The American Library Association got more than 400 requests to ban books last year. But most of those requests were unsuccessful, because of librarians, teachers, parents, students and other people who make sure books stay on shelves.
It\’s a scene straight out of the worst-case scenario parent handbook. Our child — a normally happy student — lands the \”Teacher From the Black Lagoon.\” She\’s evil, he tells us shaking in his Air Jordans. Not to mention out to get him. How can he possibly be expected to learn when his teacher is the scholastic version of Attila the Hun?
Five brief pieces, on the following: Shalhevet School\’s recent winning streak, Camp Ramah\’s new solar panels, a five-day summer workshop that shows teachers how to use studying the holocaust to teach morality, an opportunity to serve abroad as part of the \”Jewish Peace Corps,\” and a recent Prejudice Awareness Summit at the University of Judaism.
A leading contender in next week\’s L.A. school board race is at odds with USC and UCLA over his academic standing, the latest in a series of uncomfortable disclosures for Christopher Arellano.
Once upon a time, children didn\’t step into a classroom until kindergarten. There, 5-year-olds got their first real introduction to ABCs and 123s, colors and shapes and how to share and take turns.
In November 2003, California voters recalled Gov. Gray Davis and replaced him with Arnold Schwarzenegger. White voters backed the recall by a large margin, but Jewish voters swam against the tide, with 69 percent voting against the recall. On the second part of the ballot, where voters chose a replacement candidate, Schwarzenegger collected a surprising 31 percent of Jewish voters.
I suggested then in these pages that Schwarzenegger might eventually do well with Jews: \”Jewish voters aren\’t likely to abandon the Democratic Party anytime soon, but will likely give Arnold Schwarzenegger a chance to prove that he can govern in a bipartisan, moderate manner…. If Schwarzenegger truly seeks to solve the state\’s problems without being a tool of right-wing forces, and with an open-minded, progressive approach, he may find a surprising number of friends among California\’s Democratic-leaning Jewish voters.\”
Chance given, chance blown.
This month\’s Political Journal is a tale of two labor disputes. One is dragging on and on; the other has come to a peaceful conclusion just when it seemed there might be a strike ahead.
Several times during my visit with Rabbi Karmi Gross at Maimonides Academy, coaches and kids came to pull balls out of the corner of his tiny office in a prefab building smack in the middle of the schoolyard.
Often I find myself staring at walls or lying on my bed staring at the ceiling, blank-minded. But I am not one who has the luxury to be blank-minded. There is too much to do — not by will, but by force.
More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.