TheLoop21.com

No more Senior Year?

by annie
Senior year, the most highly anticipated year of high school, might be optional for some students. Allowing senior year to be an option makes me think what high school would have been like if I knew 12 grade was not mandatory.

Utah State Sen. Chris Buttars initially proposed that the 12th grade be hacked from the education system statewide, CNNMoney reports. But the senator is now suggesting that Utah make senior year of high school optional. Butter hopes to provide financial incentives for students who opt to graduate early, which could save the state $102 million annually.

Buttars hopes his program will help spread the word about early graduation, provide students with grants up to $2,000 toward a college education, and ultimately reduce the school district's $30 million deficit by a third.

And the protests over tuition, education begin

by annie
Rallies and protests over education cutbacks are beginning. Students, teachers, parents and many others on more than 100 campuses are planning protests and walkouts over the major budget cuts, layoffs and tuition increases.

Students in at least 32 states are expected to join the grass-roots campaign, USA Today reports. This has been boiling up since demonstrations last fall in California, where students, faculty and unions protested plans for a 32 percent tuition increase amid the state's fiscal crisis.

Compete to get President Obama to come to your high school graduation

by annie
Who would ever think the president of this country would take part in one of the most memorable moments in a teen's life? While the first lady fights against childhood obesity, President Obama is preparing to speak at someone's high school graduation.

The White House and the Education Department are giving public high schools the opportunity to compete to have the president speak at their commencement ceremony this spring, USA Today reports.

The winning school must demonstrate how it's helping prepare students to meet Obama's goal of the U.S. having the highest proportion of college graduates in the world by 2020.

Big Brother spies on students and families through laptops

by annie
Big Brother is watching you. Literally!

A federal lawsuit accuses a suburban Philadelphia school district of spying on students at home through school-issued laptop webcams, The Associated Press reports.

Families found out after an assistant principal spoke to a student about inappropriate behavior at home, showing a photograph taken by the laptop.

Computerworld says approximately 1,800 students at the district's two high schools have been given laptops as part of a state- and federally-funded "one-to-one" student-to-laptop initiative.

Since when is doodling cause for arrest?

by annie
I'm sure all of us can remember those times in junior high when we doodled on our desks, writing our names and thinking of the people who would end up reading it in the future. Did it ever cross your mind that doodling on your desk could land you in jail?

Well, a 12-year-old New York City junior high student has been arrested for doodling on her desk with a marker, USA Today reports. Alexa Gonzalez scribbled "Lex was here 2/1/10" on her desk and also wrote "I love my friends Abby and Faith." She says the doodles could have been erased.

The young girl was released several hours after she was taken in handcuffs to a police station.

A death threat or just venting on Facebook?

by annie
The new craze in self-expression is social media. Sites like Facebook and Twitter allow people to say what they want, when they want and sometimes say things they don't mean. So how far do online rights go? 

A senior at Martin Luther King Jr. Magnet High School had some problems with his coaches and expressed himself on Facebook, USA Today reports. Taylor Cummings wrote "I'ma kill em all," as well as other things. He was suspended the next day and expelled Jan. 14, Cummings and his family say.

"We have to take any threat as a potential for being a real threat," says Olivia Brown, spokeswoman for Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools.

College freshmen just want the money

by annie
From business owners to college freshmen, everyone's thinking about which career moves lead to financial security the fastest. If you've already graduated from college, then what was your main goal when you were a freshman? Many students go to college in order to have a more comfortable life in the future, but the degree of importance in making those dollars has definitely changed.

A record 78.1 percent of college freshman identified "being well-off financially" as a very important objective, USA Today reports. The shocking part in this is that's higher than any other item on the list of choices, including "raising a family" (74.7 percent) or "helping others in difficulty" (69.1 percent).

Notre Dame newspaper apologizes for anti-gay cartoon

by annie
First it was the Obama chimp cartoon and now it's the anti-gay cartoon. When will they ever learn? Controversial issues, such as same-sex marriage, are bound to be hot topics, but how far does freedom of speech or expression really go?

An editor of the independent student newspaper for the University of Notre Dame and Saint Mary's College has resigned for a cartoon that made a joke about violence against gays, Chicago Tribune reports. The cartoon depicts a conversation that says the "easiest way to turn a fruit into a vegetable" is with "a baseball bat."

Students under more stress now than during the Great Depression

by annie
How much stress can a student handle? I mean, really? There have been a lot of student protests and even walkouts, but how high are the stress levels for current high school and college students?

Many students have had to face the tough decision of dropping out of college due to financial reasons. Others are needing to squeeze more of their wallets in order to pay for school, books, housing, etc. So besides studying and keeping their grades on track, students are facing much more stress than ever before.

Junior ROTC programs increase exposure to young students

by annie
When the economy is at a low point and joblessness is heightened, new recruits increase greatly in the military. Different military programs for high schools and middle schools are now seeing great increases as well.

The Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps program at Asheville High School has helped William Michaels keep his anger under control, USA Today reports. The high school senior says he doesn't get in trouble much anymore, thanks to leadership skills shaped by Junior ROTC. "It's more than a class. It's like a giant support group," says Michaels.