PROFILE IN EDUCATION:
NYC Comptroller William C. Thompson Speaks Out on Education
By Emily Sherwood, Ph.D.
Although he is widely known for aggressively safeguarding the public purse, rooting out waste and mismanagement in dozens of municipal agencies each year that run the gamut from banking to health care, New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr. is no slouch when it comes to the subject of education...READ MORE

Students of Different Ages Share Their Summer Experiences
Did you ever think of the adventures that the summer holds for you? Or did you ever face the summer thinking of the boring time ahead? These students were polled by Education Update and had varied, exciting experiences. Perhaps they will inspire you or your parents for plans next summer...READ MORE

GUEST EDITORIAL & LETTERS

GUEST EDITORIAL
Vision & Hearing Imperatives in Education
By William C. Thompson, Jr. & Rosemary Clemens
With the increased use and popularity of advanced electronics and technology, the demands on our young children’s eyes are greater than at any time in history...READ MORE

Letters to the Editor - AUGUST 2008
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SPOTLIGHT ON SCHOOLS

A Letter from Mayor Michael Bloomberg to Education Update
It is a pleasure to welcome everyone to Education Update’s 6th annual “Outstanding Educators of the Year” awards ceremony at the Harvard Club...READ MORE

The Business of Public Schools
By Public Advocate, Betsy Gotbaum
Six years ago, the mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg, did what many thought impossible: he took direct control of the school system...READ MORE

The Children Are Not Prepared? Let Us Prepare Them
By Sandra Priest Rose
So much of education literature talks about the lack of preparation of the children who enter kindergarten...READ MORE

Honorees Words of Wisdom
Several of the honorees at Education Update’s award ceremony at the Harvard Club share their wisdom...READ MORE

Rural Kansas Teacher Makes History Come Alive
By Reni Shulman
Irena Sendler was merely a name lost to history until 1999 when Norman Conard, a history teacher at Uniondale High School in Kansas, and four of his students uncovered her story for their National History Day project...READ MORE

INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION
Rwanda and Four Kids On Their Own
By Anita Reetz
Problems in Rwanda include a population density of almost 9 million living on 26.34 km squared (half the size of Scotland and near double the population)...READ MORE

COLLEGES & GRAD SCHOOLS

The DEAN’S COLUMN
Howlers
By Alfred Posamentier, Ph.d.
Now that the summer is upon us, we need to seek some recreation in mathematics. Here is one that will entertain you and will give you some insight into the nature of numbers. So just have fun!..READ MORE

Harlem Children Society & Dr. Sat Bhattacharya Score an “A”
Recently, Dr. Pola Rosen, founder and publisher of Education Update, was honored by the Harlem Children Society with its “Harlem Dream Award” for her outstanding work in education...READ MORE

BANK STREET COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
The Power of Imagination:
Four Outstanding Museum Educators
By Dawn Papandrea
Sure, visiting a museum can be fun for kids, but according to Janet Rassweiler, a faculty advisor in the museum leadership program at Bank Street, and a 1983 graduate of that program, very serious and deep thinking can—and does—take place...READ MORE

Tomorrow’s Engineers Learn Critical Thinking at College of Staten Island
At first glance, the summer workshops at the College of Staten Island (CSI) involving 20 Staten Island high school students look like a lot of fun as the mechanized LEGO® Mindstorms® kits they are constructing take shape...READ MORE

Dr. Gillian Small Appointed Vice Chancellor for Research
The Board of Trustees of The City University of New York has appointed Dr. Gillian Small to the new position of Vice Chancellor for Research...READ MORE

Remembering Moishe Kantorowitz: Holocaust Survivor
By Kenneth Kantorowitz
My father, Moishe Kantorowitz was born on February 6, 1923 in the Jewish shtetl, Shereshev in Lithuania...READ MORE

SPECIAL EDUCATION

Duchenne’s Muscular Dystrophy & Charley
By Benjamin Seckler& Tracy Kramer Seckler
Tracy and Benjamin Seckler, MD are the parents of three children, one of whom, Charley, has Duchenne’s Muscular Dystrophy (DMD)...READ MORE

NYU Child Study Center Welcomes Dr. Catherine Lord
Diagnosing children with autism at a younger and younger age is the focus of current research by internationally recognized autism expert Catherine Lord, Ph.D. who has recently joined the NYU Child Study Center (CSC) as interim director of the Asperger Institute...READ MORE

THE WORLD OF ANIMALS IN THE 21st CENTURY

The Urban Vet
By Reni Shulman
In the waiting room of the Center for Veterinary Care in New York City, one may temporarily forget that he is not in his own physician’s office—at least until the first patient arrives on a leash...READ MORE

The Influence of PETA and Animal Activism on Society
By Naima Karp
Animal activism and the struggle to end animal cruelty have been predominant in society since ancient times...READ MORE

The Central Park Zoo Welcomes Penguin Chicks!
The Central Park Zoo's chilly penguin exhibit is one of the best places to get out of the summer heat, but now there's an even better reason to cool off there: penguin chicks!..READ MORE

New Aquatic Animal Center Houses 10,000
By Catherine A. McClave
Almost thirty years later, I am still stopped in my tracks when I observe a child with her nose squished up against the exhibit glass, as Nuka, the twenty-seven-year-old Pacific walrus—an orphan, who I bottle-fed as a 150 lb. Baby—cruises by to check out her newest visitor...READ MORE

New & Efficient Online Dog Licensing Is Launched
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Health Commissioner Thomas R. Frieden recently announced the launch of a new online dog licensing system that will make it easier not only for dog lovers to protect their pets, but also for them to comply with the law...READ MORE

MOVIES AND THEATER

Movie Review
Disney’s Prince Caspian: A Royal Treat
By Jan Aaron
Movie-goers will find themselves in a more violent world than they remember in “Narnia,” the enchanted land they visited in “The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe,” the first film in the series based on the C. S. Lewis novels...READ MORE

NEW JERSEY NEWS

Palisades Interstate Park Calendar of Events August 2008
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CHILDREN"S CORNER

FROM THE SUPERINTENDENT’S SEAT
Avoid the Back-to-School Crunch
By Dr. Carole G. Hankin
I hope you have all been enjoying a wonderful and relaxing summer...READ MORE

MEDICAL UPDATE

N.Y. Research Team Discovers How Antidepressants and Cocaine Interact with Brain Cell Targets
In a first, scientists from Weill Cornell Medical College and Columbia University Medical Center have described the specifics of how brain cells process antidepressant drugs, cocaine and amphetamines...READ MORE

Drug for Treatment of Inflammatory Bowel Disease
Physician-scientists from NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell, involved in clinical trials for a new drug for those who suffer from inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), say it is the best option among available drugs...READ MORE

BOOKS

Two Titles Earn African Book Awards
By Lisa K. Winkler
Images of Africa tend to be dominated by images of poverty, rampant AIDS epidemics, other diseases, and political unrest seem to dominate media images of Africa...READ MORE

The Father of Baseball: A Biography of Henry Chadwick
By Richard Kagan
“Get your pencils and scorecards ready. Here are the starting lineups for today’s game,” said Chicago Cubs public address announcer Pat Peiper, before every home game. I remember, because as a young boy I went to many Cubs’ games at Wrigley Field and went home disappointed because the Cubs lost...READ MORE

Shakefest Inspires Educators at Drew University in New Jersey
By Lisa K. Winkler
For Bonnie Monte, artistic director of The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, “Shakespeare is the best interdisciplinary teaching tool in the world."..READ MORE

MUSIC, ART & DANCE

Afro-Latin Dance Company Brings New Ideas to Arts Education
By Judith Aquino
As another wave of budget cuts makes its way through New York City schools—74 schools, including prestigious high schools, are expected to have their budgets cut by 5% next year—schools continue to scale back their art, music, and after school programs...READ MORE

Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro in Copenhagen
A New Twist to an Old Favorite
By Dr. Irving Spitz
The screaming headlines blazoned on the stage curtain made it clear that this would not be just another routine Marriage of Figaro....READ MORE

Music Heard Around the World: The Lincoln Center Institute & Scott Noppe-Brandon
By Naima Karp and Karla Reynado
The Lincoln Center Institute is a center dedicated to the arts, and its progression in education. Starting in 1975, the Lincoln Center Institute’s purpose was to conjoin arts and education, creating an educationally open-minded environment for students...READ MORE