Foreign language study is finding a niche in the elementary school curriculum. Schools now offer Chinese, Russian, Arabic, Swedish, and Japanese, instead of teaching mostly German and the Romance languages. Studies agree that children pursuing foreign languages show more creativity, divergent thinking, and higher-order thinking skills and score…

Conflict-management programs help students of all ages find peaceable ways to handle disputes. Students most likely to become effective mediators are confident individuals who write clearly, care about others, listen well, and ask appropriate questions. Principles of conflict should be taught along with strategies for settling disputes. A sidebar…

Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences posits that individuals are somewhat intelligent in linguistic, musical, logical-mathematical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal areas. Standardized tests measure only language and math skills. Multiple-intelligence-based pilot projects include Indianapolis's Flow Room,…