School Courses

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.

Incoming freshman Linda Oluoha worried that, when classes began at San Gorgonio High School in San Bernardino, she would be lost in a crush of 3,200 unfamiliar faces and an avalanche of tough classwork. Anticipating such fears, the school gave its freshmen a head start this year and had them begin school a day earlier than upperclassmen to ease them into the high school life.

COASTLINE Community College was a higher-education pioneer in the late 1970s when it started developing television-based courses that students could take from anywhere as long as they had another innovation of the time, a video player. Today the Fountain Valley-based school remains a trendsetter, producing college classes whose lectures and study materials can be viewed on iPods, personal digital assistants and cellphones. But these days Coastline has plenty of company.

Entrepreneurs are heading back to the classroom this fall to polish management expertise and fill in missing skills they need to run effective organizations. Suzanne Rampe, a former stuntwoman who started Vacation Corporate Rentals five years ago, made the trek back to school last year. She spent almost $2,000 on USC's two-day course on how to negotiate, called "Effective Negotiations and the Power of Persuasion."

The state Board of Education approved public school curriculum guidelines Tuesday that support the teaching of evolution but not "intelligent design" in science classes. The concept of intelligent design can be taught in other classes, but it doesn't belong in science, according to the unanimously adopted guidelines. "The intent of the board needs to be very clear," said board member John Austin, an Ann Arbor Democrat. "Evolution is not under stress. It is not untested science."

It wasn't until he went blind that Michael Richard found his photographic vision. That's how the Studio City photographer describes what happened after he lost virtually all his sight three years ago. Surgery to remove a tumor behind one of his eyes left him able to see only gauzy, indistinct shapes. Richard, 57, felt that his days as a scenic and documentary photographer were over. "I figured photography was out of the picture. I couldn't see to focus. So how could I shoot photos?" he reasoned.

Addressing the disintegration of traditional families, Washington lawmakers this month took a step in requiring schools to teach "family preservation" classes -- in essence making relationships as important as reading, 'riting and 'rithmetic. The Legislature passed a bill, awaiting the governor's signature, that requires the state superintendent of public schools to develop a family preservation curriculum that school districts will be urged to use as a model.

In this rural swath of northern Kansas, where the grass rolls thick and green to the horizon, a white cross dominates the landscape. Kathy Martin, a member of the state board of education, and her family built it on their farm this spring, gathering weathered chunks of limestone from the horse pasture and laying them on a hillside. The cross is a proud expression of Martin's faith.

When the students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry fly off on broomsticks, most Harry Potter fans think "magic." Charlene Haviland thinks "aerodynamics." And when Professor Albus Dumbledore snaps his fingers to turn on the lights, the middle school teacher gets excited -- at the prospect of explaining how a remote control works.