The new school way of learning

When are people going to learn that technology has become vital part of our world? Weather you like technology or not you have to admit that almost everything uses some sort technology. The world is evolving and you can either be left behind in the stone age or move on into the future.

School in my opinion is way behind the curve. I'm using textbooks that I'm pretty sure that my mom and dad were using when they were in school. When it comes to textbooks some of the classes that have textbooks don't even use them. Is this because the information is outdated? Maybe, but here is a way to keep information up to date. It's called etextbooks. Here is a statistic that might make you think a little more, Web Wise Kids say that 93% of teens go online and 63% of them go online everyday. So why not make textbooks more accessible to people. People are putting down regular books and picking up ipads, Kindles, and reading more on the computer. If you were to ask me if I rather read a regular book or read the same book online, I'd say online because it is what I'm use to and I feel more comfortable. People are going to do more things if they are comfortable so if people are online all the time and using technology everyday they are going to feel comfortable reading online. Also textbooks get all beat up and the pages get ripped out and torn and go missing with etextbooks that is never going to happen they will stay new.
When it comes to carrying around textbooks it can be a pain in the butt when you have more than one. My book bag with all my books and binders in it weighs almost 15 pounds. Carrying all that weight around all day can be tiring and can also be bad for your back. A tablet weighs far less and you can have the same amount of books and doing even more on and it's only one thing you have to carry around. With etextbooks you are able to highlight, take notes, and also some have text-to-speech options. All of these options can not make learning easier but it can also be more fun than just picking up a old outdated textbook.

Have you ever needed a textbook and went to the bookstore and they were sold out or gone online to order and it was going to take a week or two to get the book? With etextbooks there is no waiting for it to be shipped or worrying if the texbook is out of stock, you can download the etextbook right then and in minutes. No more paying shipping cost either. Textbooks can be very expensive and etextbooks can save you some money. Ebooks can almost always be cheaper than regular textbooks. One girl had a saving of $641 and that could buy you a brand new iPad.
To me it's not a matter of why etextbooks are better it's a matter of when they are going to be used in place of all the textbooks. I think it's clear that etextbook can make learning more accessible and also more fun. The things that you can do when have an etextbook far exceed anything you can do compared a regular textbook. When are schools going to come around and enter into the world of technology?

The "Good", the "Best", and the "Amazing"!

For today's blog I will be giving an overview of my top three blog post from good to the amazing. My About Me is the blog I consider to be good. I think this is a good blog because I did a "good" job of describing myself in a short but sweet little post. I hit all the highlights about myself and gave a good look into my life. In my blog I named a couple people that have impacted my life and also changed my life and made me the person that I am today. Without them I would be a totally different person. My friends and family are the most important people in my life and weather or not they know it they are helping me reach my goals and have will help me succeed in the future.

The next blog is do you want a job or a career and it is my "Best". The reason I like this one is because this is something that I want. There are things in life that I want and one of them is a career not just any old job. People don't normally think about the difference between the two so I decided to give my take one each one. Another reason that I think it is the best is because people can relate to it. Things that people can read and then also relate to interest them and also might want to make them read more blogs because they like what you have to say. Next the thing I like most about this post is the idea that I have that colleges should help their students after they graduate in terms of getting a job. I think that I proposed a good idea that could potentially help college students get a job. 

The last blog post and the most "Amazing" blog post that I think I had this semester was the change in education. Through out high school I can't even tell you how many time I heard someone "how is this going to help us in the real life?" and the teacher would always give the same old answer on some made up way that it was going to help. So I got to thinking that education needed to catch up with the changing world. Technology is making the world a whole different place but education still hasn't change in a very very long time. If education where to change the same way technology has kids would be better off in the future.

College is calling for me. Is it calling for you?

Photo credit: sonofgroucho

For me the question was never "Why college?”, but rather "Which college?"  But now I know what I am doing here. I always knew that my career options and financial potential would be very limited without a college education. But as of yesterday I have figured out my calling. My goal was to become a communication major and go work for TV. But I don't think that, that is going to be enough for me. I want to do something that is going to make a difference in the world. One thing that I am very passionate about is politics and how we can fix this country and get people back on their feet and to keep us as the best country in the world. We live in the greatest country in the world and the thing that makes us great is that there are an unlimited amount of options for us. You can do anything that you put your mind to as long as you work hard to get there. College is good for fine tuning your skills so that when you join the workforce you will be able to get the best job that you can. 

Photo credit: pocketwiley

When you are in high school you are learning an array topics and some if not most you will probably never use. So college is good for picking that one thing that you are passionate about and focusing your time to perfect those skills that are needed. In high school it is very easy to make social groups because you have been going to school with the same people since you were little so everyone knows everybody. College takes your social skills to an all new level. You have to go out on your own to meet new people and make new friends. It helps you step out of your comfort zone and get you prepare for the real world. No one is there to hold your hand anymore.
So I chose to go to college and get a degree to better my future. Although I am just a freshman and things can change in my life at the drop of a hat I know that college is the only thing that is going to get me where I want to be. For me it has always been my goal to go to The University of Georgia and that will be my next goal. As long as I work hard and keep doing what I'm doing I have no doubt in my mind that I can make it there. I kind of slacked off in high school and didn't apply myself they way I should have. So if I could give any advice to high school students it would be that high school is not a joke there is more to high school than just being popular. College will open up a whole new world for you and can make you a better person as long as you let it. College can teach you so many things that you proabably never even thought about. But you have to want to go to college to make it beneficial to you. 

But there are bad things about college too...     

Do you want a "job" or a "career"?

Photo Credit: bjornmeansbear

Photo Credit: speakingoffaith

     “The word “job” was precious enough; the word “career” seemed outlandish, absurd, almost unseemly.” (Sarah Iszik 21). This quote is from the book “Share or Die” and to me this is the perfect quote to sum up the way people feel into days world about the job market. I personally have never had a job but when I think of the word “job” I think of something you do while you are in high school or college. Something you do to make some money on the side so you can buy things. I don’t think of of the word “job” as being something that you will do for a very long time or even the rest of your life. And that’s why you go to college to get out of the “job” world and enter into your “career”. Now the word “career” to me means something you do for the rest of your life. You wake every saying “I get to do something I love everyday and they pay me for it!” That’s what I want when I get out of college but is it possible?
    I am really not sure if it is even possible to jump right into the “career” you want right after you finish college. But I know that after going through 4 years of college I don’t want to be doing something completely opposite of what I want my career to be. I want to be working my way up the food chain to get to that career goal. But with the way things are going right now it’s just not possible for most people. They are taking the first job that is offered to them because it’s something instead of nothing. They spent 4 years or maybe even more in college to possibly be doing the same job as someone who didn’t go to college. If high school education can get me the same job that a college education can get me then why go to college?
     Something needs to change when it comes to the way college is being run. There is no reason that after all the money you spent paying for a college education that they couldn’t help at least a little. I understand that you are an adult and on your own but why would I want to give you (the college) all this money when it didn’t help me at all? I think there needs to be some help from the college, I’m not really sure what kind of help or really if it’s even possible but it’s a thought and maybe that would help people. Maybe it will get people think on how they can help people reach that career goal. It might make America a happier place.

The World is Changing Why Can't Education?

Photo credit: cayusa

The other day while sitting in my college English my teacher said that "her kid was going to have a job that doesn't even exist yet" and at the time I didn't really think much of it. But thinking about it now, if the jobs that the next generation will have don't exist yet then the way they learn those skills will also have to change, right? You would think so but really look at the way schools have been taught the past lets say 40 years. Okay lets look at high school for example the only two things that have changed education wise is math and science. In math they have added some more pointless things that we will never use after that class and then in science we are being taught new things that have been discovered each year but again most people won't need 3/4 of that knowledge. But in English and history we are reading the same books our parents read and learning about the same events in history that our parents studied in high school. The grades are still the same, you have kids that act up to get attention and that takes away from the kids who want to learn, teachers are still giving busy work, there is still one way to do things and one right answer and if you're wrong you fail. John Coleman has a perfect example of this "He was bright, hardworking, and motivated. But he had bad habits that were hard to break. Joey would become so focused on the perfect answer to a problem, he wouldn't consider implementation. He feared failure so much that he would hide his mistakes until they grew worse." So is school being hurtful or helpful? Okay another example in order to get into a good college you must have a good GPA and score good on the SAT. But there is so much busy work that means nothing in high school that kids get tired of doing it and even if they do good on the test they could still fail. In the case of Nick's Story school was not for him he says "The idea of a student primarily learning outside of the classroom was unheard of. It especially confused them when I scored highly on tests, despite ignoring all lectures and homework. I was always told that I had potential, but because I wasn’t doing the work that they provided, I wasn’t living up to that potential." 

That's just high school, I have to say once you get into college and you find a major that you would like to pursue the classes you take are way more helpful. But unlike high school you don't have to go to college so you have to want to be there. You should ask yourself a few simple questions to make sure it's right for you. Mark David Milliron says "Know the answers to the following questions: Who are you doing this for? What are your goals? What is your vision of how your credential will serve you? What is your overall purpose? Moreover, you have to own this purpose—it can't be a dream borrowed from a parent, spouse, boss, or counselor. It's far too easy to quit if that's the case." and I couldn't agree more with knowing the answers to those questions. College is far to expensive to not put forth the effort. 

Photo credit: chuckp

One thing that college can be good for that most people probably don't even think about is connecting with the people you meet in college. Networking is a huge piece of the puzzle when it comes to finding a job. It's all about who you know "This means that something is needed above and beyond a college degree in order to land the best positions. This something could be an outstanding resume, a stellar recommendation, or a outgoing personality, but oftentimes it's about personal connections that determines who gets a job and who doesn't" I know my mom using networking in her job all the time and it is very beneficial to her. 

I leave you with a question from The American Dream "Now that a college degree won't open the same doors that it used to, is college really worth it?" 

ume, a stellar recommendation, or an outgoing personality, but oftentimes it's personal connections that determines who gets a job and who doesn't.

ume, a stellar recommendation, or an outgoing personality, but oftentimes it's personal connections that determines who gets a job and who doesn't.

ume, a stellar recommendation, or an outgoing personality, but oftentimes it's personal connections that determines who gets a job and who doesn't.

This means that something is needed above and beyond a college degree in order to land the best positions. This something could be an outstanding resume, a stellar recommendation, or an outgoing personality, but oftentimes it's personal connections that determines who gets a job and who doesn't.
Read more at Buzzle: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/is-a-college-degree-enough-to-get-a-job.html

This means that something is needed above and beyond a college degree in order to land the best positions. This something could be an outstanding resume, a stellar recommendation, or an outgoing personality, but oftentimes it's personal connections that determines who gets a job and who doesn't.
Read more at Buzzle: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/is-a-college-degree-enough-to-get-a-job.html

This means that something is needed above and beyond a college degree in order to land the best positions. This something could be an outstanding resume, a stellar recommendation, or an outgoing personality, but oftentimes it's personal connections that determines who gets a job and who doesn't.
Read more at Buzzle: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/is-a-college-degree-enough-to-get-a-job.html

This means that something is needed above and beyond a college degree in order to land the best positions. This something could be an outstanding resume, a stellar recommendation, or an outgoing personality, but oftentimes it's personal connections that determines who gets a job and who doesn't.
Read more at Buzzle: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/is-a-college-degree-enough-to-get-a-job.html

This means that something is needed above and beyond a college degree in order to land the best positions. This something could be an outstanding resume, a stellar recommendation, or an outgoing personality, but oftentimes it's personal connections that determines who gets a job and who doesn't.
Read more at Buzzle: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/is-a-college-degree-enough-to-get-a-job.html

This means that something is needed above and beyond a college degree in order to land the best positions. This something could be an outstanding resume, a stellar recommendation, or an outgoing personality, but oftentimes it's personal connections that determines who gets a job and who doesn't.
Read more at Buzzle: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/is-a-college-degree-enough-to-get-a-job.html

This means that something is needed above and beyond a college degree in order to land the best positions. This something could be an outstanding resume, a stellar recommendation, or an outgoing personality, but oftentimes it's personal connections that determines who gets a job and who doesn't.
Read more at Buzzle: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/is-a-college-degree-enough-to-get-a-job.html

This means that something is needed above and beyond a college degree in order to land the best positions. This something could be an outstanding resume, a stellar recommendation, or an outgoing personality, but oftentimes it's personal connections that determines who gets a job and who doesn't.
Read more at Buzzle: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/is-a-college-degree-enough-to-get-a-job.html

This means that something is needed above and beyond a college degree in order to land the best positions. This something could be an outstanding resume, a stellar recommendation, or an outgoing personality, but oftentimes it's personal connections that determines who gets a job and who doesn't.
Read more at Buzzle: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/is-a-college-degree-enough-to-get-a-job.html

   

When You Think of College Do You Think of the Good Things or the Bad Things or even Both?

“Questioning the value of a college education seems a bit like questioning the value of happiness, or fun.” Megan McArdle  

Education:    

Education

I feel college can be good for many different reasons but also in the same respect it is not for everyone. I’m going to start off with a quote from another blog I read Live and Learn “The theory goes like this: In any group of people, it’s easy to determine who is the fastest or the strongest or even the best-looking. But picking out the most intelligent person is difficult, because intelligence involves many attributes that can’t be captured in a one-time assessment, like an I.Q. test.” society has taught us that school is a must to succeed and to get the job that you want you have to go to finish high school and then go on to college. But even then that degree that you just got might not be enough to get that job that you wanted. So then the question I ask is “why waste all that time going to school when that degree you just got can’t get you the job you want?” I say everything takes a little time and although you might not be able to get the job right off the bat it will help you with something later on in life, even if that means you just know a lot about that subject. So to me college can never hurt you it can only help.

Social:   
            I think everyone that can experience college should. Other than the education college is also good for a social aspect. Now I’m not speaking for everyone when I say this but after being around pretty much the same people and seeing the same place everyday for the first 18 years of my life I think it was time for a little bit of change. Weather it be a very small change or even a really big one change in my mind is good for the most part. It is a whole different world living on your own and you can learn so many new things in a rather short period of time. I think you don’t really find out who you are until you have to start doing things on your own. I also think that it is good for the society as a whole. Some people might be extremely book smart they might not have very much common sense. Being book smart can only take you so far. Rose, the author of Why School? says “learning to think together, learning to attack problems together, learning how to disagree.” and I don’t believe that schools really teach that aspect of life. I know one of the main things I have learn so far just being in college for a month is how to manage money. And I know that the classes I'm taking now aren’t going to teach me how to do that. It’s kind of one of those things you have to learn on your own.
Financial:

MONEY MONEY MONEY

There are two parts to this. The money that you could earn for getting a college education and then on the flip side the money you spend going to college. Most studies now a day say that the higher education you have the more money you make. And I believe that to be true and Education pays gives you a little study on that. So knowing that you make more money the more education you have then you also must know that the longer you spend in school then the more money you will be fishing out. College today is very very expensive. Let me say that again it is very very expensive and can put you in a huge hole once you are finished. So if you do want the benefits of a college education and make more money down the road you are also going to have to pay for that eventually.                                    

College has both its pros and cons just like everything else in life. It’s all up to you whether it's right for you or not.

Why college?

For me the question was never "Why college?”, but rather "Which college?"  I always knew that my career options and financial potential would be very limited without a college education.  And there was also the social aspect of college that I wanted to experience by living on my own and meeting a new group of people. My passion has always been to pursue something that involved sports. I’ve played many different sports since elementary school and was fortunate enough to be good at them. However, I also knew that the possibility of playing sports professionally was quite slim. Fortunately for me, my high school offered a broadcasting course. The first day I took a seat in class and the teacher went over what the class was going to be about I knew that class was for me. Our class would film games for our sports teams, produce sports interviews for TV, and compete among other high schools in producing various short subjects. BINGO!  I was pumped! That was all I needed to hear. Now just tell me what I needed to do to get started. Besides producing special and seasonal projects, our class broadcasted a 15 minute show every Friday on news and activities around school. These broadcasts included sports and other ads for upcoming school events. I loved it! I was able to get hands-on experience in filming and editing sports events for 3 of my 4 years at Harrison High School. But mid-way through my senior year, I knew it was time to choose a college that offered a major in the field I wanted to pursue - broadcasting. My ultimate goal has always been to go the University of Georgia, which is where my Dad graduated.  But because I didn't put forth enough effort during my first two years of high school, I knew that UGA might have to wait for now. So I had to do a little research to find a good school that had what I was looking for career wise. I came across JSU and saw that they had an accredited broadcasting program, so I decided to come for a visit. I liked everything about the school and the people I met and decided that JSU was the college I wanted to attend. I had reached my goal of being accepted to a good college where I could pursue a broadcasting degree. Now my next goal is to get to where I have wanted to go since I was a little kid, which is the University of Georgia.