I Speak of Dreams

Learn from Your Mistakes

"Here are some helpful links for figuring out what's going wrong with test-taking, homework, and reports."  From the The Eide Neurolearning Blog

How To: Use Search Strategies

The Public Library of Science published an article very helpful for physicians,
Using Search Engines to Find Online Medical Information  by Mohammad Al-Ubaydli
The article's utility isn't limited to physicians, however, as it is a very helpful, clear article on how to use search engines, including links to engines with specialized features.  Thank you, Dr. Al-Ubaydli!

Son Expelled, Parents File Suit

At Milton Academy, at least one girl offered oral sex to several boys on several occasions.  The girl was 15 at the time, and the boys ranged in age from 16 to 18.  Some of the sex acts occured on campus, and others were off campus.

Five boys were expelled. Three of the expelled boys were arrested, charged, and convicted of  engaging in sex with a minor.   James Driscoll, Alexander Casiano, Pasko Skarica were sentenced to two years probation and 100 hours of community service for engaging in sex with a minor.

Mr. Driscoll's family have filed suit, "claiming their son was wrongfully questioned by school staff and coerced into signing a confession. The suit also claims school officials made incriminating and false statements to the media.  The Driscolls are seeking damages and want Milton Academy to revise their son's final transcript and their disciplinary procedures."

Sources:
Boston.com Feb. 20 2005
Boston.com March 3 2005
Boston Magazine
CBS Boston January 30 2006

Previous posts on private school litigation:

Student Expelled for Parent's Actions (in this case, I think the suit had merit)
Misguided Parents: The Beaths
The Caplin Suit (in this case, I think the suit had merit)
Misguided Parents: The Glod Suit
The California Lutheran High School Suit  (in this case, I think the suit has merit)
The Covenant Christian Academy Suit (I am more ambivalent about this suit)
Misguided Parents: The Lubin Suit (also against Milton Academy)
The Cheating Scandal at Landon School (I think this case had merit)

Tags:
milton academy
school expulsion
private school

Academic Freedom Under Attack: Michael Berurbe

Michael Bérubé has an excellent essay on the attack on academic freedom:

Not all college professors are liberals, and attacks on academic freedom are dangerous partly because, in some instances, they can undermine the intellectual autonomy of conservative professors.  And I don’t believe that this is the same old same old, either.  What we’re seeing today is actually unprecedented, for two reasons.  One is demographic: college professors have, in the aggregate, become more liberal over the past thirty-five years—though, as I’ll explain later on, most of the studies that have been done on this subject in the past three years are exercises in cooking the data.  The other is strategic: for the first time in American history, there is an organized, national campaign to undermine academic freedom by appealing to the ideal of . . .  academic freedom.  And the reason it’s enjoyed such success in recent years is that so few people—faculty, students, and state legislators included—seem to have a good grasp of what academic freedom really means.

Read the rest.  You may also wish to read the discussion at Making Light.

Failing Schools

David Warlick writes an imaginary letter from a principal, reflecting on schools' failure to prepare students for the future.

Even though my school wears the banners of success, your child is not being prepared for the challenges and opportunities of the future. For this, I am deeply sorry. Our education system gives us no reason to change. It is only for the sake of our children, and that seems not to be enough.

It is the battle-cry of Landmarks for Schools

This Web site is dedicated to the idea that the very nature of information is changing, practically before our eyes. It is changing in what it looks like, where we find it, what we look at to view it, what we can do with it, and how we communicate it. Here you will find information and tools designed to help us redefine literacy for the 21st Century.

Insurance

Ira Kirschenbaum has some good advice this morning:

I have been reading posts about insurance companies not paying for this or that. Remember, that is their only product- the ability to pay or not. They are nothing more than risk brokers. If you viewed them as a local grocery store, they would be one that sold only one product- lottery tickets. Except in this game, the insurance execs get the money and the patients get sicker.

In dealing with insurance companies do the following:
(go read the post to find out).

Suspended for MySpace Parody

Another teen in trouble for MySpace and criticisms of school administrators:

Justin Layshock is a senior at Hickory High School in the  Hermitage School District, in Pennsylvania.

On December 10, 2005, using his grandmother's computer, Layshock created a parodic MySpace profile purporting to be that of his principal.  The profile  "often poked fun at Trosch's apparent heft by using the word "big" before phrases."  Another question on the profile asked, "What did you do on your last birthday?".  Layshock had the site read: "too drunk to remember."

Layshock included  a photograph of Mr. Trosch, from the school's Web site.

On December 13, 2005, Layshock tried to take the site down, but it had already been removed, evidently by MySpace management.

Dyslexia in the First Person

Peg Elliot Mayo writes a first-person account of having mild dyslexia, while sadly repeating the tired disinformation about letter reversals:

While I claim only cursory information about the problem — anyone can Google the word — I’ve a lifetime of observing and experiencing it. Understand dyslexia is more than not being able to distinguish “b” from “d” or “p.” Or of reversing, erratically, syllables and words. This is the most common manifestation, but there are subsets.

[snip]

For me, reading and writing are tonal or oral. I hear what I read or write as if the words were spoken aloud. My writing is like taking dictation, which is why I detest professional articles both to read and to write — no artistry, no alliteration nor storytelling there. Just the monotonous drone of fact-driven opinion in the dullest possible format. When I read, I’m highly tuned to the sound of the material, retaining little visual memory.

Tags: dyslexia learning disability

So what’s the problem? Oh just the little matter of being blind to typos, practicing free-form spelling and careening commas. Editors and readers don’t like that. For them, it is as if I’d painted their living room with a mop and never cleaned up the dribbles nor smoothed the lumpy surface.

I think it has cost me respect from agents and publishers: my work looks unkempt, as if I don’t care. Wrong again: I do.

She's found ways around the "unkemptness".

Expelled for Homosexuality: Private University

Paul Lewis was dismissed from the graduate program in chiropractic at the University of Bridgeport, barred from campus, and required to  undergo psychiatric treatment as a condition of re-enrollment.

Paul Lewis, 55, alleges that university officials held a disciplinary hearing last spring and charged him with making other students uncomfortable because of his homosexual behavior, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday in Milford Superior Court. After the May 18 hearing, university officials barred Lewis from the campus and ordered him to undergo psychiatric treatment before he could return. Officials also ordered Lewis, who was studying for a doctorate in chiropractic medicine, to reapply to the school if he wanted to continue taking classes, the lawsuit states.

Study Skills Assessment

This instrument, the Learning And Study Strategies Inventory (LASSI) is in wide use.  I wonder how many otherwise bright, low-performing kids could benefit from knowing where they could "work smarter".  I think a certain Princessa has some weaknesses here.

The LASSI is a 10-scale, 80-item assessment of students' awareness about and use of learning and study strategies related to skill, will and self-regulation components of strategic learning. The focus is on both covert and overt thoughts, behaviors, attitudes and beliefs that relate to successful learning and that can be altered through educational interventions. Research has repeatedly demonstrated that these factors contribute significantly to success in college and that they can be learned or enhanced through educational interventions such as learning and study skills courses.