Online School During Snow Days???
It sounds completely bizarre, I know. However, throughout some districts in Chicago, the administration has decided to try something new. Instead of snow days being characterized by igloos, sledding, sleeping late, and hot cocoa, snow days will now be adorned with digital lessons, where teachers will be holding their classroom discussions online.
I read many comments online about differing opinions concerning the snow day classrooms. Many comments were from parents, happy about this educational shift. “Our kids don’t attend school enough as it is…by the time they graduate from HS, they can’t read, write, do math or evaluate/analyzing anything” –Commenter “BellaTerra”
I was pretty outraged by this comment, and by this policy that Chicago schools are adopting. First of all, a snow day isn’t a free day off; schools will have to postpone that day and make it up eventually. I understand that it is a burden to the teacher if they are in the middle of a lesson plan, but many times I feel as if snow days can be a relief to teachers too—who doesn’t like a nice “mental health” day every once in a while? Second, the lessons we learn from being outside and experiencing a snow day are just as important as attending school. Sure, maybe someone will be a day behind in Algebra class, but that does not mean that they won’t be able to “do math” as “BellaTerra” eloquently put it.
Snow days for me were branded in my mind by building snowmen with my siblings, racing my friends down a hill sledding, attempting to shovel walkways for my parents, making “snow cones” by pouring soda on snow (ew), and my mom’s homemade chicken noodle soup. Snow days were treasured, they still are, and I went into the classroom the following day recharged and ready to learn. In my opinion, it’s cruel to cancel these life-long traditions that are completely harmless to children. Education can be enriched and improved in so many other ways than creating a virtual classroom out of little Suzie’s kitchen. Time to be more creative, Chicago.
Clay Aiken Running for Congress…?
So what’s the next step after losing an epic singing contest to Ruben Studdard? Naturally, it’s running for a seat in Congress! Former “American Idol” runner-up, Clay Aiken, is trying to win a place in Congress representing the state of North Carolina. I’m sorry, no disrespect to you Mr. Aiken (fellow Dem), but I don’t think anyone would be able to ever take this guy seriously. Composing beautiful ballads to sing on stage is much different than composing meaningful legislation that will appear on ballots (see what I did there?).
In a NYT article, authors compose a list of five questions that they’d like to pose to Mr. Aiken to see if he is fit to answer. My favorite happens to be #2: “What are your thoughts on the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership and how it might affect the North Carolina manufacturing industry?” Ouch…
He is looking to replace current Republican Representative, Renee Ellmers, who ran as a Tea Party candidate in 2010. Aiken suggests that he has humble beginnings, which will help qualify him for the seat in the House…questionable. Regardless, I think Mr. Aiken, or any Democrat really, would have a difficult time winning a seat in the Second District of NC, an overwhelmingly Republican area.
READ MORE: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/02/05/clay-aiken-announces-run-for-congress-in-north-carolina/
Boston Bomber Sentenced to Death
To follow up on my last post, the Justice Department announced that it is seeking the death penalty against Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the young man accused of cooking homemade bombs and setting them off at the Boston Marathon finish line last year. The federal prosecutors have justified this decision by saying that Mr. Tsarnaev showed absolutely no remorse for the attack, there is viable evidence against him, and the fact that one of his victims was only 8 years old.
The death penalty is not as simple as it seems. It’s not like he is ordered to death and he will be going to the electric chair tomorrow. There will now be a sequence of events that follows this verdict. Many times, death sentences are used as a sort of plea bargain. Right now Mr. Tsarnaev is pleading non-guilty. Many times, he can exchange the death penalty in return for a guilty plea and a life sentence in jail. So far Mr. Tsarnaev has not made any public statements saying that he will be trying to go this route.
The trial will now proceed in two steps: first will be to thoroughly consider his guilt or innocence. If convicted as guilty, then Mr. Tsarnaev would essentially go in another form of a trial where all jurors would need to unanimously vote for a death sentence to be carried out.
Personally, I do not support the death sentence, mainly because I know our judicial system can have flaws, and it would be an irrevocable mistake to send an innocent man or woman to his or her death. However, in this case, I can understand and agree with the verdict. There is substantial evidence against Mr. Tsarnaev such as video surveillance that shows him putting a backpack down at the finish line and walking away. In addition, there was a shoot-out between the police and his brother, where Tsarnaev fled the scene only to be later found hiding in a boat in the backyard of someone’s house. That whole situation just doesn’t scream “innocent” to me…
Regardless of my opinion, this is a hot case, one of the most high-profile federal death penalty cases in over a decade. I will be sure to keep you updated with the continued details and progressions of this undeniably interesting case.
Have any suggestions of what you want to hear my two cents about??? Email me at gd011@bucknell.edu.