Friday, January 13, 2006

No Child Left Behind

Here's the best story on the AP wire tonight:

BROOKLYN, Ohio (AP) β€” A high school research assignment on Internet pornography was canceled after parents in this Cleveland suburb complained.

Superintendent Jeff Lampert said that although the teacher's apparent goal β€” to discuss the harmful effects of pornography β€” was well-intentioned, he agreed with parents that the assignment was inappropriate for 14- and 15-year-old freshmen at Brooklyn High.

The assignment asked students to research pornography on the Internet and list eight facts about pornography. Students also were asked to write their personal views of pornography and any experience they had with it.

Lampert said he doubted the teacher, Scott Gioia, would face any punishment. Gioia teaches health and physical education and has been at the school for about five years.


And so forth. Yep, our students may suck at geography, they may trail half their peers in the world in math and science, and teens in the Netherlands may write a better English sentence than teens in America, but by God we can still lead the world in "surfing for porn."