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As a new commemorative postal stamp depicting iconic author Mark Twain has been unveiled, a Baylor University scholar says there was more to anti-racist Twain than most people know – including a stint as a Confederate soldier and a boyhood in which he believed that slavery was right and righteous.

Twain, the author of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, grew to condemn slavery, but as a young man he was a second lieutenant in the Confederate militia. That lasted only for two weeks, but he was Southern-leaning in his early writings, and a Nevada governor once referred to him as “a damn secessionist,” said Joe Fulton, an award-winning English professor at Baylor.

The new stamp was issued June 25.

Fulton said that Twain “mustered in and blustered out of the war early,” using that experience to champion southern culture and values in writings in the 1850s and 1860s.

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An accountancy error has been blamed for overpayments that saw academies receive hundreds of thousands of pounds they were not entitled to.

The blunder is particularly pronounced in Hampshire where academies have been given an extra £300 per pupil – worth around £300,000 a year to the average secondary.

Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, admitted the error today but insisted it was down to “mistakes” by local authorities.

The disclosure came as the Coalition prepared to unveil a huge expansion of academies – independent state schools funded directly by central Government.

Under new plans, 200 of the worst performing primary schools in England will be removed from local authority control as early as next year and placed in the hands of a private sponsor. Another 500 could be converted into academies within three years.

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Lessons for under-11s should be toughened-up with a greater emphasis on fractions and basic algebra, the Education Secretary said.

He insisted that fundamental reform of maths education was needed to ensure the youngest pupils have a firm grasp of the subject by the time they start secondary school.

Mr Gove also signalled an overhaul of classes for those in secondary education, with calculus and statistics playing a more fundamental role.

In a further development, he suggested all sixth-formers should continue studying the subject in some form up to the age of 18 within the decade amid concerns that half the adult population currently lack “basic maths skills”.

The comments come amid fears that standards in English schools have “stagnated” while those in countries such as China, Singapore, Japan and Korea pull ahead.

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Los Angeles school board member Richard Vladovic’s chief of staff, David Kooper, has been named principal of Gulf Avenue Elementary School in Wilmington. He begins his new job today.

A San Pedro native who was a Los Angeles Unified School District teacher and magnet coordinator at South Shores Magnet School, Kooper has worked with Vladovic since his election in 2007.

Vladovic, himself a former LAUSD administrator, was re-elected this year and will be sworn in this morning.

Local District 8 Superintendent Michael Romero called Kooper an innovator and an instructional leader, saying he’s a good fit for Gulf Avenue – one of the local district’s three remaining year-round schools. Classes at the nearly 1,000-student campus start July 5.

Kooper said he was excited about the opportunity. Asked if spoke Spanish, Kooper replied: “Claro que si,” or “of course.” The school is more than 96 percent Latino.

Nora Armenta, who has been principal at Gulf Avenue since 2007, was earlier this month named director of early education programs across the district, Romero said.

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With National Ice Cream Day a scant two weeks away, National Snow Cone Day just past and National Frozen Yogurt Month in full throttle, national food expert Suzy Weems, Ph.D., RD, of Baylor University decided it was time to put frozen goodies under the nutritional and rehydration microscope.

What she spotted may come as a surprise — both in food value and the cool-down factor on a sweltering day, said Weems, chair of Baylor’s department of family and consumer sciences and a past chair of the American Dietetic Association’s legislative and public policy committee.

Ice cream — that darling of Norman Rockwell paintings — is seen as loaded with Vitamin D and calcium.

In reality, “Not the most nutrient-rich source, but a source,” Weems says. “It does have calcium along with Vitamin D, Vitamin A and some of the B-vitamins to help with energy release, along with about 2.5 to 3 grams of protein — not much, but more than none.” But there’s the question of whether it’s worth the calories — about 145 for a half cup of vanilla, 160 for chocolate chip, depending on the brand and richness.

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