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Among the baby pictures, reports on summer activities and other news reported by my many former students on Facebook, I saw this status update about a week ago: “… it’s good to see fear-mongers called out for spreading misinformation …”

When four students showed up at Live Oak High School in Morgan Hill, California, last week wearing American flag T-shirts on Cinco de Mayo, their assistant principal thought the shirts were inflammatory. He told the boys to turn them inside out or go home.

A new study shows that obese kids are 65 percent more likely to be bullied than their peers of normal weight. Wendy Craig, a professor of psychology, highlighted the importance of teachers being proactive when she told CNN, “bullying and obesity are both major public health concerns that teachers and schools—and not just parents—need to address.”

Today marks the 15th annual National Day of Silence, organized by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN). This student-led civil protest will unite LGBT youth and their allies in thousands of middle schools, high schools and colleges nationwide.

It used to be thought that college was where you went to open your mind, explore ideas and, in the words of Robert Maynard Hutchins, former president of the University of Chicago, “be freed from the prison-house of … class, race, time, place [and] background.”

A couple of years ago, an acquaintance who worked at the local college where I was teaching had trouble sending and receiving emails. She couldn’t, for the life of her, figure out why. Then an IT administrator clued her in: Her first name—Gay—triggered the school’s Internet filters. They were set to block any references to homosexuality, gender identity, etc.

The United States Justice Department recently struck a blow against bullying behavior. Officials there reversed a decade-old policy and asked to intervene in a harassment suit brought by a gay youth.

‘Encounter experiences’ help pre-service and practicing teachers confront their attitudes about race and privilege.