Education

For the price of a cup of tea, U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici heard four Hillsboro High School students talk about their work experience at the First Tech Credit Union coffee shop.

All of them are enrolled in the business/marketing course, one of 10 the school offers in career and technical education. The district's other high schools have their own offerings.

U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, a longtime advocate of adding the arts to science education, got a firsthand look at what students are learning.

Bonamici stopped Friday at Imlay Elementary School in Hillsboro, where fourth-grade students of Brooke Godfrey were learning about fish. The lesson, taught by environmental educator Tonya McLean of the Lower Columbia Estuary Partnership, gave students an opportunity to pick up a fish.

The fantastic college-admissions scandal calls to mind one of the most famous sayings in American life: "We have met the enemy and he is us." Its wise author, the great cartoonist Walt Kelly (he created Pogo) would have gotten a kick out of explanations for the alleged fraud, which have become an exercise in turning away from the mirror and blaming someone or something else.

The admissions bribery scheme revealed this week in a federal indictment has prompted lawmakers in Washington to consider policies that could curtail the influence of wealth in college admissions.

PAPER had the chance to head down to Washington DC for a media mixer with Democratic members of the House of Representatives hosted by Congresswoman Maxine Waters. While there, we spoke to numerous congresspeople — including several freshmen representatives — about their top policy priorities in this new, divided government. We asked them about the legislation they'd actually be willing to work with Trump to enact, the policies favored by the President that they'll stop at nothing to change (or outright oppose) and what their goals are for the coming year.