Archive for the ‘Social lives’ Category

Too little time or too much?

A judge today sentenced former Rutgers University student Dharun Ravi to 30 days in jail and 300 hours of community service for using a video camera to spy on his gay roommate, Tyler Clementi, during a romantic encounter in the dorm. Clementi later jumped from a bridge to his death.

The sentence didn’t satisfy either side. Ravi’s attorneys argued that he shouldn’t spend any time in jail, while prosecutors pushed for a much longer sentence for the charges, including invasion of privacy, witness tampering, tampering of evidence and a hate crime based on bias intimidation.

Telling the crowded courtroom that Ravi had no prior record, Judge Glenn Berman said, “I do not believe he hated Tyler Clementi … but I do believe he acted out of colossal insensitivity.”

This tragic case mobilized people all over the country to address the frequent bullying of gay teens.

According to the LA Times:

Judge Glenn Berman addressed Ravi before announcing his …

Continue reading Roommate in Rutgers spying/suicide case gets 30 days in jail. Is that fair? »

A judge has granted an injunction allowing Jake Zimmerman, one of the East Paulding students arrested for a senior prank that escalated to costly vandalism, to attend his graduation ceremony. The judge overruled the school board, which voted last month to bar the student from attending.

Class president, Zimmerman admitted painting a skull and crossbones on the road outside the school, saying it was an annual tradition for seniors. But he said he left the scene before fellow pranksters moved to the school and painted vehicles and buildings, causing $7,500 in damage.

The school system suspended him for the duration of his high school career, banishing him to an alternative school. Unlike most of the teens, he appealed the decision, but the school board denied his appeal last month. Then, a school board member made a motion to heap on more punishment: prohibiting Zimmerman from attending his graduation ceremony. The teen said Wednesday that the board voted 6-1 in favor of …

Continue reading Judge shows more mercy toward accused East Paulding High vandal than school board »

OMG. A north Fulton elementary school asked students to sign pledges that they wouldn’t use acronyms or draw pictures while signing their classmates’ yearbooks.

Citing this young generation’s affinity for the acronym, the AJC asked,  “No more LOL? Seriously?”

As a parent, I have no problem with the pledge that Birmingham Falls Elementary School asked fifth graders to sign before being given their yearbooks in an effort to foster civility.

The pledge may have been overkill, but I have been a yearbook editor and an adviser and can vouch that kids write questionable comments, both in written comments to their pals and in the permanent text.

As an editor, I had to watch carefully for double entendres in the captions and student legacies.  Students will be looking at these yearbooks 20 years from now with their kids.

I don’t think reminding kids to be polite and positive in their yearbook salutations is a bad thing. While parents contend that kids should be able to write what they …

Continue reading IMO: Kids say the darndest things even in the yearbook »

UPDATE at noon: From Jay Dillon, Cobb spokesman: “I just got off the phone with Harrison Principal Donnie Griggers. He told me that the Roswell High School girls lacrosse coach has agreed to move back the start time of their playoff game against Harrison, allowing the girls championship soccer game between Mill Creek and Harrison to start at 1:00 p.m. The lacrosse game will now start at 3:00-3:30, or as soon as possible following the soccer game. Some of the Roswell lacrosse players have graduation parties to attend Saturday night as well, but they should be able to make it work out. A big thank you to Roswell lacrosse coach Sue Scheer for being accommodating so the soccer game could be moved and the Mill Creek students can attend their prom, and also to Mr. Griggers and Harrison soccer coach Steve Riccard for working so hard to find a resolution.

Hard to believe there wasn’t a solution to this problem: The girls soccer teams from Cobb’s Harrison High School and …

Continue reading Playoff vs. prom: Still think Gwinnett and Cobb could have worked this out. Now, they have. »

I am always surprised when parents tell me their kids have three to four hours of homework a night given the lack of evidence that homework enhances student achievement

Here is a piece about homework from Kenneth Goldberg,  a clinical psychologist and author of “The Homework Trap: How to Save the Sanity of Parents, Students and Teachers.”

By Kenneth Goldberg

As the world engages in a global homework debate, there are many parents whose major concern is not public policy, but what will happen at home tonight. They are not Tiger Moms, but ordinary parents who simply want the best for their children. These parents start out with the full intention of supporting the teachers and their children’s schools. Yet, something goes wrong along the way as they and their children fall into a homework trap.

The problem starts in elementary school. The notes come home, and the parents get “the call.” They meet with the teacher and make plans to make sure everyone is on the same page. Before …

Continue reading Plotting an escape from the homework trap »

In a family photo, Robert Champion demonstrates the flair that earned him the prestigious drum major role in the famous FAMU band.

The AJC is reporting that 13 people have been charged in the death of Robert Champion, a Florida A&M University drum major from DeKalb.

The beating death of the Southwest DeKalb High grad in November brought attention to the dangerous culture of hazing on campuses, but particularly in the famed Marching 100 of FAMU.

When Champion was killed, I spoke to Hank Nuwer, the author of four books on hazing. Among his books are “Wrongs of Passage: Fraternities, Sororities, Hazing, and Binge Drinking” and “Broken Pledges: the Deadly Rite of Hazing.”

A journalism professor at Franklin College in Indiana, Nuwer explained in a telephone interview why college students and band members endure hazing that turns vicious and sometimes deadly. “We cannot get enough of wanting to be wanted. Students think that joining this fraternity or this band constitutes …

Continue reading FAMU hazing death of DeKalb grad: 13 people charged »

In poor rural counties, there is not much for teens to do with an extra day off, a fact that worries health officials. (AP Image)

A big question about four-day school weeks — a budget solution that several Georgia systems adopted to cut costs  — was what students would do with that extra day off from classes.

An Elbert County teen health center is hoping that the answer won’t turn out to be have sex and babies at higher rates.

Take a look at this interesting article in the Georgia Health News. Here is an excerpt:

“Elbert has had the problem of teen pregnancy for a long time,” said Adriane Strong, the adolescent health educator of the Teen Matters Clinic in Elberton. “The teen birth rate was higher several years ago, then it came down. But recently, it may have gone back up,” Strong said.

“Around 20 teens aged 15 to 18 visit our clinic every week,” said Strong, “The majority of them are seeking services including birth control and STD testing …

Continue reading Four-day school week: Could it increase teen pregnancy? »

If you can't save all the starfish washed on the shore, should you give up on saving any? (AP Image)

Here is a lovely essay from Bill Fokes, whose name may be familiar to regular AJC readers as he is a prolific letter writer. Today, he writes about the joy he has found in mentoring students:

By William B. Fokes

About five years ago, I attended a Christmas party in my new neighborhood. As I met my new neighbors, we asked each other about our interests and activities. One of my neighbors was very enthusiastic about a volunteer mentoring program in which he was active. This was the start of my path to great rewards. The program he described involves students in elementary school, middle school and high school in Jackson County, Georgia. The focus of the program is students living in single parent households. The name of the program is Lindsay’s Legacy. Similar programs are active in other counties, but not in my home county of Gwinnett.

My neighbor explained that each mentor …

Continue reading Rewards of mentoring: Smiles, handmade awards and deep bonds »

If you have time this weekend, read this daily diary of an inner city high school teacher from the Parenting web site. It is an anonymous account of a single day at a big city high school but well worth your time.

After reading about the writer’s abrasive students, indifferent parents and ill-equipped building, I have to ask: Would any of us encourage our children to take her job?

The teacher’s diary opens with a 6:45 a.m. text from a student, “hey do we hv skool 2day?” and ends with a late-night text from another student, “Wassup miss can I get my code thingy so I can chek my grades?”

Here are two short entries from what went on in between those texts:

9:30am
My second class begins to arrive and immediately lets me know I’ll be working hard for the next 50 minutes. They make their entrance pushing and shoving each other, taking each other’s bags, running around the room, ignoring me. They used to be one of the best groups in this grade, but now we commonly refer to them …

Continue reading A great teacher diary: “hey do we hv skool 2day?” »

In a fashion story, the AJC featured two prom dresses that each cost $375. No wonder proms end up costing more than $1,000. (Phil Skinner/AJC)

Having spent last night looking at prom photos posted on Facebook this weekend by proud mamas, I was stunned to see this AJC story today: A new survey shows that the average American family with teenagers plans to spend $1,078  — that’s for each child — on the prom, a 33.6 percent increase over the $807 spent last year.

The Visa survey finds that families in the lower income brackets, less than $50,000, plan to spend even more — $1,307 per child. And those in the very lowest bracket, under $20,000, plan to spend $1,200 — more than 6 percent of their annual income.

But here’s the shocker: Families earning between $20,000 and $30,000 plan to spend an average of $2,635, which would represent almost 9 percent of annual income for those making $30,000. Those families are just above the federal poverty level, which is $23,050 for a …

Continue reading New survey: Poorest parents spend the most on prom. Are we all crazy? »