© 2024
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
An update has been released for the Android version of the WAMC App that addresses performance issues. Please check the Google Play Store to download and update to the latest version.

The Best of Our Knowledge #806

http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wamc/local-wamc-501063.mp3

Albany, NY – THE 2007 EDUCATION BUDGET PROPOSAL AND AMERICA'S
OPPORTUNITY SCHOLARSHIPS FOR KIDS PROGRAM -
Overall, President Bush requested 54.4 billion dollars for the Department
of Education for fiscal year 2007. This represents a nearly 3.5 billion dollar decrease, or about 5.5% less than 2006. TBOOK asked U.S. Secretary of Education, Margaret Spellings, to talk about the 42 programs that were cut,
and about the administration's new attempt to reintroduce school choice by asking for 100-million dollars for grants to public and private schools.
Glenn Busby reports. (7:26)

**(Attention Program Directors. For more details about the proposed
education budget, the website we refer listeners to at the end of the
above story is: www.ed.gov.)**

EDUCATION HEADLINES AND UPDATES -
First from Canada...Privacy Authorities are investigating whether
collecting thumb prints of people who take the Law School Admission
Test (LSAT) violates Canadian law. Most Canadian law schools
require the test for admission, as a means of verifying their identity.
The LSAT is administered by the Law School Admission Council, a
Pennsylvania based organization with more than 200 member law
schools in both Canada and the U.S. Canadian authorities told The
Chronicle of Higher Education that they've received numerous
complaints in the past few weeks from educators and test takers
who fear that, under the USA Patriot Act, such information could
be seized by law enforcement agencies, like the FBI.

Next...a Michigan Court of Appeals has ordered the Michigan Secretary
of State to place a proposal on the November 2006 ballot that would
ban some affirmative action programs. The order is a victory for the
Michigan Civil Rights Initiative organization, which backs the proposal
to ban race and gender preferences in university admissions and
government hiring.

And in Great Britain...the government's race watchdog agency is telling
Britain's top universities to recruit more black students. The Commission
for Racial Equality says it has collated, what it calls alarming figures from government and academic sources, that show segregation and a worrying
racial divide among the student population on many campuses.
Dr. Karen Hitchcock reports. (1:45)

BLACK HISTORY MONTH
WHITE MONEY/BLACK POWER: THE SURPRISING HISTORY
OF AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDIES AND THE CRISIS OF RACE
IN HIGHER EDUCATION , Pt. 2 of 2 -
Between 1968 and 1971, over 500 black studies programs were
established at American colleges and universities. While it's generally
believed that these programs were established as a result of black
student unrest...according to the new book, White Money/Black
Power ...many were established at the behest of the Ford Foundation.
Author, Noliwe Rooks, says the Foundation then decided which
organizations received grants, and consequently, what political views
were presented in the establishment of those black studies departments.
Rooks also writes about the affirmative action debate, and how
demographic changes in the composition of the black student body are
affecting the stability of African American studies today. Noliwe Rooks
is also Associate Director of the African American Studies Program at
Princeton University in New Jersey.
Glenn Busby reports. (9:56)