Digital textbooks, school dances

I wanted to share a few interesting school-related stories with you.

From the Washington Post:

In some classrooms, books are a thing of the past, by Ashley Surdin

AGOURA HILLS, CALIF. -- The dread of high school algebra is lost here amid the blue glow of computer screens and the clickety-clack of keyboards.

A fanfare plays from a speaker as a student passes a chapter test. Nearby, a classmate watches a video lecture on ratios. Another works out an equation in her notebook before clicking on a multiple-choice answer on her screen ....

This textbook-free classroom is by no means the norm, but it may be someday. Slowly, but in increasing numbers, grade schools across the country are supplementing or substituting the heavy, expensive and indelible hardbound book with its lighter, cheaper and changeable cousin: the digital textbook.


From Poynter Online, a journalism-related Web site:

Students' Provocative Dancing Stirs Reaction from Parents, Administrators

WFTV in Orlando reported on parents' reactions to the dancing:

"Like classes and after school sports, high school dances are mainstays. They're a chance for young guys and young girls to socialize, but some Orange County parents said students are getting too close for comfort. 'It's essentially kids having sex with their clothes on,' parent Todd Harper said. 'This is social. It's sexual. It's in public. It's with anonymity,' parent Scott Buono said.Harper chaperoned a dance three weeks ago. 'It's 80 to 90 percent of people in a room dancing that way,' he said."