School Courses

Prompted by the fatal classroom shooting of an Oxnard student that prosecutors allege was a hate crime, a state legislator Monday announced plans to introduce a bill to expand diversity education in California schools. Assemblyman Mike Eng (D-Monterey Park), chairman of the Assembly Select Committee on Hate Crimes, said his bill would supplement existing criminal statutes regarding crimes against victims based on their race, religion, ethnicity or sexual orientation.

The Lone Star State could become the first in the nation to require all public high schools to offer an elective course on the Bible. Hearings continued in the Legislature last week on a bill that calls for school districts in Texas to offer a class on "the history and literature of the Old and New Testaments eras" if at least 15 students sign up. The bill was written by state Rep. Warren Chisum, a West Texas Republican who teaches Sunday school at a Baptist church.

A plan to require public schools to teach classes with the Bible as a textbook was changed by a Texas legislative panel to make such classes optional instead. The House Public Education Committee approved the modified bill, drawing praise from critics who feared mandatory Bible courses would be more religious than academic.

It looks like a scene out of Sunday school -- students in a southern Orange County classroom huddle over Bibles as teacher Ryan Cox guides them in analyzing the relationship between God and Satan. "If God is supposedly omnipotent, if he exists and is all-powerful, why let the serpent in the Garden" of Eden? Cox asks. "Why let him hurt Job? Why let him tempt Jesus?"

At Topps Salon Day Spa, owner Suzanne Van Houten is going for a look that is "very seamless." Clients are greeted by name and offered something to drink before their hair, skin or nails get a tuneup. A list of values -- "creativity, commitment, integrity, loyalty, trust, fun" -- is displayed throughout the small Oakland salon. It wasn't always this way. Just a couple of years ago, stylists would routinely arrive for work late and unprepared, Van Houten said.

The spiritual leader of the world's Anglicans does not believe that creationism should be taught in schools. "I don't think it should, actually. No, no," said Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, reflecting on the education debate over religion and science that has divided the United States.

Science, social studies, music and arts classes are shrinking in the nation's schools, as educators concentrate on the reading and math curricula that gauge schools' performance on standardized tests under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, according to a study released Tuesday.

Monday morning, Room 207: First day of a unit on the origins of life. Veteran biology teacher Al Frisby switches on the overhead projector and braces himself. As his students rummage for their notebooks, Frisby introduces his central theme: Every creature on Earth has been shaped by random mutation and natural selection -- in a word, by evolution. The challenges begin at once. "Isn't it true that mutations only make an animal weaker?" sophomore Chris Willett demands.

Can one really compare the works of Robert Frost, one of America's most lyrical poets, with the edgy words of rapper Eminem? Apparently, yes. That was one of the messages delivered Saturday at a conference of 400 educators and students at a South Los Angeles middle school. The goal was to promote rap as a way to reach children in the classroom. "You're always hearing about the disengagement of urban youth" from schools, said Patrick Camangian, an English teacher at Crenshaw High School.

Despite an alarming rise in childhood obesity, more than half of California elementary schools are skimping on physical education, according to a report released Thursday.