The Answer Sheet

Oprah Winfrey seems to love to teach--on her top-rated television show, through commencement speeches, in her successful magazine.

But in an era where educators say the one thing students need to learn is so-called “critical thinking skills”--or the ability to deeply analyze problems--Winfrey does very little to help on several levels.

Winfrey’s mantra is self-empowerment, and that, of course, can be a very good thing--but only to a point. She goes well past that point way too often.

When I think about the “foods of minimal nutritional value” that are banned from public school cafeterias by federal law, the first thing that pops into my mind is a doughnut, one made delicious by hideous amounts of fat and sugar.

But when I was researching school nutrition on the Agriculture Department's website, I came across the list and discovered doughnuts aren’t on it.

Soda water is, though. So are cough drops.

Does your child read fantasy books, one after the other, whizzing through series after series to the exclusion of any other genre?

You suggest perhaps trying something different and you are met with stiff resistance
There is nothing better, you are told, than series such as "Game of Thrones,” “The Wheel of Time, “The Bartimaeus Trilogy,” “Harry Potter,” and so many others. And then you start to worry that your child is:

A) living in a fantasy world
b) wasting time on silly themes
c) wasting time reading easy books

This really happened (and I wish Arne Duncan, Al Sharpton and Newt Gingrich would read this; see why below):

Second grade. Everglades Elementary School in Miami. Mrs. Hirsch, my classroom teacher, passed out the first standardized test I had ever taken. I took the exam and thought I had done well.

I hadn't.

Here is the story of one mother whose son attended a D.C. middle school and often got hungry in the late morning before his scheduled lunch, which was close to 1 p.m. He was not, however, allowed to eat. Read what she wrote, and then tell us if your children can eat in school.

Yesterday I discussed why boys have an easier time than girls getting accepted to college at some schools. You can read it here. Part of that post included admissions statistics for several schools, including the College of William and Mary in Virginia, where boys have an easier time getting in because more girls apply. Here is a response from William and Mary Admission Dean Henry Broaddus, who takes a broad look at gender and college admissions. Read it and tell us what you think.

Of all the trials facing high school students, the one that may be the most daunting is taking the SAT and/or the ACT college admissions tests. The results can determine where they attend college, making these exams, and the organizations that own them, very powerful.

In an effort to better understand these tests, I had a long email conversation with Bob Schaeffer, public education director of the National Center for Fair and Open Testing, known as FairTest.

FairText is a non-profit organization that is dedicated to ending what it says are misuses and flaws in standardized testing. It is quoted by many education journalists when they write about standardized testing and college admissions exams. It is, to put it bluntly, the bane of the non-profit College Board, which owns the SAT. I asked the College Board if a representative would engage in a debate with Schaeffer about the SAT and was told that the organization does not consider Schaeffer, or FairTest, a valid critic.

Here is my conversation with Schaeffer. It is long, but it is worth reading.

My guest today is Marion Brady, veteran teacher, administrator, curriculum designer and author.

By Marion Brady

MEMO: TO THE MEMBERS OF MY PROFESSION

"We have met the enemy, and he is us," said Pogo.

We educators should make the wise little opossum from Walt Kelly’s comic strip our mascot.

The single worst shoot-yourself-in-the-foot act that contributed to our loss of control of education reform happened about 20 years ago. That’s when leaders of business and industry, convinced that educators either didn’t know enough or didn’t care enough about educating the young to be trusted, hijacked our profession. And we let them.

Music education with no instruments?

I wish someone were kidding. But that’s one of the possibilities in Virginia’s Fairfax County Public Schools, one of the finest systems in the country and the largest in the Washington D.C. area, as it wrestles with a projected $176 million shortfall for next year.

Is it easier for boys to get accepted into college than it is for girls?

You may be surprised to learn that the answer is yes, at least at some colleges.

The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights has just begun investigating admissions practices to see if schools are favoring boys. It is starting by looking at admissions records from a dozen unnamed universities, mostly in the Washington, D.C. area, according to a recent report from Inside Higher Ed.