Education

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Seventh grader Miguel Ortega, 12, right, and his fellow classmates at Langston Hughes Middle School drop under their desk and hold on as they participate in the Great ShakeOut national earthquake drill, Reston, Va., Thursday, October 18, 2012. Students in the Washington, D.C. region are now participating in the earthquake preparation program for the first time after a 5.8 magnitude earthquake struck the area in August 2011. According to the program's website, an estimated 18 million people are participating this year. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)

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A students hands can be seen holding onto a desk as seventh graders at Langston Hughes Middle School drop under their desk and hold on as they participate in the Great ShakeOut national earthquake drill, Reston, Va., Thursday, October 18, 2012. Students in the Washington, D.C. region are now participating in the earthquake preparation program for the first time after a 5.8 magnitude earthquake struck the area in August 2011. According to the program's website, an estimated 18 million people are participating this year. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)

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U.S. Geological Survey Director Marcia McNutt speaks to Langston Hughes Middle School about her job and the roll her organization has with earthquakes following the school's participation in the Great ShakeOut national earthquake drill, Reston, Va., Thursday, October 18, 2012. Students in the Washington, D.C. region are now participating in the earthquake preparation program for the first time after a 5.8 magnitude earthquake struck the area in August 2011. According to the program's website, an estimated 18 million people are participating this year. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)

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Left to right: Seventh graders Ambika Minocha, 12, Alex Letchworth, 12, and Scott Browoning, 13, and their fellow classmates at Langston Hughes Middle School drop under their desk and hold on as they participate in the Great ShakeOut national earthquake drill, Reston, Va., Thursday, October 18, 2012. Students in the Washington, D.C. region are now participating in the earthquake preparation program for the first time after a 5.8 magnitude earthquake struck the area in August 2011. According to the program's website, an estimated 18 million people are participating this year. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)

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In a March 10, 2008 file photo, Crane Tech High School students Corey Woods and Brittney Waters comfort each other at the school during a memorial for student Ruben Ivy, 18, who was killed outside the Chicago school March 7. Officials initiated a program to escort students to and from a nearby public housing complex after more than 100 simply stopped coming to class for fear of retaliation after a reputed gang member from the complex shot and killed Ivy. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty, File)

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A protestor dramatizes his college loan debt in Washington in 2011. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

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** FILE ** The cheerleaders of Kountze Middle School use their faith-based signs at the middle school football game held at Kountze High School on Thursday, Sept. 20, 2012, in Kountze, Texas. (AP Photo/The Beaumont Enterprise, Randy Edwards)

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Cheerleaders at Kountze High School in Kountze, Texas, in September were told by district officials to stop using Bible verses at football games after the Freedom From Religion Foundation complained. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said on Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2012, that he will defend the cheerleaders. (Beaumont Enterprise via Associated Press)

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Richard Lee Norris, in a prom photo, is a Virginia man who got the most extensive face transplant to date at the University of Maryland Medical Center. (University of Maryland Medical System)

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**FILE** President Obama stops for a photo with members of the Vox Harmonia Visual and Performing Arts Academy Salem High School during a Sept. 27, 2012, campaign event at Farm Bureau Live in Virginia Beach, Va. (Associated Press)

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Lloyd Shapley, one of two Americans who were awarded the 2012 Nobel economics prize, is pictured at his home in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles on Monday, Oct. 15, 2012. Mr. Shapley, 89, and Alvin Roth were recognized for their studies on the matchmaking that takes place when doctors are coupled up with hospitals, students with schools and human organs with transplant recipients. The work of the two scholars has sparked a flourishing field of research and helped improve the performance of many markets, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said. Mr. Shapley is a professor emeritus at the University of California at Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)

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Alvin Roth, a Harvard University scholar who is a visiting professor at Stanford University, takes a phone call at his home in Menlo Park, Calif., on Monday, Oct. 15, 2012, after being awarded the Nobel economics prize. Mr. Roth, 60, and Lloyd Shapley, 89, two Americans, were awarded the Nobel for their studies on the matchmaking that takes place when doctors are coupled up with hospitals, students with schools and human organs with transplant recipients. The work of two has sparked a flourishing field of research and helped improve the performance of many markets, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said. (AP Photo/Stanford News Service, Linda A. Cicero)

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A still frame from a YouTube video shows police officers beating a University of Maryland student after a basketball game on March 3, 2010.

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A Pakistani boy holds up a picture of 14-year-old schoolgirl Malala Yousufzai, who was shot on Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2012, by the Taliban for speaking out in support of education for women. The schoolboy and other children are attending a protest in Karachi, Pakistan, on Saturday, Oct. 13, 2012, to condemn the attack. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)

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Republican vice presidential nominee Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin answers a question during the vice presidential debate at Centre College. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)