Monday May 1: Out of the cabinet room and into the hot seat! Minister of Education Sandra Pupatello will take your calls on everything from large classes to curriculum issues, French Immersion to detentions. It's time to grade the system,

Tuesday May 2: For years we have been hearing that girls lag behind boys in sciences, boys lag behind girls in language skills, and that black and aboriginal kids lag behind the rest of the school population in achievement and retention. One of the trendier solutions has been to separate the boys from the girls, or blacks from whites, to create a comfortable environment where everyone is “the same”. But critics see it as a step backward, in that black students and the parents of children with disabilities fought for integration. Who is right? Does segregation make sense in our public school system? When should this option be considered and to what extent? What are the benefits, and what are the risks of segregation in education?

Wednesday May 3: For the past few years, the rate at which students drop out of secondary schools has hovered around 30 per cent. Why is this happening and what can be done to stop it? We will meet some students who left the system and we'll learn about the innovative programs that have drawn them back to high school. As well, our panel will address the many questions surrounding student retention: Dr. Alan King is a Queen's University expert who is a chief government advisor on this issue; Cathy Dandy is with the Toronto Parent Network; Dr. Bruce Ferguson is Head of the Community Health Systems Resource Group at the Hospital for Sick Children.

Thursday May 4: Walk into any elementary school classroom and you'll find children who are bullies, know a bully or are being bullied. In fact, 10% of children are regularly victimized by their peers; affecting their grades and overall self-esteem. So what can parents and teachers do? Parent Educator and author Barbara Coloroso will be here with McMaster Psychology professor Tracy Vaillancourt to provide solutions to the bullying epidemic. Also, join her via live web chat at www.tvo.org between 8 and 9 pm.

Sometimes, people learn best from their peers. Licensed to Learn Inc. (L2L) trains and certifies student tutors to offer academic help not otherwise available to large numbers of students who are academically at risk, underachieving or new to the English language. Cathy Martin, a teacher at Winona Drive Senior Public School in Toronto, and Lucia Chaplin, a grade 10 student also at Winona Drive, explain the ins and outs of the program.

May's theme is Literary Icons, Past and Present. For more information on Allan Gregg, please visit www.tvo.org/allangregg

Sunday May 7
Salman Rushdie  
Salman Rushdie is arguably the world's most famous living writer. But it's because of his ordeal as a marked man, more than his acclaimed novels. The death threat has since been lifted. And Rushdie now writes about that experience, as well as September 11th and other themes, in his new book of essays called, "Step Across This Line."

Sunday May 14
Allen Ginsberg
Allan Gregg interviews Allan Ginsberg, author of "Selected Poems 1947-1995."

Sunday May 21
Toni Morrison
Nobel Prize winning novelist Toni Morrison expands on the themes in her latest book, "Love." Among those themes, an analysis of the good things that were lost in Black communities after de-segregation.

Sunday May 28
Joseph Heller
Allan Gregg in conversation author Joseph Heller, creator of 'Catch-22', probably one of the most used phrases in North American language to describe the runaround of bizarre logic.

Sus Lee is perhaps one of the top chefs in the world and although he's had offers galore, he has chosen to make his home in Toronto. Restaurant patrons willingly shell out hundreds of dolaars to savour his dazzling creations-not bad for a high-school dropout who starting washing woks in Hong Kong. Tune in for a personal look at life in Susur Lee's kitchen.

On an unspecified Mediterranean island and with only rudimentary tools, five scientists pool their wits to accomplish a number of tasks.

Bullying often gets more pronounced and more pervasive as children get older. The National Film Board of Canada documentary uncovers the deep and disturbing trends we see today.

Join host Joe Motiki, Senior Pronouncer Tina Srebotnjak, and Junior Pronouncer Mary Ito as they capture all the spellbinding suspense at the 19th annual AIC Limited and Spelling Bee of Canada Ontario Championships at Convocation Hall, University of Toronto. For the third year in a row, TVO is partnering with the Spelling Bee of Canada (SBOC) to present the championships.

A grassroots volunteer initiative, SBOC has been operating in local Ontario communities since 1987. Over 30,000 children have participated - from Ottawa to Sioux Lookout and St. Catherines to Sudbury. The spelling bee fervour has also spread to other provinces, including Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Quebec, and British Columbia.