Texas Textbooks Getting Conservative Flavor

Texas middle school boys shot at basketball tryouts

(NEWSER) - Three hunters have been busted in the shooting of two Texas middle school students who were struck as they were trying out for their basketball team in the playground. One was critically injured. A police helicopter spotted the hunters, one armed with a .223-caliber semiautomatic rifle, the others with .30-caliber rifles. School classes were over for the day when the shootings occurred. But some 200 children were still on campus at the Edinburg school, and the facility was placed on immediate lockdown, AP reports. More»

Governor says he'll 'think about it,' but spokesman later backtracks

(NEWSER) - The Rick-Perry-for-president buzz whipped up again today when the Texas governor said, "I'm going to think about it," reports the Dallas Morning News . It was a marked departure from his previous denials, though he qualified it by adding, "I think about a lot of things." After the comment generated headlines, a spokesman emailed the National Journal with a dose of cold water: "Nothing has changed. The governor has no intention of running for president." Maybe, but the buzz isn't likely to die down. Rumors have been floating around for weeks , and Peter J. Boyer at the Daily Beast explains why Perry's supporters want him to run. More»

Students believe everything they read online, warns researcher

(NEWSER) - Today's students have a worrying habit of believing everything they read on the Internet, according to a researcher who found it easy to trick young people into believing that endangered "tree octopuses" live in the Pacific Northwest. Students directed to a phony website highlighting the creature's plight continued to insist it was real even after researchers explained the hoax, the Daily Mail reports. More»

California group trying to force school to become charter

(NEWSER) - Two dispatches from the education front, both speaking to underperforming students and angry parents:

• In Compton, California: Parents are trying to take advantage of a new state law to force their chronically awful school to be taken over by a charter operation. Advocates easily got the necessary 51% support of parents. The case is being closely watched because it essentially creates a "union for parents" to go up against teachers, explains the New York Times. It would be the first such action in the nation, and education chief Arne Duncan is in favor. Full story here .

Shanghai ranks at the top in all three areas

(NEWSER) - China is emerging as a world powerhouse, and that extends into the classroom. Shanghai teenagers outscored their peers around the world on the latest Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) survey, and Hong Kong also ranked high in all three areas: second in math and science, fourth in reading. This was China's first year participating in the tests, a generation after the Cultural Revolution badly damaged the country's school system, Time notes. More»