President George W. Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act pushed students into a regimen of high-stakes testing in two core areas: reading and math. The effects could hardly have been more predictable: Now, it seems, teachers and schools are dedicating more and more energy to math and reading instruction at the expense of other subjects. Read the rest of this entry »

Plans to network together thousands of private and public video surveillance cameras in New York City have been in the works for years. Yet it was only this month, in the wake of the attempted bombings in London, that those plans took on a new sense of urgency. By the end of the year, Gotham officials say, the surveillance system will have hundreds of cameras scanning Lower Manhattan, watching tunnels, bridges, and the thousands of cars and people that move through the country’s financial hub. The new network is raising perennial questions over the balance between New Yorkers’ civil liberties and the powers of law enforcement. Read the rest of this entry »