Tales Out Of School

Strange Stories From The Global Classroom

Faulty reckoning: Hundreds of Romanian schoolchildren walked out of classes last week for the second day and swarmed into government offices to denounce the inclusion of mathematics as a compulsory subject.

The protesters were pupils in the final year of high school studies specialising in chemistry, physics and biology who say their workload is too heavy to study maths properly. Under an education law passed this year to adapt post-Communist education to Western standards, science students must pass a maths exam as well as their other subjects to secure their baccalaureat. "We don't like mathematics and we don't need it to develop our skills," a teenage girl said.

Spending a penny: Relief comes at a price for pupils who choose to use two high school bathrooms in Pennsylvania. Students must pay $25 and sign a pledge not to vandalise the newly renovated restrooms at Keystone Oaks High near Pittsburgh. After a student obeys the pledge for a year, $15 will be refunded.