Newsweek recently compiled a list of the country's top high schools and came to a not so small conclusion: Small schools rule. Not only are they sprouting everywhere due to funding by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, but they made up a disproportionate number of the top five percent of Newsweek's rankings.

Even respectable large urban and suburban schools -- take Hillsdale High School in San Mateo, Calif., for example -- are breaking up into "houses" to give students individualized attention and deliver higher graduation rates.

So in 2003 Hillsdale remade itself into three "houses," romantically designated Florence, Marrakech and Kyoto. Each of the 300 arriving ninth graders are randomly assigned to one of the houses, where they will keep the same four core subject teachers for two years, before moving on to another for 11th and 12th grades. The closeness this system fosters was reinforced by the institution of "advisory" classes. Teachers meet with students in groups of 25, five mornings a week, for open-ended discussions of everything from homework problems to bullying and bad Saturday-night dates. The advisers also meet with students privately and stay in touch with parents, so they are deeply invested in the students' success. "We're constantly talking about one another's advisees, " says English teacher Chris Crockett. "If you hear that yours isn't doing well in algebra, or see them sitting outside the dean's office, it's like a personal failure." Along with the new structure came a more rigorous academic program; the percentage of freshmen taking biology jumped from 17 to 95. "It was rough for some, but by senior year, two thirds have moved up to physics," says Gilbert. "Our kids are coming to school in part because they know there are adults here who know them and care for them." But not all schools show advances after downsizing, and it remains to be seen whether smaller schools will be a panacea.

Newsweek developed its list by counting the number of college-level exams students take in May -- Cambridge, International Baccalaureate and Advanced Placement -- and dividing that number by the number of graduating seniors. Any school with a ratio of 1.000 or higher made the list.

What do you think, MotherTalkers? Do you think school size matters in student achievement?

Note to libertarians: Here is why big business requires some government regulation.

In an article aptly named "Mortgages and Madness," Newsweek uncovered how even drug dealers were involved in the subprime mortgage-lending business, which has led to slums in some neighborhoods from all the foreclosures and loss of property tax revenue. Cleveland alone has about 22,000 vacant foreclosed properties as low-income residents were swindled into buying properties they could not afford.

Some buyers say they didn't comprehend what they were signing at the time, but discovered they were left legally and financially accountable—their credit destroyed—as the lenders foreclosed. "He ruined my life," says Lakiesha Williams, a mother of two girls who was working as a nursing assistant when she says she was approached by (subprime mortgage lender Mark) Kellogg, who persuaded her to invest in 11 homes and take on tenants. But Williams found the properties were in worse condition than she thought and, when the tenants left, she couldn't keep up with the mortgage payments. "I'm broke. I've got nothing," she says.

While no hard numbers exist yet, officials say fraudulently inflated values and other schemes figured in a huge percentage of subprime loans that were turned into securities during the boom—possibly at least 50 percent nationwide, according to county and state officials as well as real-estate experts interviewed around the country. One piece of evidence: during the height of the bubble it became standard practice to solicit borrowers by giving them "no document" loans, known in the industry as "liars' loans," in which all the borrower must put down to qualify is "stated income" (write anything you want; no one will be checking). Stated income was once a little-used perk that banks granted to trusted wealthy borrowers who paid large down payments. But by 2006, 44.7 percent of all securitized mortgages in the country were stated income or no-document loans, according to Patrick Madigan, an Iowa assistant attorney general. "There's only one reason for that high number, and that's fraud," says Madigan, who helped to negotiate a $325 million settlement in 2006 over alleged abuses by Ameriquest, the nation's largest subprime lender. (Ameriquest spokesman Chris Orlando said the company admitted no wrongdoing.)

I was glad to read that Ohio and federal officials are investigating individuals like Kellogg and companies like Ameriquest. Considering the loss of property tax revenue for the state, I expect officials to roll out the indictments.

From the why-didn't-I-think-of-that file: Newsweek recently profiled Flylite, a two-year-old, Massachusetts-based company that packs suitcases for frequent business travelers.

New customers pay an initial $500 fee and pack their bags. Flylite workers then clean, press and store the clothes, polish shoes and scan everything into a virtual "iCloset." Each trip, travelers can virtually "pack" their suitcases by dragging and dropping clothing icons, after which Flylite delivers the bags to any U.S. destination. After each stay, Flylite picks up the bags, cleans the clothes and stores everything for the next trip. With two days' notice, it costs $100 to get the bag packed and sent anywhere within 25 miles of a major airport.

Very creative business idea.  

Family Meals and a Girl's Body Image: According to a blurb in Parents magazine, a recent study by the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis found a correlation between family meals and a healthy body image in girls.

The researchers followed kids for five years and found that teen girls whose families ate meals together five or more times per week were significantly less likely to develop disordered eating behaviors like chronic dieting, diet-pill use, and bulimia.

Computer Games for Autistic Children: Parents unveiled another interesting study. As it turns out, computer games are good for autistic children as they teach them how to take turns and develop decision-making skills.

(Dr. Carl G. Arinoldo) recommends non-violent, educational, and puzzle games like Chuzzle and Bejeweled 2. For more info on quality titles, go to teachtown.com and popcap.com, and check with your child's doctor about incorporating video games into his daily activities.

Celebrity Gossip Break: American Idol Season 2 runner-up Clay Aiken is expecting his first child, according to People online. The mother is music producer Jaymes Foster, who at 50 years old, conceived through artificial insemination.

What else is in the news? What's up with you? Have a good weekend all!

Newsweek ran a balanced, nuanced story behind the staggering number of black children in fatherless homes. Roughly 50 percent of black children live with only their mothers, according to the article.

But as the article also pointed out, many of these fathers are involved in their children's lives. They just don't marry the mothers and live with them.

But most black fathers aren't the flawless, idealized Huxtables nor the shiftless, irresponsible "Maury" deadbeats. Like Paul Coates, they're somewhere in between, fathers who built families without much forethought, but with an abundance of love and leadership. Many black fathers have found this middle ground. The Coley study also found that black fathers who don't reside in the home are more likely to sustain regular contact with their children than fathers of any other racial group. It's true that children are statistically better off when raised by a married couple—the Huxtable model should be the ideal—but unmarried, nonresident fathers shouldn't be made to feel like failures. In order to reduce rates of absentee black fathers, we must learn to view fatherhood as an à la carte menu, not a prix fixe.

"The Beautiful Struggle" could certainly lend to this cultural shift, but it'll be a hard-fought battle. When Coates, a freelance writer by trade, wrote a critical piece on Cosby's crusade, his dad called and read him the riot act for attacking Cosby's message. "We disagreed, but it's cool," says Coates. "He raised us to be critical thinkers." In order to change those alarming statistics, father and son—along with the rest of us—will have to come to a consensus on what constitutes a good father.

The article touched on the more universal theme: What constitutes a good father? In holding up Bill Cosby and Snoop Dogg -- the millionaire rapper with a reality show on fatherhood -- as role models, it appears that black men are being told they are good fathers only if they can financially support their children. But how much is physical care -- like visitations -- worth? It's a point worth discussing as raising children costs so much in time, money and energy.

Do you think expectations of mothers and fathers are different? Is it fair for fathers to be judged on their monetary contributions to the household? Discuss.

In case you missed it, Newsweek ran a cover story on children with bipolar disorder.

Toxins in Car Seats: MomsRising is passing around a petition to manufacturer Graco asking it to stop making car seats with toxic flame retardants. To be fair, the Friends of the Earth environmental group found that 44 percent of car seats on the market contain the chemicals. Ugh.

Old School Profs: Some professors at Harvard, Yale and Columbia are prohibiting students from using laptop computers to get them to pay attention to lectures, according to Newsweek.  

I am off to chaperone a field trip at Ari's school. What's up with you? Have a good weekend all!

Since this article appeared a few weeks ago, your college-bound children probably already have their SAT scores and even their admissions letters. Nonetheless, Newsweek tackled the five most common misconceptions about the dreaded SAT:

The ACT is an easier test than the SAT.
(Tutoring guru Lisa) Jacobson: We discovered anecdotally that one third of kids do better on the ACT, while one third do the same and one third do worse. And the SAT is a coachable exam. The myth that goes along with this is that tutoring is magical. It actually takes a lot of work. A student can expect very little improvement unless the student is prepared to put in the time and work it takes outside of the tutoring sessions. That means taking practice tests, studying vocabulary words and working on different styles of reading and critical reading.

PSAT is a good indicator of my child's SAT score.
Not true, especially now that with an essay component, the SAT is four hours—almost twice as long as the PSAT, which has no essay. Focus and stamina are issues on the SAT...

The May SAT is easier than the January and March tests.
...on any given test date there are up to 500,000 people taking the SAT. Individuals won't throw off the results.

The SAT writing section doesn't count.
This myth developed because people heard colleges say they are not counting the writing section as much. I say, be very careful. It's less important, but I wouldn't ignore it completely...

The math on the SAT is very complex.
The basis for the math on the SAT is ninth-grade math: a bit of geometry and some algebra II concepts like functions, quadratic equations and factoring. Most students who take the SAT are already well beyond the math, so the biggest challenge becomes having to review topics like ratios and percents...

What other tips would you offer prospective college students?

REO Speedwagon's Kevin Cronin wrote a column for Newsweek about his son Paris's drug addiction. While Paris has been sober for two years, Cronin claims it was "tough love" and his son's own determination that helped him get back on track.

The turning point for me came one cold, dark winter's night, as my wife and I rested in the peaceful mountains of Ojai, Calif.

When the telephone rings at 1 a.m., it is rarely good news. The voice on the line that night was that of a fearful, obviously shaken Paris Cronin calling from the Burbank city lockup. My head pounded and my stomach sickened. He had been busted for possession of heroin, and would spend the next four nights in jail ... unless someone bailed him out. The thought of my son's sitting in a cell scared and alone, going through narcotics withdrawal, was unbearable. My immediate instinct was to drop everything and run to his aid. How could I leave him in such horrible circumstances? But a deeper part of me knew that if I really wanted to help my son, I must turn him down. When a parent is racked with guilt, it helps to have someone with a more detached perspective by one's side. One look into my wife's eyes reassured me that this heart-wrenching decision was the right one. It was time for some serious tough love.

Paris would survive the ordeal. But from that point on we would no longer enable him in any way. And after a five-year battle, complete with relapses, alienation, hitting his "bottom," a final trip to rehab, family therapy and sheer determination on his part, Paris is now a sober young man.

It has got to be so hard to see your child hit rock-bottom. I am sure it took a lot of restraint for this man with a lot of resources to withhold financial support, too.

What do you think? Have any of you dealt with addiction? What did you do to weather the relapses?

The U.S. Supreme Court will listen to a case this week whether the death penalty should be applied to heinous criminals who do not commit murder, or in this case, child rapists, according to Newsweek.

Patrick Kennedy was convicted in 2004 for the rape of a child, his 8-year-old stepdaughter, and the state of Louisiana contends that his crime is tantamount to murder and worthy of death. Nobody in this country has actually been executed for anything other than murder since 1964, although five states, including Louisiana, have laws on their books permitting capital punishment for the rape of young children. Several others are considering broadening their laws to do the same. So the court must determine, in Kennedy v. Louisiana, whether the Eighth Amendment's prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment bars the execution of someone who didn't commit a murder, but did violate a young child.

The article went on to say that executions are on the decline, hitting a 10-year low of 52 in 2006. In a Gallup poll, two-thirds of Americans said they support the death penalty for murderers, but slightly more supported life imprisonment for these criminals rather than capital punishment. Confidence in state executions have been shaken due to 127 exonerations and "pervasive evidence that racism still taints the capital-sentencing system," according to Newsweek's Dahlia Lithwick.

Lithwick contended the Supreme Court ruling could either extend the death penalty to rapists or help it see its  "last gasps."

I certainly hope it is the latter as there is no evidence that capital punishment deters crime, makes us safer, and there is always the small chance of executing the wrong person. That's not where I want my tax dollars spent, although I could certainly understand why the victim's family would want to mete out such revenge.

Newsweek's Kathleen Deveny recently wrote a funny confession of the lies she tells her children, including Santa Claus and this gem on the Eliot Spitzer scandal:

When my daughter asked me why it was embarrassing that former New York governor Eliot Spitzer was involved with a cowgirl ring, I didn't hesitate. "Bad lariat tricks," I explained. She looked a little confused, but let it drop. I know that I'm not supposed to lie to my kid, but I didn't feel like explaining prostitution to a 7-year-old.

Like all parents, she admitted it isn't the first whopper she's told her daughter. In her column, she examined when it was appropriate to lie to children, which made me cringe at some of things I've told my son, but validated my other fibs like Santa.

(Psychologist Alan) Hilfer assures me that Santa and the tooth fairy are not (necessarily) the stuff of future therapy sessions. Instead, they fuel kids' imaginations and make holidays more magical. Children long to believe in these stories, and parents like me are only too happy to accommodate them. Coaxing children to lie in order to spare someone's feelings—"tell Grandma you love the pair of socks she knitted for you even though they're really scratchy"—is also perfectly acceptable, according to the pros. In fact, the ability to understand these kinds of "pro-social" lies is a positive developmental milestone for children, according to Victoria Talwar, an assistant professor at Montreal's McGill University and an expert on children and lying. It shows they have developed empathy and have begun to understand that there is a world beyond them.

OTOH, experts disapproved of so-called "lies of convenience," like telling your four-year-old in the middle of a tantrum at Target that there's no money for another Transformer -- I don't know anything about this -- or calling Santa on his cell phone to tell him your four-year-old is misbehaving (again, not me).

Even though I think that what most parents lament about this particular white lie is that it can be employed effectively during only a few short months, it actually represents abdicating parental responsibility. "That's asking Santa to do your job," says Wendy Mogel, a child psychologist in Los Angeles. "That's asking Santa to do your job. Santa's job is to get down the chimney and eat the cookies. You have the courage to say 'no' to your own child."

The other lie of convenience Mogel disparaged was false praise. Praising every single one of your child's works takes away self-motivation, Mogel said. She recommended asking children about the process -- for example, why they chose the colors that they did for an art project -- rather than praise every single thing that they do.  

With so many charities, non-profit organizations, political candidates, family, friends and others asking him for money, billionaire Peter G. Peterson wrote an admirable column in Newsweek on how he plans to give away his fortune to tackle the country's most pressing political and economic problems. He simply wants today's children to have a shot at the American Dream as he and his Greek immigrant father had.

I have lived the American Dream—I went to college, worked in the corporate world, served in government and became an investment banker. And that led to a second turning point, on June 21, 2007, at 9:30 a.m. That was the day the Blackstone Group—a private-equity, asset-management and financial-advisory firm that I cofounded—went public. In an hour I became an instant billionaire.

What to do with so much money? I have much more than enough, and there seems little prospect that I can take it with me. So again I turn to my father's example. When he had built a modest net worth, he gave generously to his old home in Greece and to the less fortunate in his beloved new home. Tears would come to his eyes when he sang "God Bless America." He so loved America for its possibilities.

I believe today that those possibilities are shrinking, endangering the American Dream. Personal myopia, political cowardice, fiscal fantasy and journalistic neglect are all at work. So I have chosen to put much of my wealth ($1 billion over the next several years and much of my remaining estate) into a new foundation, one that I hope will explain the undeniable, unsustainable and yet politically untouchable long-term challenges we face. Headed by The Honorable David M. Walker, who served as the comptroller general of the United States from 1998 to 2008, the foundation will propose workable solutions and build up the public will to put them into effect. I cannot think of anything more important than trying in this way to preserve the possibilities of the American Dream for my children's and grandchildren's generations, and generations yet to come.

The three problems as he sees them are the aging of the baby boomers and unattainable costs of social security and Medicare, record trade deficits passed onto future generations, and our staggering health care costs, which offer neither the best services nor coverage.

These challenges all require sacrifice. That means everyone. We fat cats will have to pay more taxes. The government will have to spend less. Everyone will have to save more. I'm not sure if we remember how to give up something for the long-term general good. Nor do we hear calls for sacrifice from our leaders. Our lawmakers are enablers, either joining us in the state of denial or trying to anesthesize us. But if we can learn to face the future realistically, everyone will benefit from a more robust, sustainable economy.

Pointing out that the "Greatest Generation" overcame a depression, Peterson is confident that today's youth will find solutions to our most pressing problems. First, we need to educate them on what those challenges are.

In case you missed it, Newsweek had a cover story on surrogate mothers. It was balanced and offered a lot of new information such as the disproportionate number of surrogate mothers who are young, military wives. They have health insurance that covers the procedure. Also, surrogacy allows them to earn money and help someone.

Despite some people denouncing it as exploitive, it made me think the opposite: I would consider becoming a surrogate for my closest family or friends. Also, if I needed the additional income, I could think of many worse ways to make money than give this wonderful gift to another couple.

An Effed Up Story: This is unspeakably tragic. Despite his wife’s protestations, a Maryland courtroom ruled that a mentally ill man was entitled to see his children. The man in question, Mark Castillo, went to a hotel, drowned the couple’s three children and then tried – unsuccessfully – to kill himself, according to the Washington Post.

He is in custody now. But what troubled me about this story was his history of making threats to his wife, including killing the children. I think I would have skipped town before handing over my children to this man. I can’t imagine what is running through that poor woman’s head right now. Shudder.

What Patient Rights? I was dismayed at the personal conduct of the gynecologist mentioned in this reader’s letter to New York Times Magazine’s “The Ethicist” column. Her gynecologist has asked her to waive her right to sue in favor of a “binding arbitration to settle any potential disputes,” or the ob-gyn will not treat her. Here is why the practice is unethical, according to ethicist, Randy Cohen:

The law may allow it, and (except in an emergency) medical ethics permit doctors to choose their patients, but a doctor’s criteria for choosing are still subject to scrutiny. Your doctor has instituted a dismal policy that compels patients to surrender a basic legal right in order to receive medical care.

If a single physician were so skittish about malpractice suits (or so uncertain of her own skill) that she would see only patients who would forgo access to the courts, no problem: you could walk down the street to another practitioner.

But if all, or nearly all, doctors make the same demand, there’s nowhere else to go; a fundamental right is eradicated. Conduct that is merely inconvenient if pursued by a few people can become intolerable when widely adopted.

Universal healthcare anyone?

Last night my friend's daughter, who is a student at UC Berkeley, was nursing a cold and a couple broken toes. Seeing her sick and rundown made me think of my college days and shudder. "Man, am I glad I am not there anymore," I told her. Between working three jobs, studying full time and always, always, looking for money, I was constantly sick. Then there was the debt. Because my alma mater, Boston University, stopped taking credit cards for books, that left the children of working class families like me in a bind. I literally would go to the bank and ask how much cash I could get from my credit card. If it was $500 I would take the full $500. If it was $200, ditto. By the end of my four years, between my husband and I, we racked up at least $20,000 in credit card debt on top of student loans. We were literally working day jobs just to pay for rent and debt. It was miserable.

And it is endemic of our generation. As Newsweek writer Eve Conant pointed out, our generation "racks up debt the way our grandparents used to squirrel away pennies."

As talk of recession and belt-tightening makes headlines, I wonder where and how I lost my grandfather's sense of thrift. Like many young professionals (I'm 36), I embraced the lessons of my seniors about hard work. Yet my generation racks up debt the way our grandparents used to squirrel away pennies. A study by the Journal of Consumer Research to be released next month, titled "Tightwads and Spendthrifts," finds that people ages 18 to 40 are most likely to say they're spending beyond their comfort range. While my grandfather refused to take out a mortgage, I bought my first two-bedroom condo (in a marginal neighborhood) for $450,000 two years ago with 5 percent down and an interest-only loan for the next seven years (note to boss: please don't ever fire me). Though mired in debt, I still manage to sleep most nights. "Your generation has a completely different attitude about going into debt," says George Loewenstein, professor of economics and psychology at Carnegie Mellon, who says the availability of cheaper goods, as well as Internet shopping and longer store hours, make it far easier to waste money. "It used to be that the simple opening and closing of store doors exerted some control on spending. That's all gone now," he says.

My generation grew up just as home-economics classes were being phased out and credit cards were being ushered in (the general-purpose credit card took off in the late '60s). Yet even though we're saddled with debt, I have heard more conversations about avoiding carbs than I've ever heard about hoarding bread crumbs. We discuss our sex lives more than our bills. How often do the words "frugal" or "thrifty" come up in conversation, especially as a compliment? The words have a distant ring of the 1930s to them.

As Conant rightfully pointed out, it is high time we make frugal chic. People in their 30s have not had to live through a recession and the consequences of not having a nest egg. Thankfully, the credit card debt from our college days is long gone, although we have a mortgage and student loans. But I am constantly harping on my youngest sister to live within her means and not rack up debt on the plastic. And to their credit, people are starting to tighten their belts. My friend's daughter is attending school and paying for living expenses on a scholarship. "I would not have attended this school if I had to go into debt," she told me. As for the overall economy, high-end stores like Tiffany are seeing slower sales growth and at WalMart, shoppers have been redeeming gift cards for basic necessities like toilet paper and food, and not flat screen TVs and iPods, according to Conant.

What do you think? Do you consider yourself a frugal person? How do you encourage your own children to live within their means?