Resources for topics

Unlike much of the topic-related stuff available on the Internet, this resource is designed simply to get you thinking. I believe you'll get a better grade that way. When you try to present someone else's work, you just don't do as good a job. This material will serve as seed crystals from which you can form your own work of art.

Initially, it will just be a collection of links. As more material strikes me as interesting (which usually means it goes beyond what "everyone knows" or presents an uncommon viewpoint), it will require a greater degree of organization, at which point I will move this into some sort of (searchable, I hope) database.

For now, we'll go with a simple link-and-explanation format.

ABC News: John Stossel's 'Stupid in America'

Subtitled "How Lack of Choice Cheats Our Kids Out of a Good Education," this transcript of a TV program aired on 13 January 2006 provides solid evidence and explanations for the reasons behind the decline in the performance of American students, and offers a solution.

Two Years for One Joint

Whether you think drugs should be outlawed or legalized, information in this article will make you question whether drug policy in this country is badly out of whack. A 17-year-old was given a mandatory sentence of two years for selling one joint because the sale happened within a Drug-Free School Zone. On the surface, a Drug-Free School Zone sounds like a good idea, but there are problems with it.

• 98 percent of people arrested in "Drug-Free School Zones" weren’t selling drugs to children.
• 95 percent of all sales aren’t near any schools. [The zone extends for 1,000 feet around a school—nearly a quarter mile. If two schools are close to each other, the zones overlap. A study in New Jersey found that 76% of Newark, 54% of Jersey City, and 52% of Camden were within Drug-Free Zones.]
• Most of those arrested have no idea they are in a so-called school zone. [Hence, the deterrent effect is questionable.]

In essence, Drug-Free School Zones simply give overzealous prosecutors an excuse for jacking up sentences when they choose. The law is only imposed when the prosecutor files the charges in addition to drug sale charges. Another telling statistic in light of that: 97 percent of all people charged with violating "Drug-Free Zones" are Black or Latino.

Littleton school expels foreign flags from gym

A Colorado 7th grade teacher was physically removed from his classroom by the principal and placed on paid administrative leave on the second day of school.

The principal told bewildered teacher Eric Hamlin that he was violating state law—specifically, a Colorado law that makes it illegal to display foreign flags permanently in government schools.

A school district spokesman explained to Denver's KMGH-TV: "Under state law, foreign flags can only be in the classroom [if] it's tied to the curriculum. ... We have to uphold state law. We really have no discretion when it comes to upholding the law."

Hamlin had indeed displayed several nations' flags in his classroom. That's because the subject he taught was world geography. Imagine that.