My nephew goes to a suburban, mostly white, primarily middle-class and affluent school that teaches largely to tests while valuing less and less the language of a child's inner world. ... During my own primary education through high school there were no autistic children, no self-identified gay youth and none with obvious physical disabilities such as blindness or cerebral palsy in the classrooms (if you can believe it, there were also no Goths!). ... I could not even tell you today whether there was a gay youth organization, a disability activist group or even a band of neo-Nazis at Syra...

• Word Count: 905
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Every morning, diverse groups of American students – rich and poor, black and white, rural and urban, gay and straight - begin the school day by rising, facing the flag, and pledging allegiance to a country that claims to be indivisible, ensuring liberty and justice for all. ... In a school that has a distinct socio-economic disparity, where a contingent arrives at school each morning driving new cars – it's not uncommon to see a BMW or new SUV in the student lot – and another arrives by bus, students are offered the same curricular and extra-curricular choices, but soci...

• Word Count: 838
• Approx Pages: 3
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Graduate

While we usually have our own personal views on everything from something as large as gay marriage laws, to something as small as our favorite type of soda, there's one all Americans agree on: that we are the best country of them all. ... After looking at the test scores, money, and academic interest, a new problem appears. ...

• Word Count: 1090
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School