Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Poe's Corner For Episode 025 - School Bans

GET POE'S CORNER HERE. it ain't on no iTunes!


In the UK David Attenborough & Richard Dawkins are calling for creationism to be banned from school syllabus and evolution to be required and started earlier.  Meanwhile in the United States…


#1  http://www.boston.com/news/
A group in one Massachusetts town wants to ban students from reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in the public schools, saying it has no educational value and is reminiscent of totalitarian regimes.  Brookline Political Action for Peace will ask town meeting voters in November to pass a nonbinding resolution on the idea. The pledge is already optional in the Boston suburb's schools.  Marty Rosenthal, a lawyer and co-chairman of the group, tells the Boston Herald the pledge is "at odds with America's most important traditions." He says he is not being unpatriotic.

#2  http://www.kval.com
The water bottle ban started at the beginning of the school year for McKenzie School District middle and high school students.  "We can't have closed water bottles at all," said high school student Sydney King. "We have to have them open, we have to fill them up between passing periods."  According to superintendent Sally Storm, the ban is in response to students caught sneaking alcohol into school in water bottles over the past few years.

#3  http://www.fourthestatenewspaper.com/
The De Pere School District however thinks it has figured out a way to fight childhood obesity. Now on picture day, children are not allowed to say cheese anymore—but instead have to say peas.  "We are trying to promote healthy living and options," said Dr. Stuart Mart, Superintendent of De Pere's school district. "Let's face it, cheese is not that good for people to eat."  St. Norbert's professor of psychology, Dr. Phillip Schmitt, did a study and found that when kids hear something, they want to have it immediately.

Which is the satire and which two are the actual stories of efforts to change U.S. schools "for the better"?  Links to the source articles after the break...

  1. http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2011/09/08/mass_groups_seeks_school_pledge_of_allegiance_ban/
  2. http://www.kval.com/news/local/130238783.html
  3. http://www.fourthestatenewspaper.com/off-the-wall/de-pere-cuts-the-cheese-on-picture-day-1.2589157#.TnuUT-wxoxw

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