high-school

High School Drama Class Produces Entire Musical About Wegmans
Northeastern grocery chain Wegmans inspires the same kind of fanatical devotion in consumers as iPhone releases or "Twilight" movie premieres. So when a Wegmans store opened in Northboro, Mass., people camped out overnight awaiting their opportunity to storm the bulk candy aisle and buy $6 prepared meals, or something. Students in a local high school's advanced drama class tapped into the zeitgeist, and have created an entire musical about the chain. It may be the world's longest grocery store commercial. More »

High School Rewards Students With Gift Cards For Showing Up To Class
Forget the images of truant officers chasing no-good punk school-skippers out of soda jerks or stories of headline-chasing judges sentencing parents to community service because they can't get their teens to show up to school. One Ohio high school is going the opposite route and using monetary rewards to lure its students into their seats every morning. More »

Federal Courts: Schools Can Punish Students For Off-Campus, Online Speech
In a pair of rulings by the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals earlier this week, judges sided with students who contended in separate cases that they were unfairly punished for publishing fake MySpace profiles of their principals. But the victories may be construed as defeats for student free speech, because judges' opinions held that students can be punished for speech made off-campus and online if it is deemed to "materially and substantially disrupt the work and discipline of the school." Neither of the cases ruled on earlier this week met that standard. More »

Skip College, Suggest Some Economists
In a country where the mantra "you can be anything you want" is practically a national prayer, it's still kind of shocking to see someone suggest that a high school student should skip college. Some economists and professors, however, argue that college has become too expensive to throw money at if the odds are high that either you won't finish, or you'll go into an industry that doesn't require a degree. More »

POLL: Is Advertising In Schools OK?
Many schools have seen some sort of inside advertising since the '90s, but it's usually been relegated to a few posters in the cafeteria. But several school districts in the Detroit metro area are moving ahead with plans to include advertising for national brands on gym walls, athletic fields and school web pages. More »

Public School Issued Laptops To Students With Webcam Spy Software Included
If your child has a school-issued laptop, you may want to leave it closed whenever possible, or just cover up its built-in webcam. A family in Pennsylvania has accused their son's school district of installing software on school-issued laptops that allows officials to spy on students at any time through the laptops' webcams. More »

Utah Considering Making High School Senior Year Optional
In an attempt to save money while rendering its high school graduates even less prepared for adulthood than the likes of Arizona and Mississippi, Utah state senator Chris Buttars is proposing the state making senior year optional and let 11th graders roam free, the L.A. Times reports: More »

Kindle Deletions: Amazon Ate Student's Homework

—>I was never much for writing in books in school, though I did use Post-Its frequently. Which is a precursor to leaving digital notes in a Kindle edition of the book. A Michigan high school student is one of the parties in a class action suit against Amazon because in deleting the unauthorized MobileReference edition of 1984, the company effectively ate his homework.  More »

Blessed Limo Provides Hellish Prom Service

—>Who wouldn't want to start their prom by watching a stretch limo cruise down their street an hour and a half late before crashing into their parent's car? Apparently a bunch of high school students in Washington state, that's who. And they're not the only ones angry that they booked with Blessed Limo. The notorious local operator apparently has a knack for showing up late and then stranding kids at prom. Complaining to state authorities only goes so far because these guys don't even bother with bureaucratic backaches like "operating licenses."  More »

Personal Finance 101 Required For High School Graduation?

—>Yay, New Jersey! They've got a bill in the works that would require all high school seniors to learn basic personal finance skills, like writing a check, managing credit card debt, and getting a mortgage. Excellent, kids should graduate high school knowing cosine and cosign.  More »

Tennessee May Soon Require Financial Literacy Classes For High School Students

—> The Tennessee State Board of Education is expected to pass a bill on January 25th that will make Tennesee the eighth state (after Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Louisiana, Missouri, South Dakota, and Utah) to require that its high school students take a personal finance class before graduation.  More »

Starting in 2010, high school students in Ohio will be required to take a personal finance class before graduating. [WTOL11]  More »

FAFSA4caster To Help High School Juniors Predict Aid Package

—>The Department of Education has unveiled FAFSA4caster, an online tool to help high school juniors predict their eligibility for college aid. The tool was developed in response to the Commission on the Future of Higher Education's calls for a faster, more streamlined college aid application process.  More »

Tivity Software Bilks OSX Humping High School Teacher

—>High school teacher and Consumerist reader James J. assured by software salesman that OSX release imminent. Teacher plans year's curriculum around that software. Software goes vaporware; high school gets stuck holding the bill for eight useless licenses. Hey, your tax dollars at work!  More »