Word: fielding
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Dates: during 2000-2000
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...hefty price. Educators say they have had to dumb down their lessons to teach the often picayune factoids covered by the exams. A study released last month by the University of Virginia found that while some schools had boosted their performance on Virginia's exam, teachers had to curtail field trips, elective courses and even student visits to the bathroom--all in an effort to cram more test prep into the school day. Says the study's author, education professor Daniel Duke: "These schools have become battlefield units...
...educators against what they consider inappropriate testing has now reached even the arena where the very best students compete. Founded in 1981, the decathlon has come to be regarded as America's premier academic tournament, attracting young scholars from 2,200 schools in 38 states. Every spring, schools field teams that match wits in 10 subject areas from economics to arts, with the best teams advancing to national competitions. Successful teams bask in media limelight normally reserved for athletes, while enhancing their schools' reputation...
James Alvino, the decathlon association's executive director, insists the group markets study materials "to level the playing field" after wealthy schools demonstrated a competitive edge. "Under the old system," agrees Nathan Schauer, a coach at Los Angeles' Lincoln High, "a few schools were always wiping the floor with the rest of us." Alvino adds that the $1.3 million proceeds from sales of study guides last year are needed to help support the nonprofit program's $1.75 million operating budget. In response to its critics, the decathlon association promises to cut prices for study guides and eliminate them for three...
...insist on full-channel cable and a Web browser?) The military's reasons for chip insertion would probably have something to do with what I suspect is the increasingly archaic job description of "fighter pilot," or with some other aspect of telepresent combat, in which weapons in the field are remotely controlled by distant operators. At least there's still a certain macho frisson to be had in the idea of embedding a tactical shard of glass in your head, and crazier things, really, have been done in the name of king and country...
...activity is so pervasive that it has inspired a verb. "Scrapbooking is the quilting bee of this century," says Deana McIlroy, a mother of two who lives in Cincinnati, Ohio, and gets together with friends and a consultant (yes, there are certified experts in the field) to scrapbook. The Hobby Industry Association estimates that more than $300 million was spent on scrapbooks last year, up from about $200 million...