Education

If your summer holiday saw screen time soar, you’re not alone. New research shows kids spend up to 67 per cent of their time on them while off school. Mum-of-two Hannah Britt reveals how cutting back made her feel like a better parent – and you can do it too

Our summer was full of sea, sand, sun… and screen time. K-Pop Demon Hunters, anyone? But with September now in full swing, it’s time to crack down – and fast. And I am by no means alone. In fact, the latest statistics show that, for primary-aged children, 29 per cent spend two or more hours per day on screens during the school week, but that number jumps to an eye watering 67 per cent during the holidays.

Parenting expert Kirsty Ketley explains. “School provides children with structure and built-in limits on screen use, and of course, once home, there are less hours in the day for screens, but once the holidays arrive, that structure disappears,” she says. “Parents are often juggling work, childcare, and the cost of keeping kids entertained, so screens naturally become a convenient option. On top of that, digital entertainment is designed to be engaging and hard to switch off from, so it’s no surprise children gravitate towards it when they have long stretches of free time.”

So what’s the issue? “It’s not that screens are inherently ‘bad’,” says Kirsty. “In fact, they can be educational, social, and even calming at times. However, when screen time dominates, it can crowd out other important activities like active play, real-world socialising, outdoor time, and rest. High levels of screen use are also linked to disrupted sleep, reduced concentration, and higher stress levels in both children and adults. The key issue isn’t the screen itself, but what’s being displaced when usage creeps up too high. It’s why having consistent boundaries around screen time is important, so that kids strike a healthy balance.”

Having done some serious Netflix parenting over the summer holidays, I decided to pull the plug – and go cold turkey when it came to screens. Indeed, experts agree the benefits of reducing screen time are huge. “Reducing screen time means more space for connection. Families who put healthy limits in place often find they talk more, laugh more, and feel less stressed,” advises Kirsty. “Sleep improves, behaviour often does too, and there’s more opportunity for shared activities – from board games to walks, to simply sitting around the table together.”

Looking around our home, my eyes glanced upon the TV, the iPad, various laptops, a Nintendo, the Kindle and two phones. So I booked an Airbnb, and we hopped in the car to the Lake District. And there the screen time stopped.

For our digital detox I chose Dodd’s Lee, a 17th Century farmhouse, located in the village of Dockray, near Ullswater. It was a Guest Favourite (easy to recognise as they have a special logo on the properties, and a collection of the most-loved homes on Airbnb, according to guests), and around £400 per night, with four bedrooms. It looked ideal – there was a pub at the end of the road, walks to Aira Force waterfall, Ulswater and more from the door and plenty of board games to enjoy while we were there. It was so well located, I wouldn’t even need Google maps to explore.

Once there, my partner John and I put our phones, along with Molly’s Kindle, and the TV remote in a little bag and hid them in an upstairs wardrobe. “What now”, I thought. “Can I watch Mr Bean?” asked my five-year-old, Molly. When the answer was no, she huffed. Getting out the board games, we started our digital detox by playing dominos. Then Monopoly. Molly’s grump gave way to laughter as she beat both me and her dad.

Then, it was time for a walk, for which we headed down the hill from Dockray to a little beach on the banks of Ullswater. I found myself reaching for my phone several times out of habit. Whatever I would have done on it, check Instagram, reply to a text, it could wait. Holding hands with Molly, we chatted all the way instead, and she told me stories, clearly happy her mummy was fully engaged. That evening came stories and songs, and when the children were in bed John and I set about talking away before we too hit the hay.

The next morning, Molly didn’t ask for her Kindle but to play snap. She beat us again. Lunch came in the form of a trip to the pub, where John tried in vain to teach us the rules to giant chess. We fell about laughing, getting our rooks mixed up with our pawns.

After three days, when checking out of our wonderfully cosy Airbnb, I almost didn’t want to get my phone out of its bag. And in fact, after just a few minutes of a Disney film in the car on the way home, Molly set her Kindle aside and asked for a family sing song. A complete digital wipeout might not be possible in the modern age in which we live. But a detox every now and again might be just what we need.

How to reduce your family’s screen time

Kirsty shares her advice:

OFFER ALTERNATIVES

For me, the most effective way isn’t to ban screens altogether, but to add in alternatives, and have rules and boundaries in place – they need to be fair and realistic, too. Children need things to do instead, whether that’s setting up playdates, encouraging outdoor activities, or giving them creative projects at home.

SCREEN-FREE ZONES

Having screen-free zones or times of day (like during meals or the hour before bed) also helps build natural boundaries. Start small and be realistic: shaving an hour off daily use by swapping it for something else is far more sustainable than trying to go cold turkey. Also, when creating boundaries for the kids, incorporate some as whole family rules – no screens at the table, after a certain time, in bedrooms, for instance.

SET AN EXAMPLE

Children copy what they see, so if we’re always scrolling, they’ll think that’s normal. Modelling balanced screen use is powerful. That might mean putting your phone away at dinner, not checking emails late into the evening, or choosing to read, cook, or go for a walk instead of defaulting to a device. Being honest with kids about your own screen habits can also help. If you explain, “I’m putting my phone down because I want to spend time with you,” it sends a strong message.

Jelena Ostapenko has apologised for some of the words she used in a tense altercation with American Taylor Townsend at the US Open, which led to a backlash, with the Latvian stating that English was not her native language.

The controversy ignited after Townsend, who is Black, beat 2017 French Open champion Ostapenko 7-5, 6-1 in a tough second-round battle on Wednesday before being dragged into a verbal duel by her opponent following their handshake.

Townsend revealed part of the exchange in her on-court interview, saying Ostapenko accused her of having “no class” and “no education”, adding in a news conference that the Latvian would have to answer if there were “racial undertones” to the row.

Ostapenko said on Instagram that her anger stemmed from Townsend’s refusal to apologise for benefitting from a net cord – when the American’s shot clipped the net and stayed in play – and accused her of being disrespectful.

Most players tend to hold up their racket in apology after winning such a point, following age-old traditions in the sport.

The altercation prompted four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka to wade into the debate, with the Japanese player saying that using the words that Ostapenko did were the worst things to utter to criticise a Black player.

“I wanted to apologise for some of the things I said during my second-round singles match,” Ostapenko said on Saturday.

“English is not my native language, so when I said education, I was speaking only about what I believe as tennis etiquette, but I understand how the words I used could have offended many people beyond the tennis court.

“I appreciate the support as I continue to learn and grow as a person and a player.”

Townsend said later it was nice that Ostapenko apologised.

“That’s fine. That’s cool,” she added. “At the end of the day, I think that it’s a lesson for her … you can’t push your expectations on other people. That’s what happened.

“She expected me to react a certain way, and I didn’t, and it infuriated her, which led her to say things that are hurtful, belligerent, offensive, not only to me but to the sport and a whole culture of people I try to represent the best I can.”

American Coco Gauff said Townsend, who will take on Barbora Krejcikova in the fourth round, was one of the nicest people she knew.

Townsend said a lot of people were finding out about her following the incident.

“There’s a lot of familiar faces here, but there are a lot of people who maybe didn’t have any idea who I was,” she said.

“People being able to see me now, but then being able to go back and go into my history and follow my journey and figure out how has she gotten here, I think that’s super cool.”

United States President Donald Trump has announced that he will allow 600,000 Chinese students into US universities.

His announcement on Monday, which marks a sharp departure from the Trump administration’s crackdown on Chinese students launched earlier this year, has caught his conservative base off guard.

Here is more about what Trump is saying now, in contrast to what the administration has said in the past – and how some within his Make America Great Again (MAGA) support base are reacting.

What has Trump announced about Chinese students?

During a meeting on Monday at the Oval Office with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, reporters asked Trump whether he would meet Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Trump responded: “President Xi would like me to come to China. It’s a very important relationship. As you know, we are taking a lot of money in from China because of the tariffs and different things.”

He then talked about Chinese students: “I hear so many stories about ‘We are not going to allow their students’, but we are going to allow their students to come in. We are going to allow it. It’s very important – 600,000 students.”

On Tuesday, during a cabinet meeting, Trump reiterated his recent sentiments about Chinese students, saying, “I told this to President Xi that we’re honoured to have their students here.

“Now, with that, we check and we’re careful, we see who is there.”

Trump said that the US would struggle without Chinese students.

The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Trump told Xi during a phone call in June that “the US loves to have Chinese students coming to study in America”.

How has the Chinese government reacted?

Speaking at a regular news conference on Wednesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun expressed hope that Trump would act on his commitment to admit Chinese students into US universities.

Guo also urged the US to stop “unprovoked harassment, interrogation and deportation” of Chinese students.

What has the Trump administration said about Chinese students in the past?

In late May, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that Trump would “aggressively” revoke the visas of Chinese students.

In an X post, Rubio wrote: “The US will begin revoking visas of Chinese students, including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields.”

The Trump administration did not provide clear details at the time about which students would be affected by the revocations. Observers viewed the brief announcement as intentionally vague.

“I think the vagueness is part of the [Trump administration’s] strategy, because it is not about a concrete policy,” Kyle Chan, a researcher on China at Princeton University, told Al Jazeera in May. “I don’t think it’s really, at the end of the day, about national security and trying to find the few individuals who may pose a genuine risk.”

In August, the US State Department revoked 6,000 international student visas because of violations of US law and overstays, according to the BBC, which quoted an unnamed department official. The nationalities of the students whose visas had been revoked were not known.

While Rubio did not specify what qualifies as a “critical field”, in March, a US congressional committee of the House of Representatives sent a letter to leadership at multiple US universities requesting information about Chinese nationals enrolled in advanced science, technology, engineering, and medicine programmes on their campuses.

John Moolenaar, chair of the congressional committee, claimed that the Chinese Communist Party was placing Chinese researchers in top US institutions to access sensitive technology.

How many Chinese students are there in the US?

During the 2023-2024 academic year, 277,398 Chinese students were enrolled in US universities, making up 24.5 percent of the 1.13 million international students, according to the annual Open Doors report from the Institute of International Education (IIE) and the US State Department.

According to the report, Chinese students were second only to Indian students, who constituted 29 percent of international students in the 2023-2024 year.

During the 2022-2023 academic year, Chinese students made up 27.4 percent of the international student population.

The proportion was even higher in 2020-2021, when 34.7 percent of international students in the US were from China.

What is behind Trump’s latest announcement about admitting Chinese students?

During an interview with Fox News on Monday, Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said Trump’s recent statements stem from a “rational economic view”.

Lutnick said that 15 percent of US universities would go out of business without international students.

International students at US colleges and universities contributed $43.8bn to the US economy and supported more than 378,000 jobs during the 2023-2024 academic year, according to data released by the nonprofit organisation, NAFSA: Association of International Educators.

According to NAFSA, there were 1.1 million international students in the US, each contributing about $39,800 on average.

By that calculation, the 277,398 Chinese students in the US in 2023-24 would have contributed in excess of $11bn to the US economy that year.

How have Trump supporters reacted?

Trump’s recent statements have drawn ire from some within his MAGA base.

Republican Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene wrote in an X post on Monday: “If refusing to allow these Chinese students to attend our schools causes 15 percent of them to fail then these schools should fail anyways because they are being propped up by the CCP.”

We should not let in 600,000 CHINESE students to attend American colleges and universities that may be loyal to the CCP.

If refusing to allow these Chinese students to attend our schools causes 15% of them to fail then these schools should fail anyways because they are being…

— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) August 26, 2025

Trump ally and far-right internet personality Laura Loomer made a series of posts on X opposing Trump’s idea of bringing in Chinese students. One of the posts read: “Nobody, I repeat nobody, wants 600,000 more Chinese ‘students’ aka Communist spies in the United States.”

News site Axios reported that former White House adviser and Trump aide Steve Bannon said on Tuesday: “Any foreign student that does come here ought to have an exit visa stapled to his or her diploma to leave immediately. Give them 30 days.”

Right-wing internet personality Christopher Rufo wrote in an X post on Monday: “We can’t accept 600,000 Chinese students. If anything, we should reduce the number of Chinese visas, especially for students with political connections to the CCP.”

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is the main party in China, with about 100 million card-carrying members. China has about 400 million families, so on average, one in every four Chinese citizens has an immediate relative in the CCP.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Administrators at the state university’s campus in Colorado Springs thought they stood a solid chance of dodging the Trump administration’s offensive on higher education.

Located on a picturesque bluff with a stunning view of Pikes Peak, the school is far removed from the Ivy League colleges that have drawn President Trump’s ire. Most of its students are commuters, getting degrees while holding down full-time jobs. Students and faculty alike describe the university, which is in a conservative part of the blue state of Colorado, as politically subdued, if not apolitical.

That optimism was misplaced.

An Associated Press review of thousands of pages of emails from school officials, as well as interviews with students and professors, reveals that school leaders, teachers and students soon found themselves in the Republican administration’s crosshairs, forcing them to navigate what they described as an unprecedented and haphazard degree of change.

Whether Washington has downsized government departments, rescinded funding or launched investigations into diversity programs or campus antisemitism, the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs has confronted many of the same challenges as elite universities across the nation.

The school lost three major federal grants and found itself under investigation by the Trump Education Department. In the hopes of avoiding that scrutiny, the university renamed websites and job titles, all while dealing with pressure from students, faculty and staff who wanted the school to take a more combative stance.

“Uncertainty is compounding,” the school’s chancellor told faculty at a February meeting, according to minutes of the session. “And the speed of which orders are coming has been a bit of a shock.”

The college declined to make any administrators available to be interviewed. A spokesman asked the AP to make clear that any professors or students interviewed for this story were speaking for themselves and not the institution. Several faculty members also asked for anonymity, either because they did not have tenure or they did not want to call unnecessary attention to themselves and their scholarship in the current political environment.

“Like our colleagues across higher education, we’ve spent considerable time working to understand the new directives from the federal government,” the chancellor, Jennifer Sobanet, said in a statement provided to the AP.

Students said they have been able to sense the stress being felt by school administrators and professors.

“We have administrators that are feeling pressure, because we want to maintain our funding here. It’s been tense,” said Ava Knox, a rising junior who covers the university administration for the school newspaper.

Faculty, she added, “want to be very careful about how they’re conducting their research and about how they’re addressing the student population. They are also beholden to this new set of kind of ever-changing guidelines and stipulations by the federal government.”

A White House spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

Misplaced optimism

Shortly after Trump won a second term in November, University of Colorado-Colorado Springs leaders were trying to gather information on the incoming president’s plans. In December, Sobanet met the newly elected Republican congressman who represented the school’s district, a conservative area that Trump won with 53% of the vote. In her meeting notes obtained by the AP, the chancellor sketched out a scenario in which the college might avoid the drastic cuts and havoc under the incoming administration.

“Research dollars — hard to pull back grant dollars but Trump tried to pull back some last time. The money goes through Congress,” Sobanet wrote in notes prepared for the meeting. “Grant money will likely stay but just change how they are worded and what it will fund.”

Sobanet also observed that dismantling the federal Education Department would require congressional authorization. That was unlikely, she suggested, given the U.S. Senate’s composition.

Like many others, she did not fully anticipate how aggressively Trump would seek to transform the federal government.

Conservatives’ desire to revamp higher education began well before Trump took office.

They have long complained that universities have become bastions of liberal indoctrination and raucous protests. In 2023, Republicans in Congress had a contentious hearing with several Ivy League university leaders. Shortly after, the presidents of Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania resigned. During the presidential campaign last fall, Trump criticized campus protests against the war in Gaza, as well as what he said was a liberal bias in classrooms.

His new administration opened investigations into alleged antisemitism at several universities. It froze more than $400 million in research grants and contracts at Columbia, along with more than $2.6 billion at Harvard. Columbia reached an agreement last month to pay $220 million to resolve the investigation.

When Harvard filed a lawsuit challenging Trump’s actions, his administration tried to block the school from enrolling international students. The Trump administration has also threatened to revoke Harvard’s tax-exempt status.

Northwestern University, Penn, Princeton and Cornell have seen big chunks of funding cut over how they dealt with the protests about Israel’s war in Gaza or over the schools’ support for transgender athletes.

Trump’s decision to target the wealthiest, most prestigious institutions provided some comfort to administrators at the approximately 4,000 other colleges and universities in the country.

Most higher education students in the United States are educated at regional public universities or community colleges. Such schools have not typically drawn attention from culture warriors.

Students and professors at UCCS hoped Trump’s crackdown would bypass the school and others like it.

“You’ve got everyone — liberals, conservatives, middle of the road” at the college, said Jeffrey Scholes, a professor in the philosophy department. “You just don’t see the kind of unrest and polarization that you see at other campuses.”

The purse strings

The federal government has lots of leverage over higher education. It provides about $60 billion a year to universities for research. In addition, a majority of students in the U.S. need grants and loans from various federal programs to help pay tuition and living expenses.

This budget year, UCCS got about $19 million in research funding from a combination of federal, state and private sources. Though that is a relatively small portion of the school’s overall $369-million budget, the college has made a push in recent years to bolster its campus research program by taking advantage of grant money from government agencies such as the U.S. Defense Department and National Institutes of Health. The widespread federal grant cut could derail those efforts.

School officials were dismayed when the Trump administration terminated research grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Defense Department and the National Science Foundation, emails show. The grants funded programs in civics, cultural preservation and boosting women in technology fields.

School administrators scrambled to contact federal officials to learn whether other grants were on the chopping block, but they struggled to find answers, the records show.

School officials repeatedly sought out the assistance of federal officials only to learn those officials were not sure what was happening as the Trump administration halted grant payments, fired thousands of employees and closed agencies.

“The sky is falling” at NIH, a university official reported in notes on a call in which the school’s lobbyists were providing reports of what was happening in Washington.

There are also concerns about other changes in Washington that will affect how students pay for college, according to interviews with faculty and education policy experts.

While only Congress can fully abolish the Department of Education, the Trump administration has tried to dramatically cut back its staff and parcel out many of its functions to other agencies. The administration laid off nearly 1,400 employees, and problems have been reported in the systems that handle student loans. Management of student loans is expected to shift to another agency.

In addition, an early version of a major funding bill in Congress included major cuts to tuition grants. Though that provision did not make it into the law, Congress did cap loans for students seeking graduate degrees. That policy could have ripple effects in the coming years on institutions such as UCCS that rely on tuition dollars for their operating expenses.

DEI and transgender issues

To force change on campus, the Trump administration has begun investigations targeting diversity programs and efforts to combat antisemitism.

The Education Department, for example, opened an investigation in March targeting a PhD scholarship program that partnered with 45 universities, including the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs, to expand opportunities for women and nonwhites in graduate education. The administration alleged the program was only open to certain nonwhite students and amounted to racial discrimination.

“Sorry to be the bearer of bad news UCCS is included on the list” of schools being investigated, wrote Annie Larson, assistant vice president of federal relations and outreach for the entire University of Colorado system.

“Oh wow, this is surprising,” wrote back Hillary Fouts, dean of the graduate school at UCCS.

UCCS also struggled with how to handle executive orders, particularly those on transgender issues.

In response to an order that aimed to revoke funds to schools that allowed trans women to play women’s sports, UCCS began a review of its athletic programs. It determined it had no transgender athletes, the records show. University officials were also relieved to discover that only one school in their athletic conference was affected by the order, and UCCS rarely if ever had matches or games against that school.

“We do not have any students impacted by this and don’t compete against any teams that we are aware of that will be impacted by this,” wrote the vice chancellor for student affairs to colleagues.

Avoiding the spotlight

The attacks led UCCS to take preemptive actions and to self-censor in the hopes of saving programs and avoiding the Trump administration’s spotlight.

Emails show that the school’s legal counsel began looking at all the university’s websites and evaluating whether any scholarships might need to be reworded. The university changed the web address of its diversity initiatives from www.diversity.uccs.edu to www.belonging.uccs.edu.

And the administrator responsible for the university’s division of Inclusive Culture & Belonging got a new job title in January: director of strategic initiatives. University professors said the school debated whether to rename the Women’s and Ethnic Studies department to avoid drawing attention from Trump, but so far the department has not been renamed.

Along the same lines, UCCS administrators have sought to avoid getting dragged into controversies, a frequent occurrence in the first Trump administration. UCCS officials attended a presentation from the education consulting firm EAB, which encouraged schools not to react to every news cycle. That could be a challenge because some students and faculty are calling for vocal resistance on issues from climate change to immigration.

Soon after Trump was sworn in, for example, a staff member in UCCS’s sustainability program began pushing the University of Colorado system to condemn Trump’s withdrawal from an international agreement to tackle climate change. It was the type of statement universities had issued without thinking twice in past administrations.

In an email, UCCS’ top public relations executive warned his boss: “There is a growing sentiment among the thought leadership in higher ed that campus leaders not take a public stance on major issues unless they impact their campus community.”

Tau writes for the Associated Press. AP education writer Collin Binkley in Washington contributed to this report.

It’s not easy being from California, especially if you’re hoping to leave the Golden State’s fires and rising home costs behind and move to a more affordable red state.

In Texas, some politicians have adopted “Don’t California my Texas” as both a rallying cry and a fundraising appeal.

In Montana, rising home prices prompted lawmakers to pass a package of bills this year that increased property taxes on people — including many Californians — who own second homes in the state.

And now, in Oklahoma, education officials have entered the fray by requiring teachers from California and New York to take an exam aimed at guarding against “radical leftist ideology.”

The test is being developed by leadership from the Oklahoma State Department of Education and PragerU, a nonprofit advocacy group that produces videos promoting conservative views of history, finance and other topics. PragerU videos have already been approved for use in schools in several states, including Oklahoma.

“Our teacher qualification test is very simple,” PragerU CEO Marissa Streit said in a statement to The Times. “Frankly, every American should be able to pass it. Certainly, every teacher should be able to pass it.”

She added that the full test will be available in the coming weeks. “We encourage you to take a look at the test yourself and make your own decision on whether it’s reasonable or not,” she said.

Superintendent Ryan Walters poses for a portrait in his office.

(Nick Oxford)

Ryan Walters, Oklahoma’s state superintendent of public instruction, told The Times that he launched the test out of concern over state standards in California and New York that require teachers to instruct students about gender identity.

The test comes at a time when Californians are increasingly relocating to other states in search of a slower pace of life and more affordable housing. Some cities seeking to reverse years-long population declines have created incentive programs to attract remote workers.

Tulsa Remote, which pays workers $10,000 to move to the second-largest city in the Sooner State, has attracted more than 3,600 remote workers since its inception in 2019. More than 7,800 Californians have applied to the program and 539 have made the move, cementing California as the second-most common origin state behind Texas.

Amid a nationwide teacher shortage, the Oklahoma schools system has launched a $50,000 signing bonus program — the largest in the country — to help recruit new educators for some of the most difficult to fill jobs, including early elementary and special education instruction.

The so-called “Californian exodus” accelerated during the pandemic, with places like Texas, Florida and Tennessee seeing major influxes from the West.

But by 2024, the exodus had ended, according to state data. The state’s population rose slightly in 2024 after three years of decline.

A Public Policy Institute of California survey in March found that many Californians who leave are either favoring nearby states such as Arizona, Idaho, Nevada and Oregon; larger states such as Texas; or locations without income taxes — not necessarily Oklahoma.

And the emigration of Californians to other states has done little to shift political demographics in their new homes, according to Eric McGhee, a policy director and senior fellow with the Public Policy Institute of California.

“The partisan balance of people moving to different states tends to be an exaggerated version of the partisan balance of the state they’re moving to,” he said. “So states that are more Republican tend to have migrants from California who are even more Republican than people in the state they’re moving to.”

The number of teachers that would be mandated to take the test in Oklahoma is unclear, but some data indicates that it might be small.

Information from the Commission for Educational Quality and Accountability — which oversees the education department and reviews out-of-state certification assessments for comparability with Oklahoma’s testing standards — shows that since 2020, the agency has reviewed only 19 out-of-state applications from California and New York. In 2025, only one applicant came from California, and none from New York.

Critics say the exam will discourage educators from accepting jobs in Oklahoma, which has been struggling with a teacher shortage and continues to lag behind the national average in reading and math, according to national data.

“This MAGA loyalty test will be yet another turnoff for teachers in a state already struggling with a huge shortage,” American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten said.

“[Walters’] priority should be educating students, but instead, it’s getting Donald Trump and other MAGA politicians to notice him,” she said. “Teachers are patriots, and whether they are conservative or liberal, they want what students need: safe and welcoming public schools that are engaging and relevant and that prepare kids for college, career and life.”

Dennis Prager, founder of PragerU, in 2024 in Los Angeles. A test for new teachers in Oklahoma is being developed by leadership from the State Department of Education and PragerU.

(Araya Doheny / Getty Images for DailyWire+)

Experts say the creation of a test where teachers are forced to adhere to a certain viewpoint to get a job is unprecedented in the American education system. It also highlights the growing foothold PragerU has on the education system in certain states, said Jonathan Zimmerman, a professor of history of education at the University of Pennsylvania.

“What they’re doing is they’re making Prager into a central player in the operation by vetting teachers based on their affinity for what Prager believes,” Zimmerman said. “I think the other thing that’s unprecedented, frankly, is the involvement of the White House in all of this.”

In January, Trump signed an executive order titled “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling,” which sought to cease funding any schools that teach gender ideology or curriculum that portrays the United States as “fundamentally racist, sexist, or otherwise discriminatory.” The order emphasizes the need for a “patriotic education.”

“I don’t think we’ve ever seen the White House engaging directly in these sorts of questions,” Zimmerman said.

“Historically, in the United States, school has been a state and especially a local concern and it still is,” he added. “The bulk of money for schools comes from states and localities, but I think something’s really different about our moment in the way these issues have become nationalized.”

With respect to California and New York educators, Walters has taken issue with the “gender fluidity argument,” which details that a person’s gender identity is not fixed and can shift or change over time, which he says is a “lie that they continue to push.”

The California Healthy Youth Act, which took effect in 2016, requires that districts provide comprehensive sexual health and HIV prevention education for students in grades 7 through 12 in public schools. The lessons, which parents can opt to take their children out of, include discussions of gender and sexual orientation.

Oklahoma public schools are not required to teach sex education, including gender. In 2021, the state passed a bill, HB 1775, that restricts the teaching of certain concepts related to race and gender in public schools and universities. The ACLU filed a lawsuit challenging what they called “unconstitutional censorship” in schools. That case is ongoing.

New York and California were “the first states that we’ve seen that are actually requiring their teachers to do things that are antithetical to our standards,” Walters said, adding that the test’s goal is to ensure they’ll teach to Oklahoma state standards. Walters is also looking at requiring the test for teachers from other states including Massachusetts, Maine and Minnesota.

Still, the notion that waves of Californians moving to other states are changing the political leanings on a large scale of their destinations isn’t borne out in the research.

The 50 question multiple choice exam, which is expected to be rolled out in the next few weeks, will include questions about gender, civics and American history. A preview of the exam released by the department of education included the question: Why is freedom of religion important to America’s identity?

Teachers must answer all 50 questions correctly to pass the test, Walters said, noting that the state is proud to be focusing on creating good citizens and being “unapologetic about a patriotic education.”

Zimmerman sees the creation of a good citizen a bit differently.

“To me, a good citizen, is somebody who has the capacity and skill to judge matters for themselves. Now how are you going to teach a future citizen to do that if you’re simply giving them one answer? I don’t think you can,” he said.

Despite claims that they wouldn’t be having a 23rd child, the Radfords have shocked viewers after a clip from the show appears to show Sue experiencing a pregnancy scare

Sue Radford has shocked viewers and sparked rumours of a pregnancy scare after a clip from an upcoming episode of 22 Kids and Counting showed her panic over a late period and “crazy” hormones.

Sue, who shares 22 children with husband Noel, turned 50 in March, and in the next episode of the reality show documenting the family’s life, we get to follow the lead-up to the milestone. In the promotional clip ahead of the air date, Sue can be seen saying: “My 50th is coming up, I feel like my hormones are crazy.”

In the 30-second video, we then hear a woman telling her: “I think it’s really risky for you to stop the pill.” The clip dramatically cuts to Sue approaching Noel and telling him she needs to talk because her period is “late”. The video ends on a cliff hanger, with both Noel and Sue stating: “Oh my God.”

The couple already have 22 children, who are: Chris, Sophie, Chloe, Jack, Daniel, Luke, Millie, Katie, James, Ellie, Aimee, Josh, Max, Tillie, Oscar, Casper, Hallie, Phoebe, Archie, Bonnie, and Heidie. Their 17th child, Alfie, was sadly still born in 2014.

Despite the show hinting at a possible pregnancy scare, Sue and Noel, 54, have previously insisted that Heidie was their last child. The five-year-old went to school for the first time last September, and Sue told the Mirror that she was finally enjoying having some free time with all the kids now out the house.

She said: “But I have to confess I did cry when she went to school. It’s such a big moment – your last baby going to school and you don’t have any more at home. I do also love having the house full and bustling.”

Ahead of her 50th this year, Sue explained that this birthday was a “big deal”, saying: “I said: ‘You know what, because I am turning 50, I am definitely having a whole year of celebrations!’”

The whole family, including the grandkids, headed to Disney World in Florida, US, to celebrate Sue in the Easter holidays. On her birthday, Noel wrote a heart-warming Instagram caption for his wife, in which he said: “Myself and all of our children want to wish this beautiful, loving, caring lady who we all call Sue and Mum a Happy big 50th Birthday today or as Sue says I’m 49 plus 1.”

Another milestone was celebrated in the Radford house this week, as Max received his GSCE results. The family announced the news of his success online, writing: “We are so incredibly proud of Max he passed his GCSE with mainly 7 and 8’s.”

They added: “He is so incredibly happy, well done Max we knew you would do it, very proud mum and dad moment.”

22 Kids and Counting is available to watch on My5

The Trump administration has canceled a sexual education grant to California worth about $12.3 million on the grounds that it included “radical gender ideology” after state officials refused to revise the materials.

The funding helps pay for sex education programs in juvenile justice facilities, homeless shelters and foster care group homes, as well as some schools, reaching an estimated 13,000 youths per year through 20 agencies.

State officials did not have an immediate response Thursday morning to the federal announcement, which was linked to a 60-day compliance deadline.

“California’s refusal to comply with federal law and remove egregious gender ideology from federally funded sex-ed materials is unacceptable,” said Acting Assistant Secretary Andrew Gradison, of the Administration for Children and Families. “The Trump Administration will not allow taxpayer dollars to be used to indoctrinate children. Accountability is coming for every state that uses federal funds to teach children delusional gender ideology.”

State officials had taken the position that its materials are accurate and did not violate the terms of the federal grant.

California is not being accused of failing to carry out the abstinence and contraception instruction funded by the grant. Rather, the state has included additional content that the Trump administration defines as objectionable and “outside the scope” of the grant’s purpose.

A June 20 letter to a senior California official cited, as one of several examples, sample wording from a middle school lesson:

“We’ve been talking during class about messages people get on how they should act as boys and girls — but as many of you know, there are also people who don’t identify as boys or girls, but rather as transgender or gender queer. This means that even if they were called a boy or a girl at birth and may have body parts that are typically associated with being a boy or a girl, on the inside, they feel differently.”

The California Department of Public Health responded in an Aug. 19 letter that it “will not make any such modifications at this time” because its materials already had been approved by the same agency that is now demanding change. In addition, officials described the materials as “medically accurate” and relevant to the instructional goals. California also challenged whether the Trump administration had authority to cancel the grant in this manner.

The amount of money at stake is small compared with other issues that are being litigated between California and the Trump administration, but the dispute embodies now-familiar legal parameters that have resulted in more than three dozen lawsuits.

The grant cancellation also represents another front in the conflict between the Trump administration and California related to LGBTQ+ issues. These culture war-fueled disputes date back substantially to Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order that recognized two sexes, male and female, a dictum that has moved across all departments under his jurisdiction.

In youth sports, this divide has unfolded with Trump threatening to withhold vast sums of federal funding unless California bars transgender athletes from girls’ and women’s sports.

California has responded by creating dual-award categories for women’s sporting events, so that the success of a trans athlete, in a track-and-field competition for example, would not prevent another athlete from winning an award. The compromise does not address the issue of trans athletes in women’s team sports, such as volleyball.

The Trump administration does not accept these steps taken by California as compliance with its directives.

Within the classroom, the Trump policy opposes curriculum that allows for more than a binary — male or female — expression of gender. Historically, federal authority over local curriculum has been limited, but Trump has been quick to use federal funding as leverage.

In this case, it’s the Administration for Children and Families at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that has been applying pressure.

The children and families department administers a grant program that annually distributes $75 million nationally “to educate adolescents on … both abstinence and contraception for the prevention of pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS,” according to federal statute.

For a three-year period, through the next fiscal year, California has been allotted funding worth more than $18.2 million, according to Health and Human Services. Under the federal decision, the state is expected to lose $12.3 million that it has not yet received, covering multiple years.

The federal grant supports the California Personal Responsibility Education Program, or CA PREP, which provides “comprehensive sexual health education to adolescents via effective, evidence-based or evidence-informed program models,” according to a statement from the state.

“Data show that participants who completed CA PREP had a better understanding of sexual and reproductive health topics and improved health outcomes,” the health department stated.

The Trump administration does not deny that the federal government had previously approved the California materials, but said the Biden administration “erred in allowing PREP grants to be used to teach students gender ideology.”

California law requires school districts to provide students with comprehensive sexual health education, along with information about HIV prevention, at least once in high school and once in middle school.

The Trump administration has asserted complete authority over federal grants, including those in progress. Many of its grant cancellations are being challenged in court. Some have been allowed to take effect; others have been blocked. In some instances, Congress has narrowly approved grant cancellations, including for foreign aid and to support the public broadcasting network.

A top university in the United States has declined to oppose President Donald Trump’s travel ban on Iran after a call to action by its Iranian students.

In a letter last month, the group of students called on the University of Texas at Austin to denounce Trump’s “sweeping and discriminatory” ban, take “immediate legal action” against the measure, and reaffirm support for Iranian students and scholars.

The letter, authored “on behalf of the newly admitted Iranian students”, was sent to interim university President Jim Davis on July 21, weeks after Trump signed an executive order banning citizens from 12 countries, including Iran.

“This Proclamation undermines the very principles upon which UT Austin stands. Iranian students and scholars have long been integral to the university’s academic and research excellence, particularly in STEM fields,” the letter said.

In the letter, the group noted that the university’s department of civil, architectural and environmental engineering was named after Fariborz Maseeh, an Iranian-American entrepreneur and philanthropist, in a “testament to the enduring legacy of Iranian American contributions to education, innovation, and public service”.

“This is a moment that calls for bold and principled action,” the letter said.

“UT Austin has long benefited from Iranian students’ academic contributions. It must now stand in their defense. Failing to act not only jeopardizes the futures of individual students – it risks diminishing the ethical and intellectual standing of the institution itself.”

Al Jazeera obtained the letter through a public records request.

Despite the students’ plea, neither the university nor Davis have made any public comment on the ban.

Davis’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

Last year, 81 Iranians studied at the University of Texas at Austin, according to the university’s website, almost all of whom were graduate students.

The University of Texas at Austin is considered among the most prestigious tertiary institutions in the US, placing 30th in US News and World Report’s 2025 university rankings.

“After months of preparation and acceptance into the world’s leading research institutions, we now face the heartbreaking possibility of being denied entry for a long time,” an Iranian student, who was involved in the letter, told Al Jazeera, requesting anonymity.

The student said many members of a 1,500-person Telegram group of Iranian students that they belong to have reported being stuck in prolonged post-interview administrative processing.

A few of them have been refused visas, while others have chosen to skip visa interviews on the understanding that they would be denied a visa, the student said.

Prior to the ban, many of them would have already undergone extensive security vetting to obtain a student visa.

Apart from Iran, Trump’s travel ban also applies to Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen.

The student said Iranians were facing “collective punishment” by the Trump administration.

“People must not be equated with their governments,” the student said.

“Such blanket measures are neither reasonable nor fair, and they undermine the very principles of justice, academic freedom, and equal opportunity that the United States has long stood for.”

More than 12,300 Iranian students studied in the US during the 2023-2024 academic year, up from 10,812 a year earlier, according to the US State Department.

A United States federal judge has granted a temporary block against a Texas law that would require the Ten Commandments from the Christian Bible to be displayed in the classrooms of every public school.

On Wednesday, US District Judge Fred Biery issued a preliminary injunction against Texas’s Senate Bill 10, which was slated to take effect on September 1.

Texas would have become the largest state to impose such a requirement on public schools.

But Judge Biery’s decision falls in line with two other court decisions over the past month: one in Arkansas and one in Louisiana, both of which ruled such laws are unconstitutional.

Biery’s decision opens by citing the First Amendment of the US Constitution, which bars the government from passing laws “respecting an establishment of religion”. That clause underpins the separation of church and state in the US.

The judge then argues that even “passive” displays of the Ten Commandments would risk injecting religious discourse into the classroom, thereby violating that separation.

“Even though the Ten Commandments would not be affirmatively taught, the captive audience of students likely would have questions, which teachers would feel compelled to answer. That is what they do,” Biery wrote.

“Teenage boys, being the curious hormonally driven creatures they are, might ask: ‘Mrs Walker, I know about lying and I love my parents, but how do I do adultery?’ Truly an awkward moment for overworked and underpaid educators, who already have to deal with sex education issues.”

Biery’s decision, however, only applies to the 11 school districts represented among the defendants, including Alamo Heights, Houston, Austin, Fort Bend and Plano.

The case stemmed from a complaint made by several parents of school-aged children, who were represented by groups including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

One of the plaintiffs was a San Antonio rabbi, Mara Nathan, who felt the version of the Ten Commandments slated to be displayed ran contrary to Jewish teachings. She applauded Wednesday’s injunction in a statement released by the ACLU.

“Children’s religious beliefs should be instilled by parents and faith communities, not politicians and public schools,” Nathan said.

Other plaintiffs included Christian families who feared the schoolhouse displays of the Ten Commandments would lead to the teaching of religious interpretations and concepts they might object to.

The Texas state government, however, has argued that the Ten Commandments symbolise an important part of US culture and therefore should be a mandatory presence in schools.

“The Ten Commandments are a cornerstone of our moral and legal heritage, and their presence in classrooms serves as a reminder of the values that guide responsible citizenship,” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a statement. He pledged to appeal Wednesday’s ruling.

But in his 55-page decision, Judge Biery, who was appointed by Democratic President Bill Clinton in 1994, drew on a range of cultural references – from Christian scripture to the 1970s pop duo Sonny and Cher and the actress Greta Garbo – to sketch a history of the dangers of imposing religion on the public.

“The displays are likely to pressure the child-Plaintiffs into religious observance, meditation on, veneration, and adoption of the State’s favored religious scripture,” Biery wrote at one point.

He also said such displays risk “suppressing expression of [the children’s] own religious or nonreligious backgrounds and beliefs while at school”.

Biery even offered a winking, personal anecdote to illustrate the power that governments can hold over the adoption of religion.

“Indeed, forty years ago a Methodist preacher told a then much younger judge, ‘Fred, if you had been born in Tibet, you would be a Buddhist,’” Biery wrote.

A separate federal case involving Dallas area schools is also challenging the Ten Commandment requirement. It names the Texas Education Agency as a defendant.

Such cases are likely to eventually reach the Supreme Court, which currently has a six-to-three conservative supermajority and has shown sympathy for cases of religious displays.

In the 2022 case Kennedy v Bremerton School District, for instance, the Supreme Court sided with a high school football coach who argued he had the right to hold post-game prayers, despite fears that such practices could violate the First Amendment. The coach had been fired for his actions.

Judge Biery concluded Wednesday’s decision with a nod to how controversial such cases can be. But he appealed for common understanding with a prayer-like flourish.

“For those who disagree with the Court’s decision and who would do so with threats, vulgarities and violence, Grace and Peace unto you,” Biery wrote. “May humankind of all faiths, beliefs and non-beliefs be reconciled one to another. Amen.”

The proposed settlement is the highest yet, as Trump continues pressure universities to submit to wide-ranging demands.

The administration of United States President Donald Trump has requested that the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), submit to a $1bn settlement to resolve accusations stemming from the school’s handling of pro-Palestine protests.

A White House official and the University of California system both confirmed the proposed settlement to news agencies on Friday.

The settlement proposal is notable for the massive sum requested, as the Trump administration seeks to pressure top schools into compliance with its policies.

The $1bn price tag would far exceed the payouts inked in previous agreements reached with Columbia University and Brown University last month. Columbia agreed to pay a fine of about $221m, and Brown confirmed it would pay $50m to a state workforce development programme.

“The University of California just received a document from the Department of Justice and is reviewing it,” University of California President James Milliken said in a statement.

He added that the institution had offered to have talks with the government earlier this week.

UCLA, which boasts the largest student body in the University of California system, had also announced this week that the Trump administration suspended $584m in federal grants to the school.

The Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division explained that the funding would be frozen as a result of civil rights violations connected to pro-Palestinian protests since 2023. The school had acted “with deliberate indifference in creating a hostile educational environment for Jewish and Israeli students”, it said.

Free-speech advocates, however, have accused the Trump administration of willfully conflating pro-Palestine and antiwar advocacy with anti-Semitism in order to silence protesters.

Last month, UCLA reached a $6m settlement with three Jewish students and a Jewish professor who claimed their civil rights were violated by pro-Palestinian protesters blocking their access to class and other areas on campus during a 2024 protest encampment.

It was not immediately clear why the $1bn settlement sought by the Trump administration was so high.

UCLA is also the first publicly funded university to face a potential grant freeze from the Trump administration. In his statement, Milliken said the payment would have wide-ranging consequences.

“As a public university, we are stewards of taxpayer resources, and a payment of this scale would completely devastate our country’s greatest public university system as well as inflict great harm on our students and all Californians,” he said.

Civil liberties organisations have also underscored that students at publicly funded universities are typically afforded wider constitutional protections while on campus.

That stands in contrast to private institutions, where students are generally subject to whatever restrictions on speech are outlined by administrators in their enrollment agreement.

The First Amendment of the US Constitution restricts the government’s ability to limit free speech. Any future agreement between the University of California system and the Trump administration might face a legal challenge, should it be perceived to trample on free-speech rights.

Speaking on Thursday, California Governor Gavin Newsom, who has been one of Trump’s most vocal Democratic opponents, urged the state’s university officials not to kowtow to the administration’s demands.

“We’re not Brown, we’re not Columbia, and I’m not going to be governor if we act like that,” Newsom said, according to the Los Angeles Times. “Period. Full stop. I will fight like hell to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

The Jenna Ortega-fronted Netflix hit Wednesday returned with the first half of its hotly anticipated second series landing on the streaming platform on August 6, with the second half expected next month

Many Netflix fans all have the same complaint after tuning into the second instalment of the hit horror comedy series, Wednesday, which focuses on the character’s exploits at a private boarding school. The first season arrived in November 2022 and was a critical and commercial success, with many praising lead star Jenna Ortega.

The first half of the new season premiered on August 6, with the second half expected to hit the streaming platform on September 3. The show has already been renewed for a third season, much to fans’ delight.

But not all fans are impressed with the show’s set-up and many think it’s inherently flawed due to Wednesday being placed at Nevermore Academy with magical and mythical students, each boasting unusual or fantastical powers.

Wednesday doesn’t have any obvious supernatural abilities at first and much of her charm – and the Addams’ family’s as a whole – is their dark, gothic and macabre nature which contrasts their deep love for one another, all set against the backdrop of “normal” people in a “normal” world.

With Wednesday removed from a standard school setting, she isn’t the odd one out anymore. Her dark nature, her constant melancholy, and Jenna Ortega’s trademark lack of blinking, blends in seamlessly with students at Nevermore who each have their own darkness to contend with.

When murders started happening in the first season, Wednesday was keen to get to the bottom of the mystery. She soon discovered she has psychic abilities, with the power to experience visions of the past, present and future.

Again, in a typical school setting, this would set her apart from her “normal” peers as the gothic girl with unnerving, unnatural powers. At Nevermore, she’s one among many.

The show’s second season looks to be expanding on Wednesday’s world, with more focus on other members of the Addams family clan. This is something many fans can’t quite agree on.

In a Reddit post linking to a review titled “‘Wednesday’ Season 2 Review: Jenna Ortega Gets Lost Amid Addams Family Mayhem in Overcrowded Netflix Return,” fans were keen to share their thoughts.

One person said: “I.e. this series is more of a regular The Addams Family series compared to Season One’s wholly Wednesday-focused affair.”

Another said: “I would imagine a show called Wednesday would be fully focused on said character…. Lol.”

A third shared: “The second season still focuses on Wednesday. Just less than season 1.”

Someone else added: “Which is a good thing. Wednesday is great, but the reason why the movies worked so well is because of the family dynamic. Just following one family member all season is a mistake, and it appears the showrunner agreed.”

And another Netflix fan commented: “There’s also something to be said about the fact that they put Wednesday into a school where everybody is creepy and weird to some degree, which suddenly makes her not all that unique.

“The juxtaposition of the Addamses against normal people who find them off putting is a huge part of what makes the formula work but they took all that away.”

Someone else added: “I mean all I really want is more Addams Family.”

In Kabul’s narrow alleys and quiet courtyards, boys dressed in white caps and tunics diligently recite Quranic verses across an expanding network of madrassas – religious schools that increasingly bridge critical gaps in Afghanistan’s struggling education system.

Public schools continue to function, but their effectiveness has diminished due to resource constraints, insufficient teaching staff and the lingering effects of decades-long conflict. Consequently, families are increasingly turning to madrassas, which provide structured education grounded in Islamic teachings. The surge in enrolment is remarkable; one school north of Kabul has expanded from 35 to more than 160 students within just five years.

While most madrassas prioritise Quranic memorisation, Islamic jurisprudence, and Arabic language instruction, some have begun incorporating fundamental secular subjects such as mathematics and English. Nevertheless, many fail to meet national and international educational benchmarks, prompting concerns about their impact on students’ comprehensive development.

For girls, educational barriers are especially severe. With secondary education banned under Taliban rule, some girls attend madrassas as one of their few remaining pathways to learning, though opportunities remain restricted even within these institutions.

Critics argue that madrassas often serve as centres for religious indoctrination, and their growing prominence may significantly influence Afghanistan’s trajectory.

Yet for countless children across the country, these religious schools represent their only accessible form of education.

Donald Trump has it in for public education.

Don’t be fooled by last week’s release of DOE billions for the coming school year. Education Secretary Linda McMahon claimed that since the surprise decision in late June to withhold the funding, the government vetted all the programs to make sure they met President Trump’s approval. In reality, the White House was inundated by protests from both sides of the aisle, from teachers, parents and school superintendents all over the country. A week earlier, 24 states had filed suit against the administration for reneging on already appropriated education funding.

The reprieve will be temporary if the president has his way. Shuttering the Department of Education, and its funding priorities, was a marquee Trump campaign promise.

Already, about 2,000 DOE staff members have been fired or quit under duress. That’s half the agency’s personnel. On July 14, the Supreme Court lifted an injunction against the firings as lawsuits protesting the firings work their way through the courts. In essence, the ruling gives Trump a green light to destroy the department by executive fiat now, even if the Supreme Court later decides only Congress has that power.

The high court majority did not spell out its reasoning. In a dissenting opinion, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, writing for Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, deplored the “untold harm” that will result from the ruling, including “delaying or denying educational opportunities and leaving students to suffer from discrimination, sexual assault and other civil rights violations without the federal resources Congress intended.”

McMahon touts what she considers her agency’s “final mission”: ending federal funding for school districts that cannot prove that they have eliminated diversity, equity and exclusion initiatives, or what Trump calls “critical race theory and transgender insanity.” The stakes are high: What’s at issue is the withdrawal of nearly $30 billion in aid.

The DEI threat rejects a 60-year bipartisan understanding — based on Title 1 of the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act to the 2015 Every Student Succeeds Act — that Washington should invest federal taxpayer dollars in closing the achievement gap that separates privileged youth from poor and minority students and children living in poverty.

Those funds support smaller classes, after-school programs and tutoring. Research shows that Title 1 can claim credit for disadvantaged students’ improved performance on the National Assessment of Educational Progress — NAEP — the nation’s K-12 report card, which the administration is also targeting. The most innovative programs, including the Harlem Children’s Zone preschool, charter schools and after-school and summer-vacation programs and one-on-one, face-to-face learning through Tutoring Chicago, have recorded especially dramatic results.

Support for students with disabilities would also become history, along with the requirement that schools deliver “free and appropriate education” to youngsters with special needs. That would have a disastrous impact on these students, historically dismissed as hopeless, because needs-focused special education can change the arc of their lives.

In demanding that districts “prove” they have eliminated DEI as a condition for receiving federal funds, McMahon claims that focusing exclusively on “meaningful learning,” not “divisive [DEI] programs,” is the only way to improve achievement.

She’s flat-out wrong. DEI initiatives, while sometimes over the top, have generally proven to boost academic outcomes by reducing discrimination. That’s logical — when students feel supported and valued, they do better in school. Wiping out efforts designed to promote racial and economic fairness is a sure way to end progress toward eliminating the achievement gap.

Clearly, the studies that show the gains made by DEI programs are irrelevant to an administration whose decisions are driven by impulse and ideology. Its threats to the gold standard test of American education, NAEP — an assessment that’s about as nonpartisan as forecasting the weather — gives the game away. If you don’t know how well the public schools are doing, it’s child’s play to script a narrative of failure.

Tucked into Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act is a nationwide school voucher program, paid for by a 100% tax deduction for donations of up to $1,700 to organizations that hand out educational scholarships. There’s no cap on the program, which could cost as much as $50 billion a year, and no expiration date.

The voucher provision potentially decimates public schools, which will lose federal dollars. Since private schools can decide which students to admit and which to kick out, the gap between the haves and haves-less will widen. Students with special needs, as well as those whose families cannot afford to participate, will be out of luck.

What’s more, vouchers don’t deliver the benefits the advocates promise. Studies from Louisiana, where “low-quality private schools” have proliferated with the state’s blessing, as well as the District of Columbia and Indiana, show that students who participate in voucher plans do worse, especially in math, than their public-school peers.

Michigan State education policy professor Joshua Cowen, who has spent two decades studying these programs, reached the startling conclusion that voucher plans have led to worse student outcomes than the COVID pandemic.

Vouchers “promise an all-too-simple solution to tough problems like unequal access to high-quality schools, segregation and even school safety,” Cohen concludes. “They can severely hinder academic growth — especially for vulnerable kids.”

The defenders of public education are fighting back. Twenty states have gone to federal court to challenge the Department of Education’s demand that they eliminate their DEI programs. “The Trump administration’s threats to withhold critical education funding due to the use of these initiatives are not only unlawful, but harmful to our children, families, and schools,” said Massachusetts Atty. Gen. Andrea Joy Campbell, announcing the lawsuit.

The White House may well lose this lawsuit. But litigation consumes time, and the administration keeps finding ways to evade judicial rulings, sometimes with the help of the Supreme Court. It could be years before the judges reach final decisions in these cases, and by then the damage will have been done.

That’s why it is up to Congress to do its job — to represent its constituents, who have consistently supported compensatory education programs and special education programs in public schools, resisting the siren song of vouchers — and to insist that the administration obey the dictates of legislation that’s been on the books for decades.

Will a supine Congress rouse itself to protect public education? After all, that’s what the rule of law — and public education — requires.

David Kirp is professor emeritus at the Goldman School of Public Policy, UC Berkeley. He is the author of numerous books on education, including “The Sandbox Investment,” “Improbable Scholars” and “The Education Debate.”

On July 27, the Palestinian Ministry of Education released the results of the secondary education certificate exams, also known as tawjihi. Like every year, families sat together, eyes fixed on phone screens, hearts pounding, everyone hoping to be the first to access the ministry’s website and break the news with a jubilant shout. There were joyful tears and celebrations.

Thousands of students, who had endured months of pressure, sleepless nights and fragile hope, had the exam results in their hands that would determine whether and where they could continue their education.

But thousands of others – those in Gaza – were sitting in their tents and ruined homes in despair. I am one of them. This is the second year I, along with 31,000 other Palestinians born in 2006, was unable to take the tawjihi. For another year, we have been stripped of our right to continue our education and of the hope to build a future beyond the ruins. Now, we are joined by almost 40,000 students born in 2007, who are also stuck in this dreadful limbo.

Last year, when the tawjihi results were announced, I was huddled in front of a crackling fire near a tattered tent, far too small to hold my big dreams. The deep frustration I felt didn’t fade – it settled in my mind and stayed. All I could think about was how all my sacrifices, tears, and relentless effort during a full year of studying under difficult circumstances had been for nothing.

This year, it feels even worse. Not only are my dreams of education crushed, now I struggle to keep myself and my family alive, as Gaza is starving to death.

In these two years, I have watched our education system destroyed, classroom by classroom. My school, Shohada al-Nusierat, once a place of learning and dreams, first became a shelter housing displaced families and then a target for Israeli bombing. My schoolbag – once filled with notebooks and study materials – now carries essential documents and a change of clothes, always packed and ready in case we are forced to flee our home again. The academic calendar, with all its important dates, has been replaced by a grim schedule of air strikes, displacement, and loss of friends and loved ones.

Amid this devastation, the Education Ministry has struggled to keep an educational process going. Wanting to give Gaza’s children and youth hope, it has undertaken various initiatives to try to keep students motivated. Makeshift schools have been organised wherever possible, while some university students have been able to continue their education online.

For us, the tawjihi students, efforts were repeatedly made to set up our exams. Last year, the ministry announced it would conduct the exams in February. I kept studying, despite the harsh reality and the collapse of everything around me, believing this was my chance to move forward.

February passed, and nothing happened. The ministry then announced that the exams would be held in April. But once again, they were postponed due to the unsafe conditions. Then, in June, the ministry scheduled an online exam for July for students born in 2005 who had either failed their tawjihi or missed some of its exams; they were supposed to have done this exam in December 2023. Some 1,500 students were able to take the tests online.

This gave me a bit of hope that my turn would also come, but that quickly faded. The Ministry of Education hasn’t given us any updates on the process, and it feels like we’ve been completely forgotten in the shadow of war and starvation.

Some readers may ask themselves, why amid a genocide are Palestinians so preoccupied with an exam?

You have to understand, tawjihi is a milestone in every Palestinian’s life – a decisive moment that shapes future paths for at least the next five years. It determines whether we can pursue our education in the field we desire and gain admission to top universities.

But beyond academics, tawjihi carries a much deeper cultural and emotional weight. It is not just an educational phase – it is part of our identity, a symbol of perseverance. In a place where the occupation closes nearly every door, education is able to keep a few doors still open.

That’s why we celebrate it like a national holiday; the day tawjihi results are released feels like a third Eid for Palestinians. It gives families hope, brings pride to entire neighbourhoods, and keeps alive the dream of a better future.

Over the many months I waited for the tawjihi, I held on to my dream to study medicine at a prestigious university abroad. I kept applying for scholarships and sending emails to universities across the United States, the United Kingdom and Europe, hoping for special consideration as a student affected by war. I pleaded with university administrators to waive the tawjihi certificate requirement.

But the responses were painfully consistent: “Unfortunately, we cannot consider your application unless you provide your final diploma.”

Today, despair and helplessness are not the only unwanted visitors I have. Hunger is another one. The starvation has destroyed not only my body but also my mental health.

Most days, we manage to have one meal. We survive mostly on canned beans, dry bread, or rice without any vegetables or protein. Our bodies are weak, our faces pale, and our energy almost nonexistent. The effects go beyond the physical. Hunger fogs the brain, dulls memory and crushes motivation. It becomes nearly impossible to focus, let alone study for a life-changing exam like the tawjihi. How can I prepare for the most important exam of my life when my stomach is empty and my mind clouded by fatigue and worry?

It feels as though my youth has been stolen before my eyes, and I can do nothing but watch. While my peers around the world are building their futures, I remain stuck in a place of overwhelming pain and loss.

As a tawjihi student trapped in a warzone, I urgently call on educational authorities and international institutions to step in and implement immediate solutions to ensure our right to education is not buried under the rubble of war.

We are not asking for much. Giving us a chance to finish our secondary education in Gaza is not just a matter of logistics, but a matter of justice and future survival.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.

Her name is ubiquitous in public spaces around Los Angeles: the Wallis Annenberg Building at the California Science Center in Exposition Park, the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills, the soon-to-debut Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing in Agoura Hills.

Then there’s the Annenberg Community Beach House in Santa Monica and Wallis Annenberg GenSpace in Koreatown.

Wallis Annenberg, a deep-pocketed philanthropist who helped transform the city through massive donations to arts, education and animal welfare causes, died Monday morning at her home in Los Angeles from complications related to lung cancer, the family said. She was 85.

The heiress to Walter Annenberg’s publishing empire served, for the last 16 years, as chairwoman of the board, president and chief executive of the influential Annenberg Foundation, which her father started in 1989 after selling TV Guide and other publications to Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. A representative said the nonprofit organization has assets of about $1.2 billion.

Annenberg, who worked for TV Guide when her father owned Triangle Publications, stepped in as the foundation’s vice president after he died in 2002. When her stepmother, Leonore, died seven years later, Annenberg took the helm, broadening its philanthropic scope beyond media, arts and education to include animal welfare, environmental conservation and healthcare. Since she joined the foundation, it has given about $1.5 billion to thousands of organizations and nonprofits in Los Angeles County.

Wallis Annenberg worked with her father, Walter Annenberg, when his company published TV Guide.

(Annenberg Foundation)

Annenberg was fiercely passionate about funding the arts, with an eye toward making culture accessible to all. She founded the free Annenberg Space for Photography, which opened its Century City doors in 2009. (It closed during the pandemic in 2020, but archival material is still online.) The space showed exhibitions spanning the world of hip-hop, the global refugee crisis and war photography, among other subjects. Annenberg was also a longtime board member of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and L.A.’s Museum of Contemporary Art. She gave $10 million in 2002 to endow LACMA’s director’s position.

LACMA Chief Executive Michael Govan, who came to the museum in 2006 to fill that endowed position, praised Annenberg’s philanthropy.

“Wallis Annenberg blessed the Los Angeles community not only with her philanthropy, but also with her guidance about how to improve our community,” Govan said in a statement to The Times, ”from public access to our beautiful beaches to the livelihood of local animals, and the importance of the arts to our daily lives.”

Under her leadership, the foundation made $38.5 million in low-interest loans for the construction of the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts. The Zoltan Pali-designed center opened in 2013 in a renovated, 1933 Beverly Hills Post Office and has since become a major cultural hub in the heart of Beverly Hills, infusing the tony neighborhood with vibrant music, theater and dance. Broadway star Patti LuPone, comedian Sarah Silverman and the Martha Graham Dance Company have all graced the stage at the Wallis; the center also offers robust educational programming.

When it opened, fellow philanthropist Eli Broad called the center “a great addition” to Los Angeles and “another jewel in the region’s cultural crown.”

Annenberg cared deeply about equity in education. Walter Annenberg had founded the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism in 1971, and before that the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. But Wallis Annenberg, a USC board of directors life trustee, helped to steer the school’s vision and guide it into the future. She gave $50 million in 2011 to have the Wallis Annenberg Hall built, which nearly doubled the communication and journalism school’s footprint when it opened in 2014. More recently, in March, Annenberg gave $5 million to the university for a high-tech, multimedia production studio to be built on USC’s Capital Campus in Washington, D.C. It’s scheduled to open in August.

Exposition Park got a boost in 2004, when the Wallis Annenberg Building at the California Science Center opened, a project made possible with a $25-million challenge grant from Annenberg. The former armory, redesigned by Pritzker-winning architect Thom Mayne, now has classrooms and laboratories for Science Center educational programming. Annenberg has also funded exhibitions there, including the 2019 interactive exhibit “Dogs! A Science Tail,” which explores the deep bond between humans and canines. It went back on view in May.

In 2004, she also stepped in to help underwrite the Annenberg Community Beach House, located on the grounds of the former Marion Davies estate, after hearing the city of Santa Monica might engage private developers to restore the site, which had been operated as a private club for 30 years. The seaside public space is free and features a playground, gallery and volleyball courts, among other amenities.

Construction crews began the process of placing the first layers of soil over the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing on March 31.

(Al Seib / For The Times)

Annenberg was a ferocious animal lover. The Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing — the world’s largest urban wildlife crossing, which stretches across 10 lanes of the 101 Freeway between the Simi Hills and the Santa Monica Mountains in Agoura Hills — was made possible with a $1-million challenge grant from Annenberg in 2016 followed by $25 million in 2021. When it’s completed, the crossing will help animals such as mountain lions, deer and bobcats pass safely over the freeway. The first layers of soil were laid on the overpass in March. Plans call for its completion in 2026.

“I imagine a future for all the wildlife in our area,” Annenberg said in a statement published by The Times in March, “where it’s possible to survive and thrive and the placement of this first soil on the bridge means another step closer to reality.”

Annenberg also created a Silicon Beach-based animal shelter, the Wallis Annenberg PetSpace, which opened in 2017 and helps to rehabilitate so-called “unadoptable” animals before finding them new homes. PetSpace has a medical facility and offers animal adoptions as well as classes to teach people to how to better care for their pets.

In recent years, Annenberg had been thinking about quality of life for older adults.

In 2022, Annenberg opened the Wallis Annenberg GenSpace, a senior center in Koreatown offering visitors a place to pursue new interests and find community through classes that include belly dancing, horticultural therapy and financial literacy. It also hosts concerts, dances and game nights.

After the Palisades and Eaton wildfires earlier this year, the Annenberg Foundation funded short-term and long-term recovery efforts, gifting nonprofits and organizations that included the Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation and the Team Rubicon Response Fund.

Wallis Huberta Annenberg was born in the affluent Main Line area of Philadelphia and grew up, from age 10, in Washington, D.C. Her mother was Bernice Veronica Dunkelman, who went by Ronny. Annenberg had a younger brother, Roger, who died in 1962 when he was 22. She graduated from Pine Manor Junior College in Wellesley, Mass., and attended one year of college at Columbia University before dropping out to get married to neurosurgeon Seth Weingarten. The couple divorced in 1975.

Prior to their divorce, Annenberg had moved to Los Angeles with Weingarten and her children in the early ‘70s. Annenberg was drawn to the city’s energy, creativity and diversity.

Despite her public profile, Annenberg was known to be press shy. The billionaire philanthropist was particularly family-oriented and enjoyed evenings at home with her children and grandchildren. She was also an avid sports fan and loved watching football on TV, martini in hand.

Wallis Annenberg, center seated, with three of her children: Gregory Annenberg Weingarten, Lauren Bon and Charles Annenberg Weingarten. Each is involved in the Annenberg Foundation.

(Hamish Robertson)

The breadth of Annenberg’s philanthropy was global; but it was most keenly focused on Los Angeles.

Annenberg received the 2022 National Humanities Medal from President Biden for her life in philanthropy.

As outlined in the family trust, control of the foundation passes onto the next generation: Three of Annenberg’s four children who are on the board of directors: Lauren Bon, Gregory Annenberg Weingarten and Charles Annenberg Weingarten. Roger Annenberg Weingarten lives in the L.A. area.

Bon is an artist and founding director of L.A.-based Metabolic Studio, a not-for-profit interdisciplinary art and research hub that explores environmental issues. Gregory Annenberg Weingarten is a former journalist with the Times of London and now is an artist, exhibiting in Europe and the U.S. Charles Annenberg Weingarten is a philanthropist and filmmaker who created Explore, which documents, through films and photographs, selfless acts globally (and has a network of live-cams trained on wildlife).

Besides her four children, Annenberg is survived by five grandchildren.

One of Sex Education’s biggest breakout stars took on a very different role in a sun-soaked new drama coming to streaming soon

Sex Education star Emma Mackey’s latest cinematic role will be available to watch at home very soon.

Best known for portraying Maeve Wiley in all four seasons of Netflix’s beloved comedy-drama, she has since appeared in major films like Barbie and Death on the Nile.

Still currently in cinemas, her latest project sees her taking on her first leading role in a provocative and mysterious drama based on a Booker Prize nominated novel.

Inspired by Deborah Levy’s 2016 novel of the same name, Hot Milk follows Mackey as Sofia, a young woman whose mother, Rose (played by Fiona Shaw), has contracted an unknown illness that’s left her wheelchair-bound.

When the mother-daughter pair travel to a small Spanish seaside town to track down a physician with unusual methods who could hold the cure, Sofia finds herself drawn to an alluring traveller named Ingrid (Vicky Krieps).

READ MORE: Outlander star teases ‘gripping’ ITV crime drama away from Starz could ‘go on for years’READ MORE: Netflix now streaming ‘truly entertaining’ British thriller with a ‘mind-blowing’ twist ending

The film will be streaming on Mubi from Friday, 22nd August for anyone who missed out on Mackey’s sultry and thought-provoking drama on the big screen.

The Independent gave Hot Milk four stars, calling it “a slippery, subversive coming-of-age tale”.

Mackey and Krieps were praised as “formidable” in The Guardian, while Deadline says Shaw’s performance is “truly extraordinary”.

One fan of the film gave it a five-star Google review, penning: “Powerful performances set against dreamlike scenery where reality merges with imagination.

“Starts as a slow burn but builds into a heightened frenzy of complex sensations that is impossible not to sense as you witness each separate character’s life unravel and deteriorate.”

Someone else praised: “Fever dream magic, great indie film if you like trippy movies, reminds me of I’m Thinking of Ending Things on Netflix.”

Enthusiasm for the film continued on Letterboxd, where one user wrote: “The pace was perfect. The score was stunning.

“The acting was incredible, Fiona Shaw is such a talented actor. Emma Mackey is just an unreal actress too.

“I felt as if she was speaking to me and I shall carry these words with me the rest of my life. This was a film I watched at the right time in my life. A film I didn’t know I needed till I had seen it. I wish I had words to properly express how much I adore this film.”

And a final fan said: “Beautiful adaptation of the book, felt it in my soul – the story, the characters, the setting…. so moving and so real.”

Film fanatics should make sure they sign up to Mubi to check out this indie cinema gem, and many more movie masterpieces, in just under a month’s time.

Hot Milk will be released Friday, 22nd August on Mubi.

Rescue teams race to find survivors after deadly school building collapse in western India.

At least four children have been killed and 17 others injured after the roof of a school building collapsed in India’s western state of Rajasthan, according to local reports.

The tragedy took place on Friday morning shortly after daily prayers at a government-run school in Barmer district. Authorities say about 25 to 30 students were inside the classroom when the ceiling suddenly gave way.

Local police believe the building’s deteriorating structure, worsened by recent heavy rainfall, may have caused the collapse. “Some of the injured are in critical condition,” senior police officer Amit Kumar told the Press Trust of India.

Rajasthan’s education minister, Madan Dilawar, said he had instructed officials to oversee the medical treatment of the injured and ensure families receive support. “I have directed the authorities to make proper arrangements and to oversee the injured children’s treatment, and to ensure they do not face any kind of difficulties,” he told AajTak news channel.

Dilawar added that a formal investigation would be launched to determine the exact cause. “I have also spoken to the collector and directed authorities to take stock of the situation and help in whatever way possible,” he said.

Footage broadcast on Indian television showed locals and emergency workers using cranes to clear debris as anxious parents looked on. The sound of relatives wailing could be heard near the site.

Rescue efforts were ongoing late into the day. Local media said 32 students had been pulled out alive so far, though some were severely injured.

“Instructions have been given to the concerned authorities to ensure proper treatment for the injured children,” Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma said in a statement on X.

Rajasthan, known for its extreme weather, has experienced intense monsoon rains in recent weeks, raising concerns over the safety of ageing infrastructure in rural schools.

New York City-based Columbia University has agreed to pay $221m to settle claims by US President Donald Trump’s administration that it failed to curb anti-Semitism on campus, in exchange for the reinstatement of billions of dollars in federal funding.

The deal, agreed on Wednesday, comes after sweeping university campus protests against Israel’s war in Gaza during the spring and summer of 2024 and this year were criticised as veering into anti-Semitism.

In February, the government cut $400m in federal research funding for Columbia in a bid to force its administrators to respond to alleged harassment of Jewish students and faculty.

The unprecedented agreement marks a victory in Trump’s efforts to exert greater control over higher education, including campus activism, and could offer a framework for future deals with other universities.

What’s in the deal Trump has struck with Columbia?

Columbia has agreed to pay $200m to the government over three years, as well as making a separate $21m payment to settle claims by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

In exchange, the “vast majority” of the frozen $400m in federal funding will be reinstated, the university said. Columbia will also regain access to billions of dollars’ worth of current and future grants under the deal.

Columbia is required, within 30 days, to appoint an administrator who will report to the university president and will be responsible for overseeing the deal’s compliance. This includes verifying that the institution ends programmes that promote “unlawful efforts to achieve race-based outcomes, quotas [and] diversity targets”.

Additionally, Columbia must review its Middle East curriculum to make sure it is “comprehensive and balanced” and appoint new faculty staff to its Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies. 

Columbia said the agreement establishes Bart Schwartz, of the compliance firm Guidepost Solutions, as an independent monitor who will report to the government on its progress every six months.

The university will be expected to compile a report for the monitor to ensure its programmes “do not promote unlawful DEI [diversity, equity, and inclusion] goals”.

Why have they come to this agreement?

Columbia said the agreement formalises already-announced reforms to address harassment of Jewish students and staff, including the hiring of additional public safety personnel, changes to disciplinary processes, and efforts to foster “an inclusive and respectful learning environment”.

The dispute between Columbia and the Trump administration began after Jewish students and faculty complained of harassment on campus by pro-Palestine demonstrators, while pro-Palestinian advocates accused critics of often wrongly conflating opposition to Israel with the hatred of Jews.

Columbia’s acting president, Claire Shipman, said the agreement marked “an important step forward after a period of sustained federal scrutiny and institutional uncertainty”.

“The settlement was carefully crafted to protect the values that define us and allow our essential research partnership with the federal government to get back on track. Importantly, it safeguards our independence, a critical condition for academic excellence and scholarly exploration, work that is vital to the public interest,” she added.

Trump hailed the settlement as “historic” in a post on his Truth Social platform. “Numerous other Higher Education Institutions that have hurt so many, and been so unfair and unjust, and have wrongly spent federal money, much of it from our government, are upcoming,” he wrote.

How have students and activists reacted?

Student activist group Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) slammed the settlement as “a bribe”. “Imagine selling your students out just so you can pay Trump $221 million dollars and keep funding genocide,” the group wrote on X.

It added that Columbia’s disciplinary action against students, including suspensions and expulsions, this week was a punishment that “hugely” exceeded the precedent for non-Palestine-related demonstrations.

Non-governmental organisation Palestine Legal accused Columbia of “weaponising claims of antisemitism to punish those calling for freedom for Palestinians”.

“It is clear that Columbia’s desire to create a community ‘where all feel welcome’ doesn’t extend to students who call for an end to Israel’s genocide,” the group posted on X.

Hasan Piker, a left-wing activist, political commentator and a critic of Trump, said the US president was “underwater on everything and Columbia is still caving to Trump on everything”, adding “it seems like some of these institutions were looking for the pretext to go right”.

What steps has Columbia already taken to pacify the Trump administration?

In March, Columbia agreed to a list of demands laid down by Trump in return for negotiations to reinstate its $400m federal funding, which he had revoked a month before, citing “a failure to protect Jewish students from antisemitic harassment”.

Among other concessions, the university agreed to ban face mask coverings during protests, as well as to install 36 campus police officers with special powers to arrest students.

Earlier this month, Columbia adopted a controversial definition of anti-Semitism drafted by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), which has been criticised for what some say is conflating criticism of the state of Israel and Zionism with anti-Semitism.

Critics have warned that the definition could be used to stifle dissent and curb academic freedom. In a letter sent to the United Nations in 2023, 60 human and civil rights organisations said the definition should not be used.

“The IHRA definition has often been used to wrongly label criticism of Israel as antisemitic, and thus chill and sometimes suppress, non-violent protest, activism and speech critical of Israel and/or Zionism, including in the US and Europe,” they wrote.

On Tuesday, Columbia also announced it would suspend, expel or revoke degrees for nearly 80 students who participated in a Butler Library demonstration on its campus on May 7, 2025 and a “Revolt for Rafah” encampment on May 31, 2024 during the university’s annual alumni weekend.

During protests, students demanded that the university’s $14.8bn endowment stop investing in weapons makers and other companies that support Israel.

Protest organiser and former student Mahmoud Khalil, 29, was the first person to be detained during the Trump administration’s push to deport pro-Palestinian activists who are not US citizens.

The school also said it would no longer engage with pro-Palestinian group CUAD.

Which other universities has Trump set his sights on, and why?

The Trump administration is focusing attention on 10 universities that it deems noteworthy in its campaign to root out anti-Semitism. These are Columbia; George Washington University; Harvard; Johns Hopkins University; New York University; Northwestern; the University of California, Berkeley; the University of California, Los Angeles; the University of Minnesota; and the University of Southern California.

Columbia University was the first college to see its funding slashed, but several Ivy League schools have been subjected to or threatened with funding cuts since Trump took office in January 2024.

More than $2bn in total was frozen for Cornell, Northwestern, Brown and Princeton universities.

In April, the administration also threatened to freeze $510m in grants to Brown University over alleged violations “relating to antisemitic harassment and discrimination”.

Harvard University was the first – and has so far been the only – major higher education institution to defy Trump’s demands and fight back in federal court.

This week, it argued in federal court that the Trump administration had illegally cut $2.6bn in funding in what were politically motivated attempts to reshape the institution.

Are deals with other universities expected as well?

Some universities are also believed to be in talks with the Trump administration, so more deals could be forthcoming.

In particular, US news outlets have reported that officials from the Trump administration and Harvard are continuing negotiations, despite the court case brought by Harvard.

In June, Trump posted on social media that “if a Settlement is made on the basis that is currently being discussed, it will be ‘mindbogglingly’ HISTORIC, and very good for our Country”.

People have been left in stitches after American readers revealed what confused them in the Harry Potter books

Americans have revealed what confused them about the Harry Potter books, and it turns out lots of readers mistook British references for magical inventions. The “hilarious” mistakes were highlighted in a video shared by TikTok user @kelley_morgan.

Kelley Morgan told followers: “Here’s some things that I used to think were magic but it turns out they’re just British. It’s pretty common for like a ten or an eleven-year-old American, like, first time they’re learning about British culture, is through the Harry Potter books, so a lot of times they’ll think certain things that are normal for British people are like magical and like Harry Potter.”

She explained: “The first one is true for me, but also the one that people joke about the most, and it’s the one where they’re punting students. There’s a part in Harry Potter where there’s a swamp in the hallways, and then the janitor has to punt students across to get to their classes.

“In American English a punt is like a drop kick and because the world is like magical anyway we think oh he’s kicking students really hard across the swamp, but it turns out in British English punting is like a boat with a stick, like a marsh boat. So it turns out he was just boating them across, he was not kicking them.”

Kelley was also confused by British schools. “Another one is school houses. We don’t have those at all, and I know not everywhere in England has them but apparently a lot of schools do have different school houses and you actually get sorted into the houses and then you earn points for your house. It’s kind of weird to me. It sounds fun, but we don’t do that like at all.”

She added: “Along the same lines, prefects, which are like the authority figures within the houses is apparently a real thing. We don’t have that at all. I think the closest thing that we might have is a hall monitor, but nobody really likes the hall monitor kids. Also, hall monitor is not a common thing. I don’t think we ever had home monitors in my school, but it’s just something you see on TV. Next, the American content creator revealed she was confused to read about Christmas crackers.

“They always talk about having Christmas crackers and to us a cracker is a snack. I don’t even know what you call it like a cracker, like a chip, not your kind of chip. Then I just assumed fun presents and confetti and stuff fell out of the cracker because they have candy with toys in them in the book.

“So I’m like oh it must fall out of the cracker, but apparently it’s a really common thing like in a lot of European countries where you pull both ends of a thing and it pops.”

Finally, she turned her attention to pudding. “I thought they just really liked pudding cause they always say like oh I’m gonna go eat some pudding, like I can’t wait for pudding. They always have pudding after dinner cause over there pudding just means dessert and over here it’s a very specific dessert.”

The video received over 400,000 views and lots of comments from American readers who had a similar experience. Someone commented: “What’s most hilarious about the punting is not that it was a different word, but that we all collectively accepted that Filch drop kicked kids across a pond. No questions asked.”

A different response read: “I legitimately love pudding and was a little bit disappointed when I found out that it just means any dessert. I thought they were always having my favourite dessert!”

Another comment said: “I had the reverse issue — thinking things that were unique to Harry Potter were actually just normal British things. I thought for way too long that all British kids wrote with quills.”

Settlement marks victory in US President Donald Trump’s efforts to exert greater control over third-level education.

Columbia University, one of the top educational institutions in the United States, has agreed to pay $221m to settle claims by US President Donald Trump’s administration that it failed to police anti-Semitism on campus.

Under the agreement announced on Wednesday, Columbia will see the “vast majority” of $400m in federal grants frozen by the Trump administration reinstated, the New York-based university said.

Columbia will also regain access to billions of dollars in current and future grants under the deal, the university said.

Columbia said the agreement formalised reforms announced in March to address harassment against Jews, including the hiring of more public safety personnel, changes to disciplinary processes, and efforts to foster “an inclusive and respectful learning environment”.

The agreement also commits Columbia to maintaining merit-based admissions and ending programs that promote “unlawful efforts to achieve race-based outcomes, quotas [and] diversity targets”.

Under the agreement, Columbia will pay the federal government $200m over three years, in addition to a $21m payment to settle claims by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Claire Shipman, Columbia’s acting president, said that while the settlement was “substantial”, the university could not continue with a situation that would “jeopardize our status as a world-leading research institution”.

“Furthermore, as I have discussed on many occasions with our community, we carefully explored all options open to us,” Shipman said in a statement.

“We might have achieved short-term litigation victories, but not without incurring deeper long-term damage – the likely loss of future federal funding, the possibility of losing accreditation, and the potential revocation of visa status of thousands of international students.”

Shipman said Columbia did not accept the Trump administration’s findings that it had violated civil rights law by turning a blind eye to the harassment of Jews, but acknowledged the “very serious and painful challenges our institution has faced with antisemitism”.

“We know there is still more to do,” she said.

The settlement marks a victory in Trump’s efforts to exert greater control over third-level education, including campus activism in support of Palestine and other causes.

Trump hailed the settlement as “historic” in a post on his Truth Social platform.

“Numerous other Higher Education Institutions that have hurt so many, and been so unfair and unjust, and have wrongly spent federal money, much of it from our government, are upcoming,” Trump wrote.

Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), a student activist group, slammed the settlement as an effective bribe.

“Imagine selling your students out just so you can pay Trump $221 million dollars and keep funding genocide,” the group said on X.

Columbia was among dozens of US universities that were roiled by protests against Israel’s war in Gaza throughout the spring and summer of 2024.

Many Jewish students and faculty complained that the campus demonstrations veered into anti-Semitism, while pro-Palestinian advocates have accused critics of often wrongly conflating opposition to Israel with the hatred of Jews.

On Tuesday, Columbia University’s Judicial Board announced that it had finalised disciplinary proceedings against students who took part in protests at the university’s main library in May and the “Revolt for Rafah” encampment last year.

CUAD said nearly 80 students had been expelled or suspended for between one and three years for joining the protests, sanctions it argued “hugely” exceeded the precedent for non-Palestine-related demonstrations.