Featured
Education
What's Next For Abstinence-Only Sex-Ed Programs?
When Obama decided not to renew the Title V grant program that funds abstinence-only sex education programs in his 2010 budget, places like McLennan County in Texas found their coffers, already depleted when their $800,000 grant ran out in 2007, dwindle from $1 million to zero.
Since 1997, $1.9 billion in government funding ($1.5 billion of it federal money) has gone to abstinence-only education, turning it into an industry unto itself. Although the Senate Finance Committee voted to restore the funding 12-11 last month, the measure needs to pass the full Congress, which is unlikely.
Front Page: Unemployment Might Create a Lost Generation
- The job crisis is hitting young people just out of college especially hard, which could have a long-term negative impact on an entire generation. — Business Week
- American Elinor Ostrom has become the first woman to win the Nobel prize for economics. — BBC News
- Iraq's National Theater has opened again for the first time in six years, as nightlife begins to return to Baghdad.
Women With College Degrees Help Their Partners Live Longer
Well-educated women have more to offer than interesting conversations. According to an extensive Swedish study, a woman's education and social status has more impact on her partner's lifespan than his own education.
The study, involving 1.5 million working Swedes, found that a man whose partner only had a high school education had a 25 percent greater risk of dying early than a man whose partner holds a university degree.
News Flash: Texas Says Abstinence-Only Doesn't Work
Putting facts — like rising teen pregnancy and STD rates — together with some common sense, Texas school districts are beginning to ditch abstinence-only education programs.
Texas has the third-highest teen pregnancy rate in the US and it also spends the most on abstinence-only education. One school district official explained the decision to step away from an abstinence-only approach:
"We don’t think abstinence-only is working.
Do Shows Like Gossip Girl Accurately Reflect College Life?
In an article in the New York Post today, real-life NYU students respond to Gossip Girl's depiction of NYU freshman orientation. What do they think of the show's fictional keg parties on rooftops, characters requesting who they want to room with to the Housing Office, and the notion that NYU is cheaper than Yale? (Here's a Buzz recap of this week's goings-on to refresh your memories!)
Although one blogger gives the thumbs up to the show's reference to an "Art & the World" class he actually took his freshman year at Tisch, another one disses the idea of a rooftop party.
More Kids Are Coming Out in Middle School
The middle-school version of ourselves probably had a blurry idea of the adults we would become, but some kids are proving that we knew a lot more about our identities than we thought. With no doubt about who they are attracted to, more and more kids are coming out as gay or bisexual before they make it to high school.
An article in this weekend's New York Times Magazine examines the trend and reveals that many of these kid are coming out before they've ever dated or kissed anyone of either sex.
Were There Mean Girls at Your High School?
Tina Fey captured the essence of high school girl-on-girl cruelty when she wrote the screenplay for Mean Girls. In the movie, Lindsay Lohan's character Cady describes how the queen of mean Regina George ruled her minion Gretchen, in addition to the whole school:
The meaner Regina was to her, the more Gretchen tried to win Regina back. She knew it was better to be in the plastics, hating life, than to not be in at all.
Student Fights For Right to Wear Confederate Clothes
South Carolinian teen Candice Hardwick believes her freedom of speech was violated when school officials forced her to change her clothes and turn shirts inside out because they featured the Confederate emblem. Candice, whose state still flies the Confederate flag at the state house, was even suspended from her middle school for continuing to wear the controversial logo. A federal court ruled that the school district could prevent her from wearing the clothing, but now Candice is appealing the decision.
Front Page: Busy Obama Takes on Education and Health Care
- President Obama told school children yesterday to take pride in their education and watch what they put on Facebook. — Voice of America
- Meanwhile, the president is still working on the healthcare speech he's due to give Congress tonight. — AP
- A New York Times reporter being held captive by militants in Afghanistan was freed by a military commando raid this morning.
Kids Are Blind to the Notion of a Colorblind Society
Well-intentioned parents who want their kids to grow up in a colorblind world avoid discussing race. But a new study involving white families reveals that when parents keep quiet about skin color, young children will discriminate based on race.
The findings from the Children's Research Lab at the University of Texas are featured in this week's Newsweek.
More on TresSugar
Fall Award Season
Top Brands
Yves Saint Laurent
Laura Clement
Geox