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Due to extreme cuts in California’s budget, schools are not being given as much money as normal, and so teachers can’t afford to buy all of the paper they need for tests, handouts, and so forth. In order to raise money to afford to print out papers, one teacher has a creative solution: sell advertising space.

According to USA Today, a high school teacher in San Diego has begun selling advertising space on his paper to help meet the costs of supplies. Read the rest of this entry »

So luckily, my TA for a discussion section on Tuesday night decided to cancel it due to the election, so I was able to watch the results fully as they unfolded.

As I mentioned earlier, I am an Obama supporter, and at first I was a bit anxious watching the votes come in — while Obama was doing well, he wasn’t winning anything Kerry hadn’t in 2004. But as the night went on, he began to do better and better, and of course he ended up winning it.

Although I disagreed with him on many issues, I do have a good deal of respect for John McCain and I think he was a reasonable candidate. Had McCain been our president for the last 8 years instead of Bush, I think our country would be in a different position than it is now. But, in the end, I feel that Obama’s stances are more along the lines of where we need to go.

The rest of the Western world was pretty in favor of us electing Obama, and I think we’ve begun to redeem ourselves for a lot of what’s gone wrong over the last 8 years.

How Obama will do remains to be seen, but I’m optimistic.

So, we finally have come to Election Day in the United States.

This is undoubtedly a big election, one in which a lot more people have been taking interest. Without interjecting too many of my political beliefs, I would guess the surge in interest comes from many believing that the United States is headed in the wrong direction, and so many want to have a voice in what direction the country takes. This election could sport one of the best voter turnouts ever.

There has been a lot of attention throughout this election. The primaries, normally a rather fast process, were drawn out quite a bit (see: Democrats), and the choice of Sarah Palin as McCain’s vice presidential nominee definitely spiced things up a bit as well. A lot is hanging on this election, from decisions about Iraq and the economy to decisions about healthcare and education. There is no doubt that our choice of president will greatly influence what path the country takes for the next four years.

Although it’s much too late for me to encourage people to register to vote, it isn’t too late for me to encourage registered voters to go to the polls. So much is hanging on this election: to simply turn a blind eye is to show a complete lack of care for the potential effects on the lives of many Americans.

I voted already via mail-in ballot, and I personally voted for Obama. I have my reasons, just as voters for McCain have their reasons. I have been following FiveThirtyEight lately, and am a bit curious how accurate their predictions are.

Regardless of who wins, I’m hoping that this election is not plagued by cheating (from either side), though undoubtedly something will come up. I just want an honest election, where the candidate who becomes president is truly what America wanted.

So without further ado, the big daddy:

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In order to cut down on teen drinking, Milford will begin breathalyzing students to make sure they are sober before they can enter school dances. Students who refuse to take the test will be suspended for 10 days.

Is breathalyzing students really necessary?

As far as I’m concerned, this is just another sad way to automatically assume that students are up to no good. What grade levels are going to be breathalyzed? Are middle school students going to have to pass a test? Usually it’s pretty clear if a student is intoxicated, there are a lot of obvious signs. Forcing every student to take a breathalyzer is insulting to the students who don’t drink (which makes up the majority).

What do you think? Is this going too far, or is this a necessary precaution?

In San Antonio, Texas, a school is trying out new ankle bracelets for students who have been caught ditching class or who have had discipline problems, it seems. The bracelet will monitor them using the GPS system, so authorities will be able to track where the kids are round-the-clock.

Students will not be able to remove the bracelet for up to six months.

This is terrible. What right does the school have to know where a kid is all hours of the day? Everybody needs privacy, and being forced to be monitored around the clock for something as tame as skipping a day of class is just pathetic. Privacy is valuable to everyone, and to know that someone could be watching you all the time just shows the sad direction we’ve been heading in discipline for some time now.

Not only is it a civil liberty question, this policy also won’t really benefit the student. What happens when these kids go to college or get a job? They aren’t going to have an ankle bracelet there, and they’ll be free to skip class or bail on work whenever they want to. The best way to help to start good habits about attending class is to create relevant punishments — perhaps they can’t turn in their work from that day they missed, perhaps they can’t take the test when they come back, etc. The punishment needs to relate to the class itself, and it should definitely not infringe on a student’s privacy.

The only time I can see this measure being logical is when the student’s whereabouts are a matter of safety to other students. As a punishment, it’s not at all effective. Along with making kids wear prison jumpsuits for violating the dress code, this seems to be yet another way to associate students with prisoners. Students go to school to learn how to be adults, not to be watched over like criminals.

What do you think? Is this going too far or is there a good reason to resort to GPS ankle bracelets?

Lately, more and more schools have begun considering a ‘pay-for-performance’ method, where kids are rewarded for high test scores. Basically, if a student scores well on a test, then both that student and the teacher will receive some sort of cash reward.

Should money be given to students for doing well on tests?

Students in AP classes will receive more of an award because they are taking a harder class. Apparently, this has already created a 60% increase in the enrollment in some AP classes.

The idea is that by providing a direct incentive like money, kids will be more motivated to take tests more seriously and to push themselves to take a harder class.

As with the school uniforms debate, this is a controversial issue as well. Many believe that the money could be better used elsewhere: to reduce classroom sizes, to provide better learning materials, and so forth.

Currently seven states take part in it: Arkansas, Alabama, Connecticut, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Texas, and Virginia, with plans to expand.

From a student’s point of view, I can definitely see this being nice. I took fairly advanced classes without having money to motivate me, but I might have taken one or two more if I would have received something for it. And, of course, being paid for ones I was already taking would have been cool too.

So what do you think? Is paying kids to do better worth it, or should that money be spent elsewhere? For more info on the idea, read this news article.

The other day, I was reading a blog post how Texas schools are considering forcing students who violate the dress code to put on a prison jumpsuit. While that doesn’t directly relate to school uniforms, it got me really thinking more and more about the ever-continuing debate about whether or not school uniforms are worth the trouble.

One thing I’ve noticed about the school uniform debate is that parents tend to be more in favor of it, and kids tend to be more opposed. Being young, I’m against it. I went to a private school where uniforms were required from kindergarten right through 6th grade, then I went to public school where free dress was the norm from then on.

I have to admit, when you’re at a school where uniforms are already a policy, being told what to wear doesn’t seem like a big deal at a time. But if a school were to switch from a free dress policy to a uniform policy… that wouldn’t go over so well.

The school uniform debate is undoubtedly a complex issue, but here are some commonly discussed pros and cons and what I make of them:

Read the rest of this entry »