No Computers in an Area Full of Them

The Waldorf school is located in Los Altos, California. It is part of Silicon Valley, which is home to many technology giants such as Google, Apple, Yahoo, and even Hewlett-Packard. Many of these employees send their kids to the Waldorf school, which is $17,750 for grades K-8 and $24,400 for high school (grades 9-12). Except, this school has decided to not allow technology at ALL. The school allows no computers or any other devices and aren't even happy about home usage. Many of the "big-wig" parents and others who have become aware of the situation offer different opinions about the necessity of engaging students as well as the idea that technology can come easy. The school claims "those who endorse this approach say computers inhibit creative thinking, movement, human interaction, and attention spans". However, I disagree because along with the internet comes a wide range of sites and services and one must be critical about knowing what to do and how to promote themselves on the web. They must also learn how to interact over the web because these days networking is crucial. One parent, Alan Eagle has a daughter and son attending Waldorf and is also working in executive communications at Google. He"fundamentally rejects the notion you need technology to aid in grammar and that the idea an app on an ipad can better my kids to read or do arithmetic, that's ridiculous". I have to agree with Eagle to some extent because these Applications will never drastically help out a student, but they could improve them and also make them more comfortable researching and studying on the web because his son is already in 8th grade and he doesn't even know how to use google. In addition two other quotes stood out. Ann FLynn who works for the National School Boards Association say that "if school have access to the toold and can afford them, but are not using the tools, they are cheating our children". She is very right. A school like the Waldorf School has plenty of money from their huge tuitions to supply electronic devices, but instead they stick to pens and pencils and limit the resources for their students. Another parents who supports the school decisions says that "Teaching is a human experience...Technology is a distraction when we need literacy, numeracy, and critical thinking. The school has hired teachers who base learning on hands-on activties they using such as cutting up food for fractions to learn and so far is has worked out because students have gone on to big name colleges.

Wrongly Using Social Media

Two girls form Estero High School have been charged with aggravated stalking of a minor under the age of 16. Two former friends created a Facebook page with revealing pictures and inappropriate comments. A mother of another student found the page and reported it to authorities who were able to track the IP address to one of the girls' mothers. When questioned by police all they could say was that they did it because "nobody liked her".
Arrested due to a fake Facebook Page Article

Independent Learning Video Reaction

For some students, school appears to be pointless. They believe that they will never get anywhere in life, so an education is not important.A group of teens started an independent learning system. A the beginning of the week they are assigned a topic by their advisors and spend the week researching and preparing a lesson, which they will present on Friday to the other students. They results have been epic and the kids who were once useless, are now confident and successful.

Free Climbing

60 Minutes Preview
During Primetime on Sunday Night, instead of watching the usual "Sunday Night Football" I became fascinated with Alex Honnold. He is a 26 year old free climber. He scales immense cliffs with angles of over 90 degrees and does not use any ropes. He does this in record times and only uses the top parts of his fingers. He risk is certain death, but it is something Alex has done over 7,000 times.

What is With Canadians and Hockey?

They sweat, cry and bleed hockey. Over the past decades Canada had dominated the olympics. Canada is home to many amazing player sin the NHL such as Jonathan Toews and Sidney Crosby. And now as each year goes by the level of competition is increasing. Along the skill level the moves are become much harder and this 13-yer old player has perfected them.

Filter Bubbles

In the youtube sensation, "Filter Bubbles" one man speaks about internet usage and how it is changing to fit our lives. Eric Schmidt's quote, "It will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for them" sums up the video. The way the internet is filtered, we as people have a hard time finding new information and instead we are consistently viewing the same websites.

Colleges Using TargetX CRM

TargetX CRM Article
Brian Niles, the President of TargetX claims that you are able to get a complete picture of your college applicants. He says what kids post on Facebook and Twitter is most complete and authentic view of their interests, but i think that is absolute Bull*&@#. MOst of the time what kids post is 100% wrong because on these social media websites you are able to say anything without a problem. Also, I think this is unfair for the students because most of the time their pictures were uploaded by their friends and they have no control over it.