Judge OK’s Student Gay Rights Club

Staff / Truthdig Apr 7, 2007 A federal judge has ruled that Florida's Okeechobee High School must grant the same privileges to the Gay-Straight Alliance that it grants to other student clubs. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

We Must Learn Again

Paul Cummins / Truthdig Apr 4, 2007 The author takes aim at the shortcomings of the contemporary American educational system, laments the current state of arts education, and wonders what exactly schools are preparing younger generations to do -- and become. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Married With Children in the Minority

Staff / Truthdig Mar 4, 2007 Fewer than a quarter of American households contain a married couple with children, down from half in 1960. While the numbers are lower across the board, the nuclear family appears to have become a luxury, with wealthier people far more likely to marry before having children. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Harvard Chooses First Woman President

Staff / Truthdig Feb 10, 2007 A year after its president was forced to resign because of a controversial remark about gender, Harvard University is about to appoint its first woman president. The promotion of Drew Gilpin Faust, a historian, will end a 371-year-long drought of female leadership at one of the nation's oldest institutions. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Sports Stars Try to Level the Academic Playing Field

Staff / Truthdig Feb 2, 2007 Basketball superstar Baron Davis and the Chicago Bears' Brendon Ayanbadejo have started an organization to raise awareness of the dwindling enrollment of minority students at their alma mater, UCLA. California's anti-affirmative action Prop. 209 has had a devastating effect: This year's freshman class of 5,000 contains fewer than 100 African American students, 20 of them on athletic scholarship. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Leaving Children Behind

Paul Cummins / Truthdig Jan 31, 2007 The No Child Left Behind Act's relentless focus on testing blinds us to the egregious funding shortages that plague our nation's public schools. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Paul Cummins: We Reap What We Sow

Paul Cummins / Truthdig Jan 18, 2007 A wildly successful Venezuelan governmental program that makes free musical instruments and training available to all children should serve as a model for the U.S. as we struggle to keep guns out of kids' hands. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Paul Cummins: Writing Poetry Beats Armed Robbery

Paul Cummins / Truthdig Jan 4, 2007 An enrichment program for incarcerated L.A. youths is proving that non-punitive rehabilitation can and does work. Dig deeper ( 4 Min. Read )

With Luck, They’ll Die With the Old Year

Staff / Truthdig Jan 1, 2007 Lake Superior State University has recommended the banishment of 16 words and phrases from the English language, including "Brangelina" and "ask your doctor." The annual list targets expressions that are irritating, overused or generally ill-applied. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

More Trouble for Ahmadinejad

Staff / Truthdig Dec 21, 2006 The student movement that led to revolution in Iran may now be setting its sights on the country's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was protested last week during an appearance at the same university where the 1979 takeover of the U.S. Embassy was planned. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

95% of Americans Have Had Premarital Sex

Staff / Truthdig Dec 20, 2006 A new study of 38,000 Americans has found that 95 percent had premarital sex, challenging the wisdom of the abstinence-only sex education programs favored by the Bush administration According to the study's author: "It would be more effective to provide young people with the skills and information they need to be safe once they become sexually active -- which nearly everyone eventually will". Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Paul Cummins: Turning Around L.A. Unified

Paul Cummins / Truthdig Dec 20, 2006 We're never going to make any progress reforming the nation's most dysfunctional school systems unless we first address the segregation that partitions our communities. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )