Welcome to Sad Salvation. Day by day by day by day ... this is my attempt to make sense of the world.

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Friday, April 27, 2007

Memo to Educational System: Duh

In the Mercury News there is a story about how schools are banning iPods because of cheating. This story makes me think two thing. First it turns me into "Back in my day" guy. None of my teachers would have let em get a way with having an iPod in class. It is a sign of disrespect to the teacher and it is a distraction. I am not even sure why kids would have iPods in class anyway. It is not going to help them learn, except in maybe music class.

The second think I think is for the schools, DUH, of course kids are going to use iPods to cheat. iPods had to be out five years before you figured that out. My high school banned walkmen. Cheating may or may not had something to ti with it, but I do know people back then who used their walkmen to cheat.

I know that iPods and computer tech makes it a little easier to cheat now. Leaving your book open in Spanish class is not as sexy as putting the answers on your iPod. Writing your cribsheet on your sock is not as tricky putting it as a text file on your iPod. If I was a teacher I would not be letting my students have iPods in class. That would be a simple call.

Labels: cheating, ipod, school, walkman

- Rich, 6:34 PM |

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

10 Myths about school shooters

I know why school shootings get so much attention. It is because school is supposed to be a safe place. It is almost like going onto an airplane. The student and the parents put their faith in the school to take custody of the student. We are willing to give up some of our control for the good of our student and all students at the school. We have faith that the system will work and school will benefit the students and society.

School is something that almost every American has in common. We all have some sort of experience at school. I might have hated school at times. There were years were I was tormented by other students. I tried to avoid them in the halls as much as I could, but I never thought my tormentor would kill me. I never thought I would kill them either.

I saw an article, 10 Myths about school shooters. Two of the myths really caught my eye.

Myth No. 1. He didn't fit the profile.

In fact, there is no profile. There is no accurate or useful profile of students who engaged in targeted school violence, the researchers found.

The stereotypes of teens in Goth makeup or other types of dress are not useful in preventing attacks. Just as in other areas of security -- workplace violence, airplane hijacking, even presidential assassination -- too many innocent students will fit any profile you can come up with, and too many attackers will not.

The demographic, personality, school history, and social characteristics of the attackers varied substantially, the report said. Attackers were of all races and family situations, with academic achievement ranging from failing to excellent.


Myth No. 10. School violence is rampant.

It may seem so, with media attention focused on a spate of school shootings. In fact, school shootings are extremely rare. Even including the more common violence that is gang-related or dispute-related, only 12 to 20 homicides a year occur in the 100,000 schools in the U.S. In general, school assaults and other violence have dropped by nearly half in the past decade.

Labels: list, news, school, school shooting

- Rich, 2:18 PM |

Monday, October 02, 2006

I Don't Like Mondays

The Amish Schoolhouse shooting is really effecting me today. I used to drive by that schoolhouse all the time. It was on my route between college and home. There is something very wrong about this. It is getting to me in a way that things have not got to me in a long time.


CNN.com - Police: Number of people dead in Amish school shooting - Oct 2, 2006: "NICKEL MINES, Pennsylvania"

WGAL.com - News - At Least Six Dead In Amish Schoolhouse Shooting

Labels: Amish, Lancaster PA, school, school shooting

- Rich, 12:03 PM |

Monday, October 08, 2001

Homework

I should be doing my homework right now. I am taking an grammar class. It is just so hard for me to sit down and do my homework. It is not that I am doing that many better things with my time. I just cannot sit down and focus on my homework. There are a million little things that are running though my head. This is what makes me think that I will never go back to school.

Labels: homework, school, work

- Rich, 8:58 PM |

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