February 12 is Darwin Day

Charles Darwin was born on Feb 12, 1809. This was about two generations after Leclerc published a book stating that species are interrelated, and are seen to change over time. Darwin was a bible scholar, and got a degree in Divinity (not science). But his studies of geology and then…

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Keillor: Don’t trash No Child Left Behind just because it is a conservative idea

Garrison Keillor is disturbed that so many children are not being properly educated to read proficiently.   He argues that not all damage being done to our children's education is being done by conservatives.   Face it, the schools are not run by Republican oligarchs in top hats and spats but by…

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Teens stand up to military recruiters

Congratulations to these kids.   They're absolutely justified.  The military has no right to coerce high school students into taking tests that make it easier to recruit the students. The test the kids resisted, the ASVAB is a covert recruiting tool.  If kids want to go to Iraq, let them go to…

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Karl Rove to be this year’s commencement speaker at prominent boarding school.

Here's the announcement by Choate Rosemary Hall in Wallingford, Connecticut, that the "influential" Mr. Rove will inspire the class of '08 with his words at this year's graduation.  Is everyone at the school happy with that announcement?   Not at all, as Marty Kaplan explains.  

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Are we still teaching science at grade schools?

We're barely teaching science at grade schools in the Bay area.  Here are the findings of an extensive October 2007 study done by UC Berkeley.  You can read an article on this study at the website of the San Francisco Chronicle. Here are the main findings of the study: --…

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