Joel Mathis

My son started the seventh grade today. He got up, ate breakfast, puttered around a little -- and then, at 8 am, went to his room, turned on his school-issued iPad, and settled into a video chat with his science teacher. I'm not enamored of distance learning, but that's still kind of an extraordinary thing, isn't it? And then I remember: He's 12. He doesn't remember a world without iPads, or without live video calling. My own seventh grade experience was somewhat different. My family wasn't poor, exactly, but we weren't comfortable, either. I didn't have a Trapper Keeper. Instead, I had to carry a cheaper, more industrial three-ring binder. (I wonder who invented that locking mechanism those binders have.) It made me feel like I looked poor, and I felt the humiliation keenly. I have to remember that when you're 12, the smallest slights feel huge.

I meant to make mention of Ronnie Polanecsky's excellent column yesterday in the Daily News, pointing out that while Archbishop Charles Chaput is pushing for a state law that would, essentially, direct taxpayer money to Philadelphia's Catholic schools, his subordinates are also making it virtually impossible for Catholic families to choose which Catholic school they want to attend. His notion of "school choice" then, is one in which the church gets to choose—not you. Since Chaput seems to be putting his muscle behind this effort, though, I feel it's important to point out something: Chaput was the archbishop in Denver when a Catholic school there rejected a student because that student had two mommies. Now: I don't like that, but that's certainly the right of a church-affiliated private school. But I also don't really want my tax dollars to subsidize discrimination against my gay neighbors, either. If Chaput can promise that Catholic schools

Annette John-Hall in today's Inky suggests deposed school superintendent Arlene Ackerman was somehow redeemed by a new report that shows she was pressured—Philly-style!—into making a company favored by Sen. Dwight Evans the new charter operator of Martin Luther King Junior High here in Philadelphia.  Ackerman, it seems, was the victim of dirty dealings. But Ackerman can be the victim in the MLK story and Philadelphia can be better off without her. The bill of particulars against Ackerman isn't limited to the MLK debacle. There's also.... • Getting caught by surprise by a $600 million budget deficit.  • Her slowness in responding to attacks on Asian students at South High, waiting until the situation boiled over into a very public crisis. • Her "buck doesn't stop with me" attitude in response to the crisis of violence in Philadelphia schools overall.  Even the trend of higher district test scores—which began before she came to Philadelphia— looks to

This story in today's New York Times is more than a little disturbing. Apparently educators and adults are working feverishly to keep kids from having ... best friends. Most children naturally seek close friends. In a survey of nearly 3,000 Americans ages 8 to 24 conducted last year by Harris Interactive, 94 percent said they had at least one close friend. But the classic best-friend bond — the two special pals who share secrets and exploits, who gravitate to each other on the playground and who head out the door together every day after school — signals potential trouble for school officials intent on discouraging anything that hints of exclusivity, in part because of concerns about cliques and bullying. “I think it is kids’ preference to pair up and have that one best friend. As adults — teachers and counselors — we try to encourage them not to do that,” said Christine Laycob, director of counseling at Mary Institute and St. Louis Country Day School in St. Louis. “We try to t