Education

A Wheaton College professor was arrested Thursday for possession of child pornography. Police also found two unlicensed handguns in his home.

Donald Ratcliff, 60, has been a professor of Christian education at Wheaton since 2006. He also has an educational background in childhood development and taught classes and wrote books about children's spirituality.

A statement from Wheaton College on Thursday read, "Wheaton College was informed this afternoon by the DuPage County State's Attorney's Office that Donald Ratcliff, a professor at the College, was charged with two counts of Aggravated Child Pornography. Dr. Ratcliff has been placed on administrative leave." more >>

A bill in the Virginia General Assembly that would have allowed homeschooled children to take part in public school interscholastic activities like sports has failed to advance.

Dubbed the "Tim Tebow Bill" after Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow, who though homeschooled nevertheless took part in high school football in Florida, HB 947 was defeated Thursday in an 8-7 vote in the Virginia Senate Committee on Education and Health.

According to its text, if enacted HB 947 would have prohibited "public schools from joining an organization governing interscholastic programs that does not deem eligible for participation a student who is receiving home instruction." more >>

A Haywood County High School principal in Brownsville, Tenn., has handed in her resignation after allegedly telling gay students they are going to hell, causing outrage among parents as well as the ACLU, which took action on the students' behalf.

Principal Dorothy Bond tendered her resignation Thursday morning, JacksonSun.com revealed, after the American Civil Liberties Union sent a letter on behalf of several students and families to Haywood County Schools Superintendent Marlon King. The ACLU asked the district to take action after reports came out that the principal had made anti-LGBT remarks and even threatened to expel gay students.

"At first she was talking about PDA and she turned around and she directly pointed to the gay people and said if you're gay you're going to hell and if you're pregnant, you're life is over," explained one student, Amber Whittiemore, in an interview with ABC24. more >>

The publisher of an intelligent design book has decided to put publication plans for the book on hold after some scientists complained that such challenges to evolution theories should not be presented in an academic publication.

International science publisher Springer had set the publication date for Biological Information: New Perspectives for March 31. The publishing house apparently began hearing complaints, though, after Nick Matzke posted a Feb. 27 article titled, "Springer gets suckered by creationist pseudoscience" on Panda's Thumb, a blog "critical of the antievolution movement."

"It looks like some creationist engineers found a way to slither some ID/creationism into a major academic publisher, Springer," Matzke wrote. more >>

The popularity of a college student group primarily focused on defending their faith in Jesus on university campuses throughout the U.S. and world has increased dramatically in the last year.

While operating in the mostly secular environment of college academia, including students and professors, a Christian apologetics alliance known as Ratio Christi (Latin for "reason of Christ" or the "rationality of Christ") is aggressively seeking and placing apologists on campuses to lead student chapters.

This movement comes at a time when Christian leaders such as prominent evangelical Chuck Colson say atheist – or nontheist – groups are on the rise on college campuses. Colson recently praised Ratio Christi in a column he wrote, expressing his joy at knowing the group is "working to reclaim the intellectual battleground on college campuses." more >>

States across the U.S. are debating whether or not they should allow public schools to teach courses on the Bible, based on the idea that understanding the Christian scriptures is important in understanding the history and culture of America. Not surprisingly, these Bible course bills are being met with mixed responses by lawmakers.

The House Education Committee in New Hampshire on Tuesday voted overwhelmingly (17-0) to recommend the dismissal of a bill sponsored by Rep. Jerry Bergevin (R-Manchester) that would require all of the state's public high schools to offer an elective social studies course on the Bible, the Concord Monitor reports.

The text of the bill explains that one reason for teaching high school students about the Bible is that knowing biblical concepts "are prerequisites to understanding contemporary society and culture, including literature, art, music, morals, oratory, and public policy." The bill says schools should offer a class either on the Old Testament, the New Testament or both. more >>