28 Matching Annotations
  1. Dec 2015
    1. In school, students may be able to write a few paragraphs, but it takes time to write an essay that is longer than a page. If it is not done after school, it won't be done at all.

      I wonder why then in the standardized tests like the ISAT's or the 'extended responses' expected students to write at least a one page paper in less than an hour.

    2. A recent news article about the case against homework cited a high school teacher who said that she would tell her students to read no more than 15 minutes a day in their assigned novel (Jane Eyre). How stupid is that? How can anyone, young or old, get engaged in a novel if he or she spends no more than 15 minutes a day reading? At that pace, it seems like this class will be reading the same novel all year, if they manage to finish it at all.

      Because most of the students are most likely interesting in a different genre than "Jane Eyre". It's a slow paced novel based in a past time. Students want to read something current that relates to them.

    3. Critics call homework a form of child abuse and say that it prevents children from engaging in wholesome activities.

      They say that because it does. Children would much rather be out socializing than being stuck inside doing homework.

  2. Nov 2015
    1. Video games have great educational potential in addition to their entertainment value.

      Isn't there a commercial going around for a child education website, where the way they learn is through video games? Education and entertainment can go hand in hand.

    2. What’s also clear from the scientific literature is that the negative consequences of playing almost always involve people who are excessive video game players

      To go even further, of that number- the players who excessively play- only the most extreme cases are the ones who suffer from the negative consequences. I know many people who play video games every day, and throughout the day, and none of them have really any of the negative side effects.

    3. The enhanced learning of the regularity and structure of environments may act as a core mechanism by which action video game play influences performance in perception, attention, and cognition.

      These can also appeal to real world situations.

    4. I know from my own research examining both sides that my papers on video game addiction receive far more publicity than my research into the social benefits of, for example, playing online role-playing games.

      People today will always focus on the bad, and blow them up to proportions where they were never meant to be. There will almost always be a good side to things, and one can take those into account while coming up with solutions to the bad sides.

    5. Purported negative effects such as addiction, increased aggression, and various health consequences such as obesity and repetitive strain injuries

      These are definitely a problem, but there are many different solutions to each of these. With addiction, simply take a break, maybe the players can go outside for a walk and stretch their legs. This would also help with the obesity problem. Along with that, there are many active games, so one would just have to find the right game to play. Same with aggression, if someone is angry because of a game, play a different one or take a break. Every gamer needs a break once in a while. That would help with the strain as well.

    6. Video games have an appeal that crosses many demographic boundaries, such as age, gender, ethnicity, or educational attainment. They can be used to help set goals and rehearse working toward them, provide feedback, reinforcement, self-esteem, and maintain a record of behavioral change.

      And with the rise in technology in this age, there is no doubt going to be more and more games being released every year. This is the time for people to get interested in these, and work towards making them better and more helpful even.

    1. They don’t understand what their teachers are teaching them and they feel like they are not learning. Our nation can—and should—do more.

      Yes they should. Like letting the students explore and find what they are interested in instead of making them learn things that bore them or are at a higher level than they should be learning.

    2. Eighth-grade students across the country also report that they rarely write lengthy answers to reading questions on tests

      Because they need more time for the large amount of questions that they most likely have yet to answer.

    3. Twenty-nine percent of eighth-grade math students nationwide, for instance, report that their math work is often or always too easy.

      Okay, so what about the other 79% of 8th grade students? They're most likely having trouble in class, but this article can only focus on the 29% of students that are having the easiest time.

    4. .All students, regardless of their family background, should have access to a high-quality education.

      While this is true, what happens once those students get in class? Are they expected to be at the same level as all the others even when they haven't had nearly the same amount of education?

    5. 72 percent of eighth-grade science students say they aren’t being taught engineering and technolog

      Engineering is actually one of the most popular and most needed jobs in this time. We need to give the students a chance to do what they love.

    6. More than a third of high-school seniors report that they hardly ever write about what they read in class.

      Isn't that good though? It's teaching students how to think for themselves and hone their creative talents.

    7. You might think that the nation’s teenagers are drowning in schoolwork. Images of sullen students buried in textbooks often grace the covers of popular parenting magazines, while well-heeled suburban teenagers often complain they have to work the hours of a corporate lawyer in order to finish their school projects and homework assignments.

      That's because it is. From what I've heard and know, it's usually only the students who know the real truth, but they're too afraid to speak out about it for the fear of failing.

    1. As it is, the educational systems risks "popping out robots who are on treadmills, with very little time to reflect," she said.

      The school system is brainwashing students into thinking that their whole lives depend on getting high enough grades. While this is true, the extent that it goes to is blown out of proportion. The assignments are being graded too hard, and the information within them might be too difficult for the students to process or learn at a fast enough rate to succeed. Each person learns at a different speed, and the school system ignores that.

    2. "In every class where a test was administered, there was cheating," Pope said. Students feel as if their life success depends on getting the top SAT scores and the highest grades, she added. The students "know [cheating] is wrong; they tell me they wish they didn't do it," she said. "But they feel like the most important thing they do is get the grades, by hook or by crook."

      We're raising a generation of liars and schemers.

    3. Denise Clark Pope
    4. Pressure for good grades often leads to high stress, cheating, professors say

      This is practically my thesis in a nutshell. This is definitely going to be a helpful article.

    5. Instead, panelists linked cheating to the social pressure put on students to prize high grades over education and other values, including creativity and imagination.

      Cheating is just one of the ways that this high stress can affect students. The school system is trying to make everyone look and think the same by giving out standardized assignments and created an atmosphere that students cannot be themselves.

    1. that local police should step down from the distanced, soldierlike stance and back away from the military stage

      This is what's making them look and act so 'tough' and 'above the law'. The police force- when they have such weapons- automatically think that they can scare anyone into doing anything. Take the large weapons away, and take away the police forces' ego.

    2. Early 19th-century law enforcement looked much different than it does today

      But then again, some of the crime back then was different too.

    1. Pentagon data suggest how the police are arming themselves for such worst-case scenarios. Since 2006, the police in six states have received magazines that carry 100 rounds of M-16 ammunition, allowing officers to fire continuously for three times longer than normal. Twenty-two states obtained equipment to detect buried land mines.

      I know that the systems are trying to protect people, but sometimes bigger isn't always better, and the people that are being "protected" aren't always doing so.

    1. “Those laws were meant to take a guy out for selling $1 million in cocaine or who was trying to launder large amounts of money,” said Mark Overton, the police chief in Bal Harbour, Fla., who once oversaw a federal drug task force in South Florida. “It was never meant for a street cop to take a few thousand dollars from a driver by the side of the road.”

      People should have seen this coming and prepared for it. It's the human race, we're always being greedy.

  3. Oct 2015
    1. “you used to, you used to”

      This is one of the only things that I could even understand. I couldn't tell what he was saying most of the time. People should be able to hear the artist and what they're saying, not just incoherent mumbles.

    2. Music video editing can make the most uncomfortable, near-pubescent artist seem exceedingly cool.

      It's like they don't want us seeing people for who they truly are, and to strive to make ourselves like what we are exposed to, what we cannot be.

    1. How Volkswagen Got AwayWith Diesel Deception

      This article is another example to support my current thesis, explaining what happened with Volkswagen and how they have gotten away with using this system for so long. The diagrams included in this article give a clear view on how the cars worked, and the graphs farther on explain the amount of sales and stock that have either risen or dropped. Much like the other article, this gives a good example for the companies that have something to hide.