Things That Would Make School Great : Debunked - Part 1

Ever have those hearty discussions with your classmates about 'obvious' things that would make school fantastic and improve both attendance and effort for all students? It's a no-brainer right? Why don't those big guys in Albany take their heads out of their armpits and realize these simple things can fix all of the educational woes?

Students should get paid to go to school

Don't teachers love to remind you that "being a student is your job"? Let's take things out of context and put two and two together. So the big idea of working and putting effort to work is getting paid, right? Therefore, if we get paid to do work in school, we'll work even harder and put even more effort into school. Ignoring the fact that our hard work goes un-awarded by sweet cash, isn't that what educators want? Hard working students start at a paycheck every week!

Hold on a moment. How much should you be paid for doing work that benefits nobody other than yourself? Who's going to pay your paycheck? The same people that pay for your education? So how much higher should the national and state taxes be? Considering the fact that the Department of Education already has a 972 billion dollar budget and is still struggling to make ends meet, can the D.O.E afford to pay 153 million students minimum wage or more yearly? Even at minimum wage, that's almost another billion dollars down the drain every hour the schools are open.

Would you rather have a high school diploma or this handful of cash?

Read more »

3 Reasons Why You Don't Want To Be Homeschooled

Homeschooling is pretty much school at home with good ol' dad or mom. It's pretty much school, but with more freedom right? You can set your own schedule, eat your own lunch, and even go on "school trips" five times a week right?! Doesn't it sound like the best idea since sliced apricots? But before you throw your bookbag out and get ready to beg your parents to be home schooled, lets look at the fine print.

3. Lack Of Personal Space

Think about it for a moment, where is school located now? In your attempts to avoid school as much as possible, you've brought school into your own home. The instant you wake up, "you're in school", there's no physical barrier between an institution for education and the place you watch cartoons and eat cheerios. It would be the equivalent of sleeping over at school everyday until you move out and get a apartment.

Alternatively, you can place peanuts on a stack of one dollar bills.

Instead of being able to "leave" school to a safe, non-educational environment, you'll constantly be in the threshold of "learning". Your parents could pester you to do homework and study for upcoming tests while you sit in the bathroom pretending to use the toilet or during dinner. The same desk you eat your breakfast on, will be the same desk you do "school work" on. The psychological barriers between work and leisure will slowly interlink, creating an environment that will make it extremely difficult to relax, or work.

Read more »

Why You're Unlikely To Become A Doctor

Don't all parents want their children to become doctors? It's every parent's dream for their child to be join such highly respected professionals and  bring home a six figure paycheck every month. But the thing is, in all honestly, you're unlikely to become a doctor unless you're really dedicated and smart. However, I'm not talking about "summer school" dedicated or "getting tutored on weekends" dedicated, but wholly hardcore dedication since the start of life. If you ever want to become a actual physician, you need to start at the elementary school-middle school stage, suddenly deciding to take school seriously after 8 years of fooling around isn't as simple flipping a pancake.

All you really need is a stethoscope.

In order to become a doctor, you don't simply sign a few applications, take a few tests, and simply stride into your shiny doctor's office. In order to become a doctor, you can expect to spend almost a decade and a half in school before becoming a full-fledged doctor. What that means is that, you must be willing to throw away your early adult life and let go of the little pleasures of life such as eating out or taking a extra nap on the weekends in order to become a doctor in the future. If you're not willing to spend and commit your entire 20s and half of your 30s in school, don't walk half the journey before deciding to go a different route.

Read more »

3 Reasons That Going Back To School Is Great

School, it can be one of the most exciting time during your lifetime or one of the most time wasted, boring periods of your life. Despite what you think, it's actually a good thing that a lot of us are going back to school soon. Before you grab your torches and pitchforks, hear me out.

3. Purpose

One of life's biggest mysteries is life itself. How did we come into being? What is the purpose of life? Some people at adolescent stage of life feel that life has no purpose, and that we're simply small lifeforms that mean nothing and compared to the number of people in the world and how large the galaxy is, we are insignificant. (Feel free to add more ranting to the end of the previous sentence.)

As a child or 'young adult', life is pretty simple. You go to bed,  you eat, you drink, you shower, you go to school, you do homework and you repeat. (Including various social acceptance sub-plots) Although, during the summer, many people haven't found activities to replace school, such as volunteering, tutoring, or work. The result is 3 months of meaningless 'hanging out with friends' and browsing the web.

Read more »

Brooklyn-Queens Day - June 9th

Two too many people at my park!

Well, as many of you may have noticed a strange increase in teenagers and kids in parks and wandering around in malls, and no, it isn't summer yet. It's Brooklyn-Queens day! For teens and kids alike it better known as "that day we don't go to school". On this day, public schools in Kings and Queens County Public Schools are closed. Nope, no list to check if you're school is eligible for this special treat, if your school is a public school in Brooklyn or Queens, you've the got the day off. Sadly, this isn't the case for teachers, which have to come to work for a teacher's conference day.

Back in the day, it was known as "Anniversary Day", and was originally a Protestant holiday celebrated in Brooklyn back in the times of Civil Wars, gas lighting and tin cans, 1829. The day was celebrated on the first Thursday in June, but today is celebrated every 2nd Thursday of June. The day was commemorating the founding of the First Sunday School on long island. A New York State Legislature enacted in 1959 on request of the Queens Federation of Churches to permit schools in both Kings and Queens Counties to be closed on this day. It was signed by Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller.

Sources: http://gothamist.com/2006/06/08/its_brooklynque.php

Quick Tip!

Quick Tip! A tip which is quick! Now, ever had problems remember things? Well lets use the power of association to help us! Haven't we seen countless others with a mess of ink on their arms and hands by the end of the day, and still continues to forget certain things?

Sticky notes, and writing notes to remember to do things is fine, if you remember to look at the note. I've had countless times where I had something important to remember on a certain day, like to not wear white on labor day, so I write it in thick bold letters at school in papers that I believe I'll look at when I came home. Guess what happened? Snow apocalypse? Sorry, not yet, I didn't even peek at the page I wrote on, and guess what then? Bad Monday.

Read more »

Summer is You!

For many students, the school year is just about over, what are you going to do this summer?

School, being one of the little stages in life that build our personalities and knowledge that we will base everything else we learn in the future is very important, just as important, Summer Break.

Its been a while since the olden days of a good ol' game of marbles, and today, its become socially acceptable and agreeable to laugh off "I didn't do anything this summer." Increasing amounts of teens today don't don't a gosh darn thing! Summer break is a vacation meant to be enjoyed not just a period where we just sit around all day waiting for school to start again. If you think theres nothing to do during the hot blistering summer, you're very wrong.

Read more »