Week 1- Suggested Research Method/Why

I want to survey my peers about their future education in college. I want to see if they already know what they are going to study, why they want to study it, and where they hope to be after college in terms of careers. I will create a survey on a Google Doc or I will print one out and have different juniors in my school answer them honestly. I want to see if they are planning on going to college to pursue a major career, to simply learn, to meet a future spouse, or to follow a social norm prevalent in our school and community.

Technology and Education

It's no surprise that technology has made its way into schools for the use of education. Children across America are using iPhones and iPads to play educational games and to watch educational videos. This article talks about both the pros and cons of using these for academic reasons. Some of the pros are that children are fearless when it comes to technology  They aren't as concerned as many adults are when they are given a new piece of technology.  They are able figure it out on their own in no time. In fact, they even labeled the younger generation as a generation of "digital natives." The educational games and videos are also very entertaining for the children as many described the apps as fun. However, many adults would argue that an academic curriculum cannot be replaced with these games and videos. Not to mention the fact that children have short attention spans and can't really get a true understanding of the topic like they would in class.
I remember using laptops in school for the first time in the fourth grade. All of my classmates thought we were so technologically savvy and modern. However, as the article mentioned, technology continues to evolve and grow and I'm sure the fourth graders now have probably known how to work an iPad, iPhone, and MacBook Pro since they were in kindergarten. Recently, the five-year-old I babysit even told me that her kindergarten class has a class iPad that they use during school. It's interesting to see the difference between my kindergarten experience (which now seems extremely old fashioned) and today's kindergartner's experience. I think that it is great that they are using these pieces of technology to hybrid education and entertainment. I'm sure I would have loved to use an iPad in class as a little kid! However, I do not think that they should be used to replace a real school experience. Not only do I think children need a curriculum from school, I also think that if they use these things too often, they miss out on real life interaction. I believe that with more technology comes less social interaction. Overall I don't think that it does any harm to use iPhones or other pieces of technology educationally on airplanes or car rides but I do realize that they can't possibly compare to a true academic curriculum in school.

College Graduates without Jobs

This article talks about the high rate of unemployment not only for most of the nation, but also for college graduates.It says that many college graduates are left without jobs and forced to move back in with their parents. Many unemployed graduates are frustrated that they aren't working after receiving their diploma. Although there is still a high rate of unemployment, there has been improvement from years prior.Unemployment rates are expected to continue to improve in the future. College students are also encouraged to start looking for work and internships throughout their college career to help secure a job after graduation.

I discussed previously that many people don't in fact graduate college after being accepted and attending the school. I may be a little naive  but I used to think that if you were fortunate enough to graduate from  college and get a diploma, you were probably going to be able to find a job fairly quickly. Now that I know that is not the case, I am quite disappointed. After all the hard work that graduates put in during college, I think that it is only fair that they get a job. I know that many companies make an effort to hire recent college graduates to get them started early on in their careers. However, it is still very difficult to find work. This leads me to believe that college may not be the best option for some people. While attending college may be considered the social norm for people in my particular area, some people become very successful without a college degree. Now that unemployment rates are high (even for college graduates) it may pay for some high school students to get a head start in the workforce without attending college.