<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1" ?><rss version="2.0"><channel><title>washingtonpost.com - Class Struggle</title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/education/columns/classstruggles?nav=rss_education/columns/classstruggles</link><description>Class Struggle</description><language>en-us</language><ttl>15</ttl><image><title>washingtonpost.com</title><width>140</width><height>20</height><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com</link><url>http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/hp/image/wp_web.gif</url></image><item><title><![CDATA[A Few Lucky Students Who Don't Need AP]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A805-2005Apr19.html?nav=rss_education/columns/classstruggles</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A805-2005Apr19.html?nav=rss_education/columns/classstruggles</guid><pubDate>Sat, 23 Apr 2005 13:14:03 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[Three months ago I read a commentary in the newspaper Education Week and wondered why I heard a grinding sound. It turned out to be my back molars, scraping together in a way my dentist has complained about many times. The reason for my obvious tension was a commentary, "On Dropping AP Courses: A Voice from the Developing Movement," [Jan. 19 issue] by Bruce G. Hammond, director of college counseling at Sandia Preparatory School in Albuquerque, N.M.]]></description><author> Jay Mathews</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[When All the 4th-Grade Teachers Quit]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46379-2005Apr12.html?nav=rss_education/columns/classstruggles</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46379-2005Apr12.html?nav=rss_education/columns/classstruggles</guid><pubDate>Sat, 23 Apr 2005 13:14:03 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[Tonia Joyner's falling out with the Prince George's County school system began, as such stories usually do, with her child, a fourth grader at Benjamin Foulois Elementary School in Suitland.]]></description><author> Jay Mathews</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Intelligent Design, Unintelligent Me]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A27793-2005Apr5.html?nav=rss_education/columns/classstruggles</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A27793-2005Apr5.html?nav=rss_education/columns/classstruggles</guid><pubDate>Sat, 23 Apr 2005 13:14:03 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[The minute my op-ed "Afraid of Intelligent Design?" appeared in The Post, the e-mails started popping up on my computer. Most said they had the unfortunate duty to tell me that I was an idiot.]]></description><author> Jay Mathews</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[A New Perspective on KIPP Schools]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A9576-2005Mar29.html?nav=rss_education/columns/classstruggles</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A9576-2005Mar29.html?nav=rss_education/columns/classstruggles</guid><pubDate>Sat, 23 Apr 2005 13:14:03 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[If we can't get less motivated parents to come to KIPP, isn't it time to consider bringing KIPP to them? Jay Mathews wants to know.]]></description><author> Jay Mathews</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Why Don't We Fix Our Textbooks?]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A56501-2005Mar22.html?nav=rss_education/columns/classstruggles</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A56501-2005Mar22.html?nav=rss_education/columns/classstruggles</guid><pubDate>Sat, 23 Apr 2005 13:14:03 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[In case you haven't noticed, this is the year we are FINALLY going to start improving American high schools, where progress in raising achievement has been as slow as a teenager's response to a request that he clean his room.]]></description><author> Jay Mathews</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[A Feverish Reaction to Teenage Drinking]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A36558-2005Mar15.html?nav=rss_education/columns/classstruggles</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A36558-2005Mar15.html?nav=rss_education/columns/classstruggles</guid><pubDate>Sat, 23 Apr 2005 13:14:03 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[As my editors will tell you, I tend to get distracted. I will start to write an article about, say, New Zealand, and find myself 500 words later in Greenland, with no way to get back. So it is not so surprising that I am only now dealing with the feverish reaction I got to column I wrote 10 months ago, <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A172-2004May4.html">"Why You Shouldn't Teach Moderate Drinking"</a>.]]></description><author> Jay Mathews</author></item><item><title><![CDATA['You Can't Make Me Earn the Diploma']]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A16949-2005Mar8.html?nav=rss_education/columns/classstruggles</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A16949-2005Mar8.html?nav=rss_education/columns/classstruggles</guid><pubDate>Sat, 23 Apr 2005 13:14:03 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[Jay Mathews spent two years trying to find out how an ordinary American school had such success with the demands of IB. Teachers drove home the point, again and again and again, that hard work had its rewards.]]></description><author> Jay Mathews</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[How to Ace the SAT Essay in 6 Easy Steps]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A62544-2005Mar1.html?nav=rss_education/columns/classstruggles</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A62544-2005Mar1.html?nav=rss_education/columns/classstruggles</guid><pubDate>Sat, 23 Apr 2005 13:14:03 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[I wrote the headline above myself, part of the thrill of pretending to be dispensing advice that will lead all young Americans to their collegiate promised land.]]></description><author> Jay Mathews</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Critic Responds on the AP Debate]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43834-2005Feb22.html?nav=rss_education/columns/classstruggles</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43834-2005Feb22.html?nav=rss_education/columns/classstruggles</guid><pubDate>Sat, 23 Apr 2005 13:14:03 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[Today's guest columnist is William Casement, the former college philosophy professor whose  article on the worth of high school Advanced Placement courses has been the subject of three of my columns so far.]]></description><author> Jay Mathews</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[College vs. AP -- the Backlash]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A25693-2005Feb15.html?nav=rss_education/columns/classstruggles</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A25693-2005Feb15.html?nav=rss_education/columns/classstruggles</guid><pubDate>Sat, 23 Apr 2005 13:14:03 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[Tammy Dunn, a recent Alabama teacher of the year, has an Advanced Placement biology class at Spain Park High School in Hoover, a suburb of Birmingham. Her daughter recently completed the introductory biology course at one of her state's largest and best undergraduate institutions. Dunn scoffs at the notion in my <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A63182-2004Dec14.html">Dec. 14 column</a> that AP courses in high school such as the one she teaches aren't as good as college introductory courses such as the one her daughter took.]]></description><author> Jay Mathews</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Learning for a Better Life, Not Just a Better Job]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A7708-2005Feb8.html?nav=rss_education/columns/classstruggles</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A7708-2005Feb8.html?nav=rss_education/columns/classstruggles</guid><pubDate>Sat, 23 Apr 2005 13:14:03 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[There might be reasons for improving the educations of our children other than lowering the unemployment rate and raising the gross national product]]></description><author> Jay Mathews</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[How to Pick a College That Cares if You Graduate]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A53751-2005Feb1.html?nav=rss_education/columns/classstruggles</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A53751-2005Feb1.html?nav=rss_education/columns/classstruggles</guid><pubDate>Sat, 23 Apr 2005 13:14:03 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[That appears to be snow falling outside my kitchen window, but I know spring will soon be here, and another 2 million high school juniors, with their fretful parents, will be out looking for the right college.]]></description><author> Jay Mathews</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Quotas for Asian Americans? Yes and No]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35075-2005Jan25.html?nav=rss_education/columns/classstruggles</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35075-2005Jan25.html?nav=rss_education/columns/classstruggles</guid><pubDate>Sat, 23 Apr 2005 13:14:03 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[Asian American applicants to selective colleges appear to be at a disadvantage. While they have the highest average SAT scores, many African American and Hispanic students with lower marks are being accepted to Ivy Leagues schools.]]></description><author> Jay Mathews</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Seven Reasons NOT to Fear the New SAT]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17748-2005Jan18.html?nav=rss_education/columns/classstruggles</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17748-2005Jan18.html?nav=rss_education/columns/classstruggles</guid><pubDate>Sat, 23 Apr 2005 13:14:03 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[I have never been as frightened as I was that day my senior year of high school when I forgot to check the clock and realized I did not have enough time to read and answer all the questions that were left on my SAT test.]]></description><author> Jay Mathews</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Round 2: College Courses vs. AP Tests]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A449-2005Jan11.html?nav=rss_education/columns/classstruggles</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A449-2005Jan11.html?nav=rss_education/columns/classstruggles</guid><pubDate>Sat, 23 Apr 2005 13:14:03 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[My Dec. 14 column, "Why Colleges Think They Are Better Than AP," brought a flood of e-mails.]]></description><author> Jay Mathews</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Our 26 Most Dangerous Schools and Other Fables]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46968-2005Jan4.html?nav=rss_education/columns/classstruggles</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46968-2005Jan4.html?nav=rss_education/columns/classstruggles</guid><pubDate>Sat, 23 Apr 2005 13:14:03 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[It is awards time. Soon they will be picking the Golden People's Choice Academy Primate of the Year, or whatever. So why not have a prize for the most amusing and instructive educational graphic? We have many fine charts and maps in The Washington Post that I would be tempted to nominate, except that I keep thinking about a small, unobtrusive graphic map of the United States on page S7 of the Dec. 8 issue of Education Week.]]></description><author> Jay Mathews</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Are Bonus Grade Points for Hard Courses Unfair?]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A30972-2004Dec28.html?nav=rss_education/columns/classstruggles</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A30972-2004Dec28.html?nav=rss_education/columns/classstruggles</guid><pubDate>Sat, 23 Apr 2005 13:14:03 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[One author learns that a new Texas study indicating a connection between taking AP tests in high school and graduating from college was not proof that one caused the other.]]></description><author> Jay Mathews</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[College Financial Aid for Dummies (Like Me)]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A16130-2004Dec21.html?nav=rss_education/columns/classstruggles</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A16130-2004Dec21.html?nav=rss_education/columns/classstruggles</guid><pubDate>Sat, 23 Apr 2005 13:14:03 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[I confess a great weakness in my coverage of the college admissions game: I am not smart enough, or patient enough, to plow through all the worksheets of the financial aid process. Nonetheless, I have stumbled upon something that seems rudimentary enough for me to understand, and important enough to take a closer look.]]></description><author> Jay Mathews</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Why Colleges Think They're Better Than AP]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A63182-2004Dec14.html?nav=rss_education/columns/classstruggles</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A63182-2004Dec14.html?nav=rss_education/columns/classstruggles</guid><pubDate>Sat, 23 Apr 2005 13:14:03 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[As the number of college freshmen who arrive  with AP tests on their records continues to climb, they are finding it more difficult to gain college credit for their work.]]></description><author> Jay Mathews</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Six Surprises From Area High Schools]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A42998-2004Dec7.html?nav=rss_education/columns/classstruggles</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A42998-2004Dec7.html?nav=rss_education/columns/classstruggles</guid><pubDate>Sat, 23 Apr 2005 13:14:03 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[This year a record 61 percent of area public schools achieved 1.000 ratings on the index. But with this great growth in college-level courses has come some surprises.]]></description><author> Jay Mathews</author></item></channel></rss>