Our Kids provides the education, camp, and parenting headlines you should know.
- According to the most recent results from the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Canadian students are pretty resilient. Teens scored higher in reading than anywhere else in North or South America, and were more likely to achieve academic success despite poverty. Alberta’s students are best at reading and science and Quebec mastered math, but in general, smaller provinces brought down the national average.
- But they’re not as good as Shanghai, with its dedicated secondary school students who are raising the bar for international standards.
- However another UNICEF report found that Canada’s poorest children live in some of the worst conditions in terms of family income and housing, ranking 17th out of 24 countries around the world.
- Corporal punishment in schools is completely out of bounds in Canada, but is still subject to debate among private schools in India.
- Two students from a private high school in Oregon won the 2010 Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology with a device that detects emotion in the human voice.
- Private schools in the Maryland area have decided to work together to survive low enrollment rates.
- Arguments between the private and public sector are heating up once again, but not in the classroom. Instead, the debate’s on the football field.
- A recent study discovers that just because a child may play a sport, doesn’t mean they’re getting enough exercise. Maybe try video games instead?
- Nova Scotia school boards are facing unprecedented funding cuts, close to $200 million, about 22 per cent of the total budget. This means the potential closure of 70 schools, layoffs of 300 bus drivers and janitors, 600 teachers’ assistants and student workers, and 2,000 classroom teachers, and would “set the education system back by about 30 years.”
- Looking for holiday gifts for old camp friends? Consider this new camp-friendship-bracelet-inspired jewelry line.
- The University of Toronto’s 85-year-old Institute of Child Study received a $5 million donation from Dr. Eric Jackman, the largest gift in Canadian history for early development and childhood education. The institute is now named after the renowned psychologist and philanthropist.
- A new study says that children exposed to cell phone use, both pre- and post-birth, are more likely to experience behavioral problems such as hyperactivity, than those who aren’t.
- The Chinook’s Edge School Division in Alberta has gathered a group of 40 teachers, students, school staff, administrators, parents, community members and school trustees who will decide their educational direction over the next 20 years.
- The documentary Waiting for Superman about the United States’s education system was named one of Time Magazine‘s Top 10 Movies of 2010.
