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The 1999 Columbine High School massacre has inspired movies, books, and plays, so it's not entirely surprising that the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history would one day be made into a video game. Still, the freeware Super Columbine Massacre RPG is decidedly creepy. Using cartoonish, Donkey Kong-style graphics of the school and killers, interspersed with news photos of the tragedy, the program puts the gamer in the black trench-coated role of Eric Harris as he and Dylan Klebold shoot teachers and classmates to death. Though many victims and afflicted family members predictably find the game in unspeakably bad taste, that reaction isn't unanimous. "I think I get what he was trying to do, at least in part," said Richard Castaldo, a Columbine student who was paralyzed from the chest down in the shooting. He downloaded and played the game after reading about it on a gaming Web site. "Parts of it were difficult to play through, but overall, I get the feeling it might even be helpful in some ways."

"No pass, no play" isn't a new idea. For years, school districts have been requiring high school athletes to maintain basic academic standards in order to suit up for the game. But in one Texas school district, simply attending football games as a spectator could soon require passing grades. The same goes for band concerts and other extracurriculars. The superintendent of DeSoto schools says this "No pass, no attend" policy is only in the "thinking out loud" stages, but parents and students are already choosing up sides. Brittany Jackson, a 9th grader, was outraged at the proposal. "Just because a student doesn't make grades doesn't mean they can't cheer on their team," she said. "That's crazy." Many parents supported the idea of greater consequences for students' academic performance, but were wary about how the policy would be enforced. Tom Hutton, staff attorney for the National Association of School Boards, said he understands the district's desire to motivate students. But he called the proposal "an administrative nightmare," and questioned its legality. The legal director at the Texas Association of School Boards said the plan would fly, legally, as long as failing students weren't publicly identified. But then, their absense at the Big Game could speak volumes.

Thousands of high schools seniors in California may be putting in last-minute cap-and-gown orders. A Superior Court judge in Alameda County has struck down the state’s high school exit exam, meaning that some students who’ve yet to pass the test may get to graduate this spring, after all. Judge Robert Freedman ruled that the exit-exam requirement, which was being enforced for the first time this year, discriminates against minority and low-income students who are poorly served by California’s school system. “Students in economically challenged communities have not had an equal opportunity to learn the materials,” he said, adding that the “scarcity of resources” was most severe for English language learners. Some 47,000 California seniors (about 11 percent) have yet to pass the test, but it was unclear how many of those have met all other requirements necessary to graduate. California schools Superintendent Jack O’ Connell called ruling “bad news for [among others] employers want meaning restored to our high school diplomas,” and vowed to issue an appeal this week. But students newly eligible to graduate weren’t waiting to plan for the future. “I feel very happy,” Liliana Valenzuela, the 18-year-old lead plaintiff in the case, said in Spanish. “Now I’ll be able to have my diploma and fulfill my desire to become a nurse.”

The California Senate has approved legislation that would require the state’s schools to teach students about the historical contributions of gay Americans. If signed into law, the measure could have ramifications nationwide, since California’s curriculum carries a great deal of weight with textbook publishers. Advocates say teaching students about the role of gays in American history is a natural extension of current civil rights studies in social science courses. They also believe it would foster a more accepting environment for kids who are gay or lesbian. Opponents, however, called the legislation an affront to family values (“Happy Mother’s Day, California,” sneered the president of the Campaign for Children and Families), and criticized it as educationally specious. Republican Senator Bill Morrow, for example, argued that emphasizing particular historical figures’ homosexuality is irrelevant since “their contribution to history has nothing to do with their sexual proclivities.” The measure must still be passed by the state Assembly and signed by Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has yet to voice a position on it.

As if the College Board hasn't had a bad enough run of publicity lately, company officials are now reporting lower-than-average SAT scores among this fall's incoming freshmen. Though the complete national results won't be in until late summer, preliminary surveys of 15 colleges and universities found SAT scores averaging 10 to 20 points below the expected levels. Experts point out that this year's seniors were the first to take the "new" SAT, which includes an essay-writing section and clocks in at a whopping 3 hours, 35 minutes. These added stresses, it's hypothesized, could have caused both fatigue and performance anxiety in the test-takers. "It was so much longer, and the kids were so hyped about it because this test had never been given before, " said Kathryn M. Napper, director of admissions at George Washington University (and the mom of a high school senior). Then there's the money factor: The SAT is more expensive—$41.50, as opposed to $28.50 for the old test. The new price point, one observer noted, means fewer kids are taking it more than once. And since retesting raises scores by an average 30 points, there's a good chance that the heftier price tag is keeping scores down.

These days, prom organizers are taking a page from nightclubs' book by carding partygoers at the door. Except at the prom, they're making sure guests are young enough. In many high schools, new policies govern how old students' prom dates can be. And in most cases, 20 or 21 is the cutoff. At one Minnesota school, the rule was implemented after a past prom where a student brought a 48-year-old date. "A 48-year-old at prom just seemed very unwholesome to us," said the school's prom adviser. Concerns about alcohol use also come into play; many schools ban dates who are old enough to purchase booze. Students' opinions on the date rule are mixed. Rosalie Carnegie, a senior barred from bringing her 22-year-old Iraq War-veteran fiancé to the prom, was understandably disappointed, though she said she respected the rule. But another senior called the age cutoff "kind of stupid." "I'm pretty sure a 21-year-old isn't too thrilled to go to prom," she said. "They aren't going to prom to get drunk; they're going because their date wants to."

Just because Mitchell Yaksh is graduating in a class of one doesn't mean he's celebrating the occasion alone. Along with his principal and teacher—his father and mother, respectively—about 140 relatives and friends were on hand recently for the homeschooler's pomp-and-circumstance-laden commencement exercise. Though the school itself is just a den in his family’s Atlanta home, Mitchell wore a cap and gown and received an official-looking diploma at the ceremony, just like his six older siblings had. "We wanted them to be able to look back and say … they never felt that they missed out on anything," explained teacher/mother Marilyn Yaksh. Nor was Mitchell’s event the most elaborate in the area. Parents of 35 home school seniors recently attended a graduation ceremony for their students and more than 800 guests at the cavernous Georgia International Convention Center in College Park, complete with a speech by Governor Sonny Perdue.

Last August, outside of a season-opener football game between rival high schools in Miami, Florida, 17-year-old James "3J" Lewis was shot and killed. His best friend, Derrick Chiverton's, gut reaction was understandable: He wanted revenge. But classmate Brittany Little suggested instead that Derrick play the titular role in an off-Broadway play called Zooman and the Sign, which would later be performed at a theater festival. "I wanted to find an outlet for us to channel our anger," explained Brittany, a senior at Miami Northwestern Senior High School. "We did the show in memory of James, and it hit a lot of chords." Not only did the performance of the play, about a family caught in the crossfire of drug-related violence, "quell a volatile situation and promote harmony and understanding," according to one former school official; but it also garnered Brittany the Princeton Prize in Race Relations. Given annually by the Princeton University Alumni Council, the award spotlights high school students whose actions positively affect their communities. Brittany, who's from a single-parent family and supervises a drama-club program called Theater Against Violence, seems much older than her 17 years. She's "always there for whoever needs her, taking kids under her wings and making a difference in their lives," said drama teacher Charlette Seward. That was certainly true in Derrick's case. Of his role in the play, and how it purged his anger, he said: "I had to become a monster, something I would never want to be."

It’s not often that you hear about a professional-development event that rocks. But some 400 educators gathered at a South Los Angeles middle school this weekend for a conference on the uses of hip-hop as an instructional tool. Workshop participants were encouraged to let students compose hip-hop songs as a way to get comfortable with the writing process. They also learned how to help students analyze rappers’ lyrics using the conventions of English Lit. The goal of the conference—organized by graduate students at UCLA along with local community groups—was to give teachers a way to make learning more relevant to urban youths. “Why not use [their] culture to connect?” said UCLA grad student Mark Gonzales. “It allows them to engage.”

A high school teacher in Paducah, Kentucky, was relieved of her employment after school administrators discovered she appeared in an adult movie more than 10 years ago. Tericka Dye, a science teacher and volleyball coach at Paducah’s Reidland High School, said she deeply regrets having made the film, explaining she was broke and suffering from untreated bipolar disorder at the time. All the same, McCracken County Schools Superintendent Tim Heller told her in a letter that her “presence in the classroom would cause a disruption to the educational process,” particularly for “students who viewed the video or know about it.” (And who doesn’t now?) Not everyone agrees, though. A lawyer hired by the Kentucky Education Association said the termination may be challenged, and some students and parents held an impromptu rally in support of Dye this week. “She’s not the person she was 10 years ago,” said one sympathetic parent. “We’ve all done things that we regret, except hers is on tape.”

Isn’t it about time your 6th graders finally got serious about what they're going to do with their lives? Some lawmakers and education leaders in Florida apparently think so. A new bill in the state’s legislature would mandate intensive career studies for middle schoolers. The measure is part of package of reform proposals put forth by a task force assembled by Republican Governor Jeb Bush. Under the recommendations, kids would also be required to develop an academic and career plan for their high school years. Advocates argue the career-studies requirement would add rigor to the middle school curriculum and give kids a better understanding of real-world expectations. Critics worry that it would inevitably take time away from less patently practical courses like art, music, and physical education. Some educators, meanwhile, question whether the idea is developmentally appropriate: “I’ve taught in middle schools for 21 years, and few to none of my students have ever come to me to talk about a particular career,” observed one Florida teacher. “At that age, they just want to learn and absorb.” And, perhaps, they just want to be 12-year-olds.

It seems that the old is new again. And by "the old," we mean "weird 1960s fad of gardening-material-as-drug." Thanks to the Internet, teenagers are re-discovering something experts had thought was left far behind in the psychedelic era: Ingesting morning glory seeds in great quantities can lead to an LSD-like altered state. The emerging trend is hard to quantify because purchasing morning glory seeds is, of course, legal. But some garden shops have been keeping a closer eye on their inventory after seeing teenagers buy or steal large quantities of the flower seeds. "You think, 'Hmm,'" said Kristy Peterkin, whose family owns a hardware and garden store. Her teenage employees clued her into the reason the flower seeds were suddenly so popular. The Drug Enforcement Administration claims no knowledge of the psychedelic seeds, and a prominent drug researcher at the University of Michigan said he hadn't heard of the trend, either. "I'm afraid the kids are ahead of me in that case," he said.

Spring is in the air, and an 18-year-old’s thoughts turn to, well, just about anything but schoolwork. In acknowledgement of that premise, some high schools are devising novel ways to treat the dread condition known as senioritis. Instead of forcing graduating seniors through the academic paces, they’re encouraging them to go ahead and start thinking about life after high school. New Trier Township High School in Winnetka, Illinois, for example, has created a “senior program” designed to help kids learn real-world skills. Students can work as teachers’ aids, participate in community projects, and attend discussion forums on topics like money management and college life. Other schools let seniors start taking courses at local colleges or find off-campus internships. "It’s human to be thinking about what is ahead," said Janice Dreis, co-director of New Trier’s program. "We have to let them think about that."

Turns out students were listening during health class: In Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, a group of 4th- and 5th-graders refused to sell candy bars and potato chips as part of a fundraising drive for a trip to Washington, D.C. The students argued that selling the junk food went against the healthy-eating lessons they'd learned that year. For a little while, it looked like the trip would have to be cancelled, but donations from supporters—including $16,000 from diet guru Dr. Atkins' widow, Veronica—rolled in to finance the excursion. The candy-free students are enjoying their D.C. visit this week.