School Survival

NYPD personnel assigned to New York City’s public schools have repeatedly violated students’ civil rights through wrongful arrests and the excessive use of force, according to a class action federal lawsuit filed today by the New York Civil Liberties Union, American Civil Liberties Union and the law firm of Dorsey & Whitney LLP. The landmark […]

A teenager who can think 20 moves ahead in a chess match has become the game's youngest ever number one. Norwegian Magnus Carlsen, 19, has been called the 'Mozart of Chess'. He is listed at the top of the World Chess Federation's rankings for January with 2,810 points, five ahead of his nearest rival, Bulgarian […]

His pictures cost upwards of £900, there are 680 people on a waiting list to buy them, and his second exhibition sold out in 14 minutes. Patrick Barkham meets the gifted artist Kieron Williamson, aged seven. http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/...ron-Wi-001.jpg Kieron Williamson kneels on the wooden bench in his small kitchen, takes a pastel from the box by […]

SYDNEY — Australian schoolgirl Jessica Watson on Sunday marked 70 days at sea in her solo round-the-world sail, after a foggy Christmas on one of the most isolated points on the planet. Watson, 16, has travelled 8,000 nautical miles since leaving Sydney in her pink yacht on October 18 in her bid to become the […]

Homeschooling has been misunderstood and maligned for many years, but critics are running out of bad things to say about this educational option in the face of mounting evidence of the advantages. Homeschooled students out-perform their public school peers academically in most areas and have for a long time. This has left defenders of the […]

Australia could give 16- and 17-year-olds the right to vote under far-reaching proposals being considered by the government. At present voters must be 18 to cast a ballot, but ministers are contemplating a plan to give younger teenagers a say in Australian elections. The suggestion is contained in an official discussion paper on electoral reform […]

One of the most persistent criticisms of homeschooling is the accusation that homeschoolers will not be able to fully participate in society because they lack “socialization.” It’s a challenge that reaches right to the heart of homeschooling, because if a child isn’t properly socialized, how will that child be able to contribute to society? Since […]

West Palm Beach's downtown curfew for minors - 10 p.m. on weekdays and 11 p.m. on weekends - violates the Constitution, a youth rights group says. Led by 17-year-old Jeffrey Nadel, the National Youth Rights Association of Southeast Florida says it's the first youth-led group to sue a city for violating minors' right to peaceably […]

But, ironically, not to party. Young people have clubbed together to tackle youth discrimination in shops and town centres, spearheaded by 16-year-old Jessica Robinson through a very modern medium, Facebook. The group which currently stands at 1232 members is continually growing. I interviewed her about how the group started and how she is instigating change […]

Homeschoolers have reason to hope that a years-long effort by some state legislators to impose unnecessary, intrusive regulations has at last been thwarted. This hint of victory comes at the end of a tumultuous 2009, during which homeschool advocates broke records for the largest crowds ever to assemble at the state Capitol in Concord. On […]