If you could be anyone in the world, Who would you be?

If I could be one person in the world, I would choose to be a parent. Not for revenge for my childhood, and not for the ability to be at the top of the heap, but perhaps for something opposite of that. Maybe, to know how it feels to be on the other end of "I love you".

It's 6:00 am when my alarm goes off and I sleepily roll over to turn it off, get out of bed and start my day. The kids are still sleeping- I'll wake them up later- so I tip toe past their room on my way to the bathroom. By the time I'm ready it's 7:00 am and I wake the kids up and make them breakfast. As I drop them off at school and ask them if they've forgotten anything, I hug them both any make my way to work. At approximately 3:15 pm, I get off work and pick up the kids. And as they show me their new masterpieces and tell me about their day, I'm reminded of my own childhood and it gives me a sense of nostalgia.

If I were to become a parent, I know I would have great power, but as the saying goes, "With great power comes great responsibility". And that is very true. Hopefully one day, I'll have that amount of responsibility to take care of my own family. And hopefully they'll care about me too.           

Snakes Found In For The Second Time In Apartment Building

        This the second time that there has been a snake lingering in and an apartment building near 220 Woolner Ave, but, this time, the snake (which appeared in the toilet) did not scare it's victim, Ramdat Punwassie. The manager of Animal Services says, "If you own a snake that isn't prohibited, or any animal in Toronto, you really need to make sure your pet is confined."

        If this ever happened to me, I would be in a state of shock, because for one; it's a snake, and it's in my toilet. Who knows what it would have done to me if  i hadn't noticed it: and God only knows what i would go through if it was a poisonous snake. The Animal Services manager is absolutely correct, because no one wants to get injured for the silliest reason, and it would be wrong if neighbours were to prank other neighbours with their pets: and if this incident was a prank, its going to come back and bite that person in the butt.

Did Nelly Furtado Do The Right Thing?

On Tuesday, September 27th, 2011, also known as 'We Day', Nelly Furtado announced that she had donated $1million to the Free The Children charity. Now, this is certainly a great deal of money, but where did it come from? It came from her quick 45 minute performance for Muammar Qaddafi and his family, in Italy. It was there, that she obtained this money, and she decided to give it to the 'We Day' charity. Was this a good idea? Of course it was, and i couldn't agree more.

I believe she did the right thing by donating the money to Free The Children because of three apparent reasons. One, being that she needed to clear up her reputation- when you've been leading a positive career and a musical act for Qudaffi springs up, it does not look good on your behalf. Two, being that Free The Children was a good cause and everyone knew that the money would certainly go to its cause, without a doubt. If the money was sent to Libya again, it would have to be sent to the government of Libya, not the actual Libyans, therefore it would be such a waste. And finally, I think Nelly Furtado made the right decision because there are so many eager children in developing countries waiting to be heard, helped and loved, and Nelly Furtado just helped them with that.

How Is This A Public School System?

It has been said that public schools full of rich kids raise more money from parents, than public schools full of poor kids. But not just a difference of a couple of dollars, we're talking about massive fundraising imbalances of up to $500 and even $1000 dollars per student, during the 2008-09 school year. The social Planning Toronto's report, however, does itself no favours with its harsh recommendation: Banning parental donations. Up to a point where donations would be unnecessary. Parents of course would be offended, and they would probably protest about unfairness.

This is a good opportunity to consider the current state and future of public education. But if we were to maintain this large system, we might as well not. We might as well take our money, and tend to the kids who are worst off. Because after all, the fundraising imbalances of some public schools are quite saddening. People have always argued over social unfairness, but nobody denies the importance of education.

Now, why are there fundraising imbalances of up to $1000? Well, if you think about it, not every parent who has a child attending a public school is going to donate money to a fundraiser. There are parents give anything at all. And yes, i do agree that pooling all parental donations and distributing them evenly is pretty bold, obviously some parents will disagree. And honestly, if i were a parent with this situation, i would be one to argue.

Government investments promise better education payoffs down the road. But my question is, how far down the road? Because the state in which we are now, is pretty unfair. Parents with or without children attending public schools are paying for programs such as Pathways to Education. People are complaining that it’s not fair that they have to pay taxes for such things, but they never deny the importance of education. And that is where we have a problem, not only in public schools, but how education is linked arm in arm with the rest of society.

E-learning in Elementary?

E-learning has certain benefits over traditional classroom learning. While the most obvious are the versatility and the money savings from not having to travel or spend excessive time away from home, there are also others that might not be so obvious. It's self-paced. Most e-learning programs can be taken when need. Certainly, individuals will have their own tasks, schedules and jobs to complete. E-learning is a great way for these individuals to complete the lesson when they can. The lessons can be used and absorbed for a while before moving on. It moves faster. The individualized approach allows learners to skip material they already know and understand and move onto the issues they need help with. In auditorium lectures dealing with large amounts of people, the speaker talks about information that some people don’t know yet, or already know. People who are advanced in a certain lesson probably don’t want to waste their time listening to information they already know. E-learning is a great way for students to learn new information and pass the information they already know. It can work from any location and any time. E-learners can go through certain subject’s lessons from anywhere, usually at any time. This benefit can make learning possible for people who never would have been able to work it into their schedules, and also people who miss classes, or are absent for the class. It can lead to a stronger grasp on the subject. In elementary schools, there aren’t any divided courses for the students to take. Usually there is only one teacher who teaches the majority of the subjects. When, the teacher shifts from one subject to another, students might not have caught the broad idea of the lesson. E-learning offers the ability to revisit or replay sections of the lesson that might not have been clear the first time around. And when they’ve caught the main idea of the lesson, the subject will be easier for them to understand.

Although many think of e- learning as a whole new step, it really isn’t. People born over the last 10-15 years would be considered tech- natives. I myself am a tech- native, and being the thirteen year old elementary student I am, I know how important technology is. There are many students my age and younger who use technology literally everywhere. On buses they have cell phones. At home they might have video game consoles. And all most every student owns a computer. Yes, some may say that computers were invented many years before the 1900’s and therefore re-stating that tech- natives aren’t only people of the newest generation. But the term tech- native means more than that. It means that these people were born into a world of more advanced technology. Technology including i-pods, tablets and laptops. The reason is obvious- e-learning would be a benefit towards the new generation because we were born into a world of new technology. Grade eight students this year were born in 1998; therefore making them and all the grades younger than them tech-natives. We grew up alongside high- tech devices. We live attached to advanced electronics. So yes, using e-learning for students in elementary would be a smart idea. After all, we’ve already adapted to the future.