[Image of Neeru Paharia| Photograph by Ben Stechschulte]

Jim Groom is ""instructional technologist" at Virginia's University of Mary Washington and a prominent voice in the blogosphere for blowing up college as we know it," and one of the featured innovators in "Who Needs Harvard?" Fast Company's exploration of the changing nature of higher education.

All the people and ideas discussed in the Anya Kamenetz's article converge on one idea: our model for higher education needs to change and adapt to continue to be relevant. This is a powerful message, especially now as the United States educational rankings are sliding (the article states we've slid to tenth most educated nation, down from number one) and the average cost of a college education is spiraling out of control.

But can moving to an open-source model of education work and still provide the type of structure and benefits of a traditional school setting? A few of the interview subjects decided to directly tackle that question:

In 2005, [Neeru Paharia, now a PhD student at Harvard Business School] started AcaWiki, a crowdsourced compilation of free summaries of academic papers. Now, she says, she wants to address "all the other things that a university does for you: It provides you a clear path from A to B, provides social infrastructure of teachers and other students, and accreditation so you actually get credit for what you do. So the question becomes, Is there a way of hacking something like this together?"

At a conference in Croatia last year, Paharia met Jan Philipp Schmidt, a German computer scientist working on open courseware in South Africa; together with a Canadian and an Australian, they started Peer2Peer University, which has become one of the most buzzed-about initiatives in open education. Would-be students can use the Web site to convene and schedule classes, meet online, and tutor one another; a volunteer facilitator for each course helps the process along. Peer2Peer got a $70,000 seed grant from the Hewlett Foundation to launch its first 10 pilot courses, in topics from behavioral economics to Wikipedia visualization — content areas that already have online audiences of self-motivated learners.

Other educators are decided to solve one of the problems that leads to the devaluation of college degrees in the workplace - difficulties measure competence, not just coursework:

If open courseware is about applying technology to sharing knowledge, and Peer2Peer is about social networking for teaching and learning, Bob Mendenhall, president of the online Western Governors University, is proudest of his college's innovation in the third, hardest-to-crack dimension of education: accreditation and assessment. WGU was formed in the late 1990s, when the governors of 19 western states decided to take advantage of the newfangled Internet and create an online university to expand access to students in rural communities across their region. Today, it's an all-online university with 12,000 students in all 50 states. It's a private not-for-profit, like Harvard; the only state money was an initial $100,000 stake from each founding state. WGU runs entirely on tuition: $2,890 for a six-month term.

"We said, 'Let's create a university that actually measures learning,' " Mendenhall says. "We do not have credit hours, we do not have grades. We simply have a series of assessments that measure competencies, and on that basis, award the degree."

WGU began by convening a national advisory board of employers, including Google and Tenet Healthcare. "We asked them, 'What is it the graduates you're hiring can't do that you wish they could?' We've never had a silence after that question." Then assessments were created to measure each competency area. Mendenhall recalls one student who had been self-employed in IT for 15 years but never earned a degree; he passed all the required assessments in six months and took home his bachelor's without taking a course.

I have to admit, all this discussion appeals to me. As a someone who read The Teenage Liberation Handbook at a formative age, adopted some of the key principles of the unschooling movement, and subsequently dropped out of college when I couldn't reconcile the cost with the benefit, I can really get behind a lot of these initiatives, particularly for those of us with a strong focus or who, for reasons of temperament or ability, cannot gel with the current system of education.

In addition, I think that looking at educational alternatives would help to reset the value of a college degree. I had an argument with a former boss once, over the required schooling needed to do the job I was leaving. In agreeing to help her write the job description, I noticed she had slipped in a "college degree required" line.

When I asked why, pointing out that I had done the job well without a degree (because really, the job only required reading comprehension and basic communication skills) she said "well, that's just to keep the riff-raff out."

Excuse me?

"By your standards, I'm uneducated," I pointed out.

She waved off my concerns, but I - having fought with the employment market for over a decade at that point - knew that the lack of a degree resulted in an instant disqualification for many jobs. And many of those jobs were compensating at under $12 an hour, which strikes me a bit unreasonable. It's one thing to require a degree for an entry-level, stepping stone job, but for a job you acknowledge is dead end? Where is the logic in that decision? It just cheapens the overall value of earning a degree.

However, the price of going without a college degree is a high one to pay, and life is much much harder. However, with many college-qualified students choosing to opt-out due to costs and other factors, perhaps it is time to examine alternate methods of education.

Kamenetz agrees, noting:

Paharia's idea of "hacking" education — putting something together on the fly — is important. All of these projects are still very much works in progress. Not even the most starry-eyed geeks are claiming that an LCD monitor can and should replace the richest, most fully textured college experience out there (at least not yet). But it could certainly represent an upgrade in opportunity for those who can't afford college, or for the half of American college students who attend community colleges, or even the 80% who attend nonselective universities.

Ultimately what interests Paharia is proving the model, demonstrating that there's a way to provide education cheaply or even for free to all who are qualified. "I ride the Boston T around and I see these ads for schools, and it bothers me that so much hope is rested on having an education, and yet at the end of the day you end up with $100,000 in debt. What are you paying for? And is this the best way of setting up the system?"

Peer2Peer is not the only attempt to bridge the gap between free material and cheap education. The online University of the People, founded by Shai Reshef, who made his fortune in for-profit education, signed up its first class this fall — 300 students from nearly 100 countries. While it has yet to get accreditation, the not-for-profit plans to offer bachelor's degrees in business and computer science using open courseware and volunteer faculty; fees would add up to about $4,000 for a full four-year degree.

Perhaps it is time to start restructuring our ideas of what constitutes an education. In the process of explaining why our educational model functions the way it does, Kamenetz explains:

The university as we know it was born around AD 1100, when communities formed in Bologna, Italy; Oxford, England; and Paris around a scarce, precious information technology: the handwritten book. Illuminated manuscripts of the period show a professor at a podium lecturing from a revered volume while rows of students sit with paper and quill — the same basic format that most classes take 1,000 years later.

Today, we've gone from scarcity of knowledge to unimaginable abundance. It's only natural that these new, rapidly evolving information technologies would convene new communities of scholars, both inside and outside existing institutions.

We do benefit from a glut of information, and only lack a way to effectively organize and quantify learning outside of a university system. But even if these new online systems give rise to less expensive options for college, will our existing digital divide continue to perpetuate the same set of problems?

Who Needs Harvard? How Web-Savvy Edupunks Are Transforming American Higher Education [Fast Company]
Cost of higher education gets more pricey [USA Today]
The Teenage Liberation Handbook [Amazon]
Unschooling [Wikipedia]
Misperceptions and Unexpected Barriers Deter Some of The Nation's Brightest Students From Attending College [IHEP]
Digital Divide [Wikipedia]

(Image of Neeru Paharia| Photograph by Ben Stechschulte)

Justin Cosby, a Cambridge resident and suspected pot dealer, was fatally wounded on May 18th during what police believe was a robbery gone awry. He was shot in the stomach in Kirkland House, a university dormitory, but he managed to run out into the street before collapsing. He died several hours later in the hospital.

Jordan Copney, a professional songwriter from New York, has been charged with his murder, the Times of London reports. It is believed that Copney targeted Cosby because he was carrying a large stash of marijuana and $1,000 in cash. Copney allegedly knew Cosby through two girls who attended Harvard: his girlfriend, and her close friend, Campbell. Police say that Cosby sold drugs to the Harvard students, including the two girls reportedly involved in the shooting.

Prosecutors believe that Cosby was "visiting friends on the campus" when he was confronted by Copney, who had traveled to campus with the express purpose of robbing Cosby. It is unknown how Copney gained access to the dormitory, but police believe that Campbell loaned him her security pass, an allegation that Campbell thoroughly denies. Once Copney was in the building, he approached Cosby, and "during the course of the confrontation, multiple shots were fired. One of those shots struck Cosby, resulting in his death."

The Boston Globe reports that although Campbell admits that she knew Copney through his girlfriend, she maintains that she was not involved in the murder in any way. Campbell claims she was taking a final when the alleged robbery occurred, and she never lent her security pass to Copney. She also makes the distinction that she lives in Kirkland annex, not Kirkland House, which is where the shooting took place. "I have no knowledge of anything that happened, none whatsoever," Campbell said. However, Harvard has taken action against Campbell, banning her from campus and barring her from participating in graduation.

Campbell has publicly stated that she believes she is the victim of racism:

Asked why she believes Harvard administrators took the actions they did, she said she was not making an "overall claim of racism," but "I do believe I am being singled out. . . . The honest answer to that is that I'm black and I'm poor and I'm from New York and I walk a certain way and I keep my clothes a certain way," she said. "It's something that labels me as different from everyone else."

Campbell's claims are not without precedent. Last month, Harvard held a panel to look into whether campus police unfairly stopped black students because of their race, reports the Associated Press - which also puts the percent of African-American, admitted students at 11%:

In 2004, police stopped and questioned a prominent black Harvard professor who matched a robbery suspect's description. Then, in 2007, police responding to noise complaints asked leaders of black student groups holding a field day on campus to show their Harvard IDs.

Last year, a black campus worker who lost his bicycle lock key said an officer drew a gun on him after he tried to cut the lock off.

The panel found that they needed to do more work in order to create a "welcoming environment at the school."

During a phone call monitored by her attorney, Campbell told the New York Post that she is "hurt and I'm confused, for me not to be graduating is frustrating." She also said that she had never seen Cosby before, and she doesn't know why she is the only one being asked to leave campus. "This is incredibly hurtful to know it's only me that has been kicked off campus," Campbell said. "I'm feeling I'm being scapegoated and I can't defend myself."

Campbell's lawyer, Jeffrey Karp, says that Harvard has not yet disclosed their reason for barring Campbell from graduating, but he hopes he will be able to work out a deal that will allow her to participate in the ceremony. "Harvard is being cold and callous," he said. "What they have done to Chanequa is equivalent to having your house foreclosed and losing your job on the same day."

Student Says Harvard Is Wrongly Linking Her To Campus Murder [Boston Globe]
Harvard Accused Of Racism After Expelling Student Over Campus Killing [Times]
Brooklyn Harvard Student Chenequa Campbell Barred From Campus During Murder Investigation [New York Post]
Black Harvard Student: Racism Part Of Campus Ban [AP]

This past Monday, 61 students and one teacher from the Hora Jalaly high school in northern Afghanistan were hospitalized with symptoms of possible poisoning. They complained of irritability, weeping and confusion, and several girls fainted. "There was a strong smell, like flowers in the hallway. I fell down and woke up in the hospital," said 18-year-old Zahera, according to UPI. Many other students noticed the smell, but did not go to the hospital until after they had gone home. Another student said she felt dizzy, and her eyes stung, hours after the attack.

On Tuesday, a similar attack occurred at a school in northeastern Afghanistan, the Associated Press reports. At least 84 girls were admitted to a hospital with headaches and vomiting. The students were lined up outside their school on Tuesday morning when they noticed a strange odor. One girl collapsed, and the school's principal, Mossena said they "took her inside and splashed water on her face." Several other girls started fainting, and Mossena sent all the students home. Soon after, Mossena fainted. She awoke later in the main hospital in Muhmud Raqi, where at least 98 patients from her school had been admitted. Along with the 84 girls, 11 teachers and at least two cleaners were hospitalized, and another 30 students were being monitored to see if they developed symptoms. Five of the girls briefly slipped into comas after falling ill, CBC News reports.

This was the third such attack in the past two weeks. The first occurred late last month in Parwan, where dozens of girls were sickened by what officials said were strong fumes or a possible gas cloud. "The enemies of Afghanistan are behind this poisoning," said Kapisa education director Abdul Gani Hedayat ("enemies of Afghanistan" being the government's typical term for the Taliban). "I am 100 percent certain it is poison," he said. "Ninety-eight people suddenly fell sick. This isn't something that happens just normally."

Not everyone is convinced the attacks were the work of the Taliban. The apparent poisonings have all occurred in northern Afghanistan, which is apparently not as opposed to the education of females as the more conservative southern regions. In the past year, there have been several attacks on schoolgirls in southern Afghanistan by militants trying to deter women from attending school. They have previously sprayed acid in girls' faces and burnt down schools in efforts to terrorize students and teachers. However, the New York Times reports that no one group has yet come forward to claim responsibility, which has lead some to speculate that the attacks may have been actually caused by mass hysteria.

A Parwan official suggested that the illness may have been brought on by students observing the first girl who fell ill. He said that there is no evidence currently that the students were poisoned, although they are still awaiting results from blood tests. Although this may seem far-fetched, Amir Shah and Heidi Vogt for the Associated Press report,

Research has borne out the possibility of a psychological cause. At a Tennessee school in 1998, dozens were hospitalized for dizziness, headaches, nausea and shortness of breath after a teacher noticed a gasoline smell in a classroom, according to a study in the New England Journal of Medicine. The study found that there had been no toxic exposure and that the sickness appeared to be psychological, noting that the symptoms were subjective.

Despite doubts about the most recent attack, students are still afraid to return to school. "I'm going to be scared when I go back to school. What if we die?" said 11-year-old Tahira.

Apparent Poisoning Hospitalizes 84 Afghan Girls [AP]
New 'Poisoning' Hits Afghan Schoolgirls: Officials [AFP]
Afghan Girls' Poisoning Being Probed [UPI]
Afghan Authorities Probe Another Possible Schoolgirl Poisoning [CBC]
Third Afghan Girls' School Experiences Sudden Illness [NYT]
84 Afghan Girls Hospitalized In Apparent Poisoning [AP]

Daniel Abramson, a Vassar STUDENT (who we must assume thinks of himself as some sort of highfalutin version of Mystery) had signed up to teach this mini-course, which was available to all students for zero credit. The course description for the now-cancelled class read:

This course aims to take a critical look at dating across lingual/cultural barriers. Experts in each local will be brought in to the class for instructional purposes. Coming out of this class students should feel informed enough about different mating rituals to approach women of different national backgrounds.

The course was canceled after only one class. The first class of The Language of Ladies was titled "Orienting Yourself for Women of the Orient," which, of course, raised some red flags. According to Ming Tseng, a guest columnist for the Vassar student paper, the class itself was no better than the title:

Audience member Reese Wong '10 said, "Some points Dan made about body language, politeness, common greeting customs, and the manner in which phone numbers are exchanged in Japan were valuable tips for people traveling to Japan, but I took offense to many of the stereotypical ways that Japanese women were described." In the guest lecturer's presentation, Japanese women were characterized as shy and giving, among other essentializing descriptions. The instructor admits that he did not collaborate with the guest lecturer and read over the presentation; therefore, he takes full responsibility for allowing those stereotypes to be reinforced.

Although she does not support the racist undertones of the course, Tseng is of the opinion that the incident should be viewed as a "teaching moment" that can open dialogues about race and gender.

Abramson himself has spoken out about the course, and apologized for the first class, which he admits "proved to be insulting" after all. He claims that he did not intend the discussion to take the turn that it did, and says he hopes to learn from the experience so that such a situation won't occur again in the future.

However, some students seemed to really like the class. Alexander Holodny, another guest columnist for the Miscellany News wrote,

Forums such as The Language of Ladies serve not as secretive manipulation schools, but rather as safe environments for men to discuss strategies to find substance in their lives. There is nothing wrong with being interested in your sexuality, despite the proverbially forbidden nature of sex. Especially if, in taking interest, men create a positive environment that enables them to internalize the essence of sexual interaction.

While I can completely understand how this course may have felt like a "safe environment" for men, I fail to see how this is any different from the rest of our fucking culture. Even at a liberal school like Vassar, surely there is some space where men can talk amongst themselves about men stuff, like "mating rituals" and how to "take" a woman to bed.

Holodny went on to defend the course, claiming that it was an accurate representation of cultural differences and thus should not be considered offensive. He argued that "the fact that Japanese women, in the general sense, tend toward shyness and generosity should not be interpreted as an offensive assertion-it's a merely an observation," one that could potentially help a man who is looking to "mate" with an "Oriental" woman. He ended his piece by asking the ladies of Vassar "Wouldn't it be refreshing to meet guys who feel grounded, confident, lively and playful? Guys with swagger?"

[Image viaLarry Miller's Flickr]

Mini-Course Raises Issues Of Sexism And Racism [The Miscellany News]
Canceled Mini-Course Was Crucial Safe Environment For Male Students [The Miscellany News]
Mini-Course Was Intended To Teach Multiculturalism [The Miscellany News]

The New York Times profiles one school in the Bronx which, after experimenting with a number of different initiatives, has tried separating fifth-grade classes by sex. Anecdotally, the approach - which results in two very different classroom atmospheres - seems effective.

"Before it was all about showing the girls who was toughest, and roughing up and being cool," said Samell Little, whose son Gavin is in his second school year surrounded only by boys. "Now I never hear a word from teachers about behavior problems, and when he talks about school, he is actually talking about work."

The article describes the stricter boys' classroom (in which the teacher now gives a brief lesson on personal hygiene and hands out deodorant samples) and the more nurturing girls' class, in which issues like cliques are addressed. Although the test scores haven't shown a noticeable difference, the article notes that this may be because the school tends to put struggling students in the single-sex classes, and so such numbers may be misleading. "While test scores might not show it, Mr. Cannon and his teachers said there have been fewer fights and discipline issues, and more participation in class and after-school activities, since the girls and boys were split up." However, the program gives some people pause.

But Kim Gandy, president of the National Organization for Women, said separate classrooms reinforce gender stereotypes. "A boy who has never been beaten by a girl on an algebra test could have some major problems having a female supervisor," she said. While some advocates believe that girls are more likely to participate in class when no boys are present - and that boys, particularly those from low-income families, tend to focus better without girls around - academic research is inconclusive.

I do know that when I was a kid, I loved being in class with boys: I wasn't interested in them romantically at the age of ten or eleven, but I did take special relish in besting them academically and making them eat their bragadoccio. I know coed classes spurred me, personally, but then, I was also lucky enough to attend a progressive school where educators had the luxury of considering the philosophical dynamics of the class breakdown. The school described in this article is not trying single-sex ed as a means of empowerment so much as a last resort, one in a series of try-anything experiments in a desperate attempt to improve these kids' academics. And if it works, great. I get what Gandy's saying, of course, but I'm guessing the alternative, at Eagle School, would not be an educational idyll, and someone with a good education and fewer disciplinary problems is more likely to end up with a female supervisor - or a supervisor, period - than otherwise.

Then too, kids are more sexualized than they were a generation ago: if you look at the numbers for Eagle's neighborhood, you'll see that it's not uncommon for kids of just this age to become sexually active. By high school age, most of the academic building blocks are in place, or not. At fifth and sixth grade age, they're still being built - and it's easy to see how mixing that crucial period with sexual awakening could do a kid's academics some serious damage. Which is not to say that single-sex is the solution, or that Gandy's objections won't turn out to be valid ones. But I do see why the school is willing to try. Let's hope the result is kids of either sex who are indeed competitive at Algebra; that's more than I can say for myself.

Boys And Girls Together, Taught Separately In Public School [NY Times]

The thing is, I don't. In fact, I laughed my ass off when my friend Lori tagged this gem of a photograph, taken on my 14th birthday in the midst of the long process of growing out my eighties bangs. Braiker didn't quite feel the same way.

So when I received an e-mail alert that Caroline had tagged me in a photo, I was horrified. Rightfully so. The picture she posted is terrible. It's homecoming 1991, though it could easily be mistaken for the parking lot at a Phish concert. I appear to be dancing or jumping; my unwashed mane is flying all over the place; I look like a hobo who has spent the night in a patchouli patch. My first impulse was to detag the photo. I mean, how dare she? Who goes through the trouble of unearthing mortifying 18-year-old snapshots, scanning them, and then putting them in a public space?

Um, actually, I do. I got hit with this particular spectacular tagging because, since I was putting my old photos in long-term storage, I decided to scan some of them and share by tagging my old friends from high school. The horror of that touched off a Facebook skirmish of unflattering photographic uploads and taggings, in a round-robin of increasing hilarity and online conversations with old friends I haven't spoken to since graduation — and it resulted in a net gain of about 8 friends as my friends tagged people we knew in common that I didn't realize were on Facebook. It was kind of awesome.

Of course, I feel about my dweeby high school self (and my current geeky adult self) somewhat differently than Braiker, too.

I went through a bit of a hippie phase in high school: long greasy hair, Dead shows. I was a few pounds heavier then and hadn't yet blossomed into the well-groomed specimen of smoldering manhood who is typing this today.

I think the old pictures of me on Facebook at this point run the gamut from my vaguely preppy big hair days to my all-black phase, through the Blossom hat stage and well into the hippie experiment — the goth pictures of me have, luckily, yet to be unearthed. And I can't say that I care — if someone isn't going to be friends or date me because, in 1991, I had enormous hair and high-waisted, pleated, acid-washed jeans that I pegged at the ankles, I think I'm better off hanging with people who live in reality. Although Braiker's tongue is firmly planted in his cheek above, he does admit he was mostly scared that his new friends would be seeing pictures of his old self.

Once you start reconnecting with people from your distant past, even if fleetingly online, your life goes from feeling like a patchwork of acquaintances and experiences to something more fluid and cohesive. This can be humbling. Or, as Caroline said when I whined to her about posting that photo: "You can never be too cool for your past."

I think I, like a lot of people, was kind of excited to go to college because I could make a fresh start from being the brainy, obnoxious, awkward girl I'd been from K-12 in a small town. Thing is, I'm still sort of brainy and awkward and obnoxious — that bitch totally followed me up and down the East Coast. My hair might not look like this, and I might have sort of finally grown into my nose and out of pink plaid shirts, but I don't have to deny her existence to be comfortable with the version of her that I am now.

Tag, You're It! [Slate]

[Photo courtesy of my friend Lori]

Sasha was seen carrying a pink, magenta and gray backpack and wore blue jeans and a brown jacket with a hood. Her hair was pulled into two braids.

Not to be outdone, TMZ has an "exclusive": The lunch menu from Sidwell Friends. Corn chowder! Zucchini bread! Cheese tortellini! And! More from WaPo:

The media did their usual stakeout thing to record the historic occasion. We can reliably report some details, such as: Sasha carried a JanSport Trans backpack with a camouflage pattern of pink, magenta, gray and white camouflage. Attached to the backpack was a turquoise, three-eyed Uglydoll keychain.

Despite the fact that a 2nd grader's lunch, hairstyle and keychain are "news," the associate headmaster of Sidwell Friends maintains that everything there is same old, same old: "It's been a very normal day, the first day after winter break," Ellis Turner tells the Post. "Nothing special was prepared for any of our students."

Still, what happened while the girls were at school? Write Richard Leiby and DeNeen L. Brown for WaPo: "We assume that some sort of teaching took place. Also, discreet gawking."

Soon-to-Be First Girls Have First Day of School, At Sidwell, Everybody's Top Subject [WaPo]
New kids on the block: Malia and Sasha Obama [MSNBC via WaPo]
Obama Girls — The Lil' Ladies Who Lunch [TMZ]
Earlier: Sasha & Malia's First Day Of School: Backpacks & Breathless Reporters
Today Show Tries To Respect Obama Girls' Privacy; Fails

Long before the days of women's suffrage and equal rights crusades, Quakers were unique in integrating women fully into the ministry; the schools were not only coeducational, they focused on equipping girls with all the same spiritual and intellectual apparatus as boys. It's no accident that Susan B. Anthony and Lucretia Mott and any number of leading suffragists were raised in Quaker homes.

On the other hand, a piece in the Wall Street Journal reminds us that unlike so many families in this country, the Obamas have the means to select a private school, "and no one begrudges them that choice given that Washington's public schools are among the worst in America." The WSJ piece notes:

Most D.C. parents would also love to be able to choose a better school for their child, but they lack the financial means to do so. The Washington Opportunity Scholarship Program each year offers up to $7,500 to some 1,900 kids to attend private schools, but Democrats in Congress want to kill it. Average family income for kids in the voucher program is about $22,000. Mr. Obama says he opposes such vouchers, because "although it might benefit some kids at the top, what you're going to do is leave a lot of kids at the bottom." The example of his own children refutes that: The current system offers plenty of choice to kids "at the top" while abandoning those at the bottom.

Obviously the President-Elect is giving his daughters an education some Americans can't give their children. But which politician would not?

In any case, the challenge for Sasha and Malia will be some attempt at normalcy (Facebook banned? Oh no!) Newsweek reporter Suzanne Smalley received an email from a parent whose child attends a school the Obama girls visited last week: "My son asked one of the Secret Service agents yesterday why he was hiding behind a doorway in a hall," the parent wrote. Apparently Malia "had asked him to hang back so she could be more 'normal.'" But! The kids at the school referred to the Secret Service agents as "bodyguards." Not normal, but kind of cool?

Why Sasha and Malia Will Go to Sidwell Friends [Time]
The Sidwell Choice [WSJ]
Just One More Frame! [Newsweek]

In an open letter to the Obamas, D.C. mom of a public school attending child and writer Stephanie Mencimer pleads with Barack and Michelle to embrace the Washington school system:

One of the major problems with the city's schools is that they've been all but abandoned by middle-class parents who can use their political clout to hold schools to higher standards and to demand sufficient resources for them. Right now, DC schools are at a critical turning point. Some middle class families, particularly with very young kids, are starting to come back into the system, which holds great promise for the future of education in the city. But keeping those families—and convincing more to do so—is a major challenge. The arrival of the Obama girls in a DC public school would send a powerful message to other nervous yuppie parents: your kids will be ok here—come join us! Those parents can be a major force for good that, unlike tax cuts, does have a trickle down effect on lots of kids whose parents don't know how to write grant proposals or lobby Congress. And imagine the turnout for PTA meetings should Michelle join!

Mencimer does concede, however, that some of the schools in the D.C. system are so bad, "I myself have serious reservations about eventually sending my own kids there." The commenters on DCist are relatively tame about the issue, and most of them say the Obamas should do whatever they think is best for their children regardless of how it looks to the community. There are more wackadoos in the comments section of the Washington Post, some of whom are still talking about Bill Ayers and ACORN and generally frothing at the mouth.

Mencimer says she was vastly disappointed when Bill and Hillary Clinton decided to send Chelsea to the private Sidwell Friends. And after all, the D.C. public school system was good enough for Amy Carter…although she did turn out to be a protest starting radical hippie feminist.

Public School Still A Possibility For Obamas [Politico]
Public School For The Obama Girls, Please? [Mother Jones]
Where Will Sasha And Malia Go To School? [DCist]
Michelle Obama Visits Georgetown Day School [WaPo]

(Click on any image to begin gallery view)

Click here, here and here to see all thumbnails!

Earlier: Endless Summer: The Technicolor Kiddie Swimsuit Extravaganza
Oh What A Night: The Pastel, Poufy, & Gothic Prom Gowns Of Generations Of Jezebels
It Was The Best Of Times, It Was The Worst Of Times: A Gallery Of Not So Gorgeous Bridal Fashions
When Animals Attract: Your Cuddly Childhood Creatures
Holy Jesus, You All Looked Cute In Those Horrid Easter Ensembles!
The Way We Were: Retro Black Hairstyles

Even ol' Orwell's boarding school has likely banned beatings, as "smacking has nearly vanished from schools," in Europe, explains the Economist. But this little detail makes the U.S. look even worse: America is the only country, "along with Somalia, which has failed to ratify a United Nations convention on children's rights, which since 1990 has protected children from “all forms of physical or mental violence."

As the magazine points out, there is a world of difference between a light pat on the butt to prove a point and true child abuse, "and in a world where children face such horrors as forced labour, sex trafficking and military conscription, devoting energy to outlawing parental smacks may strike some people as the wrong emphasis." But still, it's pretty embarrassing for the U.S. to so wholeheartedly support the public humiliation of their children by potential strangers in school. Then again, the beatings did stop wee George Orwell from wetting the bed. "So perhaps this barbarous remedy does work," he noted, "though at a heavy price, I have no doubt." Such, Such Were The Joys, indeed.

Spare The Rod, Say Some [Economist]
Such, Such Were The Joys [George Orwell]

As Bruen tells it:

More men started to cheer. It didn't matter to the drunken mob that my breasts were being shown or fondled against my will. They were happy to see a topless girl all the same. I punched him in the face, and someone shoved me into a throng of others. I was surrounded, but I kept swinging and hitting until I was able to break free of the circle they had formed.

Melissa McEwan at Shakesville says that Bruen's story shows that teaching women self-defense alone is not going to fix the rape problem. "Addressing the issues of the men who assaulted her, and the larger culture that facilitates that kind of behavior and the attitudes underlying it, needs to be a part of comprehensive rape prevention," McEwan argues. "Self-defense doesn't stop rapists from being created in the first place."

The saddest part of this entire tale is this comment from another poster on the UConn Daily Campus, who read the attacks on Bruen's character and internalized them. "It's comments like these that assure me that I did the right thing at not reporting my sexual assault," the anonymous poster writes. "I never wanted to face the battery of verbal assault that melissa is facing right now after facing the sexual one that she faced the other weekend..and the emotional and physical one that she will torment her for the REST OF HER LIFE just like the one that will face me."

My Spring Weekend Nightmare [Daily Campus via Feministing]
"You Think That Was Assault?" [Shakesville]