“While [Steinmetz High School English teacher Robin] Quinn has gone somewhat soft on homework, she sees no advantage in reverting to her former ways,” writes Elizabeth Duffrin in Catalyst (March). “Colleagues who remain strict about homework don’t get better compliance; they just get higher failure rates, she says. The Board of Education has mandated 120 minutes of homework a night for freshmen and more for upperclassmen. Quinn says that while that sounds like a good policy, it’s unenforceable. If teachers called parents every time children failed to turn in homework, they’d be making upwards of 100 calls a night.”
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
Chicago had more clean-air days in 1997 than in 1988, according to EPA statistics compiled by Wendell Cox at www.demographia.com. In 1988 there were 40 days when at least one of the five major air pollutants–particulates, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, ozone, and nitrogen dioxide–exceeded air-quality standards. In 1997 there were 9.
places such as Las Vegas, Phoenix, Austin, and Raleigh-Durham, feature remarkably low and declining segregation levels.” How come? The authors suspect that newly built neighborhoods come without generations of racist baggage.
