2.0 is Closer Then We Think

The article Footprints in the Digital Age   by Will Richardson has three main ideas; the first idea is that kids need to be thinking more about their internet presents, and how it can affect your life in the future. The second point was that the internet is having a huge influence, and the last reason is that it cannot take too much of your time and the internet needs balance.

One thing that I do agree with is that kids need to be more aware of their internet presents. What I mean by this is kids need to know what they will  find when they google their name. I mean this could affect future jobs they might or might not get. If your boss looks up your name and it is bad then you are out of a job.  So kids need to start worrying about this and being proactive about it. I just goggled myself and there was nothing which I don’t know if that is a good thing or if that is a bad thing.

The next thing the he talked about was internet having a huge influence. He thinks that adults need to get with it to since we are moving into a 2.0 world. But I have to disagree, adults really are driving the bus to the 2.0 world by inventing it and stuff like that but there is just more kids on that bus then there are adults. There are just more kids then there are adults in this world so that is where people are finding a problem. This really doesn’t seem like a problem to me since kids are the ones who are going t be living in this 2.0 world someday while adults just need to get by with it since they won’t be around when the 2.0 world really kicks off.

The last thing Will talked about was the need for balance and I totally agree with him. I mean he is so right. If a kid only does stuff on the internet then he will not be ready for the real world and all the real life challenges that come with it. You also need a teacher teaching you stuff instead of just Google. Sure Google is great but you need the majority of your knowledge from hands on experience which is what Google is lacking.

This article shows that America  and the world is moving toward the 2.0 world. So we need to use it to our advance and use it right or we don’t stand a chance in this new world. It also says that this is the first change the world has had that is anything like this so it is a learning experience and we must treat it as one.

Stike two Denver Post

This week I read the blog by Karl Fich called, Dear Denver Post, Would you be ok with us cheating on CSAP too? This blog once again proves that the Denver Post needs to get its values straight. Why is the Denver Post trying to send this message to kids and even adults?

I thought that the Denver Post would get the message the first time, but I guess I was wrong. So in baseball terms that is strike two, but with the message the Denver Post sent this time they should just fake that they got it with a pitch. The stakes are big right, so in the words of the Denver Post, they wouldn’t be guilty of cheating just bad acting. With all these conflicting ideas being told to our youth how are they supposed to know who to trust?  Sure everyone say trust your mom, but when you see this world source telling you different it makes kid questions. I mean if you relied souly on your mom you would end up like “Bobby Boucher” in Water Boy. Well maybe not that extreme but you get my point. This article also said that parents should tell the kids the difference between major league and T-ball. Then it went on to say that the difference was bigger stakes. Well for different people different things mean more. I mean for a kid who is playing his last year of baseball in the finals it means a lot to him, but it is still not ok for him to cheat right? Maybe the author is saying it is just ok for pros. Well then why are the pros different from any other big game. I know they make their income off playing, and they are successful; so in the big picture, it is just a little thing they do that makes them a good role model or a Denver Post role model. One game is not that big of a deal, even if it their final game in the big picture for pros or any league for that matter.

                The overall message I am trying so send here, and I am almost sure that Karl Fich would support me here, is that don’t listen to the Denver Posts ideas. But take their information and come up with you own ideas… please!

Is Google a Teacher or making us Stupid?

This week I read the article Is Google Making us Stupid? This article is about how, with all this information on the web, how readers are now only able to focus for a short period of time since that is how the web is set up to display it. It also says that it leads to less deep thinking about a subject and more just skimming. It also talked about how the adult brain can still change and be shaped.  But overall I think this article is baloney.

                How this writer thinks that the human race is no longer thinking deeply on things because of the internet baffles me. There are so many different points and opinions on the internet it almost makes you think about things more. If you are writing a paper on something, and you Google search both sides of the issue it will give you so much to think about you have to think deeply. I mean with all that knowledge out there and all those opposite opinions it stretches to make your brain come up with its own ideas and its own conclusions. So, I actually believe that Google is not making us stupid but instead making us smart.  Another reason I think this article is terrible is because he says that in this day in age people can only stay focused for shorter passages of writing. I agree with him in the aspect that some writing loses peoples attention. An example of an article losing someone’s attention is this article (Is Google Making us Stupid). This is 8 pages of pure boredom. The reason I think some articles are boring and some are not is how the writer writes it. I mean this article is boring because it has like 20 examples of the same thing then goes on tangents during the article. Like one tangent it had was that it started talking about how Google is trying to make an artificial intelligent, which is not what he was talking about at the time? Then at the end it goes on and on about how he might be wrong.  I mean if you are making a point, stand up for it and don’t tear it apart by yourself. The last reason I think this article is really bad is because it didn’t listen to its own point.  If an article has all this extra information that distracts from the point then it is probably going to be a boring article. Another thing that articles do that loses readers is give to many examples. Like if an article gives 4 or 5 examples for something it is a little excessive. I understand one or two examples to prove your point but more than that is unneeded.  One good thing that came out of reading this article for me is I learned the power of annotating. Without annotating this article it would have taken me forever to read the article and even more to write about it. Annotating kept me focus and thinking during this article while all I wanted to do was zone out during it. This is one skill that I will never forget and do on all my readings now. I mean it makes thinking about things so much easier when I have it written down on paper. I realized that as the passage went on my anitations got less and less. I need to work on this so I am not just having good thoughts in the start of an article but all the way through it instead. I am really happy my English teacher showed me this important tool to learning because I know I will use it the rest of my life.

The Problem of High School Image

The article I choose to write about was called Denver Post you’re the Disappointment by Karl Ficsh. This article shows just how hypocritical our world really is. I mean the Denver Post is telling all the facts about how America’s schools are falling behind in the world stage then going in another section and saying “disappointment of going back to class.” That is exactly what is leading America into thinking school is an all bad thing.


The reason kids don’t like to go to class in this day in age is because of people saying that the majority of kids feel that school sucks. I know there are a few kids who have loud mouths and say that they never want to go to school at all. But they don’t represent the whole teenage and kid population. For me personally and I am sure many others that is not how we feel. I know I feel that school is a great way to meet other kids like me (especially girls.) I know that without school I would never have the friends I have. Also school is great for sports such as soccer. I mean without high school social life would be terrible and everyone would have no social skills.

I also feel that the Denver Post is also disrespecting the fact that most classes are actually really fun. I mean I absolutely love some of my class here at school. I realize that there is always that teacher that is super mean or that class that absolutely is boring to the point that you look forward to the sleep you get in it, but that is not the majority of your classes. Most teachers are really fun or at least try to be and those are your good classes. Then you have one or two class that is absolutely the best. I mean the teacher and you really hit it off well and she/he keeps the class moving great and those are class that you look forward to every day. That is how most students’ classes are. It is not just that every class is a bad one and everyone is counting the time to lunch, then the time till they get to go home. I hate how that is how the new kids that are coming into school see life in school like. With this preconceived notion that school is bad and the only fun you can have in school is when you mess around and get in trouble, will only make it true. With people who want schools in the U.S. to fail then they are doing a great job. But the people in the Denver Post who want schools to succeed need to stop sending this message.

After I got to thinking of this more I remember that a comic I read dealt with just the same thing. It was the comic called Sally Forth by Francesco Marciuliano. The September 7th and 8th addition to the comic does the same thing as the headline. And guess where I read this comic. None other than the Denver Post. This is just an outrage in my mind is the Denver Post really trying that hard to destroy school enthusiasm.(I couldn't link the comic to the blog but if you want to read it all you have to do is google comic Sally Forth and then go to the dates and it should be there.) 

If America ever wants to improve our schooling we need to improve the image. As a kid this is one of the problems that I am going to inherit, I hope I can fix it.

Technology and its Ups and Downs

The You-Tube video Vision of a Student Today was a video clip that told you facts that portray the average students in college. The facts mostly told about how technology is so involved in the students’ lives but it is also over used and abused way too often.


This You- Tube video brought a very interesting question to me. It brought up the question that is technology used in the correctly in college? To tell you the truth I really don’t have an answer to that question. I think that technology is really great especially in classrooms. But I also believe, due to the video, that technology can be over used. But on the flip side how are you suppose to manage what the students are doing in the classroom. I mean your job in college is ultimately, to further the students readiness for the job world and those distractions are going to be out there when they are in the job force. Another thing that challenges my thinking was when it said there are things you are doing 26.5 hours so people have to be a multitasked. This made me think because it showed me how much I multitask. Like I am writing this blog post and listing to music. This kind of scared me about how develop my brain is to doing two different things at once. It also struck me that 2.5 hours of the day an average student is multitasking. That seems really high if you ask me, I mean I can see half an hour but two and half seems like a ton. Then I got to thinking is it different for different ages. I tried to look it up but couldn’t find information on the topic. This also struck me as odd because I thought since everyone is doing it someone would have put it on the internet by now