White supremacist/neo-Nazi looks likely to win School Board seat

A man who promotes himself as a proud white-supremacist is running for school board in a small inland American town. What's worse, however is that he looks - at this stage - to be the likely victor come polling time.

Dan Schruender, who once served as the president of a California organization that promotes the idea of a pure white race, filed nomination papers on Monday to run for one of two seats on the board which oversees education in the Rialto Unified School District.

Incumbent board members are meanwhile seeking re-election. The 27,500-student district is nearly 76 percent Hispanic and nearly 16 percent black.


Schruender, who - according to the AP - enjoys dropping off racist flyers around the neighborhood, announced the launch of his campaign on the bigoted website of the white-supremacist organization of which he is a part. 


NOTE: The picture featured on the homepage for this post is not one of those involved in this story.

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Thought for college: The eight majors that will leave you penniless

When one heads off to college, or simply makes a career choice, it might be useful to check out the new list from PayScale.com which ranks the lowest paying College majors.

The New York Daily News did a review of the list:

1. Social work. The median starting pay is $31,800 per year and the median mid-career pay is $44,900. The job, which involves dealing with homelessness, drug abuse, and poverty, can be draining -- both emotionally and financially.

"Anybody who does this isn't in it for the money," Katie Stine-Hodges, a Portland State University graduate who majored in child and family studies, told CNN. Stine-Hudges, now a case manager for a foster program in Portland, added: "I feel lucky to be able to help people and go home at night and feel like I accomplished something."

2. Athletic Training. The median starting pay is $32,800 and the median mid-career pay is $45,700. Athletic trainers put in long hours for not that much money, but their job can be rewarding. A 60-hour-plus work week is typical for Chris Shenberger, who got his degree in athletic training from Capital University and now treats injuries, teaches and handles insurance claims atCase Western Reserve University, where he's head athletic trainer.

"In terms of the amount of time I put in, it's definitely low-paying, and I make significantly less money than a good portion of head coaches," he told CNN. "But I'd rather get paid less money and be here until 10 p.m. because I like being around athletics a lot more than I would like sitting at a desk somewhere, even if it would bring me more money."

3. Recreation and leisure. Median starting pay is $33,300 and the median mid-career pay is $53,200. In this field, camp directors, community planners and park managers do everything from organizing events to planning activities for kids. The paycheck's relatively small, but the job may make up for it in terms of fun quotient.

Art. The median starting pay is $33,500 and the median mid-career pay is $54,800.  Many recent fine arts majors are still looking for work or trying to make ends meet from freelance gigs. Alison Tremblay majored in art with a concentration in photography at Alfred University, and took a job in data entry when she couldn't find a fulltime job in her field. But she's glad she studied art. "I guess I wish I had taken more practical courses like business, but I couldn't imagine not majoring in art and not having a camera in my hand," she told CNN. "I'm just trying to take my skills and turn them into something where I can actually make money -- that's the real struggle." [See the full list]

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Teacher cuts a student's picture out of every yearbook copy

A school magazine (or yearbook) will have to be reprinted in its entirety after a disgruntled teacher decided she would cut out one of the pictures with scissors in each and every copy because it was of a boy who she heard making comments about the principal. 

"It is a cost the school will gladly bear", said the principal, referring to the huge cost of reprinting the entire magazine again.

The student and his mother, whose photos are printed above, are both a picture of sartorial elegance. Believe me when I say that no retouching has been made to that photo, regardless of how hard you may find that to believe. 

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Kings College student dies

A student form Kings College has died after an incident on the weekend, the New Zealand Press Association is reporting this morning. It is the second death of a student from the college in just over a week.

Michael Treffers, a 15 year old year 11 pupil, was admitted to Auckland Hospital at about 10:30 PM after the incident on Sunday night. His life support was turned off yesterday.

A Ministry of Education trauma team was reportedly at the school yesterday.

It was the second death of a student from the college in a little over a week. James Webster died after drinking an entire bottle of vodka on May 8. Additionally, William Thode, 15, died in his sleep while staying in the school's boarding facilities in February.

According to the NZPA:

Headmaster Bradley Fenner told the Herald the school did not know what led to Michael's death.

"We are not aware of there being any connection or direct link [with the other boys' deaths]".

A special assembly was held yesterday and staff and students visited Michael in hospital.

Michael did not appear to be having problems at school, and was quite popular, Mr Fenner said.

He was doing well academically and played waterpolo and rugby.

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Police bust booze-fuelled after-ball

Auckland police have stormed a school ball afterparty following revelations that alcohol was being served to minors at the gathering.

The action is yet another installment in the government's crackdown on serving alcohol to minors. It is also another timely reminder that the government is taking steps to prevent further alcohol related deaths - particularly after the high-profile death of 16 year old Kings College student.





One News allegedly tracked down the location of the after-party - the after party was reportedly a more looked-forward to event than the ball itself.

According to TVNZ's website:

Entry was via a pre-paid ticket and the location was kept secret.

"No one seemed to know where they were going ... which is fair enough, it's their night out," says parent Keith Haime, adding that "quite a lot of parents followed the coach down here".

But just before the busloads arrived, police and liquor licensing inspectors got in first.

Manukau District Licensing Agency inspector Paul Raddich says the parents then decided the best course of action was to remove all of the alcohol voluntarily.

The article stated that students were allowed to drink "as part of the $55 ticket price".

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New Zealand makes number nine on the "most educated" list

So you may be wondering what is the most educated country in the world ?
Well it's difficult to say really, but here are some statistics that may be of your interest.


(Percentage of the population between the ages of 25-64 that have attained a tertiary level of education)

1 Canada 44.0

2 United States 38.4

3 Japan 37.4

4 Sweden 33.4

5 Finland 33.3

6 Denmark 31.9

7 Australia 31.3

8 Norway 31.0

9 New Zealand 30.9



10 Korea, South 29.5

11 Belgium 29.0

12 United Kingdom 28.0

13 Switzerland 27.0

14 Ireland 26.3

15 Iceland 26.3

16 Spain 25.2

17 Netherlands 24.4

18 Germany 24.0

19 France 23.4

20 Greece 18.3

21 Hungary 15.4

22 Mexico 15.4

23 Luxembourg 14.9

24 Austria 14.5

25 Poland 14.2

26 Czech Republic 12.0

27 Slovakia 11.8

28 Portugal 10.8

29 Italy 10.4

30 Turkey 9.7


I think for the likes of the USA and Canada, they have the advantage of size. No surprises for Japan, and those other strict European countries, where students are bound by rules until they pass school, then they are free to do whatever they want.

These countries do deserve the credit for that method of teaching, as I think countries such as New Zealand and Australia are too loose and worrying about "children rights". See, people need to remember, no matter how 'know-it-all" a teenager seems, they are still a kid and don't know it all. Of course they will throw a tantrum, but with diligence and consequences they will learn, just as all kids, and all people for that matter do.

The years before you are of the age of about 20 years old, are the most vital as your brain is still developing. That is why students are sent to school then, as I'm sure teachers would rather teach a class of mature adults than a class of bratty kids. So the teen and child years are the most important in the terms of learning, and thus students need to focus on their education so then when they leave school, they can party it up if they want, and still have the education for a job of their choose.

So, even though I think New Zealand are not the most strategical when it comes to how they manage the education system, I think we did reasonably well landing at a spot of #9, surprising for a country of merely 4 million too.

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