What is your footprint?

                The Educational Leadership article “Footprints in the Digital Age” by Will Richardson elaborated on the importance of your footprint on the cyber world. Is a footprint bad? No all the time. A footprint on the internet can be very helpful to a person’s life if it shows some of his or her good qualities. Employers look at the footprint of a possible employee before hiring them. This can be a great thing or it could be a horrible thing. If the employer sees that the possible employee is hard working, talented, and a good all around person, then they will have a good chance of sealing that job spot. On the other hand, if he sees you with a bottle of beer in your hand and dancing like a maniac he will throw your application right into the circular file (trash can). “That a quick surf through the top five hits will fail to astound with examples of her creativity, collaborative skills, and change-the-world work. Or even worse, that no links about her will come up at all.” The author of this article is worried that his kids either won’t have a good footprint or that they might not have a footprint at all. I can see why he is worried about them having a bad footprint; but I can’t see why is worried about them having not footprint at all. By them having no footprint they cannot be judge by the employer and will not be given a false image. Sometimes no image is better than a good one because it lets the employer see who they are really hiring. They are hiring a person not a picture.

                Now that we are in a technology based society we need to learn to learn through technology; but we also need to keep traditional methods alive. Kids these days are resorting to technology too. Spell check is a great tool, but it isn’t completely accurate. It doesn’t correct fragments, grammar, and homophones. Most kids including me don’t have that key editing quality. These errors cause the reader to be confused and it takes away from the main point of the paper. Great ideas can be destroyed by faulty fluency and spelling.

In this day and age we need to learn about technology, we need to learn with technology, and we need to keep a clean digital footprint to survive in the rapidly changing web 2.0 world around us. What will your footprint display?

Is abortion a crime?

The New York Times article “Many States in Mexico Crack Down on Abortion” by Elisabeth Malken sparked a few thoughts about abortion in my mind.

            Is abortion legal? This question still has not been completely answered. I believe it is a question solely answered by opinion. I believe that it is the women’s choice, but others think the unborn child has constitutional rights even though it is not born yet. I’ve seen this situation turn a regular conversation into a heated argument. It happened with my mom and brother when they were talking about a project he did about abortion. It went from a common conversation to an argument before I knew it. My mom never argues, but when they started talking about abortion she argued like her life depended on it. This article explains how women in Mexico are not legally allowed to have abortions. If they get an abortion they are charged with murder. “The woman came into the hospital, bleeding, scared and barely out of her teens. But before anyone would treat her, the authorities had to be called.” This woman had an illegal abortion and was not allowed to be treated until she was interrogated by the police. I believe that this is unfair to the woman. She is suffering and possibly dying and they won’t help her. “The fear of being investigated means that even some women who want to be pregnant but have complications or lose the baby have to think twice about going to a hospital,” said Nadine Goodman.  

The new style of reading

In the Atlantic article “Is Google Making us Stupid” by Nickolas Carr the author shows how the internet is changing the way we think and read. “Now my concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages.” This quote shows how people can’t read long article anymore with our stopping for a break or rereading paragraphs that they skimmed earlier. I found myself doing the same thing as I read this article. I had to slow down and really try hard to even comprehend this lengthy article. Is this because of the internet? I don’t believe it is all due to the internet. I believe that new technology is the cause of this. People these days crave the easy way out of everything, and technology fulfills that craving. Instead of reading a book you can listen to a taped recording of a person reading it to you, or you can get a summery off of Spark notes. Instead of writing a letter to friend you can pull your cell phone out and text or call them. “I’m seeking convenience, but because the way I think has changed.” Is convenience a bad thing? Does it cause us to be lazy? I believe convenience causes us to become slightly lazier. Instead of reading a book to get information we log on to our computers and open up Google. The internet takes multiple hours off of homework each week, but what happens when you are taking the ACT and you can use a computer. Will you be able to read a long article and answer questions using your own brain? The internet is not all bad. In our time we must be able to multitask. Juggling school, family, sports, and other activities is not an easy task, but we must be able to do it. I believe the internet helps the user to multitask and to do research in a more effective way. The internet also helps to create opportunities for people all around the world. It promotes businesses, it helps people find jobs, and it helps get students into college. The internet can be a distraction or a life saver. It all depends on how you use it.

Who holds the blame?

The New York Times article “Visiting Ground Zero, Asking Allah for Comfort” by San Dolnick tells the tragic story of a Muslim family who lost their father and husband in the twin towers on 9/11.




The Traore` of New York did not ask for this tragedy to happen. They also didn’t ask for the hate that was generated toward the people of the Muslim faith after 9/11. After 9/11 many Americans began to blame the terrorist attack on Muslims in general. I don’t believe this is fair. A few men that happened to be Muslims chose to crash those planes into the towers. “That’s not fair,” she said. “It’s not because of Allah that these buildings fell.” The whole Muslim religion should not be punished for a few mistakes. If a Christian man decided to blow up a building would Christianity be blamed for his choice? I don’t believe it would. So if Christianity would not be blamed why are there so many Muslims being judged even today? I don’t believe it is right that some Muslims must hide their religion from people just so they will not be judged. These people are regular people just like you and me, but they face cruel judgments that we could never dream to have happen to us. How would you feel if you couldn't even walk down the street without people staring our saying rude thing to you or behind your back? What if you were stopped in the airport for extra searches when you had no previous felonies or anything to indicate that you were a terrorist except for the stereotype that was placed on you? Or even having your phone lines or computer hacked to spy on your every move? 2595 people died in the World Trade Centers. Out of those 2595 deaths 60 were Muslims. The Muslim religion should not be blamed for the 9/11 tragedy just because 19 cowards murdered 3947 people. “I’m proud to be Muslim,” she said. “I’m going to be Muslim until God takes my spirit.”

 

Is Technology the Future?

            In the video A Vision of Students Today by Michael Wesch he shows how technology is being brought into school in good ways and bad ways. In the video one student states that during class she would be on Facebook in stead of taking notes. At first you think that she is a bad student and should pay more attention to the teacher, but I bet if you had the chance to be on Facebook during class you would take it. Many students these days are substituting work time for social time. In my classes I see many students on their phones texting away. Then when they don't get all of their notes or if they don't understand the directions they think that their hard working partner is a valid resource to copy off or ask for directions. It makes me very mad when I’m in the middle of working and another person is looking over my shoulder or constantly asking for help when the teacher told everybody how to do the project. Is it that hard to wait until class is over to text your friends? Another problem is students that don't complete their homework because they are playing video games or on MySpace or Facebook. What do you do when your best friend comes up to you and asks to copy your homework because they were "too busy" to finish their homework? Technology can assist you in getting your homework done, but it can also hurt you. The temptation of listening to music or watching videos on YouTube is sometimes overwhelming. This hurts student grades and makes teachers work a lot harder to teach their students the materials that are needed to pass to the next grade.


           Not all technology is bad. Computers are used to get information, type papers and to communicate with teachers. Computers are a life saver when it comes to research projects. They can get all the information you need in the blink of an eye. They can print off pictures and print off papers that you typed. They can calculate your math homework in seconds and send your homework straight to your teacher. Computer can improve your performance in school if they are used in the right way.