According to a scientist: "They won't complain about health insurance, sick leave and severance package, or leave in three months for a better-paying job in Japan... all you need is a repair and upgrade every once in a while."

"...in Singapore, which recently came second in an international ranking of 15-year-olds' skill in maths (America was 31st), the teacher-training programme accepts only students in the top 30% of their academic cohort. In America, most teachers were mediocre students. Only 23% of new teachers were in the top third of college graduates."

Time to drop those french fries! The U.S. Department of Agriculture is calling for big changes in the meals served to school children. Some of those changes include limiting french fries, cutting back on sodium and adding fruit and veggies. The government hopes the proposed rule, which will be released on Thursday, will help curb the obesity epidemic and teach kids healthy eating habits. Here are some facts from the USA Today article:

"About a third of children and adolescents -- 25 million kids - are obese or overweight. Extra pounds put children at a greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and other health problems. An analysis in 2005 found that children today may lead shorter lives by two to five years than their parents because of obesity.

The proposal calls for closing 40 schools in fiscal 2012 and 30 schools in fiscal 2013.  The move would save more than $33 million, according to the article.

According to this UPI story, a national survey found that middle schools are suspending more students than in the past, and that African-American students are  being suspended more often than whites. An excerpt from the article:

 "It's clear from these findings that zero-tolerance policies are pushing too many children out of school at a critical point in their education and are having a disproportionate impact on students of color," said Marion Chartoff, a senior staff attorney specializing in education issues at the Southern Poverty Law Center, which distributed the study.

The researchers said they focused on middle schools because studies suggest suspensions in those grades may have significant, long-term repercussions for students.

The children who attended responsive and engaging high-quality preschool programs were found to exhibit less aggression and rule-breaking behavior by the time they entered middle childhood (ages 7 to 11), according to the report.

Newly released government figures show that freshman enrollment surged 6 percent in 2008 to a record 2.6 million, mostly due to rising minority enrollment. That is the highest increase since 1968 during the height of the Vietnam War, when young adults who attended college could avoid the military draft.

Almost three-quarters of the freshman increases in 2008 were minorities, of which the largest share was Hispanics.

People with autism are known to suffer from gastrointestinal disorders and have a different make-up of bacteria in their guts from non-autistic people. The exact biological significance of gastrointestinal disorders in the development of autism is unknown.

The distinctive urinary metabolic fingerprint for autism identified by the the study, from Imperial College London and the University of South Australia, could form the basis of a non-invasive test that might help diagnose autism earlier."