The first time I realized that some people wanted to be mermaids is when I read a (probably deleted) Yahoo question that asked "How can I turn into a mermaid? Serious replies ONLY!" and included the fact that a water spell had not worked for the user. I hope she's reading this post, because now she (and you) can turn… » 7/29/14 9:40am Tuesday 9:40am

I hope you're ready to deal with a big wet face right now, because this story IS MEGA ROUGH ON THE CRY-BONES. A primary school in Lancashire, UK, sent home a letter with students' test scores, explaining that tests only measure a very narrow set of skills, while the value of individual human beings shines bright from… » 7/17/14 5:00pm 7/17/14 5:00pm

After a North Carolina high school student was sent home in tears on the last day of her senior year for wearing a floral dress that teachers said was a half-inch too short, her mom decided to stand up against the school's arbitrary dress codes by wearing the same outfit to the graduation ceremony days later. » 6/16/14 12:40pm 6/16/14 12:40pm

A third-grader was violently beaten at an Oakland, California school on Friday. Police state that the attacker, another child's mother, lured the girl into a bathroom and then hit her repeatedly with a hammer. Police also state that this was a targeted attack and that it was the result of a family feud. And as we all… » 6/01/14 5:07pm 6/01/14 5:07pm

Administrators at Monroe Middle School in Michigan have placed retiring teacher Alan Barron "on leave" after they decided that his way of teaching history was offensive. Barron was removed from the classroom when he showed archival footage of whites in blackface to illustrate his lesson on Jim Crow laws. The assistant… » 6/01/14 12:49pm 6/01/14 12:49pm

This week, 281 smartie pantses (I'm sure one of them knows how to properly pluralize that) between the ages of 8 and 15 from across the country competed in the rounds leading up to the finals of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Here are some of their adorable, smart faces. » 5/29/14 6:50pm 5/29/14 6:50pm

A public Illinois high school that requires female students to wear skirts or dresses and men to wear pants and and a tie to their graduation ceremony is facing criticism from parents and alums who take issue with the policy. » 4/17/14 6:15pm 4/17/14 6:15pm

Teaching is a tough job. Kids are jerks, parents are jerks, there's little room for advancement, and in most parts of the country, teachers don't get paid enough. So you can't blame them for being short every once in awhile! » 4/10/14 4:30pm 4/10/14 4:30pm

Michael Leucke, a 72-year-old substitute teacher in Stamford, Connecticut has been arrested for allegedly masturbating in a school hallway before his first class. » 2/28/14 10:00am 2/28/14 10:00am

Computer science classes are notoriously difficult because there's a lot of math, a lot of code translation, and a lot of logic involved. Well, actually, the logic part may not be a strong argument considering the question an instructor at Memorial University in Canada put on his exam. » 2/01/14 5:09pm 2/01/14 5:09pm

Well, this is unsettling. According to this year's data, not a single female student, black student, or Latino student took the AP computer science exam in either Montana or Mississippi. That means it was pretty much just all white dudes. Not exactly a heartening indicator of all that "diversity in tech" that tech… » 1/14/14 6:20pm 1/14/14 6:20pm

Well, to put it bluntly, this completely sucks: anti-censorship group The Kids' Right to Read Project (KRRP) has reported that U.S. schools are increasingly banning books that deal with race or sexuality and books written by "minority" authors. » 12/24/13 1:40pm 12/24/13 1:40pm

For decades, the school system hasn't just been about developing the minds of children, it's been dedicated to developing their muscles, as well, with those massive, thick, mandatory textbooks. But one school in New York is abandoning paper books and going all-digital. » 12/23/13 6:00pm 12/23/13 6:00pm

The administration of a French secondary school (in France, not in New Orleans or, Charlemagne forbid, Québec) is fairly upset about an adult film — or "skin flick," as the jeunes say — that was filmed right outside of the school and featured an actress playing the role of a school supervisor. » 12/22/13 3:00pm 12/22/13 3:00pm

If this is what we're feeding our nation's children, we should not be surprised if they all grow up to be malnourished serial killers who only eat cat turds marinated in swamp sludge. » 11/29/13 10:45am 11/29/13 10:45am

A prekindergarten teacher is facing disciplinary action from the Buffalo School District after she sent parents a (handwritten!) letter about how their kids were so gross and stinky that she could hardly bring herself to go near them. » 11/24/13 2:00pm 11/24/13 2:00pm

The movies lied to us! It's not totally jocks vs. nerds when it comes to picking friends in school, your besties are most likely just the kids you sit near in class. According to a national study of 3,000 students at 78 high schools across the United States, found that the courses students take have a profound effect… » 11/19/13 1:00pm 11/19/13 1:00pm

Meet 12-year-old Paloma Noyola Bueno. She goes to José Urbina López Primary School in Matamoros, Mexico. She's being touted as "the face of Mexico's unleashed potential." Mentioning Steve Jobs in the headline is purposely attention-grabbing — on Wired's part and on mine — but the gist of it is this: Our current idea… » 10/24/13 3:10pm 10/24/13 3:10pm