By Kaitlyn Check '18 In past years, technology has been a common commodity introduced to the classroom. Is technology playing a large role in the classroom by bettering education for students? Or is the introduction of technology damaging the education of students? Using technology in the classroom is increasing the amount of distraction in the classroom as well as a having negative impact on the grades of students.
Along with the benefits of access to technology and the internet in the classroom comes disadvantages. Students have the opportunity to drift off in the classroom and find themselves on non-educational sites such as shopping and social media sites. Fontbonne Hall Academy student that prefers to stay anonymous admits, “At least once or twice a day I find myself drifting off to a shopping site. It is very difficult to have internet access all day and always stay on task.” Ultimately, this can lower student’s grades because they are not paying the amount attention in the classroom that they should be. Too much exposure to technology can directly affect the brains of students. A 2015 Edudemic study done my Pamela DeLoatch found that technology was negatively affecting the brains of students. As stated in the article, “as children age, with 95% of teens 12-17 spending time online. The time spent with technology doesn’t just give kids newfangled ways of doing things, it changes the way their brains work.” DeLoatch’s article says “that while video games may condition the brain to pay attention to multiple stimuli, they can lead to distraction and decreased memory.” Using technology can completely and directly alter the way a brain is wired and works. The amount of children using technological devices is so large that this dilemma is reaching countless amounts of adolescents. A study at the University of California showed how technology could be negatively affecting students. In the study, one group of children was sent to a camp in which they had no access to technology and the other remained home and continued learning with the use of technology. Both groups were given a pretest and a post-test in which they were tested on emotional intelligence. The findings were as followed, “after one week without their devices, the students at camp had made significant improvements over their peers.” With less exposure to technological devices children have the opportunity to interact on a personal face to face level and interact with other human emotion. However with the technological age society is currently in, it can be nearly impossible to restrict the use of technology. The idea that technology benefits students in the classroom does not prove to be true with the overwhelming amount of disadvantages. A survey done by Cengage Learning questioned high school students supports this refutation. The findings of this survey were that “60% claimed that texting is a major cause for distraction. 59% said that students are busy checking out their favorite social-media sites. 45% noted that students are distracted by games. 25% revealed that some students use the search functionality of their tech tools to search for answers (that is, cheat) during class.” A solution that might aid in stopping this problem is the restriction of technology in the classroom. Technology in the classroom should be used under strict watch. There should be settings on the devices that keep students from being able to visit non educational sites. There is a large amount of evidence and studies that will agree that technology in the classroom leads to the decline of student ability as well as distraction from learning.
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By Lauren Silverman '17 Fidel Castro, who lead the 1959 Cuban Revolution and served as the country’s dictator for 47 years, died at the age of 90 on November 25, 2016. His brother Raul, who is currently in power, announced the event on television. Castro’s death has caused a frenzy of mixed reactions from Cubans who have both stayed in and fled from their nation.
In Florida, Cuban-Americans took to the streets with their party supplies- champagne, pots, pans, Cuban flags, and American flags- and celebrated the death of the leader they despised so deeply. Just 330 miles south, however, the festivities were different. All public events ceased, and the only accessible media related to Cuba’s history and patriotism. Citizens have traveled to various mourning sites to pay respects to their old leader. So, what is this split down the middle? How can it be that one group waves Cuban flags with glee while the other one lowers it to half mast? People have always disagreed over Fidel Castro’s legacy, and his death only highlighted these mixed reactions. |
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