This site is best viewed using Mozilla Firefox browser.

X

Young adults' forum

Courtney Kersten

2006-05-01 17:08:00

: Has technolog

QUESTION: Has technology improved communication?

X

Young adults' forum

Chris Hicks

2006-05-01 17:06:00

: Has technology improved communication?  

ANSWER: When you walk down a hall, it is becoming more common to see things like kids playing on cell phones, or listening to Ipods. As time progresses, it’s becoming fact that these are evolving into status symbols in today’s society.As all these thing are gaining popularity, many kids are staying inside more and using their cell phones and computers to associate, which is causing a direct decline in social skills and behavioral issues. When kids don’t actually talk to each other in person, or learn how to behave in person, it slows down their process of being able to tell right from wrong. While on the Internet, they can get off whenever they get in a fight with a friend, or just walk away, but when confronted in person, the lack of social skills takes an obvious toll on them, by not knowing how to handle the situation.With the rise of this new wave on technology, the younger generation is learning to use these things, as they are new, putting them ahead of most common adults who don’t have time to learn how to work every new device put out. This gives children freedoms they may not need, or have the responsibility to use correctly. When you cannot supervise what the children use and how they use it, the parents lose a large part of what they can do to help raise their children. Rather than restrict the time spent on these devices, the parents more commonly just learn to look the other way.While technology will always be in the future, it should be limited in the time of use someone should get. The idea isn’t to ignore technology but rather to remember there are things we can do outside or face-to-face. As technology continues to grow, we should invest in it and help the youth be able to use it, but we should also ensure they do more than just use it all day and night. Through every generation there have been break throughs in technology that change how everything works, and that is what has happened, and will continue to happen through out history.So as new technology emerges we shouldn’t necessary remove the youth from it, but rather restrict how much time can be spent on it and to learn to help control these things from spiraling out of control.

X

Young adults' forum

Derrick Grass

2006-03-30 14:20:00

All too often, views and opinions of the young adults who will lead us tomorrow are not taken into consideration before issues are decided and policies adopted. This column is but one small attempt to hear what they have to say. We look forward to featuring the views and opinions of many other high school
students over the coming months. If you are a student or teacher and are interested in finding out more about this program, please e-mail mailto:editor@thequandatimes.com.)%20Question Question: What is ‘weighted grading’?

ANSWER: It is time for Wichita schools to make an important decision. One that could give Valedictorians a run for their money. The decision will be whether or not Wichita schools integrate weighted grading into their grading system.Weighted grading is a system that adds one extra grade point onto any A, B or C grade earned in any honors or Advanced Placement class. For example, earning an A in any regular class would give the student four grade points. Earning an A in any honors or AP class would give the student another half point or another full point, as a bonus.The integration of weighted grading into Wichita schools would make GPAs and class rankings much more precise and it would encourage students to take more challenging classes. By using a weighted grades system, class rankings and GPAs would become more precise. Students scoring all As in honors and AP classes would be ranked higher than students scoring all As in regular classes. The extra point would be a way of rewarding the students who score high grades in more challenging classes.There could be less Valedictorians because of this change in grading. A Valedictorian is defined as a “student or students, typically having the highest academic achievements of the class,” but if weighted grading was added seniors taking art and music classes might not get a spot when other seniors are taking additional AP or honors classes.In a study made by Gail C. Downs in 2000, it was found that half of the nation’s schools weight grades in some way. By this system of grading being added to Wichita schools, students would be pushed to take honors and AP classes that would challenge them for a better education.Some would say that by using weighted grading the self-esteem of students taking regular classes would be lowered, but by using weighted grading the students taking regular classes would only strive to take more rigorous classes, which in turn would only benefit them in the future.In preparing for the future and being challenged for better grades, students enrolled in regular, honors and AP classes would only benefit from weighted grades. They would be pushed to take more challenging classes and finally class rankings and GPAs would become more accurate.