Editorials

In Favor of the Use of Continued Paper Documents in the Classroom

An announcement of online testing is usually met with rolled eyes and long sighs from the class. No one wants to be staring at a screen for an hour and a half reading passages or doing equations. No matter how you look at it, reading off a computer is very different from paper, and not in a good way. According to the American Optometric Association, eyes start to get fatigued due to the glare and reflection on the screen. Additionally, a study done by the American Psychology Association shows that computers promote a less work-oriented state of mind, which can affect how students analyze information while testing. The internet can be used for many recreational purposes, which can be very distracting for an easily diverted test taker.

It is especially important for visual learners to be able to write, annotate, and otherwise mark up text or problems on the test. Circling questions allows one to come back to them more easily, and annotating and highlighting English passages is a reading strategy that most, if not all English teachers recommend. While technology does offer some substitutes for highlighters and pencils, the technology can often be clumsy and hard to use. In summary, it can never compete with an actual pen or pencil.

For math, it’s undeniably easier to do work for a test on a separate sheet of paper without having to transcribe everything from online. In addition, according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, students are much more likely to guess on computer-based tests than paper tests. When you circle a random answer on a paper test, chances are you’ve crossed an answer or two off or have a reasonable guess for the correct answer. However, on the computer, you’re less likely to cross answers off, and the process of eliminating incorrect answers is usually ignored.

For students, it is also countless times easier to cheat on online assessments. The internet has the answer to pretty much any question you could ask, whether it is math or history. The temptation to cheat doesn’t require pulling out a phone or flipping through a notebook; it just takes some typing. While the issue of cheating shouldn’t be blamed on technology and rather the personal failure of the student to adhere to the honor code , it is definitely an aspect that should be considered when choosing paper versus computer tests. There are various security measures that the school and various testing sites employ, but they are often easy to get around, and with creative, intelligent students, they pose no obstacles.

While testing on the computer does pose less work for teachers to grade, testing on paper is beneficial for students. Hopefully teachers can consider this when they are planning their next assessment.

In Favor of the Continued Use of Technology in the Classroom

In this day and age, some aspects of technology are integrated into almost all classrooms. Math classes require the use of calculators, while History and English classes require the student to scour the internet for research; Other classes will probably require the use of a computer or tablet to work on. Why? Teachers prefer to quickly communicate with their students. They can assign paperless work to be environmentally friendly, test more efficiently, and use multiple online resources for assignments and lessons. With technology, students can even catch up quickly if they miss school.

“I get to maintain a connection with my students and their parents, adults, and guardians at home,” Theatre Arts teacher, Amanda Roberts said. In an age of technology, if a student isn’t using it, they could lose the connection they could have with their teachers.

Again, technology can be beneficial to students and teachers, especially in a flipped classroom. A flipped system is a classroom where the learning is done at home, and the actual classroom portion is used for questions and reviewing curriculum. AP Statistics teacher Leigh Evans runs a flipped classroom. “Students have an outline to do with the book and they go through and do their own notes at night and that’s their homework. And then there’s a short video they watch to supplement that,” Math teacher Leigh Evans said. Learning at a comfortable pace for the student is vital in being able to fully understand what is being taught to them.

Additionally, the use of technology is beneficial to the environment. The amount of paper used in classrooms can be cut down tremendously if more and more assignments were left to be done online. One could argue that they need a paper and pencil to work out math problems or annotate articles. However, this doesn’t have to be the case. Nowadays, computers are touchscreen with programs for note taking and writing with a stylus or your finger. Thanks to various technological advancements, lots of new mediums in the classroom are possible.

Controversial as online testing may be, in the end, it really helps the teacher and the student. Teachers can grade tests more efficiently and accurately, saving them time for other responsibilities.If tests are online, the anxiety of waiting for grades will go away much faster since the teacher will be able to easily grade it. Missing a day of school can set students really far behind, and they would most likely prefer to be able to catch up while they’re out.
Students may prefer not using technology in the classroom, which is okay in some situations. But why would one not prefer easy communication, quick grading, efficient ways to catch up, and do-it-at-your-own-pace ways of learning?

Pro

Plain and simple, I agree with the death penalty. Now, I am not a proponent of using the death penalty in every situation, but I definitely believe that it has its place.
From an economic standpoint, taxpayers should not have to support the financial burden that people with multiple life sentences have become. There are mixed reports of whether the death penalty or life in prison is more expensive, but either way, the cost of death penalty needs to go down. It should be an extremely swift process that is definitively used as a consequence for the most gruesome of crimes.
8,032 people have been sentenced to death (from 1977-2012), but they are not being killed willy-nilly; according to the Bureau of Justice, 67.1 percent of death row inmates had prior felony convictions. Why continue to support a person with multiple life sentences in prison? It is true that serial rapists and mass-murderers have been sentenced to thousands of years in prison, but why? No one receives a sentence that large if there is a chance of innocence.
Of course, I realize that there have been cases where death row inmates have been proven innocent, but with increased use of surveillance, such as body cameras and security cameras, and other advanced technology being used, the number of these cases has decreased dramatically. Executions are at their lowest in 20 years, according to a new report by the nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center. Capital punishment should not be on the table in all cases, but should be considered in those that would land someone behind bars for an improbable amount of time.
The death penalty provides a definitive act of closure for victims’ families, ridding them of further pain and grief caused by a heinous event. Recently, Dylann Roof, the 22 year-old who used a .45 caliber semiautomatic handgun to kill nine people at a Charleston church in June, was sentenced to death for his actions. His cold blooded murders were premeditated, he outright admitted that he killed those innocent people, and there was even video evidence of him practicing the crime. What other answer is there for someone who causes so much harm to our society? A person who would kill innocent people so viciously has absolutely no place in our city or even in the worst prison this country has to offer.
As a society, a balance must be found between the power of the government and its right to impose the capital punishment. At the same time, what does it say about our society if we let mass murderers and serial rapists walk away with their lives?

Anti

The number of executions is on the decline, and rightfully so. Not only is the practice of sentencing another human being to death morally wrong, but there are many other alternatives that provide a more effective route for punishment, such as life imprisonment. All of the flaws with the practice of executions are obvious indicators that it is not an effective method to punish criminals.
Using the death penalty as a punishment for criminals who have committed murder has many parallels to the outdated Hammurabi’s Code and the logic behind the “eye for an eye” ideology. Our society has become more modern, and our punishment methods must follow suit. While on the surface it may seem like the purpose of executions is to protect the general public by getting rid of the most dangerous threats, our lives are actually left in the hands of the government. There must be limitations on the power of the government, and allowing it to play God by deciding whether people live or die is dangerous.
Not only is the death penalty morally wrong and has proven weak compared to other alternatives, but it has also been found to enable racism. A study by Professor Jack Boger and Dr. Isaac Unah from the University of North Carolina found that defendants whose victims were white were 3.5 times more likely to receive the death penalty than if the victim was nonwhite. This clearly shows inequality regarding who is sentenced to execution.
It is also important to consider the fact that there are plenty of cases in which felons are found to be innocent after years of waiting on death row or even being executed. In fact, a study conducted by a group of legal experts from Michigan and Pennsylvania found that at least 4.1% of those sentenced to death are actually innocent. Any margin of error that results in wrongful persecution or execution is a good enough reason to stand against the death penalty.
The death penalty also has many economic disadvantages. A study published by Philip Cook, a professor at Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy, finds that North Carolina spends an estimated $11 million on the death penalty every year. Millions of dollars spent on executions could be used to improve our state’s quality of education or environmental initiatives, but are instead being wasted on killing people.
Sentencing a prisoner to life imprisonment over the death penalty is not an act of mercy or a condonation of their actions. The death penalty has numerous flaws that make it an ineffective method of punishing our worst criminals. Life imprisonment serves as a much better alternative both morally and economically.