Boy refused to wear cornrow braids by his school is ruled racial discrimination

The boy's family won the case against Harrow college. They said he couldn't wear cornrow braids since they think it was a ''gang-related'' hairstyle. The school's anti-gang ban on unconventional hairstyles led to ''unlawful, indirect racial discrimination which is not justified'' according to the high court. This is a victory for the boy's family, since his hairstyle is part of a family tradition. Mr Justice Collins, sitting in London, claimed that the hair policy was not unlawful itself, ''but if it is applied without any possibility of exception, such as this boy, then it is unlawful''.

Words: 96

Comment:

I do think it is ridiculous to think this hairstyle is a part of a gangster lifestyle. I've seen a lot of people with this hairstyle on many different races. It shouldn't matter how you look like, and these braids don't even look that horrible since it looks very neat with no hair sticking out. I think it is quite poor for the boy, since he's just 13. He was very hurt and doesn't even want to go back to this school. The school didn't come really far though, but still it is ridiculous because they gave this boy a hurtful time.

Words: 102

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/jun/17/school-ban-cornrow-braids-discrimination

welfare shakeup could make parents of disabled children lose £1,400

Hundred thousands of disabled children will lose a lot of crucial money since their welfare benefit will get halved under controversial reforms.

Parents are now able to receive £54 a week, which is a maximum. They can get this through tax credits to help with the extra cost of  taking care of a child with disabilities. But because of the welfare reform bill, which has been discussed by the Commons last week, that the parents of disabled children will only get £27 a week instead of £54. According to the Children's Society this is way below the poverty line.

Words: 99

Comment:

I think the government should stay away from the money of disabled children. Life is already quite hard for them since they have to adjust themselves to the world of people who are able to move just fine. The government should take away money from other departments as much as they are able to do. If the money they get is already under the poverty line for normal people, then what about disabled children? It's just something I really wonder. It almost seems they do it on purpose. Who's sick idea was it to take money away from these people...

Words: 100

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/jun/18/disabled-benefits-cut-welfare-reform




http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/jun/18/disabled-benefits-cut-welfare-reform

Primary schoolteacher abuses pupils while filming

A primary schoolteacher, father of two children, showers at least one girl a year with gifts. He filmed himself while he was sexually assaulting his pupils who were as young as six. The sexual assaults went on sometimes when other children where present. The man, 51 years old, afforded a pupil privileges and organised one-on-one teaching sessions with the girl. He also wrote letters to his victims, in which he told them to keep quiet. In these letters he described the pupils what he would want to do to them and ask them to reply him.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/jun/10/primary-schoolteacher-filmed-himself-abusing

words: 96

Comment:

I think this man should never work with children again, and he should be locked up in the highest room. I already got sick of this article when I only read the title. Just anything that contains children who are sexually abused make me kind of angry. Of course the police is doing something about this now, but still I think there is no punishment high enough for these kind of things. I think this happens quite much, and I think that schools should really pay attention too. It can be quite hard to find out whether a teacher is guilty or not of doing these things, but at least they should never hire a person who did this before.

Words: 120

3 out of 10 children in the UK ''own no books''

3 out of 10 children in the UK ''own no books''

A recent research reveals that a high number of boys and girl have no books for themselves, which seems to be worrying for their future prospects. 3 out of 10 children within the UK own no single book of their own. This research is done by the National Literacy, who also claims that boys are less likely to have books than girls. The survey also says that 4 in 10 boys do not have any books, and 3 in 10 girls do not own any books either. This survey took place last year around November and December, with children between 11 and 13 years old.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jun/01/three-in-10-uk-children-own-no-books

words: 105

Comment:

I hate reading with a passion, but I do think that everyone needs to read a book once in a while. Especially children need to get used to reading, because it will definitely come back throughout their whole life. There is no way of avoiding it, so best would be to start reading as soon as they can. Therefore I think that having books at home will be better for young children, since I think the beginning stage of reading is most important.

Words: 83

Research on babies may find problems earlier

New technology of babies' eye movements could precisely pinpoints problems in a early stage and help children on areas such as educational help. A lot parents try to find out whether their screaming baby is tired or hungry while watching tv. For a lot of parents this is quite annoying, but for doctors this could be a great opportunity to make diagnoses. By movements of a baby's eyes they will be able to find problems related to attention, communication and languages development. However, the academics are trying to find out whether it is possible to identify these skills in babies as young as six months.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2011/may/16/research-babies-eye-movements

Words: 105

Comment:

I find this a very strange kind of research, but nowadays nothing is strange enough for a research. I wonder too if it is possible to identify problems in a baby, since babies are still developing skills and such. I guess everyone develops different, and maybe one skills takes longer to develop than the other. Therefore I'm not sure if this will be really something to take serious and rely on. If this will ever work, then I think it's a great thing, since doctors will be able to find out what's wrong with a baby at a very early stage. And with this, I really hope that this research will succeed.

Words: 112

How to learn Mandarin in two days

According to Paul Noble it is possible to speak Mandarin in two days. his course is entirely different from the system that schools use. Noble's method seems to be quite simple and is a lexixal approach, which means that a small selection of phrases, like chunks, are a lot more effective than learning long lists of words. Especially standard sets of words are more effective when you go to a restaurant, or to tell what I, he, she or it did. The main idea of this different approach in a language is to use verbs in a present or past tense. Noble thinks that is the best way to make things clear to natives, and to use these in all kinds of different sentences without a lot of trouble.

Words: 129

Comment:

I think this way of learning a language can be effective, but I don't think you are able to speak Mandarin within two days using this way. I think learning parts of important sentences are more effective than learning lists of words, even though some words can be quite important. I just think that a combination of most used sentences + words are a must, instead of learning words how to say you're cleaning the floor because someone puked over there.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2011/may/18/speak-mandarin-in-two-days

Anorexic women are the target for ''skinny porn'' websites

Anorexic women are the target for ''skinny porn'' websites

Pro-anorexia websites are using pictures from vulnerable anorexic women. These women posted their pictures to show them to other people for ''thin-spiration'', but actually porn websites pay pro-ana websites to use these pictures. The porn websites are busy with signing up new clients, advertising images, movies, and even host anorexia porn on websites such as YouTube and anorexia pornography forums. These forums are there to make vulnerable women to explicit photographs of themselves. Many people against pro-ana feel that this is something for internet service providers to take care of. They think that internet providers are able to remove the most hardcore materials.

Words: 103

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/apr/06/anorexic-women-targeted-by-porn-websites


Comment:

I think internet providers could be a solution to remove a lot, but that doesn't mean that every problem has been solved. These vulnerable women really need someone that keeps an eye on them, and make sure that they won't do what  people on the internet tell them to do. I also think that pro-ana websites should be sued when they earn money with people's pictures, because it is unfair that they earn money with these pictures, while the people who took them don't even know that their pictures have been sold. I hope governments can also do something about this, because in fact this is all about exploitation of vulnerable people.

Words: 112