Times are strange. Don’t take my word for it, though. Let’s have a little education news rundown.

First, the good news: Arne Duncan, who is the Secretary of Education, has just announced an $18.5 million dollar plan to “enhance libraries in 57 low-income school districts across the United States” (from the press release).
This is great to hear. I don’t know about everyone else, but I’ve become a little concerned about the literacy of our up-and-comers. I was recently wandering through the halls of a local high school (on my way to meet a teacher friend of mine, not just recreationally), when I heard the students talking in a language I couldn’t readily identify. It was verbalized text message jargon. An example: “OMG, my BFF was all ‘WTF’ and was like LMAO! K, TTYL!” It was frightening, confusing, and a little depressing.

In all seriousness though, there are a great many schools out there that could use some extra funding pushed towards literacy programs. Secretary Duncan had this to say about the grants:

Encouraging students to improve their reading is a key to their success in school and in life. These grants help schools give students access to the most up-to-date books, technology, and highly trained library personnel to improve teaching and learning and to challenge students to achieve.

Now, Moving on to the Weird News…
Apparently, I missed the first go-round on this story, but I’ve caught up–and I’m disgusted. In Corpus Christi, TX, at a state school for the mentally and developmentally disabled, they’ve been fighting. The fights have been organized by staff members. The fights have been bet on by staff members. The fights have been going on for over thirty years. Now, it’s one thing to have a boxing club or a wrestling team; it’s an entirely other, sick thing to pit mentally and developmentally handicapped students against each other. Apparently, a similar school in Austin was also participating, and–get this–the winners from each school were brought in to fight each other. Congratulations, Texas, you’re home to some of the most depraved individuals in the country.

In Georgia, some one has been cheating on standardized tests: the principal. With help from the assistant prinicpal, answers were changed on fifth-grade standardized tests. They wanted to make sure that they met the federal achievement standards. Now, correct me if I’m wrong here, but aren’t principals, especially principals of elementary schools, supposed to be a moral compass for the youngsters they watch over? How on Earth are we to explain to these kids that they shouldn’t cheat after something like this? With an education system full of this kind of stuff, is it any wonder that we’ve been suffering the consequences of underhanded financial dealings? Thankfully, the principal resigned.