Education

Sarah Palin talked a lot about education, but let’s look at her own state for some clarification:

• Alaska's dropout rate, at 8 percent, was double the national average in the 2005-2006 school year, according to the latest figures available from the U.S. Department of Education.
• 38 percent of today's ninth-graders will have no high school diploma 10 years from now, according to the Alaska Commission on Postsecondary Education.
• Alaska ranks 50th, or last, in the number of ninth-graders who will likely have a bachelor's degree in 10 years, according to the commission.

And amongst that 8 percent of dropouts is Palin’s own son. These numbers will be interesting to keep an eye on when Palin tries again in 2012. Perhaps she should talk to that “terrorist” Bill Ayers about how to fix her state’s education problem.

In the heart of what was once dubbed "the reddest place in America", a schoassassinate Obamaol bus full of second and third graders started chanting "assassinate Obama". Children at this age are very impressionable and I'm sure it was started by a single child, but the question needs to be asked where that child heard this. My instinct tells them to look at home.

The school board isn't taking any serious action, just informing employees how to handle the situation with a lecture of right and wrong. Perhaps that's the way to go, but it might be better to look into it a little further to find out who started this chant. Once they do, head to that kids home and ask the parent some questions. If it turns out the kid learned this from their parent then child services should get involved.

It amazes me how we so quickly denounce the actions of countries like Pakistan when it comes to killing their leaders, yet we have people here that push that idea onto their children. This makes the parents who taught their children about this the same as the extremists in the Middle East. Perhaps we should call these parents terrorists also.

Education is obviously not the issue Senator McCain spends the most time on

That is a quote from McCain adviser Lisa Graham Keegan. Kind of reminds you of the economy and how he really doesn't know that much about it. I guess all McCain does spend time on is war, war, war.

That's what a lot of schools are considering now:

Facing a crippling increase in fuel costs, some rural U.S. schools are mulling a solution born of the '70s oil crisis: a four-day week.

Cutting out one day of school has been the key to preserving educational programs and staff in parts of Kentucky, New Mexico and Minnesota, outweighing some parents' concerns about finding day-care for the day off.

One problem. In the 70's (when I grew up), having one parent at home during the day was a lot more common than it is today. Childcare will become a key issue in this working out for the best. According to the article, some districts are already planning for that. The ones that aren't need to. Schools aren't the only one feeling the economic pinch, so families can't afford additional child care or for one person to miss work.