education

American undergraduate education needs to change if college students are going to learn more than just practical skills for chosen careers, according to a report by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

DENVER -- Kamaria Hakeem still gets mad when she tells the story, a flash of anger crossing her face at a memory now four years old:"You know black kids don't do good in schools like that."Schools like that would be the Denver School of Science and Technology, where Hakeem enrolled as a member of the school's first freshmen class in 2004.

The college campus of the future is expected to break ground about 20 miles southwest of Minneapolis-St. Paul this year, turning the small community of Chaska into a college town and perhaps transforming higher education in the process.The EdCampus Twin Cities will have the traditional library, student center, cafeteria and administrative offices on its 50-acre grounds.

This year, thousands of high school students will spend a lot of time, and often a lot of money, taking SAT prep courses, hoping to boost their scores on the college entrance exam.But do those courses, which can cost thousands of dollars, really make any difference?

SALT LAKE CITY -- When Mark Colley learned late last year that his daughter viewed "An Inconvenient Truth" during a middle-school science class without advance parental notice, he was intrigued.

Tips for dealing with teen swearing-- SET RULES AND BE ROLE MODELS: Be clear about what language is off-limits for your children, and don't use it yourself, either.-- BE VERY CLEAR: On a first offense, tell them: "We don't use that language here. It can be hurtful to someone, and we expect you not to use it."

Adolescents and preteens are swearing more publicly than ever -- especially at school, experts say.It's conversational swearing -- in the hallways and in the classroom -- that is on the rise, says Timothy Jay, one of the leading scholars on cursing in the United States.

Stanford provided these hypothetical examples to help illustrate the impact of some of the changes to its financial aid program. In each of these cases, none of the families has assets of more than $20,000 beyond their homes.

PALO ALTO, Calif. -- In a radical change to its financial aid program, Stanford University will no longer charge tuition to students whose families earn less than $100,000 a year, and will waive room and board fees for students whose families earn less than $60,000 a year.

When Gail Meadows was growing up in Salina, Kan., she was the only black child in an all-white school. It made her feel adrift, unseen. "My culture was validated at home but not at school," she remembers.