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.