Meryl Ain, Ed.D.

This week I look forward to attending the Brentwood (N.Y.) High School Awards Night as a presenter of two scholarships in memory of my father, Herbert Fischman, who was a teacher and principal in the school district for 25 years. With this gesture, I will join with many other individuals...

This is Teacher Appreciation Week, and for me it evokes a floodgate of thoughts on teaching and learning.

For one thing, Teacher Recognition Day -- as the single day dedicated to teachers used to be called -- coincided with my first big success at school. I was in the third...

Hilary Rosen's ill-chosen comments about Ann Romney's choice to be a stay at home mom (SAHM) have ignited the 21st century version of the Mommy Wars. Alas! I thought those wars had been fought in the 70s, 80s, and 90s and resolved by the turn of the new century. Apparently,...

A report this week by the U.S. Department of Education paints a dreary picture of arts education in the nation.

A casualty of budget cuts and an increased emphasis on math and reading, the report noted that fewer public elementary schools are offering visual arts,...

The coincidence of a spate of stories decrying the wide use in school lunches of what critics call "pink slime" (ammonia-treated ground beef) appearing during National Nutrition Month got me to thinking about what school children eat for lunch each day.

While healthier eating has become a passionate cause...

Three separate school bus accidents on Monday - in Indiana, Washington State, and Ohio -- have left a student and a bus driver dead, and scores of students injured, some critically. The three crashes have fueled concerns about school bus safety.

In the Indiana accident, the bus...

The practice of parents waiting until their children are six to enroll them in kindergarten has become so widespread that CBS' 60 Minutes has taken note.

Parents who follow this practice told correspondent Morley Safer that it gives their child a competitive advantage over their younger classmates -- both academically...

Presidents' Day always makes me remember my maternal grandfather, who encouraged my brother and me to learn the names of all the U.S. presidents and vice presidents when we were still in the early grades. When we got together each week, we would play quiz show, mimicking the popular TV...

A plan that would virtually end school bullying and make school discipline kinder, gentler and more meaningful is being proposed for schools throughout the country.

The man behind this revolutionary concept is Dr. Robert Goldman, a Long Island psychologist/lawyer. He is intent on changing the culture of schools based on...

During the holiday break, I confess watching a few episodes of TLC's Toddlers and Tiaras, a reality show that features actual parents (mostly mothers) preparing and entering their small children in kiddy beauty pageants. The mothers are depicted inflicting on their tiny daughters coaching lessons, spray tans, heavy makeup, false...

It's the holiday season and there are celebrations everywhere -- at the office, at home and in the schools. However you celebrate at home or in the office, the notion of what is appropriate and inappropriate in public schools continues to evolve as our communities become more diverse.

When I...

When my grandmother died in 1978 at almost 90, I thought the technological changes she had experienced in her lifetime would never be duplicated. I couldn't have been more wrong.

Technology is now changing at a dizzying pace, and parents and educators have to decide what's best...