Assigned Topics
May 10, 2009
Life 101
No doubt it is important to teach students about their duties and functions in the world outside of high school, but what specifically should be taught for today’s world? If there was a class called Life 101, it should teach how to manage money. Managing money involves buying the right things at the right time, as well as saving and investing money wisely. I know if I had to live by myself right now, I could have a full time job. But I wouldn’t know where to go past looking for a place to lay my head. Would I look for dinner? Stock up? Buy a car? Continue to go to school or work?
I know once I get out of college, I’m going to have to deal with managing money and it scares me. I have no idea where to start. My parents will probably help me but what if they weren’t here? Perhaps the class should be more in depth than managing money. It should encompass everything it takes to live on your own and start generating your income. Nobody tells you what to do when you move up from middle school to high school or even high school to college, but when you’re out of college, you’re truly on your own. Maybe I’m a little too reactive about the situation, but it does scare me.
April 26, 200
Watch What You Say
The internet is an unimaginably vast network that contains trillions of bytes of information. Social networks such as Facebook and Myspace provide places for teens to chat, share, and connect with others. Millions of messages and comments are sent each month. Some are for chatting and conversation, but many are responses to status messages or survey answers that reveal a little too much about a person. “25 Things About Me”, a survey that has flown around Facebook, asks the user to write 25 random facts about themself. Writers dig through their brains trying to come up with facts that will generate the most scrutiny or response without realizing how personal some of their facts are. They may think that their responses are funny or intriguing, but to many readers these facts are unwanted. Many people don’t want to hear about someone’s experiences with relatives or the time someone had an awkward moment. This is partly because the majority of friends on Facebook are merely acquaintances and don’t even come in daily contact with others. Revealing personal stories also has the potential to hurt a person’s reputation in the future. Once you upload data to the internet, it’s near impossible to take it out. Data can be retrieved by anyone in the world at anytime until it is deleted, but even if the original file is deleted, copies have already been made on numerous other computers. The same goes for provocative pictures. While I was looking through my list of friends on Myspace, I noticed a person whose profile picture was of herself. She was scantily clad and had a suggestive look on her face. Anyone could have taken the picture and used it against her, and an image search could easily turn it up. Blackmail, trouble with parents, and stalkers were all possibilities. Another area where teens need to be careful sharing information is with profile info, or personal information. I have seen kids post their phone numbers, cities, and even addresses. This is extremely stupid and dangerous; there is no need to share so much when you could simply tell a friend where you live rather than post it on the internet where everyone in the world can see it. Once you put data into the internet, it’s there to stay.
Teens need to think twice about what they’re writing and sharing on the internet. Pictures that put a person in a bad light should never be shared on the internet because of risk from blackmail and future opportunities. Personal facts are often undesired and unnecessary to be shared. Personal information should be highly protected. Teens often take on a mindset of foolish confidence; they think that nothing could ever happen with what they put on the internet. It’s time to realize that everything you say can be retrieved at any time.
March 29, 2009
Generation OMG!
Generation OMG seems to be a fitting name for my generation. Most of us have grown up with technology, and we can’t live without it. Texting and instant messaging have long since become commonplace in our lives, and it’s apparent when you observe students in the halls. A good portion of kids, including me, walk with their heads buried in their phones while typing messages to friends. Kids sneak texts during class when the teacher isn’t looking or if they have good seating position in the classroom. AIM, or AOL Instant Messenger, largely popularized acronyms such as LOL, ROFL, and OMG. Acronyms are so widely used that people even use them in speech. I have heard kids say “oh-em-gee” in exasperation, sarcasm, and surprise. If a study was done to find out how many hours the average kid spends on the computer every week, it would probably be around fifteen to seventeen hours. Parents often reprimand kids for excessive texting and chatting, but we keep on chugging away on our devices. Perhaps there is a certain allure to technology that draws us in; it may be the fact that we have grown up with technology and come to embrace it as part of our lives. Cell phones and computers are as natural to us as cassettes and 8-tracks were decades ago to previous generations. We have certainly become the most technologically influenced generation of all time, but the next generation of kids will be even more in tune with technology. Still, we will hang on to our precious AIM and text messages for as long as we can, as we are Generation OMG.
March 15, 2009
Let Them Be!
After reading “Are We Failing Our Geniuses?” I’ve been enlightened on an issue that I never knew existed. I never knew that gifted students were faced with depression, loneliness, and other hardships from going to school. I always thought that genius wouldn’t have the same problems that many of us had; I figured that if they’re geniuses, then they are above the rest of us. However, they are just as human as the rest of us. Schools need to provide systems of education that allow these kids to learn at their own paces, and not by the systems that are for average children. Holding these gifted kids back hurts them, both emotionally and intellectually. We need to provide comfortable and engaging environments for them where they can feel welcome and challenged with peers at their level. Eight billion dollars were spent annually on special education programs while only eight hundred million dollars were spent on gifted education. I agree with John Cloud, the author of the article: we should spend more on gifted kids, because they are just as special as mentally retarded kids. It is important to give a good education to all, but does it make sense to spend more on kids that will at most make proficiency rather than let gifted students reach as high as they can? It’s time we looked at the other side of special education and noticed that gifted students are just as human as we are.
March 1, 2009
Separate But Equal
I agree with the idea of single gender classes for several reasons. First, studies have shown that girls and boys learn differently. Girls are believed to use the left half of the brain more often, which is associated with speech, writing, and reading; assignments that involve expression and creativity are then more helpful for girls. English classes could be split by gender, giving boys and girls the opportunity for different styles of learning. Most boys are not nearly as expressive and emotional as girls are, which turns out in our writing. Second, a class has less distractions when one gender is absent. There is less opportunity for disruption when boys are by themselves in a class and vice versa. This would give the teacher more time to teach because of less disruption. Third, in a single gender school gender roles would be discouraged; boys would be more likely to take classes traditionally associated with girls, such as child development and design. Girls would be more likely to take classes involving sciences and math. Stereotypes and traditions would be broken. Lastly, gym classes could be separated to accommodate different ability levels. Boys are naturally stronger than girls and separating the class would not hurt anyone.
However many pros there are for single gender classes, there must be limits. It has been decided that single gender schools’ attendance must be voluntary and that the services offered for both genders must be equal. I strongly agree with these points; it would not be right if segregated classes were made mandatory and if boys or girls were disadvantaged in any way. I also believe that interaction with the opposite sex is very important to development. Both genders have different modes of thinking and processing, and opposite genders can use each others’ opinions. In the workplace, we work with the opposite sex as well and interacting with the opposite sex in school only helps us.
February 16, 2009
Computer literacy is surely taking over verbal literacy. Verbal literacy is still important to have, but its significance in the world is decreasing as more and more people use computers. Computers are being integrated into every part of our lives; for example, the police use computer systems that are integrated in patrol cars to organize files, communicate with HQ and officers, and other things. Businesses use computers to write documents, manage payrolls, organize documents, create new products, communicate with others, and present new ideas.
I’ve been using computers since I was in the 2nd grade. I had figured out how to play my games and use the internet after a few days of playing around on the computer. Little did I know the vast world of information I had tapped into. The internet allows us to access an unmeasurable amount of information. When I research a topic, I can find dozens of sources within minutes using Google. If I tried to do the same with only books, it would take at least a day of research to have the same amount of information as with Google. Computers are much faster to write and research with. You can access a website almost instantly, read the information it has, and leave it within a minute. The same process with books involves physically finding relevant books, which takes as much time as the whole process on a computer.
Verbal literacy is a good skill to have, but using computers is more efficient than doing things by hand. Computers are almost everywhere in America, and knowing how to use one emopowers you.
February 1, 2009
Matthew 16:26
“What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul?”
This quote from Jesus Christ comes from a lesson about what is truly important in life. It is certainly possible for someone to achieve all of his or her desires in life and wake up another day to find that he or she missed out on the most important things. A classic example of this is a married businessman with a family. He is usually a high level executive of some sort and has a lot of responsibility at his company, so he spends the majority of his time at work, leaving his family neglected and saddened. Eventually, the situation breaks down to the point when the father realizes his folly and responsibility of fatherhood.
This quote questions our purpose in life. As a Christian, I believe that my purpose on Earth is to prepare myself for eternity in Heaven and to spread the Gospel to everywhere I can. Earthly goods and values are worthless to Christians because they are nothing compared to the treasures we believe are in Heaven. I can’t say I have no desire to have lots of money or buy a nice car, but I am slowly working towards that.
January 18, 2009
In times like these, it becomes even more important to save money than to spend it. Although most teens don’t have steady incomes, we still spend money for our own purposes and desires. One of the first ways to save money is to cut back on the amount of gas we use. Many of us have licenses and the freedom to choose where we want to go with our cars. If you have to pay for gas yourself, cutting back on your trips can reduce costs. Although gas is below $2 a gallon, it is still beneficial to save gas and money. It could add up to a lot of savings in the long run. One way to save gas is to simply not use the car for some trips. If a place you want to go to is within a couple of miles and the roads are fairly clear, then riding a bike or walking is a great alternative to driving your car. You would get some exercise, reduce emissions, and save gas money. It’s beneficial in three ways, although some people don’t believe in the whole global warming and carbon emissions issue.
A second way to save money is to monitor spending on extra things, such as clothes. This probably isn’t as applicable for boys as it is for girls, but it can still be helpful. In a broader sense, a monthly checkup of spending on non-necessities can tell you how much you’re spending. Instead of going out to the mall every week, cutting it back to once a month can be helpful. Another extra thing that can be reduced is leisure spending, such as the movies. It costs about $20 for one person to watch a movie and buy a drink with nachos. Watching a movie every week can become costly. If you watch only the blockbuster movies at the theaters, it can save money. You can always rent or pirate movies at home for a much lesser cost.
