The Click Schooling Review and opportunity forwarded at the bottom is intriguing.  John Stossel provided one program that I suspect won’t be seen in too many classrooms?

John Stossel’s ‘Stupid in America’ [6 Part Series]
Jan. 13, 2006  

"Stupid in America" is a nasty title for a program about public education, but some nasty things are going on in America’s public schools and it’s about time we face up to it.

Kids at New York’s Abraham Lincoln High School told me their teachers are so dull students fall asleep in class. One student said, "You see kids all the time walking in the school smoking weed, you know. It’s a normal thing here."

We tried to bring "20/20" cameras into New York City schools to see for ourselves and show you what’s going on in the schools, but officials wouldn’t allow it.

Washington, D.C., officials steered us to the best classrooms in their district.

We wanted to tape typical classrooms but were turned down in state after state.

Finally, school officials in Washington, D.C., allowed "20/20" to give cameras to a few students who were handpicked at two schools they’d handpicked. One was Woodrow Wilson High. Newsweek says it’s one of the best schools in America. Yet what the students taped didn’t inspire confidence.

Then there are those families who were devastated at the loss of school vouchers in DC.  

The Illinois influence is shameful in this case.  From Roland Martin :

Yet tucked into that bill is an amendment pushed by the president’s former colleague in the Senate, Illinois Democrat Dick Durbin, who used his influence to essentially kill the District of Columbia school vouchers program.

Oh sure, it will be portrayed that the Democrats aren’t killing the program, but the initiative calls for no new students to be allowed entry, unless approved by Congress and the District of Columbia City Council.

And considering that the teachers union has such a death grip on both Democratic-controlled institutions, you can forget about that happening.

Related Illinois Review post: "Put Kids First"- Message to the President

Education policies seem to be heading for more school attendance come rain or shine, snow or cold.  I often wonder how homeschooling will end up in this mix of institutional schooling. Personally, we like a nice cup of tea or hot chocolate and some beneficial reading on those cold, blustery days.  (Out here on our central Illinois farm today, we’re getting the north blowing residue of Tropical Storm Rick.) 

As Mother Jones mag pointed out about private DC school weather-related closings, one could just tell those kids losing their educational opportunities to Toughen Up :

Hopefully someone will point out to the president that the city’s public schools were showing plenty of flint this morning. It was only Washington’s elite who were afraid of a little ice.

By the way, besides Clickschooling, Californian Diane Flynn Keith has been fighting against Universal Preschool for some years.  Check out her UniversalPreschool site.  I’ve gained productive information regarding governmental (and other interested parties) interest in UP.

Read on about a critical thinking resource for all:

CLICKSCHOOLING REVIEW: Recommended Website: Stossel In The Classroom http://stosselintheclassroom.org Age Range: 11 and up (middle school, high school, and college level)

A big THANK YOU to ClickScholar Nancy Hogan for recommending this website "Stossel in the Classroom." Sponsored by the Center for Independent Thought (a non-profit educational foundation) it offers a free DVD each school year that is a compilation of John Stossel’s television programs and specials, along with a teacher guide with lesson plans and ideas for complementary activities. A new DVD is produced each year and, along with the associated resources, is free to teachers (including home educators).

When you get to the site you’ll see John Stossel’s smiling face and learn how to register (free) to get the new "2010 Edition" DVD, as well as an accompanying downloadable "Teacher’s Guide" containing lesson plans, activity suggestions, handouts, and vocabulary. Not only that, but past titles from previous years are available for free as well. In addition to getting the free DVD and resources, you can use the menu at the top of the home page to watch a "Streaming Video" from Stossel on a thought-provoking topic. A new video is posted to the website each month and teacher resources are available too. Past videos are archived at the site covering a variety of categories including business, college, consumer issues, healthcare, law, privacy, and more. You can also search the videos by subject including: *Agriculture *Biology *Business *Chemistry *Civics *Drama *Economics *Engineering *English Language Arts *Government *Health *Journalism *Marketing *Parenting *Political Science *Science *Sociology *US History *World History ~and much more! Again, all of this is provided for FREE - they simply request that you send them your feedback on the website and products to share with fellow teachers/educators. When you register at the site, you will automatically receive the quarterly e-newsletter with convenient links to order the latest free DVD, play the free monthly streaming video clips, and access the featured teacher resources. Diane Flynn Keith for ClickSchooling http://www.ClickSchooling.com Copyright 2009, Diane Flynn Keith, All Rights Reserved.