THE NATION: Back to School

The soggy heat and humidity of late summer lay across the U.S. last week as parents bought new shirts and shoes and got ready to send their children back to school. From Key West, Fla. to Port Angeles, Wash, a record-shattering 41,533,000 students began to enroll in the U.S.'s often overcrowded and understaffed schools and colleges—1,754,300 more than last year, and an astonishing one-fourth of the nation's population. "It gets to be more fun each year," said Mrs. Creta McVean, teacher of the first grade of Dallas' James W. Fannin Elementary School,...

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