On How should students’ cell phone use be limited?
Posted on April 2 at 9:32 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
I am currently going through this right now with my 16 year old daughter. She got in trouble for having her phone out during school-she has it on "silent" instead of off as the rules clearly state, and was stated by the assistant principal. Because of that incident she got a detention for her 3rd referral-while serving her detention for having her phone during school, she was texting and using her phone!!!! Asking her to keep her phone off during school was useless as she had over 100 text messages to and from during the school hours the very next day. I believe children do need cell phones, but the only way to enforce the rule of no phones powered on during class would be a signal blocker of some sort that wipes out the cell capability totally. Otherwise, you will have kids running around with their phones on silent as my daughter did believing not getting caught is the same as following the rules. Before cell phones, parents were able to get messages to students and students were able to get messages to parents as well. They should put payphones back in the schools along with finding the signal blocking technology-that would limit all the unnecessary phone activity after the switch is flipped during school hours but still enable kids to make a call when necessary without bothering the people working in the office. We as parents would go back to making sure our kids have a little change in their pockets in case of emergencies.
On With a month to go, have you decided your presidential pick?
Posted on October 7 at 10:23 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
Come on people, who would even seriously consider voting McCain/Palin-McCain NOW is claiming he is going to change Washington....hmmm is that the same Washington that he has been a part of for more than 20 years??? He is now only using the phrase "change" because of how successful those words have been for Obama! People have heard Obama, they have heard McCain-the American people are finally starting to get it 28 days before the election. McCain would be another 4 miserable years with the same policies that we as Americans have had to endure for the last 8 years. And the real reason McCain chose Palin as a VP candidate-it was to try and scoop up the 18 million votes that Hillary got during the primary, that is the only way he will win this election. Do you think if Hillary were running against McCain instead of Obama, McCain would have chosen a black man as his VP??? If you are honest with yourself you know that answer would be a flat out NO!! Has anyone really sat down and listened to Palin anyway? She has yet to directly answer any question that has been asked of her in the interviews I have watched, she's good at dancing around the issues though. She would be one heartbeat away from being president-the most powerful person in the world!!! The republicans are worried every time she opens her mouth now as to how much damage control they are going to have to do when she gets done talking. These are serious times and we need serious people. McCain/Palin are not it. I hope that people get out and vote more than anything else. What would be even better is that the voters would be informed and have educated themselves on the issues and the candidates. I am proud to say I am voting for Obama 4 weeks from today, after listening to him all of these months I believe he would be the best choice to help get this great country of ours back on track. After reading some of these comments left by others, it proves to me how small minded some people are-worried about a candidates middle name? As if he had any control over what his parents named him as an infant. Those people who think like that are in need of some serious help in race relations. In 2008, I would like to believe that the election will be decided by issues and solving problems and not by something that none of us have control over-that being race, gender and the given name on our birth certificates.
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On Janesville School Board hears minorities’ concerns
Posted on April 24 at 8:16 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
I was at the meeting on Thursday. I do believe there are issues in our city and our schools that need to be addressed regarding race, but I don't think the problems stated by some are a constant, every day thing. I do not look at the world through rose colored glasses, and perhaps I am giving "people" too much credit, but I think in the overall scheme of things humans look at each other as just that, other human beings. You will always be able to find someone intolerant of another persons differences and prey upon that. Truth be told, all of us could be discriminated against for just about anything--ears too big, hair style, clothes, you name it and we all can be a victim of discrimination. To me, you can't fix the problem by singling out the races, putting them in groups and talk about issues those particular people have. Programs about minorities and the problems and issues concerning minorities are very much needed as an educational tool, however, they should not be billed as for minorities only. If a white person started a group in the schools for whites only regarding white homeless children and the issues they face, which is a legitimate issue in our schools, that group would be labeled as a KKK meeting. Kids are going to be cruel, you will always be able to find a bully, but I believe there are a lot of non-minority children that are curious about other races and why people of different skin color have to do different things, such as hair care, but don't know how to get that information and would feel intimidated to just ask someone of that particuar race. Honestly, what would a black student do if a white student asked them why they need to put grease in their hair? I believe the black student would take that as a slam against their race only because the question was stated by a white student. I am a white person with minority children. I have faced discrimination myself from others just because of the obvious difference in my skin compared to theirs so my concerns about the race issues in the schools hits close to home. I felt I had a reason to attend the meeting and educate myself about what problems people have had in the schools regarding race. I didn't feel I or my opinion was welcome at the meeting by some of the minority parents solely because I am white. How could I possibly understand what a person of color has to go through because I'm white, even though my children aren't? To solve this problem it is going to take the efforts of all people and all races, and blaming one specific race for all the problems is not helping anything. Reality is what it is, people, regardless of race will never "always" be treated equal. Learning that and living that will be key in helping students fulfill their dreams no matter what color they are. Learning about the similarities people have instead of highlighting the differences would go a long way to bridging the gap that is obviously present between all students in our schools.