Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Do-over generation set to experience deadline shock: Agree or Disagree?



 Late homework/assignments/projects? ZERO FOR YOU!


  Do you agree or disagree with this article about how students may have been getting away with too much? I agree, very much in fact so in the following three paragraphs I'll state why. Like how for years students have been getting away with days late assignments,and not being prepared for more serious deadlines and etc.


  In high school and work or university you don't get second chances. Firstly have you ever heard of a university student getting an extension for bad excuses? No, so while before 2010 students got away with handing assignments days late and that wasn't preparing them for reality. Second of all while they might have extra days to prepare their work and hand it in and get 100% when they get admitted to a university/college for good marks they find themselves failing because of low homework completion. Finally it's really silly to have to go to school to prepare you for jobs or university to then find out your horribly unprepared and get fired. That's why I think not letting children be prepared for real deadlines was a bad decision.

 Letting people get away with late assignments was a horrible decision. Why? Because they can just copy off the work other people have handed in or just plain ask them what they did. It's not fair to other people to get a seventy and then turn around and find someone who used their idea's to add to their own to get a ninety. Also because that whole idea was silly, what if someone handed in an assignment that was due in October in May? I think assignments/homework should be handed in the day their due and not a moment later.

   Did you know being away for over 20% of class time will lose you credits? It will now, before 2010 you could just skip the classes away and only affect your knowledge not grades. This was a major cause for Absences back then, after all with no consequences for actions what stops you from skipping school? Nothing and that was the problem, soaring rates of high school absentees were a major concern. One of the reasons why consequences are implemented now is because general knowledge of things like these led to mass concern over the ministry of education concentrating on encouragement over consequences and apparently the backlash is bigger then the rewards.

And that comes to the conclusion. Just in general, no one knew their were consequences for what they were doing. Handed in late assignments, extensions for big projects and etc. How many students who graduated in the 2000's landed dead end jobs because they couldn't keep up with the constant workload and responsibility for their actions? Maybe many because false marks that lend to greater university numbers leading to thicker employee's should definitely not be a fast and easy solution in Canada anymore. Surely the Canadian ministry of Education has learned their lesson? Yes and so I agree that before 2010 the quality of students because of them getting away with to little consequences was declining and hopefully these laws won't be reinstated.


The original article

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

If I could live any where would I live? Why? By Salma Isse


                


                            Switzerland 


A Swiss city
  Have you ever wanted to go somewhere very much, have you ever wondered what you would do? I want to go Switzerland. Switzerland is a small country but full of nature and breathtaking sights. I would want to go travelling there someday. I have many reasons for wanting to go to Switzerland only a few which is travelling, nature, less people and etc.

 Nature, I like nature while I don't really like bugs (who does?) I like going outside on a hot day and reading underneath a tree. I like climbing tree's and feeding squirrels, so when I grow up I would prefer living somewhere that's less city smog and more out doors even if it's just living in a smaller city. I want to live somewhere in Switzerland where the nature makes the place seem beautiful. When you live in a city it seems boring only seeing the occasional deer or raccoon. I want to live in a place full of nature where I can breathe clean air.
Scenery
                                                         Have you ever been stuck in some place for so long you'd rather be anywhere else? I want to travel all around Switzerland and then a long while later I'll pick a place to settle down, maybe. I want to see the sights be all around the place, see the things most tourists wouldn't see. I would want to see places like Montreux, Geneva, Lugano and definitely Grindelwald.  I'd probably want to visit all of the cities, meet new people and see all sorts of sights.  I want to travel through Switzerland and sight see and that's another reason why I feel compelled by the possibility of living there even though I might not.
 If I lived in Switzerland I would obviously want to learn more of the four native languages which are: Italian, French,German, and Romansh. I already know French but since German is very much more commonly spoken I would want to learn that too, also I would have to relearn a lot of French because Swiss French differs a bit in dialect and writing also in Swiss standard German. So obviously if I chose to permanently live there I'd have to dedicate time to becoming at least a fluent linguist to carry on conversations with locals who probably spoke a differing version of Swiss for every district. I'd fine with it though because it'd be fun and challenging and it would be thrilling to speak a whole a number other languages. Besides travelling another country wouldn't be fun without seeing first handed the cultural change from what your expecting or even listening! 

     


 What I also really admire about Switzerland is that while it is a small country it's smaller population is actually quite a relief. It's generally true that a smaller population has a smaller crime rate and more local-friendly with the exceptions of tourists. In many ways it's much easier to deal with a country with a small population .Also the small land mass that has lot's of open spaces that can provide lots of enjoyable fun like Skiing, hiking, maybe tobogganing or etc. Switzerland is like a smaller Canada in that it's breathtakingly full of nature, nice people wide open spaces, cultural, and it has double the national languages. Overall Switzerland is a great place. 

Switzerland and the symbols on the swiss flag

    Switzerland has all sorts of interesting tidbits known about them that are very fascinating not just including history. My favourite personally is how Swiss chocolate is the leading premier in the whole world. Other topics like how they've always been neutral, and how lots of people are knowledgeable on other languages like English even though they don't have it as a national language there are really cool. Though they are more religious there and Red Cross even originated there. Also I like this Swiss proverb, "To be a fool at the right time is also an art".


     So in conclusion I would love to go to Switzerland in the future someday, preferably after learning Swiss languages. While there I would eat the world famous chocolate have fun meet new people and definitely get a cottage or such. Travel around everywhere too and experience many new things. Switzerland after all sounds like a fascinating country.


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