Feed: NPR Topics: Education - AggScore: 83.3

Brazil's ghettos are poverty stricken and violent. But there are people fighting against the odds to turn things around for the poor children of Rio de Janeiro. Among them is an unusual apostle: a Rio socialite who founded a school for slum-dwelling children and views education as an equalizer.

Dozens of demonstrators who barricaded themselves inside a campus building at the University of California, Berkeley in a protest over fee hikes and budget cuts were removed late Friday, bringing the daylong occupation to an end, university officials said.

Michael Scott was found shot in the head Monday, his body partially submerged in the Chicago River. The medical examiner ruled the death a suicide, but so far police have not reached that conclusion, and there's widespread disbelief among the mayor and others that Scott would have killed himself.

UC regents, meeting at UCLA, approved fees that will bring the average annual cost to about $10,300 — a threefold increase in a decade. In protest, University of California Berkeley students barricaded themselves in part of a campus building on Friday.

Thousands of University of California students converged on the UCLA campus in Los Angeles Thursday, as regents adopted a 30 percent fee hike. It's one of the latest signs of California's continuing economic crisis. UC officials say, faced with a huge deficit of their own, they have no choice but to raise the fees. Many students say they can't afford to pay more.

Struggling to operate the nation's largest public university system as state lawmakers have failed to meet requested funding needs, the University of California Regents approved an overall 30 percent fee increase that will be spread over the current and following academic years.

In Los Angeles, University of California regents adopted a 30-percent increase in tuition in the face of a huge system-wide deficit. The vote came as thousands of angry students converged on the UCLA campus in protest.

With a $10 billion endowment, the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology is one of the wealthiest universities in the world. The idea is to foster research that will diversify Saudi Arabia's oil-dependent economy, and to be an oasis of freedom in a highly-controlled society.

The principal at Danvers High School, in Danvers, Mass., has asked students to stop using the word "meep" because of the frustration and confusion it caused among the faculty. Mike Spiewak, a senior at the high school, helped to popularize the word. NPR's Guy Raz talks with Spiewak about what exactly "meep" means, and what the future of the word at the school may be.

Alcoholic "energy" drinks are coming under FDA scrutiny. Manufacturers of the beverages have 30 days to prove their products are safe.

The beloved television show has been educating children for 40 years — but not without plenty of grown-up controversy. From Cookie Monster's unbalanced diet, to Elmo's bad grammar, to Grover's civil disobedience, The Week magazine explains why some days aren't sunny days on Sesame Street.

Amazon's Kindle is taking some knocks from the National Federation for the Blind. The electronic reader can read books aloud, but the federation says that function is difficult to turn on when you can't see. Now, two universities say they won't buy more Kindles for their students unless Amazon comes up with a fix.

The Department of Education releases the rules Thursday for getting Race to the Top money — $4.5 billion in funding for education innovations for which states must compete. But some local officials are irritated with the process because they feel their concerns are being trampled on in the rush for cash.

More than 650,000 high school seniors in South Korea took a national college placement exam Thursday that many believe will determine the rest of their lives. The government takes it so seriously that aircraft are barred from flying near the test site, and the workday begins an hour late, to prevent traffic jams.

The University of California, Santa Cruz, is seeking an archivist for its collection of Grateful Dead materials. The job involves managing original documents, clippings, art, posters, recordings, publication and documentation of the band's famous network of fans, known as deadheads.