Sunday, April 27, 2008
Sustainability Fair
I thought the sustainability fair at Punahou today was a nice event to help promote environmental awareness at our school. There were both kids and adults working at the fair, and we even watched a play put on by middle-schoolers that focused on global warming and sustainability. It was a cute play, but I can't say I really liked it because I thought that some of what they were saying was absurd for a chapel performance. Their opening song had lyrics such as, "We're all gonna die!" I just don't think that is a message that we want to spread throughout our junior school because there is no scientific evidence to prove that we are all going to die. The reason we went to the fair for class was to look for ideas about how to incorporate sustainability into our quality projects. For me, this sustainability fair was very relevant to my project that focuses on global warming. I'm making a documentary, and I don't know how to make my project physically sustainable, because it already is, but I think that I am going to talk about sustainability and resources and "the end of the world" and Al Gore throughout my documentary, so this fair helped give me a good look at how our school is getting involved and how our students' and teachers' feel about the issue. I really wish I filmed the sustainability fair and was able to interview the people attending and working, because that would have been a great start to my documentary! Unfortunately, I was not able to, and I will have to rely on different interviews sometime in the near future. Overall, going to the fair was a learning experience, and I got some good ideas and material that I plan to include in my quality project.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
A different opinion on Computers
Technology in the United States of America is updated daily. There are so many companies either from here, or from China or somewhere else in the world that are spending millions and billions of dollars to continue the advancement of technology throughout the world. Why? It’s simple. Technology sells, and it sells very well. An easy example is Apple or Macintosh for their pricy, stylish, and popular lineups of computers, ipods, iphones, itouches, and much more. Apple seems to reign over everyone nowadays, seeing as how I don’t know many people that don’t own one of their great products. In fact, everyday I go to school I see nearly every single one of my classmates listening to their ipod, talking on their itouch, or typing that homework assignment up on their Macbook. I myself am guilty of owning an Ipod, and my whole family owns Mac computers, so why am I opposing it? I think that computers and Ipods are becoming more and more of a problem for teenagers like myself because of their increased popularity.
At Punahou School, it is impossible to attend or at least succeed without a computer at one’s disposal. The school even recognizes it, handing laptops out to every single student starting in 4th grade and continuing through the academy. We are forced to use computers every single night in order to complete homework, and this year has been worse than ever. I think that this is wrong because kids are forgetting how to write and losing their ability to spell and use proper grammar. The computer “spell and grammar check” does it all for them. Also, being on a computer for so long every night is really, really distracting. Every time I log on to my computer to do homework, I always get sidetracked and end up listening to music, checking my Facebook or email, or reading about today’s news. Having the Internet on the dock at all times is a secret weapon that prevents kids from focusing on their work. I believe this is part of why more and more kids these days, like my friends, suffer from Attention Deficit Disorder(ADD). Plus, some kids are addicted to MySpace and Facebook or researching even worse things on the Internet! Their brains are rotting fast. Having a laptop on one’s lap can also affect one’s body. For men, it is proven that the heat from the laptop while on a man’s lap for long periods of time can kill sperm. Also, having wireless networks and airports in everyone’s homes and schools could in the long run cause cancer due to the radiation coming from those transceivers. Cell phones also give off radiation, and having them constantly close-by or on your body can also give you cancer in the long run.
So, yes I’ll admit that computers have a lot of upside and positive features. However the negative ones seem to be more prominent in the lives of teenagers. In my opinion, Hollywood and the Internet are the two most obvious ways of corrupting young minds, and that’s why children of each generation seem to be more and more corrupt and not innocent. Punahou is a great school, and it may seem like they are doing this wonderful favor by handing out 4th graders laptops, but I see it in a negative light because I think that is only handing them the tool for how to corrupt themselves. They start forming bad habits and lack of focus at an early age, and that will affect the type of people they are. Also, having technology so advanced and having everything at our service isn’t always a good thing because that means that a lack of exercise is going on and we are becoming unhealthy as a race.
There are solutions to these problems. If we want to help prevent cancer in our futures, we need to stop talking and texting on cell phones so often. Laptops should be used on desks and not on laps. We should use computers only when we absolutely need them for either homework or research. We can’t let them be our brains for us. Soon, we will lose our ability to think for ourselves because we are going to end up asking the Internet for the answers to everything. If you are having trouble focusing on homework, take the Internet off of your dock so that you can’t see it and are less tempted to click on it. Do a homework assignment in pencil every once in awhile, just to make sure that you still know how to write. Don’t waste time playing games on the Internet when you can go and read a book! If we, as human beings, make some small changes to our lifestyles, then we can help save our generation from a decline and continue our reign as most dominant species on the planet. Close your computer and open a book.
At Punahou School, it is impossible to attend or at least succeed without a computer at one’s disposal. The school even recognizes it, handing laptops out to every single student starting in 4th grade and continuing through the academy. We are forced to use computers every single night in order to complete homework, and this year has been worse than ever. I think that this is wrong because kids are forgetting how to write and losing their ability to spell and use proper grammar. The computer “spell and grammar check” does it all for them. Also, being on a computer for so long every night is really, really distracting. Every time I log on to my computer to do homework, I always get sidetracked and end up listening to music, checking my Facebook or email, or reading about today’s news. Having the Internet on the dock at all times is a secret weapon that prevents kids from focusing on their work. I believe this is part of why more and more kids these days, like my friends, suffer from Attention Deficit Disorder(ADD). Plus, some kids are addicted to MySpace and Facebook or researching even worse things on the Internet! Their brains are rotting fast. Having a laptop on one’s lap can also affect one’s body. For men, it is proven that the heat from the laptop while on a man’s lap for long periods of time can kill sperm. Also, having wireless networks and airports in everyone’s homes and schools could in the long run cause cancer due to the radiation coming from those transceivers. Cell phones also give off radiation, and having them constantly close-by or on your body can also give you cancer in the long run.
So, yes I’ll admit that computers have a lot of upside and positive features. However the negative ones seem to be more prominent in the lives of teenagers. In my opinion, Hollywood and the Internet are the two most obvious ways of corrupting young minds, and that’s why children of each generation seem to be more and more corrupt and not innocent. Punahou is a great school, and it may seem like they are doing this wonderful favor by handing out 4th graders laptops, but I see it in a negative light because I think that is only handing them the tool for how to corrupt themselves. They start forming bad habits and lack of focus at an early age, and that will affect the type of people they are. Also, having technology so advanced and having everything at our service isn’t always a good thing because that means that a lack of exercise is going on and we are becoming unhealthy as a race.
There are solutions to these problems. If we want to help prevent cancer in our futures, we need to stop talking and texting on cell phones so often. Laptops should be used on desks and not on laps. We should use computers only when we absolutely need them for either homework or research. We can’t let them be our brains for us. Soon, we will lose our ability to think for ourselves because we are going to end up asking the Internet for the answers to everything. If you are having trouble focusing on homework, take the Internet off of your dock so that you can’t see it and are less tempted to click on it. Do a homework assignment in pencil every once in awhile, just to make sure that you still know how to write. Don’t waste time playing games on the Internet when you can go and read a book! If we, as human beings, make some small changes to our lifestyles, then we can help save our generation from a decline and continue our reign as most dominant species on the planet. Close your computer and open a book.
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