Science & Education
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Monumental changes ahead for how Virginia students learn Black history

Israel Budz

LYNCHBURG, Va. – Right now, educators are working on a monumental change to Virginia’s Standards of Learning in history and social science by adding more African American history to the curriculum framework.

The Virginia Board of Education approved a list of recommended edits in October, but that does not mean the work stops there.

“It just warms my heart that here in Virginia, we’re looking to get it right ,” said Dr. Crystal M. Edwards, superintendent of Lynchburg City Schools.

The “it” Edwards is referring to is history no longer being taught to elementary, middle and high school students from one perspective. Now, lessons on African American history aren’t going to start with slavery. For information on why educators in Southwest Virginia believe this is beneficial for students of all backgrounds, click here.

Shifting the perspective was the main priority of the Virginia African American History Education Commission

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Science & Education
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Indian couple run street-side classes for poor students

Israel Budz

NEW DELHI (AP) — On a quiet road in India’s capital, tucked away on a wide, red-bricked sidewalk, kids set adrift by the country’s COVID-19 lockdown are being tutored.

The children, ages 4 to 14, carry book bags more than 2 kilometers (a mile) from their thatched-roof huts on the banks of the Yamuna River to this impromptu, roadside classroom. There, they receive free lessons in math, science, English and physical education, taught by a former Indian diplomat and his wife.

It all began when Veena Gupta’s maid, who lives on bank of the river, complained that with schools shut, children in her impoverished community were running amok and wasting time.

“If they stayed at home doing nothing, they’d become drifters,” said Dolly Sharma, who works at Veena’s high-rise apartment, which overlooks the lush riverbank.

Veena, a singer and grandmother of three, and her husband, Virendra Gupta, decided to

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Science & Education
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International students scramble after Trump’s visa announcement

Israel Budz

Priyankaa Krishnan, a 23-year-old international student at Iowa State University, is worried she’ll have to return to a country she barely knows. She was born in India, but hasn’t been back since she was a child and doesn’t have immediate family there.

Krishnan, who’s getting her Ph.D. in education and human-computer interaction, is one of 1.1 million international students across the U.S. affected by a new order issued by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement that says international students on F-1 visas must depart the U.S. if their colleges or universities are being conducted solely online. The students, the majority of whom come from India and China, have the option of transferring to a college or university holding in-person classes before the start of the fall semester.

Priyankaa Krishnan (Courtesy Priyankaa Krishnan)
Priyankaa Krishnan (Courtesy Priyankaa Krishnan)

The order makes exceptions only for colleges with hybrid learning models, and it has enraged students and faculty at institutions

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Science & Education
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Unemployment rates of new graduates are highest among law and computer science students, data shows

Israel Budz
Nearly one in ten graduates of some universities are still unemployed 15 months after leaving higher education
Nearly one in ten graduates of some universities are still unemployed 15 months after leaving higher education

Unemployment rates of new graduates are highest among law and computer science students, official data shows.

Just five per cent of British graduates of the two subjects were unemployed 15 months after graduating, according to figures published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (Hesa).

Overall, nearly one in ten graduates of some universities are still unemployed 15 months after leaving higher education.

Of young people leaving full-time undergraduate courses in the summer of 2018, around 4 per cent were out of work more than a year after leaving university which rises to ten per cent at some institutions.

London’s School of Oriental and African Studies (Soas) had the highest proportion (9 per cent) of graduates out of work after leaving full-time courses, once significant interim study was excluded.

The survey, which looked at

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