School Bans Pens and Pencils

This article talks about a school principal in North Brookfield, MA who banned pens and pencils in school. Mrs. Scott wrote a letter home to students and their parents informing them that the students were not allowed to bring and carry around pens and pencils. They banned students from bringing school supplies because they could be used as potential weapons. Students were provided with pencils from their teachers when they arrived to school, and they were collected upon leaving. In my opinion I think this is rediculous. These students are in sixth grade, they should be able to be trusted carrying around a pen. I could understand if this was a rule with yonger students in kindergarden, but not sixth grade. Students should have the right to simply carry around a pen/pencil just like every other student does in school. I feel like this is a lack of trust in students. Just because a couple of students have used pens/pencils inappropriately does not mean that every other student should not have the privledge to carry around necessary school supplies.

Should We Be Good at School?

I just read this blog by Tony Baldasaro. It talks about if being good at school has any relation to our futures. In some ways I do think being good at school can be beneficial to our future careers. Most people figure if you get good grades in school, then why wouldn't you be successful in the future. I also think that just because you were good at school does not neccesarily mean that you will be good at your career. I feel like schools have has the same routine for a long time. Students sit in assigned seats, listen to teachers talk, and go home and do homework assignments. In my opinion I don't think that really teaches us anything for our futures. Also, most schools do not educate students based on what career they would like to get into after high school. I think that being good at school is mostly irrelevant to being successful in our future careers.

Be Careful Posting On The Internet

Websites like Twitter and Facebook can be very useful and beneficial, if used correctly. Last January a man joked about bombing an airport on Twitter. Things like that can be completely prevented. People definately have to have good judgement when posting things on the internet. Even if something is posted as a joke, others can take things the wrong way. It just takes one person to be offended by a post and report it. Even though this man claims he was joking, it is still serious. People should not joke about things such as a bomb threat because someone is going to read it and report it becasue they may be concerned for others safety along with their own. Lately I have been reading a lot of articles on people getting into trouble for what they post on the internet. It is so important to be careful and to really think before you post something on the internet for everyone to see.

Ipads for every student

I think the idea of students having their own ipad next year is good and bad. The ipad can be a very helpful tool. It contains many applications that can be used for educational use. You can download different types of calculators, text documents, periodic table, and note taking pads. These applications can be very helpful in the classroom and it would make it easier on the students because they would not have to carry around textbooks and notebooks. The downside of the ipad is that not all people like to use touch screen electronics. I am not a fan of using anything that has a touch screen. I would much rather use a laptop over an ipad just because I feel that it would be less difficult for me.

A Student's View

I read the article A Students View about a high school freshman Katie who is not a fan of high school. Of course no one likes to wake up early everymorning and go to school five days a week, but I do believe it is worth it. Getting an education is so important. Katie says she hates school, it's boring and meaningless. I feel the exact opposite of that. I actually like going to school, yet some days I absolutely dread it, but for the most part it really isn't bad. Some classes can be boring but there is always going to be one or two classes that jist dont interest you. I disagree that school is meaningless. I think it is very important for everyones future. Education can help people get into college and eventually get a job later on. I do understand that a lot of people have the same feelings as Katie does about school, but I think at some point they will realize that school is not meaningless.

Formspring

Formspring is a website which allows people the create their own page for others to post comments. These comments can be posted anonomously or you can choose to have your name shown next to your post. I think that Formspring is not a good website. People use this for the wrong reasons. I have seen other Formspring accounts and the comments people make are so negative. There is really no point to having a Formspring account in my opinion. I have not made one and I do not plan on it. I don't know why someone would want to know all of the bad things people think about them.

Skloog

http://www.skloog.com/

I think Skloog is a great tool. It is a tool used for online bookmarking. Skloog allows you to add a bookmark of all of your favortie websites. This tool makes it easier to bookmark your favorite websites instead of having to save a website toy your favorites. I think it is easier because it is a whole page with pictures of your bookmarked websites, so it makes it much easier to find the website your looking for instead of reading a whole list of your bookmarks, which could take forever to find. I think this could be extremely beneficial for projects. Students should use this tool to bookmark the websites that they use for their projects. This can help when students have to site their sources at the end of the project. All they have to do is open up their Skloog and all of the organized bookmarks are listed.

Why do I have to study [Fill in the Blank]?

I disagree with the students who think that math and english are pointless to study in school. No matter what students are going to do in the future, I believe that math and english are imperative courses to take. I agree that certain math classes like triginometry and calculus are pointless. In my opinion I do not think most people will ever need to know that in order to succeed at their job. But, I do think math such as adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing are crucial for people's future. I also think that english is one of the most important classes to take. English helps people with reading and writing. I think that english allows people to do well in their other courses also. I think that some students think this way because of influence from past teachers. Some teachers may not take their class as seriously as other teachers, which is why I think that students think this way as a result of that.