See if you can guess the item that caught my attention in this Newsweek story:
When Juan Hernandez moved to West Oakland from Bakersfield, Calif., one year ago, his asthma flared up. He used his inhaler more and more often and, eventually, had to give up his favorite sport: running. “I was huffing and puffing, but I thought, It’s my own personal problem,” says Hernandez, 17. Then, while working on a school assignment, he discovered otherwise. His environmental-law teacher sent Hernandez and his classmates on a “toxic tour” of their neighborhood: they walked around and wrote down what they saw, what they smelled and how they felt.
No, it?s not the asthma. A high-school student has an environmental-law teacher? Really? Is he learning the finer points of jurisprudence? Of course not.
Hernandez’s program is one of a growing number that are helping turn young people from underprivileged neighborhoods into pollution sleuths and community activists.
Maybe Terry Stoops can help me; I couldn?t find ?pollution sleuthing? and ?community activism? among his recommendations for improving public education.
