I Wish That We Had One Of These

Joanne Jacobs:

A Russian emigre's charter school is attracting students in Marlborough, Massachusetts, reports the Christian Science Monitor. Advanced Math and Science Academy students in sixth and seventh grade read The Iliad and The Odyssey and start studying algebra, geometry, physics and chemistry.

Sadly, our 10,000 elementary and high school students don't have the option of attending any sort of charter school.

I guess that I'm suffering from a chronic case of "Charter School Envy."

In our school district down here in California's "Imperial" Valley, the core curricula in elementary and middle schools no longer include novels, classical or otherwise. As federal and state mandated standardized tests use only reading passages, those are what the students study in their language arts classes.

When reading instruction is limited to the use of passages and short poems, it does a grave disservice to the kids. ------------------------------------See our latest education-related entries right here.