Thursday, August 28, 2008

So Much Unfairness of Things

So Much Unfairness of Things

The story So Much Unfairness of Things was a great story about a confused boy named P.S. he attended the Virginia Preparatory School. The story started out with him at school talking to a “toad” about how they will get treated differently than the upperclassmen. In the end he asks him if he is going to kill the test. P.S. was really nervous about the Latin exam. He was scared that he was going to fail it and his father would be ashamed of him. His father and his father’s father had attended Virginia Preparatory School. He felt like if he didn’t pass the exam then his dad would be mad.
He hasn’t passed the exam yet and he feels that he will not pass it again this time, he says he studies really hard but just get pass it for some reason. Through out the day, he asks people around him if they think they are going to kill the test or not. His best friend Charlie is with him parts of the story and they are both talking about the exam. When its time for the exam, P.S. is nervous and doesn’t know what to do. He looks at his test and it looks impossible. He remembers that he still has his notes in his desk and he could easily get to them without someone noticing. He gets out his notes and copies them to his exam. He feels extremely guilty and wrong. What he didn’t know is that the person next to him knew he was cheating.
He feels awful after leaving the classroom, he didn’t know if he should turn himself in or just act like nothing happen. Then, he gets turned in by his classmate and sent to the head of school. He asked P.S. if he cheated and he said yes. P.S. confessed that he was going to turn himself in but it was just a matter of time. He finds out that his friend Jumbo. P.S. gets expelled for cheating on the Latin exam. He knows that he shouldn’t have cheated and it was the biggest mistake of his life. He later talks with his dad about cheating and his expulsion. His dad doesn’t seem that angry about it and comforts his son. P.S. says goodbye to Charlie and he finally calls his father “dad”.
I really enjoyed reading this story because it was a way to teach kids that is dumb to cheat and also it’s not that bad to read. It’s a well-written story about the after affects of cheating and how it could be a very bad turnout. I think expulsion is a big deal, and if caught cheating one time you get expelled from certain schools. I don’t think that is fair at all. If anything you should get suspended, then if you get caught doing it again you should get expelled. Just don’t cheat and you wont have to deal with all that.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Facebook Privacy

Facebook Privacy
Facebook is a site on the Internet for high school students and college students to talk to one another. It got put up for people who when they first started college to get to know each other and learn about everyone on campus. Later it became open to high school students. It was later used for anyone 13 and over. Personally, I don’t really know what to think about teachers looking through student’s facebooks. It’s an invasion of privacy, but… they shouldn’t be doing things they shouldn’t be doing. But I do think that the teachers should trust their students to not do anything bad. Every kid should have some privacy in his or her lives.
Teachers are trying to have a rule that every athlete that comes into their college that they want to check their Facebook before they get accepted into the school. I can see why the would want to do that but if I was one of the athletes I wouldn’t like someone going through my stuff. Its not that I would have something bad on it, its just that nobody likes people going through their stuff. This is probably a main reason why kids don’t agree with parents or teachers having passwords to Facebook, Myspace, or email.
I can understand why they would want to look through a student/athlete’s Facebook. They are attending that school and if they have something bad on there it makes the school look bad sometimes. If a student is trash talking another student over the computer then the school could and should get involved. It’s even worse, if they are being disrespecting the teachers. Then you are disrespecting the school and the teachers in the school.
One of the worst things about the Internet is that it’s not private. Anything you can do on there is not private at all. People can see anything you do on the computer. You shouldn’t be using Facebook as a place where you can trash talk other people. If a conversation gets to a point where you really are getting extremely disrespectful to the other person, the teachers can and will look through it and discipline you. Just remember everything you do on the computer is not private. Don’t do anything stupid that you would later regret. At University High School, it’s even worse because you are using the schools computer. You should definitely not be doing anything wrong on the computer.
One of the worst things that bug me about talking over the computer is how people most of the times people act completely different. You may be talking to a friend that will talk completely different than they would to you in person. A really common thing is having a fight over the computer with somebody. You feel like its safer because there is nothing the other person can do if you are not with the person. Fighting over the Internet makes you look like a huge coward. Talking “face to face” is a lot better because you can actually have a normal conversation and be real with them.
So in the end, I think teachers and adults should only search a persons Facebook if they hear something. There is no reason why the teachers shouldn’t trust the students right off the bat. They should give them a chance and the first thing they hear about something bad on Facebook, Myspace, or iChat they should search his or her computer. So I do not agree with having to check an athlete or students Facebook before they get accepted into the college. It’s a personal site that has nothing to do with school unless you bring school into it or do something that could get you into trouble.