legally beaten kids, over 20,000 had to seek medical attention. Now, Congress is considering a federal ban on corporal punishment.

Right now, corporal punishment is legal in 20 states, even though 97 of the 100 largest U.S. school districts have banned it. Canada, the UK, Australia, and many other countries have outlawed corporal punishment.

At the Huffington Post, Anthony Adams asks, “Since 30 states currently outlaw corporal punishment, what is so different in the lagging 20? Are the students somehow worse behaved? Are the teachers less capable of non-violent classroom management?”

So banning the practice entirely makes sense, right? What do you think?

Story from the Huffington Post.

I think April Fools jokes are pretty tacky, but that’s largely because most of them are uninspired. But this is one I can get behind:

You might remember the same teacher’s very excellent Halloween prank.

Does recess need adult supervision? The California-based nonprofit Playworks thinks so. They’re planning to hire recess coaches — adults that monitor recess play and encourage kids to participate in playground activities — at 170 schools across the country. The upside of the coaches is that it cuts down on disciplinary referrals and injuries.

“Before, I was seeing nosebleeds, busted lips, and students being a danger to themselves and others,” said Alejandro Echevarria, the principal. “Now, Coach Brandi does miracles with 20 cones and three handballs.”

But it sounds like they’ve turned recess into gym class.
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