Voa education report - Few US Schools Now Named for People, Especially Presidents

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is the VOA Special English Education Report. Public schools New York, America's biggest city, commonly have numbers for . But this is unusual. In the United States, the of naming a school often involves parents and the as well as elected school leaders. Researchers say school can show civic values and also shape them. For , naming a school after a historic person becomes a to teach students about that person's importance in history. new study examines the naming of American public schools. study is from the Manhattan Institute, an organization that public policy research. The study shows that fewer and schools are being named after people. Instead, more schools being named after the local area or natural features hills, trees or animals. The researchers say these changes questions about the civic duty of public education. They at seven states with twenty percent of all public students in the country. They found similar results in state: new schools are less likely to be named people. This is true especially with presidents. For example, Arizona, public schools in the past twenty years were fifty times more likely to be named after such as landforms or plants. In Florida, out of almost thousand public schools, the report says five honor George , the nation's first president. Eleven honor the manatee, an sea animal found in that state. In fact, the says that today, a majority of all public school nationwide do not have a single school named after president. School officials say they try to choose names will not offend anyone. For example, a few years , the city of New Orleans banned the naming of school after a person who owned slaves. Other school have rules against naming new schools after any person, or dead. The researchers say naming a school after person can lead to important debates about democratic values. call for more research to identify the causes and of the changes in school names. The causes may changes in American culture as well as in the control of school systems. One area worth exploring, they , is the link between trends in school names and results for public schools on measures of civic education. that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Steinbach. I'm Joan Kornblith.

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Voa education report - Teacher in Space Answers Questions From Students

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is the VOA Special English Education Report. SOUND: "Good , Discovery Center ---- good afternoon. Were happy to be with you. This is Al Drew, Clay Anderson, Dave and I'm Barb Morgan. And we are ready for first question. Welcome aboard the International Space Station." That teacher-turned-astronaut Barbara Morgan, speaking from more than three hundred kilometers above the Earth. CHILDREN: "Hello from Idaho!" And were the students she was greeting in the northwestern of Idaho. They gathered at the Discovery Center in on Tuesday to ask the astronauts questions by video . The astronauts already knew what the questions would be. student asked what stars look like from space. Basically answer was that the space shuttle and the space are kept brightly lit, so it is difficult to a lot of stars. BARBARA MORGAN: "In fact, one to think about that when were on the International Station and all the lights are on when we outside, it's very much like trying to look at stars when youre in Boise. You can see some, then if you go up high in the mountains, to McCall, and you have all the lights out, what it will be like once we undock from [ ] station and we can turn all our shuttle lights , and also for the station folks they can turn their lights out." Barbara Morgan taught elementary school in , Idaho, before she trained for space. She and six astronauts arrived Friday on the shuttle Endeavour to bring and new equipment to the international station. Barbara Morgan fifty-five years old. She taught for many years before became an astronaut. QUESTION: "Hi, I'm Sarah Blum. How being a teacher relate with being an astronaut on mission?" BARBARA MORGAN: "Well, astronauts and teachers actually do same things. We explore, we discover and we share. the great thing about being a teacher is you to do that with students. And the great thing being an astronaut is you get to do it space. And those are absolutely wonderful jobs." Barbara Morgan prepared for a shuttle flight more than twenty years . She trained in case NASA needed a substitute for McAuliffe, its choice to become the first teacher in . Then, in nineteen eighty-six-, Christa McAuliffe died with the crew when the shuttle exploded shortly after launch. After disaster, NASA officials barred other civilians from shuttle flights. in nineteen ninety-eight-, they created a new position for to become fully trained astronauts. Barbara Morgan is NASA's "educator astronaut" launched into orbit. One of her first was to operate Endeavour's robotic arm to inspect the for any launch-related damage. Cameras showed a small area by a piece of protective foam that fell off fuel tank. NASA officials say the damage is not safety threat but they are deciding what to do it. And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, by Nancy Steinbach. For a link to NASA educational , go to voaspecialenglishcom.. I'm Mario Ritter.

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Voa education report - China, Russia Win Top Results in Physics Olympiad in Iran

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is the VOA Special English Education Report. More than hundred secondary school students competed in the thirty-eighth International Olympiad last month in Iran. They came from seventy-three , including the United States. Students from China had the results: four gold medals and one silver. Russia was with three gold, one silver and one honorable mention. came the United States and South Korea. Each team home two gold medals and three silver medals. And teams from Iran and Japan had two gold, two and one bronze medal each. The ten-day Olympiad took in the ancient city of Isfahan. There were written and laboratory experiments as well as discussion meetings. And was news of the death in Isfahan of the of the International Physics Olympiad. Waldemar Gorzkowski was sixty-seven old. The Iranian Students News Agency said he died a heart attack. He led the Olympiad for many . The physics competition is one of the International Science held around the world. The American Association of Physics and the American Institute of Physics choose members of United States team. Physics teachers across the country nominate and committees choose about two hundred of them. The take additional tests to choose the twenty-four members of team. In May the members attend the United States Team Training Camp at the University of Maryland. They through nine days of intensive studying, testing and problem . At the end of the camp, five members of team are chosen to travel to the Olympiad. The this year were Kenan Diab of Ohio, Rui Hu Delaware, Jenny Kwan from California, Jason LaRue of Florida Haofei Wei from Oklahoma. All five won medals. The International Physics Olympiad took place in Warsaw, Poland, in sixty-seven-. Until the early nineteen eighties it was held in the former communist countries of eastern Europe. The States organized a team for the first time in eighty-six-. And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, by Nancy Steinbach. To learn about the American education , go to voaspecialenglishcom where you can find transcripts and of our reports. I'm Steve Ember.

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Voa education report - Specialty Summer Camps Offer Kids More Choices of Fun

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is the VOA Special English Education Report. (MUSIC) Millions children in the United States go to summer camp. go to play outdoors at traditional camps in the , in the mountains or on a lake. But families have many choices of specialty camps. These can be the middle of nature or a big city. Specialty offer young people the chance to learn about different . Anything from space exploration to business to medicine. In camps, one subject that children can learn about is game design. They learn how to use computer programs create games of their own. One program that teaches game design is called Cybercamps, located at the University Maryland. Children can learn how to design their own worlds to set their video game in. Then, they their own rules and objects into the game. Cybercamps offers courses in robot building and Web design. A story in the Washington Post described how one child a robot that could sing a song. Another made robot that could follow a black line drawn on piece of cardboard. Also, children can learn how to Web sites. One child made a site for Pokemon, of his favorite cartoon shows. Kids-N-Technology is a day offered in several American cities. Boys and girls age to eighteen get the chance to build their own or laptop computer or game machine. They take it after the camp is over. In the past twenty , the number of day camps in the United States grown by almost ninety percent. Still, more than half all camps are overnight camps. But the American Camp says, over all, the most popular length of time kids to attend a summer camp is one week less. And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, by Erin Braswell, with music from the best of Sherman. To learn about American education, and for transcripts archives of our reports, go to voaspecialenglishcom.. I'm Bob .

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Voa education report - Students Do Not Always Like Being Told What to Wear (Duh!)

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is the VOA Special English Education Report.

A listener in Fukuoka, Japan, Shinji Abe, would like know about school uniform policies in the United States.

American schoolchildren often wear uniforms if they attend religious other private schools. Most public schools do not require . But over the last ten years or so, more them have moved in that direction, including high schools.

Students may have to wear a specially purchased . Or they may just have to dress alike ---- example, white shirts and dark colored pants or skirts.

Even schools that do not require uniforms generally a dress code or other rules about what they acceptable. Policies commonly ban clothing that shows offensive images words, or simply too much skin. Items like hats be restricted because, for example, different colors may be with violent gangs.

Some parents like the of uniforms. Some say it means they do not to spend as much on clothing for their kids. , though, argue that uniforms represent an unnecessary cost. There also debates about whether uniforms or other dress policies civil rights.

Students and parents have taken action against school dress requirements. Just last week, a blocked a middle school in Napa, California, from enforcing dress code unless families have a way out of .

The American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California the case for the families of several students who punished. Most attention centered on a girl who wore with the Tigger character from Winnie the Pooh.

The school said its clothing policy, including no pictures any kind, was needed to control a growing problem gangs. The families argued that the policy violated free rights as guaranteed by the United States and California .

The United States Supreme Court says student is protected as long as it does not harm work and discipline of a school.

value individual freedom. But some educators believe dressing alike improve student learning. They believe that uniforms help create sense of unity and reduce the risk of fights. also say uniforms make it easier for security reasons tell if someone belongs at the school or not.

But just how effective are school uniform policies? Studies found mixed results. That will be our subject next .

And that's the VOA Special English Report, written by Nancy Steinbach. I'm Steve Ember.

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Voa education report - Evidence for School Uniform Policies in US Seen as Weak

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is the VOA Special English Education Report. In nineteen -, twelve percent of public elementary schools in the United required students to wear uniforms. Just three years later, were almost double that. Some middle and high schools also joined the movement. Yet studies find mixed results requiring uniforms. And some schools have turned away from policies. Supporters believe dressing the same creates a better environment and safer schools. The school district in Long , California, was the first in the country to require in all elementary and middle schools. That was in ninety-four-. The example helped build national interest in uniforms a way to deal with school violence and improve . Findings in Long Beach suggested that the policy resulted fewer behavior problems and better attendance. But researcher Viktoria has looked at those findings. She says they were only on opinions about the effects of uniforms. She other steps taken at the same time to improve in Long Beach and statewide could have influenced the . The district increased punishments for misbehavior. And California passed law to reduce class sizes. Her report is among in a book published last year called "Uniforms in Schools: A Decade of Research and Debate." In Florida, example, researcher Sharon Pate found that uniforms seemed to behavior and reduce violence. In Texas, Eloise Hughes found discipline problems among students required to wear uniforms, but effect on attendance. Sociologist David Brunsma has studied school policies since nineteen ninety-eight-. He collected the reports in book. In his own study, he found that reading mathematics performance dropped after a school in rural Pennsylvania uniforms. Political and community pressures may persuade schools to to uniforms to improve learning. But David Brunsma and believe there is not enough evidence of a direct . In fact, he says requiring uniforms may even increase problems. But researchers also say studies of uniform policies often scientifically limited. They say more work is needed get better information. And that's the VOA Special English Report, written by Nancy Steinbach. For more on this , go to voaspecialenglishcom.. I'm Steve Ember.

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Voa education report - School Ends, and So Too Does Our Foreign Student Series

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is the VOA Special English Education Report.

Summer the end of another school year in America. May June are graduation season.

Centuries of tradition the special caps and gowns that students and professors at commencement ceremonies. Top members of the class and guests offer speeches and advice. Finally the time comes what everyone has been waiting for: one by one, names of the students are called.

They to the front and shake hands with school officials. might receive their official diploma that day or maybe few weeks later.

Graduations are always emotional events. in May, at Fort Hays State University in Kansas, graduate named Nola Ochs received special attention. Her major of study was history. Nothing unusual about that. But Ochs is ninety-five years old.

That made the world's oldest graduate for the keepers of the World Records. Until now they have recognized a ninety-year-old graduate from the University of Oklahoma in two thousand .

Nola Ochs' granddaughter graduated with her. One of commencement speakers told the students to take a lesson Nola Ochs and never stop trying.

That is advice on which to end our Foreign Student Series higher education in the United States. We began in with the process of applying to an American college university. We talked about admissions tests, financial aid, online , student exchange programs, programs for disabled students and a more.

All forty-three reports can be found at voaspecialenglishcom.. Many were based on questions from listeners. invite you to continue writing us with your questions the American education system. Our Foreign Student Series may over for now, but we will still try to questions on future reports. Our e-mail address is specialvoanewscom@..

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