Students

Armed with a law degree from the University of East Yangon, 22-year-old Win is clear-eyed about his job prospects: Practically speaking, there are none. For him, the future lies overseas. Abroad there is "some hope, some opportunity. But in our country, there's no hope left," said Win, who is applying to go to Australia for further studies. Unlike the students who hit the streets in 1988 in big demonstrations against the military government, the generation now emerging from college is focused on avoiding political activism, learning English and seeking opportunities in a world they have come to know through TV and the Internet.

Rescuers found three U.S. college students after they went missing during a weekend hike in Ecuador's northern Andes mountains. The students were reported missing Sunday morning, said Imbabura provincial Gov. Luis Guerra. A police helicopter and two rescue teams on foot had been searching for the trio, who have been tutoring children in the indigenous Ecuadorean village of Otavalo for nearly six weeks with the humanitarian group Village Education Project.

The Rowland Unified School District board on Tuesday approved a middle and high school that will exist almost entirely on the Internet. The virtual campus, a charter school that will be known as iQ Academy California-Los Angeles, will operate out of Rowland Heights and will be open to students in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties. Full-time students will be given a laptop and access to wireless Internet and will be able to meet with their teachers via webcasts or in person.

Re "Schools face new loss of funds," July 24 This is a ridiculous idea. Teachers can and should be evaluated, but not based on student test scores. If you go to the doctor and he tells you to eat certain foods, engage in some exercise and take a specific medication, and you do none of those things and subsequently don't get any healthier, does that mean he or she was not a good doctor? If I am a personal trainer and my client shows up five days a week but refuses to participate in any of the exercises I prescribe, won't act on my instructions and then doesn't lose weight or gain muscle mass -- does it mean I am a bad personal trainer?

Re "Aging textbooks to stay in classes longer," Aug. 8 As a former teacher who spent 10 years in the classroom, the decision to stop purchasing new textbooks is the most sensible thing I have heard yet in terms of solutions to the budget crisis in education. Every year, our school would spend an unbelievable amount of money on outrageously overpriced books that differed very little from the previous editions. And how much can the textbooks really change from year to year, especially in subjects such as math and English?

Prosecutors are investigating about 100 professors across the country on suspicion they took bribes to help students get their doctoral degrees. The investigation is focused on the Institute for Scientific Consulting, which allegedly acted as the intermediary between students and professors. According to Focus magazine and the newspaper Neue Westfaelische, students paid $5,700 to $28,500 to the company, which promised to help them get doctoral degrees through its extensive contacts within university faculties.

Chatter about ensuing plans permeates any graduation, though it's not common for the talk to surround which class projects will receive venture capital funding. This was a hot topic at the first commencement at Singularity University, a school that is backed by Google, operates on NASA's Silicon Valley campus and gets its name from co-founder Ray Kurzweil's favorite term for our technologically enhanced future. Founded last year with the idea that rapidly evolving technologies can be harnessed to solve problems like poverty and climate change, Singularity University does not offer a traditional degree -- though it is working to get some universities to accept students' coursework for credits.

The University of California has decided to close the doors on its center for students learning about California government in the capital city. The program, which Associate Director A.G. Block estimated has served 600 to 700 students since 2004, will continue operating for those arriving this fall, run by a skeleton crew including Block, the executive director and an aide. Other staff was informed of layoffs Monday, the same day several of this term's 18 students arrived, he said.

A swine flu outbreak at Washington State University that is suspected of sickening at least 2,200 students may be tapering off, a campus health official said. Dr. Dennis Garcia said 40 to 50 students a day have reported flu symptoms this weekend. That's down from roughly 150 a day last week. Garcia noted that many students had gone home for the Labor Day weekend, but there are still signs the outbreak may have peaked.

Re "Speak globally, learn locally," Opinion, Dec. 29 Ruben Martinez gets it right when he refers to the languages spoken by students in our schools as "one of our greatest strengths." Who wouldn't want their child to be able to speak two or more languages? With the right structure in our classrooms and teachers prepared to support language learning for all students, we should see our students as U.S. ambassadors, heads of international trade associations and businesses, and humanitarian workers able to cross all language and cultural divides.