“I’m on a budget now. And I have to shop the sales and check coupons. Instead of shopping in 45 minutes, I’m driving across town for three hours.”
—Longtime ESPN reporter Steve Cyphers, describing one way that leaving sports broadcasting this past year to become a middle school teacher has changed his life.
“Sometimes it’s the culture. It’s a culture that does not put children first,a culture that’s more concerned about power and control and making sure the adults get paid.”
—T.J. Bucholz, spokesman for the Michigan Department of Education, reflecting on possible reasons that administrators and bookkeepers in 10 different districts recently have been caught or accused of embezzling money from the state’s schools.
“The only thing that will get us to stop contacting the family is if they call their congressman. Or maybe if the kid died, we’ll take them off our list.”
—Major Johannes Paraan, head U.S. Army recruiter for Vermont and northeastern New York, on the military’s determination to get in touch with high schoolers even if their parents object. A provision in the No Child Left Behind Act requires public secondary schools to release students’ personal information to recruiters.
“We at Studies Weekly want this to be a lesson to you. Not all Web sites are true, and you cannot always believe them. When researching, you should always look for a reliable site that has credentials.”
—An excerpt from an apology issued by Studies Weekly Inc., a Utah-based company that publishes classroom newspapers. An article in one of its publications mistakenly reported that whales migrate to Lake Michigan. The company later discovered that the information came from a spoof Web site.
