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LFJ answers your tough questions.

When a country is compared to a continent, we effectively communicate that not all countries—or the people in them—are significant enough for us to name.

An elementary school principal highlights what can happen when educators give students opportunities to talk about their cultures and to learn about the cultures of other students.

At a time when the nation’s schools are becoming more segregated, teachers and students across the country have an opportunity to show the rest of the world they’re committed to challenging these boundaries by registering for Teaching Tolerance’s Mix It Up at Lunch Day.

The e-mail message was direct and devastating. One of our fourth-graders had been killed in a gun accident. “Davius had gone to a friend's house to play and apparently a gun was discharged and the bullet struck him,” my principal wrote. “He died at the scene." I sat in stunned silence. A memory of a story Davius wrote for me in November flashed across my mind.

Positive discipline can teach students self-respect and empathy.

Teaching can be humanizing work. This is how it happens. The Rodriguez family walks down the hall and turns the corner to my room.

Story Corner

A middle school wellness program removes the social rigors from gym class.

As a student, seventh grade was a really scary time for me. Even now, I distinctly remember the churning in my belly every morning when I arrived at school. I was crippled by insecurity when the teacher called my name in class and all eyes turned my way. School felt aggressive and frightening. Students struggled for power and to be seen as “popular.” I began to realize that my anxiety was something that made me different from the other kids.