Res ipsa loquitur (”The thing itself speaks”)
In Sarasota, Florida, Susan Davidson Bell could not have been nicer when she saw another teacher copying her resume. She explained that she was going for job interview and offered to take the teacher’s resume to the same school. She was as good as her word, except for the fact that she then claimed the resume for her own and assumed the identity of the teacher.
Continue reading ‘Bell Curve: Ex-Con Steals Identity and Teaches at Florida School’
Marie Jarry, the former second-grade teacher who resigned after making an appearance in a bikini on the “Howard Stern Show,” is suing Southington, Connecticut school officials as well as her union. She has good reason to complain about being fired for an appearance in a swimsuit on a television program on her own time. The increasing enforcement of after-hours codes of conduct by employers should be viewed as a cause of alarm for a society that prides itself on freedom of association and speech.
Continue reading ‘Teacher Marie Jarry Sues School Over Howard Stern Bikini Controversy’
A British researcher, Richard Lynn, claims to have found a correlation between intelligence and relgious scepticism. In a study spanning 137 countries, Lynn found that high intelligence produced an extremely high likelihood of the rejection of religious faith.
Continue reading ‘Researchers Link High Intelligence with Atheism’
A woman identified only as a former MIT professor of chemistry held Boston police at bay for hours in the Beacon Hill neighborhood. She is accused using her apartment for mixing chemicals — which caused the neighbors to call the police.
Continue reading ‘Former MIT Professor Keeps Boston Police At Bay for Hours’
It appears that in England the grading curve is pretty generous. A British high school student received credit for answering an essay question with nothing but “f*** off.” That got her two points out of 27 and a passing grade.
Continue reading ‘Learning Improper English: Students Receives Passing Grade for Telling Examiner to F*** Off’
Madonna Constantine, a psychology professor at Columbia, will be fired for plagiarism and misconduct. Constantine drew national attention for claiming that a noose had been hung outside her office.
Continue reading ‘Columbia Professor Madonna Constantine Fired’
John Freshwater has long been a controversial teacher in Mount Vernon, Ohio. Parents and other teachers accused him of not teaching required science subjects while drilling in creationism into his students. Now, a lawsuit accused him of literally impressing his students with Christian values by branding them.
An interesting story discusses how educators in Bankok, Thailand have introduced a “transvestite toilet” for transvestite high school students. Despite the conservative character of the country, the Thais have a great deal of tolerance and acceptance for transgender students, which makes up a significant number of students at the Kampang school.
Continue reading ‘Thai Educators Introduce Transvestite Toilet for Teens’
Officials at El Camino High School in Oceanside, California are under attack for an outrageous program where they falsely told children that several of their classmates had been killed in car accidents over the weekend. After widespread hysteria, the school officials admitted that it was hoax and was simply their effort to educate them through scared straight learning.
The steady decline of student rights and free speech continues with another high school cracking down on free speech. In Redding, California, Shasta High School’s student newspaper Shasta High Volcano will be shutdown because administrators did not like a photograph of a flag-burning student.
Shasta High School Principal Milan Woollard appears to believe that conformity and censorship are important components to teach new citizens.
A very disturbing free speech case has emerged out of Canada: another example of how the West is abandoning principles of free speech in its widening definitions of hate speech. The Alberta Human Rights Commission has punished Rev. Stephen Boission and the Concerned Christian Coalition for anti-gay speech, not only awarding damages but censuring future speech that the Commission deems inappropriate. Boission’s offense came in the form of a letter containing anti-gay language.
Continue reading ‘Oh Canada! Alberta Human Rights Commission Punishes and Censures Anti-Gay Speech’
The Administration has invested heavily in studies to show various health risks of marijuana use. the most recent suggests that heavy marijuana use can increase the risk of a heart attack or stroke. However, the sample group were smokers of between 75 and 350 marijuana cigarettes per week. If you are smoking 350 marijuana cigarettes per week, I expect you will have a variety of “issues,” not the least of which is remembering your name and city of origin.
Continue reading ‘Reefer Madness: Administration Releases New Study Showing Harm from Pot Smoking’
Better Lucknow than Lucklater, it seems. In Lucknow, India, the new Sardar Bhagat Singh College of Technology and Management has finally completed its national search for a chairman. It is Hanumen: the Hindu monkey god. To properly appoint the god-chairman, the school has set aside the large Chairman’s incensed office with computer and chairs for the monkey god and friends. However, even before Hanuman appears, the board and all visitors must enter the conference room with bare feet.
Continue reading ‘Indian Business School Picks Monkey God for Chairman’
Okay, there’s no Godzilla in this story. But there are Monster Japanese Parents. Japanese educators are reporting the rise of what they call “monster parents” who relentlessly demand recognitions and opportunities of their child. This led recently to a school play with 25 Snow Whites and no other roles after school officials gave into demands that every child have the lead. No dwarfs, no witch, just Snow Whites.
Continue reading ‘Godzilla v. the Japanese Monster Parent? Japanese Experts Report a New Giant Mutation’
In New York, State Supreme Court Justice Sheila Abdus-Salaam called a recommended 90-day suspension of a teacher who attempted to seduce a student “irrational” and too lenient. A teacher at Staten Island’s New Dorp High School, Colleen McGraham, 39, repeatedly contacted the 15-year-old students who spurned her advances. Given this record, it is hard to see how 90 days is an adequate punishment when McGraham took steps to contact and pursue the boy.
Tyler Hurd, a 23-year-old high school junior in St. Cloud, Minn., felt compelled to leave a teacher-training program at Technical High School when Muslim students reportedly threatened to kill his service dog Emmitt because it is forbidden for Muslims to pet a dog.
Continue reading ‘Student Leaves High School After Muslim Students Threaten to Kill His Service Dog’
Two university professors have been caught up in an alleged insider trading conspiracy, including respected lecturer and retired St. John’s University professor, Dr. John F. Marshall. He is accused of giving Pace University Professor Alan L. Tucker insider information, resulting in Tucker making a cool $1.4 million on the tips in 2007. Dr. Marshall’s brother-in-law, Mark R. Larson is also accused of buying shares of I.S.E. stock based on the tips.
In yet another expansion of the regulation of student speech, the Second Circuit has ruled against high school student Avery Doninger who contested her punishment for posting an objectionable message on an Internet site about Lewis Mills High School. When she objected to the cancellation of a school event in vulgar terms, school officials barred her from running for Senior Class secretary. In Doninger v. Niehoff, the Second Circuit upheld the right of school officials to punish students for out-of–school speech in a major blow to both the first amendment and student rights.
Boy, growing up I thought the Catholic nuns were tough. Yet another elementary teacher has been caught on tape using public humiliation and class condemnation as a pedagogical tool. In New Albany, Indiana, Kristen Woodward (a teacher at S. Ellen Jones Elementary School) verbally abused 5-year-old Gabriel Ross in front of the class, even getting his friends to condemn him. It is something out of the Pol Pot Guide to Elementary Teaching. The tape recording is linked below.
Continue reading ‘Pol Pot Elementary: Condemn Your Classmate and Be Free’
Harvard Law School professor Charles R. Nesson saw the arrest of Richard E. Cusick and R. Keith Stroup as an opportunity to challenge the Massachusetts ban on marijuana — insisting that the law did not even meet the minimal “rational basis” test and seeking jury nullification. Instead, his clients were not even given an evidentiary hearing, found guilty quickly by the jury, and sentenced to time served.
Continue reading ‘Legal Defense Goes Up in Smoke: Harvard Professor Challenges Pot Laws Seeking Jury Nullification — and Loses’
To the relief of many, the Mars Phoenix landed on Mars without incident. NASA has released the pictures below taken on the Red Planet’s arctic plains. This was the conclusion of a 296-day voyage and years of planning.
Continue reading ‘First Pictures From the Mars Phoenix Project’
In Port St. Lucie, the family of nine-year-old Alex Barton are exploring a lawsuit against teacher Wendy Portillo and the school district of his humiliation in front of his class. Alex is in the process of being diagnosed with autism, but Portillo still reportedly punished him by making him stand in front of the class as students were invited to list the things that they hate about him — then led a vote to throw him out of class. This apparently comes from the Lord of the Flies school of teaching.
Continue reading ‘Teacher Accused of Public Humiliation of Five-Year-Old Autistic Child’
Controversial American author and academic Norman Finkelstein has been arrested at Ben Gurion international airport near Tel Aviv and forced to leave the country. Various news reports indicate that he may be banished from Israel for ten years on on “security’ grounds.”
Continue reading ‘Norman Finkelstein Denied Entry Into Israel’
Eddie Walker, the principal of Irmo High School in Columbia, S.C., is resigning in the wake of a decision by the Lexington-Richland School District 5 officials, to allow the creation of a gay club at his school. He has cited his own religious views for the protest move.
Professor Michael Todd has been fired by the Maricopa County Community College. This was probably not too surprising. Professors are sometime fired for failing to attend classes, plagiarism, or chronically poor classroom performance. In Todd’s case, it was the dead student found in his home. Continue reading ‘Professor Fired After Dead Student Found In Townhouse’
A twelve-year-old Muslim girl and her parents have been told by a German court that she must attend co-ed swimming lessons despite her religious objections to wearing formfitting clothing. The court in North Rhine-Westphalia said that the school’s interest in teaching swimming outweighs the bona fide religious objections of the parents. It appears that free style outweighs free exercise in Germany. Continue reading ‘Sin-chronized Swimming: German Court Holds that Muslim Girl Must Swim Despite Religious Prohibitions’
Yet another teacher has lost her job over private conduct. In Connecticut, Thalberg elementary teacher Marie Jarry has reportedly lost her job after appearing on the Howard Stern Show. It appears that her appearance in a bikini on an adult-oriented show disqualified her from teaching second-year kids. She is only the latest teacher to lose her job to the a new type of American morals police. Continue reading ‘Video: Teacher Loses Job Over Bikini Appearance on Howard Stern’
This week, the good town of Land O’ Lakes, Florida is free of the scourge of a wizard. While such hunt were once led by pitchfork carrying townsfolk, this important civic action was taken by concerned parents who discovered the magical tendencies of substitute teacher (and fulltime wizard) Jim Piculas in Pasco County School District. Continue reading ‘Townspeople Hunt Down the Wizard of Land O’ Lakes’
We have seen a disturbing increase in police department and schools firing people over their conduct in their private time and lives. We can now add the case of Tiffany Shepherd, a Biology high school teacher from Port St Lucie, Florida. When school officials saw the photos linked below, they fired Shepherd who worked as a “bikini girl” on charter fishing boats. Continue reading ‘Florida High School Teacher Fired Over Internet Pictures and Part-Time Work’
In a bizarre case out of Philadelphia, a teacher is shown in the video below apparently referring a fight between students in her special education class. However, two teachers claims that when they reported Tonia Brown, they were fired. They have filed a whistleblower action over the terminations. Presumably, “special education” is not meant to be training for the WWF. Continue reading ‘Teaching the Three Rs: Wrestling, Rough-Housing, and Refereeing in Philadelphia’
Wendy Gonaver is a Quaker from Pennsylvania and a lifelong pacifist as well as an instructor in American studies. She was ready to start teaching at Cal State when officials presented her a loyalty pledge to to “defend” the U.S. and California constitutions “against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” It is precisely the type of free speech and free exercise issue that Gonaver expected to teach about. She will not have the chance. When she declined the pledge, she was told that she could not teach in any public school in the state. It is the Cal State version of the Thomas More oath for teachers. Continue reading ‘California’s Thomas More Pledge: Cal State Fires College Instructor for Refusing to Sign Loyalty Oath’
Wheaton College professor Kent Gramm thought that divorcing his wife of 30 years was bad enough. Yet, he probably did not expect that the one asset that neither he nor his wife Lynelle would share is his income. He was fired by the college after 20 years, which viewed his divorce to be immoral. Continue reading ‘Matthew 19: Thou Shall Not Teach if Divorced — At Least at Wheaton College’
In Memphis, Tenn., people are shaking their heads over the decision of Daphne Beasley, the principal of Hollis F. Price Middle College High School in South Memphis, who published the names of gay students who were “couples” on a list with heterosexual couples. The result was to “out” the students — a potentially dangerous course. Continue reading ‘Public Affection (No), Public Beating (Yes): Memphis Prinicipal Outs Two Gay Students’
A Dartmouth lecturer Priya Venkatesan appears to have some unresolved teaching issues with her Winter ‘08 Writing 5 class. Most professors deal with a rude class with stern lectures, implied grading threats, and more homework. Venkatesan reportedly took a different tack: she informed the class that she is going to sue them for discrimination under Title VII. This appears genuine, though it remains hard to believe that any rationale academic would threaten such legal action. Continue reading ‘Dartmouth Professor Announces Intention to Sue Students for Being Mean to Her’
Once again, one has to wonder where we find some of the bureaucrats who run agencies like child protective services. University of Michigan Christopher Ratte, 47, made an innocent and understandable mistake at a Detroit Tiger’s game at Comerica Park. He bought his 7-year-old son a lemonade without understanding that it had alcohol. The result? The boy was taken from his parents for two days and Ratte had to move out of the home as subintelligent bureaucrats debated the matter. Continue reading ‘Michigan Professor Temporarily Loses Custody of Son Over Oversight at Baseball Game’
Paradise Valley Community College psychology professor Michael Todd, 51, is suspended after a student, Andria Ziegler, 19, was found dead from a drug overdose in his Phoenix condo.
Continue reading ‘Student Found Dead in Professor’s Condo’
The controversy at Yale continues over the claims of senior art major Aliza Shvarts that she artificially inseminated herself and then induced miscarriages as part of an art project. Yale issued a statement that the claims were false and merely part of her “creative fiction.” She now says the university is lying and that she did use the miscarriages for art. Continue reading ‘Yale’s “Abortion Artist” Denies the Denial of Yale University Over the Authenticity of Art’
Nico Marquardt is 13 years old but he was still apparently smarter than NASA in calculating the chances of a killer asteroid colliding with Earth. Germany’s own Jimmy Neutron not only corrected NASA’s math on the collision of the Apophis asteroid, but it turns out a lot more likely than we thought. Continue reading ‘Jaime Neutron: 13-Year-Old Kid Corrects NASA’s Calculation on Earth Destroying Asteroid Hit’
There is a wide amount of latitude given to academic freedom in a classroom but destruction of a student’s computer falls a bit outside of the norm. For Professor Justin Leroux, of the HEC Montreal (Institute of Applied Economics), however, it appears part of the lesson plan — though the question is whether this was staged or serious. Continue reading ‘Socratic vs. Sadistic Method: Video Shows Canadian Professor Destroying Student’s Computer’
Michigan fifth-grader Kenton Stufflebeam can now claim something few academics can muster: finding an error in a Smithsonian display. The 11-year-old spotted the error on the museum’s Tower of Time, a display involving prehistoric time, which refers to the Precambrian as an era. Continue reading ‘Post-Cambrian Fifth Grader Corrects Smithsonian on Pre-Cambrian Error’
Walter L. Wagner and Luis Sancho have literally filed to save the world in a federal court in Hawaii. The men claim that a giant particle accelerator called the Large Hadron Collider (located outside of Geneva) will produce a little black hole or even a “stranglet” that will destroy not just the Earth but possibly the universe. While some details have to be worked out, the benefit of such a claim is that it guarantees standing and offers a pretty wide jurisdictional footprint. There is still some question of what the contingency fee would be in such a case. Continue reading ‘Doomsday Lawsuit: Dr. Stranglet Files for Injunction to Save World’
A case in Fayetteville, Arkansas could prove very interesting as a family has sued a high school bully and may soon sue the school district over a prolonged and dangerous pattern of bullying directed against 15-year-old Billy Wolfe. It appears that the school district left this family few choices other than litigation after their son was repeatedly attacked as a type of collective sport for bullies in this high school — and school officials seemed remarkably passive and unsympathetic in the face of the resulting injuries (even after viewing the video below). Notably, the Wolfes are not alone in seeking legal action when school official fail to act. Continue reading ‘Billy and the Bullies: Family Sues High School Bully and May Soon Sue an Arkansas School District’
This last week, I had the pleasure of teaching 150 second grade students from the Kent Gardens Elementary School in McLean Virginia. This was the final three such field trip to the law school by the second, third, and sixth grade class to learn about the Constitution and the law. They sat as the jury in a trial of the Big Bad Wolf (”B.B. Wolf”). What my students and I heard from the students was hilarious, particularly their understanding of the Constitution. Continue reading ‘Second Grade Constitutional Law’
It is hard to express the anger that comes with the following story. It appears that after refusing to cut billions in pork and wasteful earmarks, Congress and President Bush have cut the NASA’s budget and forced scientists to curtail their research on Mars. Scientists planned to put one of the twin Mars rovers to sleep and to try to meet the shortfall. Now, after a public outcry, NASA has rescinded the order. Continue reading ‘Congress and the President Force Mars Rovers to Be Shutdown Temporarily Due to Budget Cuts’
There were many objections to arming pilots after 9-11 — not the least with the danger of intentionally adding a gun to flights that could be taken by terrorists or mishandled by pilots. For those critics, a US Airways flight from Denver will likely be cited often: a pilot accidentally discharged his weapon in the cockpit during the flight.
Continue reading ‘Pilot’s Gun Goes Off in Cockpit on US Airways Flight’
A very disturbing story is emerging from New York where the principal of the city’s first Arabic-language school (the Khalil Gibran International Academy) said that she was forced to resign over mild statements regarding a tee-shirt sold by an outside group. Debbie Almontaser was the target of a concerted campaign to get the administration of Mayor Bloomberg to fire her. Continue reading ‘Arabic Public School Principal Forced to Resign Over Tee-Shirt Comment’
Universities often spend copious resources and time to predict which applicants are most likely to excel as academics and researchers. Now, the respected scientific journal Oikos has published a study showing that beer drinking among scientists may be the most reliable measure of whether they will be Darwins or Duds. Continue reading ‘Pub Light: Study Shows Correlation Between Publication Performance and Beer Drinking Among Scientists’
Samantha Power is an award-winning and respected academic has served as Mr Obama’s key foreign policy aide. She has now resigned after the Scotman newspaper published an off-the-record comment about Hillary Clinton, calling her a “monster” who will do or say anything to get elected. What I find most disturbing is the complete absence of journalistic ethics on the part of this newspaper. Years ago, I had a run in with the Scotsman over their publication of an interview or column that they attributed to me. I never gave them an interview or spoke with them. Continue reading ‘Beware of Scotsman: Aide Fired After Newspaper Publishes Off-Record “Monster” Comment’
If you are hiring a lawyer in Brazil, you may want to be sure to call before Dora the Explorer comes on. Joao Victor Portellinha recently passed the entrance test for law school despite the fact that he is in the fifth grade. Continue reading ‘I’ll File, You Drive: 8 Year Old Passes Law School Entrance Exam’
Arkansas Robert Steinbuch won an appeal to the Eighth Circuit in his case against former Senate aide to Mike DeWine, Jessica Cutler — the so-called Washingtonienne. Steinbuch sued after he was identified by initials by Cutler in her account of sexual affairs in Washington. It is a case of some significance for bloggers and those who keep online diaries that could be challenged as defamatory or violations of privacy. Continue reading ‘Grapes of Wrath: Law Professor Steinbuch Wins Appeal Over Book Detailing Alleged Affair with the “Washingtonienne”’
Mukasey’s Paradox;
On further review, his manipulations on torture and contempt are a beautiful, twisted thing. Continue reading ‘Mukasey’s Paradox’