13 year old rejected from high school for being HIV+

queernonymoose:

dank-potion:

democratsaresexier:

Milton Hershey School in Hershey, Pennsylvania denied Tim (not his real name), a 13 year old boy, admission because he is HIV positive. From Change.org

Although discrimination against people living with HIV is in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Milton Hersey School doesn’t deny its reasoning. The school said in a statement, “we cannot accommodate the needs of students with chronic communicable diseases that pose a direct threat to the health and safety of others” — even though science and society have known for decades that HIV is not highly contagious.

Lawrence Stallworth understands how tough it is to be a teen living with HIV — Lawrence is 20, and he found out he was HIV-positive when he was 17. Lawrence teamed up with the organization Advocates for Youth to start a petition on Change.org demanding that the Milton Hershey School admit Tim. Please sign Lawrence’s petition today.

The Milton Hershey School purports to serve “children from families of low income, limited resources, and social need.” Tim is an excellent candidate to benefit from all the school has to offer. The school’s refusal to admit him not only hurts Tim, but spreads dangerous and prejudicial misinformation about HIV.

“It shouldn’t be the responsibility of a 13-year-old boy to teach the Milton Hershey School about the science of HIV or the moral obligation educators have to meet the needs of all students,” Lawrence says. “But this young man is doing just that — and we all have a responsibility to have his back.”

The Milton Hershey School is already receiving bad publicity for its discriminatory actions, but additional public pressure is needed to show them that they can’t just wait for this problem to blow over. Please sign Lawrence’s petition demanding that the Milton Hershey School end its discrimination against a 13-year-old

He’s just a child. What do the think he’s going to do? And how would he go about doing it? This is really the most disgusting case of wrongful criminalization I’ve read in a while.

I’m sorry, but I have had relatives that go to school with diabetes and carry a needle pack that could somehow be a danger for others. I have an epi-pen that I could POTENTIALLY pose a threat.

What the fuck people, what the fuck?

I’m old enough that I remember during the 80s when HIV/AIDS was new and everyone was afraid of it and there were all kinds of educational messages about how you could contract it (and more importantly how you couldn’t) and there were “special” TV episodes with HIV+ characters. 

And the moral of the story is that way back in the 1980s we learned that you couldn’t contract HIV/AIDS from just being around someone. 

This is sickening. 

barackobama:

runningoncaffeineanddreams:

barackobama:

“I’m President Barack Obama. And I too want to slow-jam the news.”

this. is. my. president.

Re-blogging for the morning crowd because this is just too good.

"Despite many an ardent attempt on the part of some to convince the world we are post-feminism, we still live in a society that is overwhelmingly patriarchal and male-favoring. And while men are still in control — only 12 Fortune 500 Companies are currently run by women and women make up only about 17 percent of the United States Congress — it’s clear that we need to do something to counteract this reality and work towards a world of gender equality. This is where women’s colleges come in. Women’s colleges prioritize the education of strong, motivated women and encourage them to be the leaders of tomorrow. While it’s true that successful, powerful women do (obviously) graduate from co-ed universities as well, that goal is not prioritized or promoted in the same way at those institutions. And sometimes, female students have the potential to be leaders, to achieve great things, but need an extra push. The effect of attending a school that constantly holds up this standard for its students should not be underestimated — in fact, its effectiveness is reflected in the statistics of women’s college graduates."
—

On Attending A Women-Only College - The Frisky (via thefrisky)

Every time I see something extolling the virtues of single-sex education I look for any discussion of the class privilege that most people attending these institutions enjoy. Not because I want to be all “it’s not great!” but because I know there’s a link to someone class & how far they can typically succeed in life (in the traditional sense of the word). 

thefemme-menace

thefemme-menace:

Because this is my last year of college… and I’m scared I’m going to stop learning. Ive also always wanted to know another language. 

:)  

I had a friend who took Latin in high school. At the beginning of our senior year he decided to teach himself French. He went to a book store, bought a couple books/workbooks and studied for fun on his own. 

He went to college the next fall and tested into the third year of French. He ended up adding a French major. One the one hand, he is one of the smartest people I’ve ever known. But I think if you want to do it and apply yourself you totally can!

There really is no difference between men and women's math abilities

fuckyeahfeminists:

I know my lovely readers knew this already, but thought it can never be reiterated too many times.

Now, researchers Jane Mertz of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Jonathan Kane of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater have performed the most comprehensive exploration yet of math performance. They took in data from 86 different countries, many of which had not previously kept reliable records of math performance and so their addition allowed for much stronger cross-cultural analysis. So what did they find?

First, in many countries, there’s no gender gap at all both at the average and very high levels of performance. Some countries, including the United States, do show a gender gap, but that gap has decreased substantially over the last few decades, and some test scores suggest American girls have already caught up to their male counterparts.

Tags | education | math | gender | science | sex | facts |
Jack o’ Lanterns originated in Ireland where people placed candles in hollowed-out turnips to keep away spirits and ghosts on the Samhain holiday.

OMG totally want to make turnip jack o’lanterns next year….

(Source: oyfacts)

"The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board voted Thursday to phase out 64 degree programs that failed to attract enough majors under stricter enrollment guidelines the board enacted last year. Another 145 programs the board deemed underperforming are also being voluntarily cut.

The board’s decisions came program by program over four hours in which a parade of higher-education leaders pleaded with the board to spare their programs. Board members say the cuts will allow the state to use its resources more efficiently, while critics counter that the board’s actions will disproportionately hurt predominantly minority colleges and programs in mathematics and science. Thirteen of the state’s 25 undergraduate physics degree programs, for instance, were judged “underperforming.” The board voted to phase out or consolidate six of them."
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Texas Board Requires the Phasing Out of 64 Degree Programs With Low Enrollments - Administration - The Chronicle of Higher Education (via robot-heart-politics)

Texas just really hates education, doesn’t it?

Tags | education | texas |
"

Five-year-old kindergartener A.J. Paches was kicked out of Brookside Elementary School earlier this year because his homeless mother used a friend’s address to register him in the wealthy district of Norwalk, Connecticut. After forcing A.J. out, Norwalk authorities charged his mother first-degree larceny for enrolling her son under a false address, a felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

Sadly, A.J.’s story is not unique. He is one of several low-income students whose parents use the residence of a relative or friend to provide their children with educational opportunities that are severely lacking in poor districts. Meanwhile, wealthy school districts are cracking down hard on these families, going to extreme lengths to identify, force out, and increasingly prosecute the parents of kids like AJ.

"
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20 Years in Prison for Sending Your Kids to the Wrong School? Inequality in School Systems Leads Parents to Big Risks | | AlterNet

Please read the entire article. It just makes me so deeply angry. Having been one of the children who went to an extremely poor school for elementary, worked as a teacher’s assistant through part of college in a very wealthy ‘blue ribbon’ elementary school, worked as a lead teacher at a very pricey preschool for 3 years and finally worked at an enrichment program for “at-risk” (which we all know is code for poor and probably minority) girls I can definitely attest to the fact that the differences in materials, class sizes, learning structure, and creativity in the class room is SO obvious and blatant is disgusting.

For those of you opening your mouths to argue with me that ‘learning structure’ and ‘creativity’ aren’t affected by funding because everyone can be creative and blah blah blah I’m a douche. YES learning structure (by which I mean do 8 year olds sit at a desk all day, do they get to go to stations, do hands on learning activities, do they have opportunities to demonstrate their knowledge beyond quizzes and practice tests that prepare them for the standardized tests that they have to pass because if they don’t they will get EVEN LESS funding etc. ) and creativity in the classroom are extraordinarily limited by funding.

A) they HAVE to pass those tests, what little funding, what few teachers they have are on the line, so yeah, they get taught the tests and they get taught HOW to take tests from age five. That’s fucked up. But tell me it’s not necessary, with the system that is in place in this country right now. It is all they can do.

B) They don’t have enough funding for new/up to date text books. You think that they have funding for hands on stations, manipulatives, and other learning tools? They’re lucky if they have money for new crayons once a year and teachers buy a LOT of class room necessities (tissue, soap, crayons) out of their own pockets.

C) Creativity in the classroom and varies learning structure allows children to absorb and remember more of their lessons. Poor districts don’t have the funding to allow these types of lessons, and they’re forced to teach the tests as we already discussed. Which means their children are less likely to retain the information that they learn, putting them further and further behind each school year and force teachers to spend a large amount of time reviewing old concepts (from previous years) which are building blocks to learning new concepts.

Most anyone would want their child to have the best possible learning environment. And yet these parents are being prosecuted and made examples of. often forced out of their homes, jailed, fined ridiculous amounts of money. they lives are being ruined for having the audacity to be poor and want a better education for their children.

(via heavenearthandhoratio)

We absolutely have to fix our education in this country. The uber-wealthy are still going to have private schools and every advantage. But that’s not a reason to not fix it for the majority of kids.

This woman was homeless. Her kid is (I’m assuming) required by law to attend school (and should be). Why do I suspect if she sent him to a “poor” district no one would have found it necessary to investigate and/or prosecute the mother?

Tags | education |
"Perhaps you have heard something about a labor movement in the 20th century? No longer will your children. The only reference to a 20th-century labor movement will come when learning about Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta. No mention of the Fair Labor Standards Act or the National Labor Relations Act. No mention of strikes or any labor dispute. The words “labor movement” were taken out of the TEKS. Perhaps there is not enough time because students must now “understand how the free enterprise system drives technological innovation … such as cell phones, inexpensive personal computers and global positioning products.”

Students will learn about the contributions of Jerry Falwell’s Moral Majority. Maybe the students will read Falwell’s claim that feminists and homosexuals were partially responsible for the 9/11 attacks. Phyllis Schlafly, the Heritage Foundation and the NRA are all included. Students will also be required to “discuss the meaning of ‘In God We Trust.’ "
— History? Whose story? Texas gives lesson in revision (via robot-heart-politics)
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