IPods for Teachers (School Life)

It’s the week before Christmas, but you wouldn’t really know it from all the interesting pieces, serious and otherwise, that have come out over the past few days.

More than a few folks have been inspired to write riffs on Caitlin Flanagan’s recent piece in the New Yorker about giving over-the-top gifts to teachers: "Opinion: Giving teachers luxe gifts in hopes of good grades could backfire" (Los Angeles Times), New Rules for Teacher Gifts: Apples (but Perhaps No IPods) (NYTimes). For what it’s worth, the writer Flanagan and I taught at the same school in Los Angeles way back when, and as I recall she did receive an awful lot of holiday loot.

There’s news that at least one of the Bush family members takes public education seriously: Jenna Bush Taking Teaching Job (Associated Press). Though of course she’s teaching at a charter school.

Other School Life articles this week:
In schools and cities, battles over 'Christ' in Christmas CSM
A nation of wimps Psychology Today
Junk Food Ban Puts LA Schools in the Red NPR
The Cafeteria Crusader (Time Magazine)
Toxic Health (Newsweek)
Tempe OKs Taser guns for 9 schools Arizona Republic
Upsurge in teenage girls' drinking San Francisco Chronicle
A Push to Restrict Sales of Video Games The Washington Post
Parents pay little heed to video game ratings (New York Times)
Grokker Schools Students on Meta-Search InternetNews.com
Google Is Adding Major Libraries to Its Database New York Times