Education: Oddly enough
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Your support makes all the difference.Wrong answer: When Syed Shah, a Pakistani taxi driver in New York, found more than $10,000, left in his cab by a Belgian tourist, he reported it to the police and the money was returned to its owner. Mayor Rudolph Giuliani honoured the taxi-driver at a small ceremony in front of schoolchildren to teach them the value of honesty. "Now," asked the mayor, "if you found that money, what would you do?" "Keeeep iiiit," they replied in sing-song unison.
Wrong box: A 10-year-old girl has been expelled from her school in Longmont, Colorado, after being found in possession of a knife. Shanon Coslett had picked up her mother's lunch box by mistake when leaving for school and found in it a paring knife which her mother had used to cut up apples. When she saw the knife, Shanon gave it immediately to her teacher at Twin Peaks Charter Academy, but she was expelled because, according to the school authorities, the law gives them no option. "If I'd had a choice I never would have expelled her," said Dorothy Marlatt, the administrator. "I hurt for the girl and I hurt for the family." A board member said he hopes the board will allow Shanon to return to school.
Wrong language: Literacy has taken a small step backwards with the publication of CoalSpeak Dictionary, which captures for the first time the dialect of the Pennsylvania anthracite coal region. Entries include "gotnee" (as in "gotnee korders for da' parkin' meeder?"), "wayda minnit" (as in "wayda minnit, dere's more") and such genuine linguistic oddities as "afterlater", meaning "later".
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