Innumeracy's a big word for a malady many of us picked up in elementary school: the sweating palms, the shaking knees, the lightheadedness that occurs when a teacher says, "Please open your math books." Sadly, these symptoms may remain throughout life, manifesting itself during budget meetings at work and tax time at home. Strangely, carriers of innumeracy often wear their illness as a badge of honor. Unfortunately, it can also be contagious, spreading down the generations. Dave Youngs, mathematics education professor at Fresno Pacific University, has a warning and a solution in this week's Scholars Speak.

Helping others does not have to be a sacrifice, and Mennonite relief sales are living proof: everything from quilts and furniture to art and old books get sold, food from a variety of traditions gets eaten and everyone has fun, while raising millions for those facing poverty and disasters--natural and manmade. One such sale happens in Fresno April 4 & 5. Kevin Enns-Rempel gives a historic background to the event in this week's Scholars Speak.

Everyone wants children to become fluent readers. But how do we measure fluency? Is reading a speed sport, like auto racing, or a plunge for depth, like cliff diving? This week in Scholars Speak, Renee Mendel Lebsock, language and literacy professor at Fresno Pacific University, says the focus on fast reading misses the mark and offers alternatives.

Video cameras are making public places more public for private citizens. Supporters say they deter crime and help police put the bad guys behind bars. Opponents call them one more step toward the United States of Big Brother. Scott Key turns his eye to the subject in this week's Scholars Speak.

Practically since her first day as first lady, Hillary Clinton has engendered emotions far beyond those of normal politicians or political wives. When she ran for Senator from New York, interest ran as high as for a national campaign. Now that she's in a national campaign, both the right and left are aflame with—dare we use the word?—hate for Hillary. Hope Nisly wonders what drives this extreme dislike, and challenges us to examine what lies beneath in this week's Scholars Speak.

Ahhhh, water. Just open the tap and out it pours: cool, clear and clean. Nothing could be less complicated, right? Where have you been? Water is the latest fashion accessory. It comes in all manner of colors, styles and prices—each of which says something terribly important about the person who carries it. Forget little dogs, water is the consumer must-have of the moment! The few of us still scratching our heads over the sanity of that last paragraph may thirst for the clarity of Pamela Johnston's Scholars Speak.

What are we going to do about these young folks? No matter what we do, they won't go to church? Harrumph! But wait, studies show twentysomethings value faith and search for spirituality, just not in the ways and places their parents do. So, again, what is to be done? Tim Neufeld has some ideas this week in Scholars Speak.

So often we debate the Big Issues like peace and security in the abstract and over there: Iraq , not Clovis. Distance makes answers neat, tidy and obvious. But what happens when the choice bares its teeth at you in your own garage? Let Duane Ruth-Heffelbower—faculty in peace and conflict studies at Fresno Pacific University—tell you all about it in this week's Scholars Speak.

Individual freedom vs. collective security—a question as old as democracy that rose from the ashes of September 11, 2001. Can we have one without the other? Must we choose? Is the question too simple, or is it event the right one? In this week's Scholars Speak Scott Key, Fresno Pacific University professor and peace activist, presents his view of the current health of civil rights and a call to action to make things better.

Martin Luther King Jr. is more than a name from the past. The vision he expressed in the speech "Beyond Vietnam" reached beyond the issues of 1967 to—and beyond—the issues of today. Larry Dunn, Fresno Pacific University professor and member of the Center for Peacemaking and Conflict Studies, looks at King's words and their echoes for 2008 in this week's Scholars Speak.

Valley Episcopalians made a difficult decision earlier this month. In Scholars Speak this week, two Fresno Pacific University faculty—Eleanor Nickel and W. Marshall Johnston—who were on differing sides of the debate, provide a thought-provoking look at the issues, emotions and history behind the vote.

A young couple in town to be taxed stops at an inn, tired and footsore. Though he can plainly see the woman is about to give birth, the innkeeper forces them to the stables, earning a lasting place in the People You Love to Hate Hall of Fame. Had the innkeeper known who the child would grow up to be, might he have been a better host? Maybe. Or maybe the poor guy wasn't just a hard-hearted businessman, and maybe clearing his reputation is important at this time of peace on earth. That's Brian Schultz's point in this week's Scholars Speak.

The eternal question for parents: When will my child be old enough to ...? Fill in the blank with all of life's milestones. Date? Drive? Live on his or her own? Marry? Have kids? How about go to school? Over the years preschools have become more like regular schools, with organized curricula, formalized classes and goals, goals, goals. Some experts want to make them even more so, and require attendance at a younger age. This can't be bad, right? The quicker kids start learning, the better they'll do in school and the more they will succeed in life. Right? Scott Key makes a case for letting kids be kids, at least for awhile longer, in this week's Scholars Speak.

This week Scholars Speak offers a two-for-one offer on school dress codes from faculty of the Fresno Pacific University School of Education.

When it comes to global warning, most scientists say "yea" but a few stay with "nay." Is scientific unanimity possible? How much certainty is necessary to justify nonscientists taking action? These are the questions Michael Kunz, AIMS science professor at Fresno Pacific University, addresses this week in Scholars Speak.

If Sigmund Freud had the countries of Turkey and the United States on adjoining couches, what would he say about Armenia, admitting past mistakes, tough love and healing? That's what Jay Pope, Fresno Pacific University psychology professor, analyzes—sort of—in this week's Scholars Speak.

Television, movies, books, the Internet, newspapers and radio—each contains news, information and entertainment. Back when Lou Grant ran the newsroom, he made sure readers, listeners and viewers knew their real-life meat and vegetables from their fictional dessert. Today, has Fox Mulder taken over as editor?

That's what W. Marshall Johnston, Fresno Pacific University history professor, wonders in this week's Scholars Speak. Looks to him like journalists have lost their skepticism of the paranormal and ESP and voices from beyond aren't just for Halloween anymore.

Halloween is coming. For some a time to dress up for a little good-natured extortion in quest of candy. For others a time to fight the forces of darkness. Some schools have Halloween parties, others have harvest festivals. But is Halloween, like a costumed kiddie, hiding something? And are the secrets of the night even what we think they are? Pamela Johnston, history and classics professor at Fresno Pacific University, looks at Halloween's backstory and comes up with some surprising answers in this week's spooky Scholars Speak.

School counselors deal with students in a way no other educator does. In a job that's more than testing and filing results, counselors works with children and young people individually to see what makes them tick. At least, that's what school counselors do in a well-designed program that's supported by administrators.

In this week's Scholars Speak, Diane Talbot talks about what school counselors have to give in this age of educational accountability. Talbot is director of the Pupil Personnel Services Division in the Fresno Pacific School of Education, former school counselor and past president of several professional organizations.

Buddhist monks are dying in Burma fighting for freedom and democracy. Should Christians care? Do the two groups—whose theologies so differ—have any common ground? Can the faithful of two religions talk without compromising their beliefs?

Tim Neufeld, contemporary Christian ministries professor at Fresno Pacific University, thinks so, and talks about it in this week's Scholars Speak.