We were all taught to "Just Say No," but when it comes to performance enhancers, is it okay to say yes?

Guess what percentage of U.S. students complete high school? 70 percent? 80 percent? 90 percent? A new study by America's Promise Alliance puts it at roughly 50 percent in many American cities.

A new startup Web site, Unigo.com, aims to be an impartial clearinghouse for real-life information on colleges and universities written and photographed by the students who attend them.

In the last few days, Wall Street has become ground zero for America's economic woes. As the markets play out worst-case scenarios, how are Wall Street anxieties reverberating on campus on business schools?

The events of September 11th still seem too fresh to qualify as American history. High school teachers are grappling with how to teach this event to kids, some of them just seven years old in 2001. Gideon Sanders is one such teacher who has thought about how to discuss this with his students. He joins The Takeaway to discuss how he's turning an emotionally fraught moment into an opportunity to teach the lessons of 9/11. Paloma Walker, a senior at McKinley Technology High School, also joins us.

College kids heading to school are also heading for sticker-shock when they discover the costs of this semester's textbooks. But Rich Baraniuk believes he has a solution: free, collaborative textbooks.

Hundreds of thousands of parents are flooding college campuses, decorating dorm rooms, eating lunch at the student union and driving back to an emptier home-- for the first time. To talk through the mix of emotions that parents are experiencing, and the best way to prepare for this life-changing event, we turn to family psychiatrist Alan Manevitz. And for context we check in with Sandra Markt-Reardon. She’s just driven her last kid off to college.

After Hurricane Katrina, colleges in the area, such as Tulane University, were not able to provide higher education, forcing students to look elsewhere for their education for the fall semester of 2005. When Tulane re-opened the following year, the decision of whether to stay at Tulane or transfer to their host school was a huge and major decision, altering lives for many students. New Orleans was still a wreck but most of the freshman students came back to study, determined to be part of their city’s future. The Takeaway talks to Amani Jambhekar, a senior at Tulane University.

Rising gas prices are forcing school districts to cut back on school bussing of students. For many it means longer rides and longer walks. Still, in the world of heavy traffic, working parents and longer bus routes, the new reality fosters real thought and growing concern about safety.

It turns out that in many parts of the United States, corporal punishment is still standard operating procedure. A joint Human Rights Watch and ACLU report finds that nearly a quarter of a million students were paddled or spanked last year. Adding insult to injury, black students and special education students received a disproportionate share of the punishment. The Takeaway explores what this says about the American school system and the culture that perpetuates these modes of discipline.

New Orleans has experienced a boom in charter schools and a renewed sense and mission for public education. It’s a grand experiment, and Paul Tough, an editor for the New York Times magazine, tracks it in this Sunday’s edition. Is this is a model for the nation or is it yet another dream deferred?

As the economy continues its downward spiral, schools across the country are cutting sports, art and music programs. In the Mount Vernon school system, two proposed budgets failed to pass and now students are bearing the brunt. The Takeaway talks to 16-year-old Sean Harris, a rising senior at Mount Vernon High who expected to play varsity basketball this year — until all of his school's sports teams were axed.

In 30 years, as Baby Boomers retire, there will be as many people over 80 as there are under 5. And there's another disturbing trend: The number of students entering geriatric medicine is dropping. As America ages, who takes care of the grandparents?

The future Donald Trumps of the world will soon need the help of a palm reader to ascend the corporate ladder. In an effort to finger cheats, aspiring CEOs will be screened by a high-tech identity device, known as a “palm vein” scan, before taking the Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT) as early as this fall.

Is the United States a nation with a fundamental misunderstanding of debt, financing and budgeting? "Freakonomics" author Stephen Dubner and a number of economics say it is. Dubner looks at how an absence of financial education hurts us during times of economic instability.

One hundred and fifty years ago, Charles Darwin's theories of evolution and natural selection were presented at the Linnean Society of London. A year and a half later, Darwin published what is now a monumental work: "The Origin of the Species." The Takeaway looks at Darwin's legacy and the continuing debate surrounding evolution.

Last week, the House of Representatives voted in favor of a World War II-style GI Bill for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. The Senate is expected to vote on it this week. Now that the White House has withdrawn its long-held opposition to the bill, a new generation of veterans could see a doubling of college benefits.

Byron Garrett is the first male CEO of the National Parent-Teacher's Association in 100 Years. The 35-year-old black is a former principal — not a parent, though he raised his nephews — and was appointed by the national board with a unanimous vote. Garrett calls The Takeaway from San Diego, where later this week the PTA will be holding its 112th annual national convention.