Education Briefs

Bush administration looks to amend No Child Left Behind provisions

U.S. Secretary of Education Ron Paige said yesterday the Bush administration will work to soften some provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act.

The changes will include relaxing teachers' qualification requirements -- including having a degree in every subject they teach -- and relaxing regulations governing required participation rates on standardized tests.

Thousands of local districts throughout the country have decried the No Child Left Behind program as unfair and arbitrary. This is especially true in rural areas where Republican lawmakers consider the law unrealistic.

Bush is slated to use No Child Left Behind as a centerpiece of his reelection campaign. Some experts said the administration's emphasis on flexibility contrasted sharply with its stance last year, when it was reported federal officials brushed aside complaints that some provisions were unreasonable.



Brown U. to study potential for reparations for slave labor in its early years

President of Brown University Dr. Ruth Simmons recently appointed a Committee on Slavery and Justice for the university.

The committee will spend two years investigating Brown's historic ties to slavery. They will arrange courses and research projects examining the moral, legal and economic complexities of reparations and recommend how the university should take responsibility for its connection to slavery.

Many of Brown University's early donors and officials were wealthy slave owners and traders, and some of the school's original buildings were constructed with slave labor.

This is not the first time that Brown has focused on the slavery reparations issue. In March 2001, the Brown Daily Herald printed a full-page advertisement listing "Ten Reasons Why Reparations for Slavery is a Bad Idea and Racist Too." The advertisement argued that since slavery happened so long ago and was ended by white Christians, repartitions were not necessary. The advertisement added that African Americans should be grateful for their prosperity and freedom in the U.S.

Simmons is the first black president in Ivy League history.



Author of federal aid drug law accuses administration of distorting its purpose

Under a provision of federal law that has been increasingly coming under fire, tens of thousands of would-be college students have been denied financial aid because of drug offenses, even when the crimes may have been committed long ago and the sentences already served.

Author of the law Representative Mark Souder (R-IN) said that both the Clinton and the Bush administrations have distorted its original purpose. He said they are, "taking a penalty meant to discourage current students from experimenting with drugs and using it to punish people trying to get their lives back on track."

Politicians and students disagree over the intention of the law.

Currently, violent criminals who have served their sentence are fully entitled to federal aid, but the law would prohibit casual drug users from receive monies.

* compiled by Patrick Gordon from the New York Times