New York Times Upfront articles from May 2002

New York Times Upfront archives from May 2002

Too much testing.(Letter to the Editor)
May 6, 2002... I agree that all of the standardized testing ruins the curriculum ("Are Tests the Answer?" 3/25/02). My English teacher spent an entire marking period preparing us for standardized tests. When you are trying to get into an advanced high school...

America's oil addiction. (letters).(Letter to the Editor)
May 6, 2002... President Bush's refusal to sign the Kyoto Protocol isn't the problem anymore ("Should the U.S. sign the Kyoto Protocol?" 3/25/02). Our nation's obsession with high-oil-consuming SUVs and trucks must end. Bigger isn't better. Andrea...

Punish John Lindh.(Letter to the Editor)
May 6, 2002... It is truly horrible that an American would go against his country and become one of the enemy ("The Strange Odyssey of John Walker Lindh," 3/11/02). There is absolutely no excuse for his actions, and there should be no excuse for not punishing...

Living on empty in a drought. (voices).
May 6, 2002... HOLLIS, ME.--As I ran off the turf after field hockey, sweaty and tired, I imagined taking a long, relaxing shower. But that was no longer possible at home. The only showers I was getting were torture. My family had barely any water. We...

And the Pulitzers go to ...
May 6, 2002... THE NEW YORK TIMES recently won a record seven Pulitzer Prizes, journalism's highest honor, including six for coverage related to the terrorist attack of Sept. 11. Elements of the coverage appeared in Upfront this school year. In the 86 years...

Star wars: attack of the drones. (Photo).(China's space program)(Illustration)
May 6, 2002... China's experimental Shenzhou III spacecraft, with a crew of lifelike dummy astronauts inside, successfully landed in northern China last month after orbiting the Earth more than 100 times. China, still in the early stages of its space program,...

Music CDs for $1?! It's Mexico. (International).
May 6, 2002... Mexican authorities have increased raids in the neighborhood of Tepito, a center of criminal activity in Mexico City. They emerge not with drug traffickers, but with thousands of CDs of pirated music. Still, it's barely making a dent. Last...

Microsoft school. (Education).
May 6, 2002... Billionaire Bill Gates wants high school to pay off. His foundation is putting up more than $40 million to help start 70 high schools that will try to keep disadvantaged students from dropping out. The Gates schools will offer college-level...

Hospital McFood. (Health).(fast food in school cafeterias)
May 6, 2002... As experts cite an epidemic of obese youths, the response of the fast-food industry seems to be, "You want fries with that?" Given the enormity of weight problems among children and teens, it may seem strange to see more and more fast-food...

Analogies : delete = SAT : revamp. (College).(redesigning the College Board exams)
May 6, 2002... If you hate word analogies, you're in luck--the College Board may ditch that section of the main SAT test in a new version meant to reflect more of what is learned in class. The exact changes, which would take effect with the high school...

Web feat. (Q&A).(Tobey Maguire)(Interview)(Brief Article)
May 6, 2002... In a new movie hyped as among the year's biggest, Tobey Maguire, 26, plays the teenage Peter Parker, and the title superhero, in Spider-Man. Here's how. How did you put on the costume? Someone helped me put it on and take it off. It's...

Smoked out: teen cigarette use is dropping. Why? Credit a combination of advertising restrictions, higher prices, and the "Truth." (National).
May 6, 2002... National Rodriguez Barnett could easily have been a teen smoker. The 17-year-old high school senior from St. Paul, Minn., comes from a tobacco-using family: His father, brother, and sister are all smokers, and his mother quit only after...

Expanded drug tests in schools? The Supreme Court considers whether more students should be checked. (National).
May 6, 2002... National If you find yourself being marched to the school bathroom next fall with a plastic cup in your hand, don't blame Lindsay Earls. Earls was randomly called out of choir class at her rural Oklahoma high school three years ago and...

Face-off: two old enemies, Ariel Sharon and Yasir Arafat, symbolize the reasons why it is so difficult for the Israelis and the Palestinians to make peace--and why so many on both sides see the use of force as the only hope of achieving their ends. (News Analysis)(Cover Story).
May 6, 2002... News Analysis Jerusalem--Ariel Sharon was 14 when he joined the underground Jewish army, and he fought in the Arab-Israeli war that started the day after the creation of the Jewish state. Yasir Arafat was smuggling arms to Palestinians by...

Up close to a suicide bombing: as the conflict heats up, suicide bombings have become a constant in Israel. A Times reporter, who narrowly escaped a recent blast, shares his story. (International).(Brief Article)
May 6, 2002... Jerusalem--Memory becomes selective after a close call. A few sharp details remain, like those of the young woman in a recent Jerusalem bombing who could not shake the thought of the suicide bomber smiling and chewing gum before he disappeared...

The real Navajo code talkers: World War II's secret heroes created a code that proved unbreakable. Now they're movie stars. (times past).
May 6, 2002... Early in World War II, an American Marine radio operator in the jungles of Guadalcanal heard over his headset what sounded like gibberish. At first, he thought it was the Japanese, whose forces were fighting for control of the South Pacific...

Tourists in space? *Nsync's Lance Bass wants to go up. One American already paid $20 million for a trip. But is space tourism a good idea? (opinion).(Brief Article)
May 6, 2002... YES Enthusiasm for space tourism has been growing over the last few years, as the opportunity becomes more and more real. I believe space tourism is a wonderful idea, because it will rekindle the excitement for space exploration that existed in...

Graph exercise: rise in percentage of students who have used illegal drugs.(Brief Article)
May 6, 2002... No matter how the U.S. Supreme Court rules in the Lindsay Earls case (page 14), the controversy over testing students for use of illicit drugs will most likely continue. And with good reason, say defenders of drug-testing programs. An annual...

Upfront Quiz Show.
May 6, 2002... Use with articles throughout the issue. Divide the class into 2-4 teams. You may refer to the magazine during play. The teacher reads the statements below, which are answers to questions. In this game, modeled after the TV show Jeopardy,...