Graphic by Riley Freese

No Child Left Behind was originally passed under President George W. Bush administration.

No Child Left Behind

On July 8, the House of Representatives renewed No Child Left Behind with a vote of 218-213. No Child Left Behind was originally passed in 2002 and expired in 2007. Since its expiration, there have been no previous movements to renew it. No Child Left Behind originally attempted to close the gap in US education with that of the rest of the world. However, it received wide backlash in attempts to standardize education and increase testing.

Charleston

The United States has erupted against the flying of the Confederate flag over the South Carolina state capitol. This was three weeks after Dylann Roof killed nine African-Americans at a historically black church. The Confederate flag is to come down on July 10 after governor Nikki Haley signed a resolution to have it removed. Roof was indicted on July 7. The victim’s families have pushed for greater gun control.

Tunisia

Following the Arab Spring, Tunisia was supposed to be one of the stablest new democracies. But on Mar. 18, this stability was threatened when two gunmen held twenty people hostage at a Tunis Museum and killed seventeen, many of whom were foreign nationals. This prompted the British government on July 9 to advise tourists to leave Tunisia in response to new threats of violence.

Syria

The UN this week has reported that Syria is seeing the worst refugee crisis of the past 25 years. Political instability has ravaged the country in a civil war between Bassar Al-Assad’s regime, Syrian rebels, and ISIS. This has led to nearly 4 million refugees in the last four years of fighting, helping to fuel a migrant crisis straining countries like Turkey, Jordan, and Lebanon. This crisis has also contributed to the influx of migrants into Europe where countries like Italy and Greece are struggling to provide the resources to incoming migrants.