Domestic Glance
An unprecedented study that followed several thousand undergraduates through four years of college found that large numbers didn't learn the critical thinking, complex reasoning and written communication skills that are widely assumed to be at the core of a college education.
Many of the students graduated without knowing how to sift fact from opinion, make a clear written argument or objectively review conflicting reports of a situation or event, according to New York University sociologist Richard Arum, lead author of the study. The students, for example, couldn't determine the cause of an increase in neighborhood crime or how best to respond without being swayed by emotional testimony and political spin.
Another American mass shooting. Another rush to buy more guns. On the Monday after the latest of the bloody rampages that are part of American life, gun sales in Arizona shot up by more than 60 percent and rose by an average of five percent across the entire country.
A local couple who spent more than a year trying to help feed the homeless has been ordered to stop because they didn't have a permit.
The Obama administration on Friday announced the most wide-ranging liberalization of travel and money-sending regulations to Cuba in over a decade, making it easier for American students and religious and cultural groups to visit the Communist-ruled island.
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was shot in the head by a gunman at a public event on Saturday. There are conflicting reports about whether she was killed. The Pima County, Ariz., sheriff's office told member station KJZZ the 40-year-old Democrat was killed. At least nine other people, including members of her staff, were injured.
The class began with a Mayan-inspired chant and a vigorous round of coordinated hand clapping. The classroom walls featured protest signs, including one that said “United Together in La Lucha!” — the struggle. Although open to any student at Tucson High Magnet School, nearly all of those attending Curtis Acosta’s Latino literature class on a recent morning were Mexican-American.
A team of historians have racked up a long list of big errors in two social studies textbooks custom-written for Virginia schools. In the books published by Five Ponds Press, students will find that 12 states joined the Confederacy instead of 11, Thomas Jefferson began his presidency in 1800 instead of 1801 and the United States entered World War I in 1916 instead of 1917.
