This is an email from BRIGHT Magazine.
Free college? One governor takes it beyond a campaign promise
Dear Bright community,
Well, the world has changed since my last letter. We’ve had an inauguration in the U.S. and a Women’s March on every continent. We’ve had disputes about crowd numbers and presidential tweets on policy. In the education realm, we’ve had U. S. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) decide that the committee weighing Betsy DeVos’s nomination for education secretary will not hold another hearing, despite requests from Democrats. The vote will take place on Jan. 31. Also in DeVos land, the nominee wrote a letter to Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) assuring him that as education secretary she would enforce the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. During her hearing, and much to people’s surprise, DeVos appeared not to know IDEA is a federal law. That didn’t look good. And so, her letter: “I am committed to enforcing all federal laws and protecting the hard won rights of students with disabilities.”
Onto some of the stories from around the web this week.
In photos: the quiet dignity of students at a school for the blind in Kolkata
By Maria Thomas, photographs by Sutirtha Chatterjee in Quartz
India has the largest population of blind people in the world and it is growing every year, yet schools for the blind are not keeping pace. Photographer Sutirtha Chatterjee wants to raise awareness of the importance of these institutions. A moving photo essay.
Syrian child refugees struggle to get an education: U.N.
By Angus McDowall, Reuters
About half of the Syrian children now living in Lebanon are not attending school. UNICEF has made a film about it.
Teaching Teachers to Play Video Games
By Doug Bierend in Bright
This Wisconsin school district is having great success introducing technology to the classroom. Why? Because teachers decide when and if they want to hop on the tech bandwagon.
Rhode Island governor looks to pioneer free tuition for all
By Matt O’Brien, The Associated Press
The smallest state takes on a big idea, and this is how it would go: residents would get two years of free tuition at public colleges. It will be interesting to see if it takes off.
Is the Bar Too Low for Special Education?
By Laura McKenna in The Atlantic
A comprehensive and clear look at the landscape of public education and the question about its responsibility to educate students with disabilities, by a writer with a son who has high-functioning autism.
