Several recent cases of violence（暴力）against students at U.S. colleges have made global headlines，arousing questions about the safety of America’s campuses. Yet government data show that the number of violent assaults（袭击）at colleges actually has decreased in recent years. And most schools have worked to increase safety through technology and student behavior.

It’s also important for students to take responsibility for their own safety. Being familiar with local neighborhoods and campus services is key. Personal-safety expert David Nance says the most important thing students can do is be attentive-which means not being distracted by smartphones or other devices.

The website for the group PEACE OUTSIDE CAMPUS，formed in response to the murder of a student from the University of Delaware in her off-campus apartment in 2005，lists additional measures students can take：

1. Don’t walk alone after dark or while drunk. Contact a friend to take you where you need to go.

2. When driving，keep your doors locked，and park in well-lit areas.

3. Don’t wear earphones or play music so loudly that you are unaware of your surroundings.

4. Trust your instinct（本能）and don’t worry about overreacting. You’re better safe than sorry.

5. Avoid entering elevators with strangers. When this is unavoidable，stand by the control panel and，if faced with a threatening way，push the emergency alarm and all the floor buttons. Don’t press the stop button.

6. Don’t hold the door open for a stranger attempting to enter the house，even if it seems rude. Ask them to identify themselves.

7. Post the police’s and fire departments’ numbers by every phone，and put them into your cellphone.

8. Label your emergency contacts as ICE（In Case of Emergency）in your cellphone so officials will know who to contact for important personal or medical information.

   Forcing waiters and waitresses to survive on tips from customers rather than normal wages is a pointless, rough, and unique American custom that, in the past several years, a handful of progressive restaurant owners have attempted to do away with. Now one of the most famous names in the dining business says he’s about to join their ranks. Danny Meyer, CEO of Union Square Hospitality Group, has announced that he plans to gradually stop tipping at the company’s 13 restaurants.

What, exactly, is wrong with tipping? To start with, leaving a waiter’s pay in the hands of customers causes a feeling of discrimination (歧视). In theory, handing restaurant customers the power to tip is at least supposed to inspire better, more attentive service. This fails in practice because humans turn out to be pretty arbitrary (随心所欲的) about their tipping behavior. Research has shown that the amount diners leave has very little to do with their level of satisfaction. All of this doesn’t encourage waiters and waitresses to do anything but turn over as many tables as possible.

Tipping is also very unfair to kitchen staff. The law allows restaurants to divide tips among front-of-the- house workers like waiters, hosts, and hostesses, but not cooks. This creates a system in which the people serving the food in a restaurant can earn more than the people preparing it.

One of the most appealing parts of Meyer’s move is that, unlike some restaurant owners who have taken an anti-tipping view, he won’t simply add a standard extra charge to diners’ bills. Rather, Union Square Hospitality Group intends to raise menu prices enough to fully cover the cost of a meal. If Meyer manages to move away from tipping at all without hurting his profits, it will almost certainly set the stage for others to follow suit.

In recent years,American teens 【小题1】（earn） less than stellar（优秀的）scores on the national exam. A new analysis from the Center for American Progress argues for one simple step 【小题2】（help）raise these scores:Start school later in the day.

【小题3】（delay）start time by an hour across the country could improve students math scores up to eight 【小题4】（point）, the analysis says. That's almost one grade level of learning. The idea is that giving sleep-lacking teens more time to sleep 【小题5】 they hit the books will help them learn better.

In the previous study conducted in 2012 , middle school students 【小题6】 switched schedules to start school an hour later saw their test scores increase. And among them the low-performing students saw the 【小题7】（big）increase.

The Center for American Progress considered what would happen if those results 【小题8】（repeat） around the country.

“What we found is the impact 【小题9】 student achievement would be quite large,” Ulrich Boster, a senior fellow at the center, told The Huffington Post. “Starting school later could 【小题10】（significant）improve students' outcomes. ”

   After a year of studies, an elementary school in New York decided that math worksheets and essay assignments（作业）were actually a waste of time. In February, head teacher Jane Hsu sent a letter to parents _____ that the prekindergarten through fifth-grade students would not be given any traditional homework to _____ kids to spend more free time reading, playing outside or doing activities they enjoy.

Some parents,_____ , disagree with the policy change, thinking that a lack of homework will cause children’s academic（学术的）performance to _____ Homework has been a part of _____ from the beginning, and has increased in _____ in recent years.

Hsu’s advice that children should read and spend time with their families has _____ some parents who even consider _____ their children out of the school. This group feels that homework assignments give their children a(n) _____ to work toward.

Others feel so ______ about the importance of homework that they have begun ______ their own homework assignments to their children.

An Australian Childhood Foundation’s ______ found that 71% of Australian parents feel they do not spend ______ time with their children mainly because of running the household or helping with homework. Education experts in Australia are saying that parents should ______ helping. Doing so will give kids more ______, will give parents more free time and will help ______ the number of arguments in the family caused by homework.

Some research suggests that homework has ______ academic benefit for elementary students, while other research shows homework can help kids ______ independence and confidence. When parents try to help their children with homework, the ______ can take away that feeling and can also make the busy working parents more ______.