• Chicago students head back to school after strike

    M. Spencer Green / AP

    Students gather outside Benjamin E. Mays Academy for the first day of school on Sept. 19, after Chicago teachers voted to suspend their first strike in 25 years. Union delegates voted overwhelmingly Tuesday night to suspend the walkout after discussing a proposed contract settlement with the nation's third largest school district.

    More than 350,000 Chicago Public School students returned to class Wednesday after seven days off during the city's first teacher strike in 25 years.

    "We feel very positive about moving forward," Chicago Teachers Union president Karen Lewis said Tuesday after the union's nearly 800-member House of Delegates voted to end the strike. "We feel grateful that we have a united union, and that when a union moves together we have amazing things happen."

    Teachers said they're excited to get back to work after voting on the tentative deal article-by-article. One point even received a standing ovation: the freedom for teachers to create their own lesson plans. Full story…

    Scott Olson / Getty Images

    Students at Frazier International Magnet School wait outside before the start of school on Sept. 19 in Chicago, Ill.

    M. Spencer Green / AP

    Leslie Sabbs-Kizer, right, walks her children Nkai Melton, 8, Akaira Melton, 7, and Khaymya Smith, 3, to Bond Elementary school in Chicago, for the first day of classes Wednesday morning, Sept. 19, after Chicago teachers voted to suspend their first strike in 25 years.

    Scott Olson / Getty Images

    Mayor Rahm Emanuel greets students as they arrive for school at Frazier International Magnet School on Sept. 19 in Chicago, Ill.

    The Chicago Teachers Union finally reached a deal Tuesday, compromising on a pay increase and school reform. NBC's Brian Williams reports.

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  • Chilean students protest in support of education reform in Santiago

    Claudio Santana / AFP - Getty Images

    A student is arrested by riot police during a protest to demand Chilean President Sebastian Pinera's government to improve public education quality in Santiago, on Aug. 28.

    Claudio Santana / AFP - Getty Images

    Students clash with riot police during a protest to demand Chilean President Sebastian Pinera's government to improve public education quality in Santiago, on Aug. 28.

    See more photos from Chile on PhotoBlog.

  • A day of anxious waiting for parents in China as students take college entrance exams

    AP

    Parents wait outside a closed gate of a school where their children are taking the annual national college entrance exams in Fuyang, in central China's Anhui province, June 7.

    Carlos Barria / AFP - Getty Images

    Parents wait outside the Shanghai No.1 High School during the first day of the China's annual national college entrance exam in Shanghai June 7,

    AFP - Getty Images

    Chinese parent wait as their children take the tough college entrance exams or Gaokao, in Wuhan, central China's Hubei province on June 7.

    Carlos Barria / AFP - Getty Images

    A happy mother greeting her daughter after finishing the first day of the tough college entrance exams or Gaokao, in Beijing, June 7.

    Carlos Barria / Reuters

    A student and her father leave Shanghai No.1 High School after finishing China's annual national college entrance exam in Shanghai, June 8.

    Carlos Barria / Reuters

    A student and her mother leave Shanghai No.1 High School after finishing China's annual national college entrance exam in Shanghai June 8.

    More than 9 million students sat China's notoriously tough college entrance exams with "high-flyer" rooms, nannies and even intravenous drips among the tools being employed for success, and with just 6.85 million university spots on offer this year, competition for the top institutions is intense, and attempts to cheat are rife -- 1,500 people have been arrested on suspicion of selling transmitters and hard-to-detect ear pieces.   

    More photos on PhotoBlog of Chinese students taking their entrance exams in 2011.

  • Violent confrontations between student protesters and police in Spain

    Lluis Gene / AFP - Getty Images

    Firemen extinguish a fire after clashes between students and policemen during a demonstration against austerity measures in Education on Feb. 29 in Barcelona. Students across Spain staged sit-ins and noisy demonstrations over crisis spending cuts, labour market reforms and recent police violence against protestors.

    Albert Gea / Reuters

    A man confronts hooded protesters who were vandalizing a bank during a protest against cuts in public education in Barcelona, on Feb. 29.

    Jose Jordan / AFP - Getty Images

    Students demonstrate to protest austerity measures in Education on Feb. 29 in Valencia. Students across Spain staged sit-ins and noisy demonstrations over crisis spending cuts, labor market reforms and recent police violence against protestors.

    Spanish students in Barcelona clashed Wednesday with police and set fire to garbage containers during nationwide protests against education spending cuts.

    Police said officers in riot gear charged a crowd outside the stock market in Spain's second largest city after protesters who had broken away from a peaceful rally of thousands threw rocks and other objects. Authorities made an unspecified number of arrests.

    The fire in the containers spread to a car and protesters smashed a bank window.

    The country is enduring steep austerity cuts and the prospect of recession as the government tries to stem an unemployment rate of almost 23 percent. Among those under age 25 it approaches a staggering 50 percent.

    Read the full story.

    -- Associated Press

    Lluis Gene / AFP - Getty Images

    Students burn a doll representing the death of the public university system in front of Barcelona's stock exchange during a student's demonstration against austerity measures in Education on Feb. 29 in Barcelona. Students across Spain staged sit-ins and noisy demonstrations over crisis spending cuts, labor market reforms and recent police violence against protestors.

    Lluis Gene / AFP - Getty Images

    Students clash with policemen during a demonstration against austerity measures in Education on Feb. 29 in Barcelona. Students across Spain staged sit-ins and noisy demonstrations over crisis spending cuts, labor market reforms and recent police violence against protestors.

    Lluis Gene / AFP - Getty Images

    Students protest during a demonstration against austerity measures in Education on Feb. 29 in Barcelona. Students across Spain staged sit-ins and noisy demonstrations over crisis spending cuts, labour market reforms and recent police violence against protestors.

     

  • Lee Jae-won / Reuters

    Students attend a sit down demonstration as they are flanked by police blocking them in central Seoul May 29. Hundreds of university students attempted to march towards the presidential Blue House to demand South Korean President Lee Myung-bak fulfil his presidential election pledge to cut tuition fees by half. The police detained dozens of student protesters.

    S. Korean students demand president keeps pledge to cut tuition fees

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  • Norm Dettlaff / AP

    Erica Aguilera, left, throws snow on Cassandra Gonzales, both 16, on Thursday, Feb. 3, as the two Las Cruces High students spend their snow day away from school at Sunrise Terrace Park in Las Cruces, N.M.

    Students enjoying snow day in Las Cruces, N.M.

    By James Cheng

    It's refreshing to see people having fun in the snow for a change.

    See more images from the storm that trek across the U.S. here.

  • Dan Kitwood / Getty Images

    Students march around Westminster protesting against planned increases in tuition fees and maintenance grant cuts on November 24, 2010 in London, United Kingdom.This is the second student day of action and a student march on the 10th November caused widespread damage to Millbank Tower and the Metropolitan police were accused of greatly underestimating the amount of demonstrators. There are plans to raise the student tuition fees in England to around £9,000 a year instead of the current £3,000.

    Protesting tuition hikes in the United Kingdom

    By John Brecher

    We've seen a number of pictures recently showing students protesting against tuition increases in England. This photo shows a scene there, but it also plays a little with perception, finding a moment that's interesting outside the context of the protest.