Back-to-School Bits
Amount the Obama Administration has promised to states and schools that make significant reforms: $4.3 billion
Amount school-uniform supplier Land’s End pledged to donate to schools across the country in 2010: $1 million
Percent of students who do their homework at the kitchen table: 43
Percent who do it on the bus on the way to school: 10
Times per every two hours that the fast-food industry tests ground beef for contaminants: 1 or 2
Times per day that the U.S. Department of Agriculture tests the ground beef it buys for schools: 1
Percent of food served in Italy’s schools that’s organic: 68
Percent that’s produced locally: 26
Year the Department of Agriculture adopted school-lunch nutrition standards, which have changed little since: 1946
Number of laptop computers — one for every elementary-school student — the Massachusetts-based charity One Laptop Per Child donated to Uruguay: 380,000
Percent of students whose extracurricular activity of choice would be a sport: 40
Percent who would choose marching band: 6
Percent of students who say their parents showing up in class would be more embarrassing than passing gas out loud or ripping the seat of their pants: 28
Sources: U.S. News & World Report, PRWeb Newswire, Scholastic.com, Reason, New Internationalist, Education Week, The Economist.
