Big Brother- Nothing is black or white
The day when the world trade center crashed, was a day which chocked us all. Suddenly the world changed. People who lived their everyday life were unexpectedly killed or in great danger, due to a huge terrorist-attack. Fear and anxiety was spread all over America and Europe. People wondered if, this could happen again. After this dreadful day in 2001, the rules for traveling have changed, along with several other safety regulations to protect democratic countries and citizens from terrorists. How far are we willing to go to protect democratic countries from terror-attacks?
Nothing is black or white. On the one hand, of course most people will do everything to protect our democracy. We value free thoughts, different opinions and general elections. But on the other hand, the question is; do we really want to be spied on to preserve our democracy. As you can see, this is a very tricky issue.
We must take care of the democracy very gentle. If there seems to be a threat to our democratic world and there is suspicion of a terrorist-crime, then I believe it is important to investigate the suspects. In that case Big brother´s eyes and ears can be very useful. But it is incredibly important to not abuse one´s power. For that reason it is a very thin line of when to use Big brother’s eyes and ears. It is extremely essential that there are special rules for this issue and people with good judgment who control this matter.
I can see parallels between preserve democracy at any price and USA´s weapon-politic. In USA almost every man and women have the right to own weapon for protection. USA also has very high number of death-shoots, due to their weapon-politic. It is important to remember that the subject sometimes can counteract itself.
To summarize my thoughts, I say that we must treat and protect our democracy very gentle. We must also keep in our heads that the subject can counteract itself. Nothing is black or white. There is always another point of view…
söndag 26 april 2009
fredag 17 april 2009
Assignment 4
Grading - an ingredient to conquer goals
Grading in school has been a lively discussed topic since Sweden had a new government 2006. Our new government wants to introduce grades in school earlier than today. Now pupils get their first grade in 8th grade, however this is about to change. Our Swedish pupils will soon get their first grade in 6th grade instead. The new government has also introduced written reports from 1st grade to show a pupil`s progress. I believe introduction of grades earlier is a good thing, because I think it will put more focus on the goals of the Swedish Curriculum and Syllabuses for compulsory.
Grades earlier forces teachers to make the goals more visible to the children and to the parents. I know most teachers are well familiar with the goals and many teachers are very good at making the goals visible to pupils and parents. But grading will force more teachers to make the goals noticeable. I believe it is very important for the children to be aware of why they are doing things in school and also see their own progress. If the goals are visible and often discussed, then the children will also be aware of what goals they achieve. Conquest of new goals will make the children grow and get more confident. The pupils need to feel, they succeed every day.
Teachers can´t hide children who have difficulties reaching the goals, so easy. I don´t believe teachers in general have tried to hide pupils´ difficulties before. But when you as a teacher have a conversation with a pupil´s parents you want it to be nice and friendly. It is then easy to tell some of the difficulties the pupil has and then also smooth things over, because you don´t want to upset the parents or put a label on the pupil. With grading you can´t hide difficulties. You must put the cards on the table and try to communicate and collaborate with the parents.
Not reaching a grade can help the pupil getting more help. All schools want to have a high level reaching the goals. If a pupil tends to not pass the lowest grade, the pupil needs some kind of extra help. Grading on a paper is making a pupil´s progress very clear. If the pupil´s progress isn´t what it ought to be, grading shows this. Perhaps this can make our pupils get help with their difficulties in time. It is very important that we teacher´s don´t wait for the child to mature. The pupil needs help.
I can agree with those who are afraid of putting a label on the pupils. But we must remind ourselves about our mission as a teacher. We work in school, because we want to make all our pupils reaching the goals. We must help the pupils succeed. Perhaps grading is one of the ingredients to make it happen?
Grading in school has been a lively discussed topic since Sweden had a new government 2006. Our new government wants to introduce grades in school earlier than today. Now pupils get their first grade in 8th grade, however this is about to change. Our Swedish pupils will soon get their first grade in 6th grade instead. The new government has also introduced written reports from 1st grade to show a pupil`s progress. I believe introduction of grades earlier is a good thing, because I think it will put more focus on the goals of the Swedish Curriculum and Syllabuses for compulsory.
Grades earlier forces teachers to make the goals more visible to the children and to the parents. I know most teachers are well familiar with the goals and many teachers are very good at making the goals visible to pupils and parents. But grading will force more teachers to make the goals noticeable. I believe it is very important for the children to be aware of why they are doing things in school and also see their own progress. If the goals are visible and often discussed, then the children will also be aware of what goals they achieve. Conquest of new goals will make the children grow and get more confident. The pupils need to feel, they succeed every day.
Teachers can´t hide children who have difficulties reaching the goals, so easy. I don´t believe teachers in general have tried to hide pupils´ difficulties before. But when you as a teacher have a conversation with a pupil´s parents you want it to be nice and friendly. It is then easy to tell some of the difficulties the pupil has and then also smooth things over, because you don´t want to upset the parents or put a label on the pupil. With grading you can´t hide difficulties. You must put the cards on the table and try to communicate and collaborate with the parents.
Not reaching a grade can help the pupil getting more help. All schools want to have a high level reaching the goals. If a pupil tends to not pass the lowest grade, the pupil needs some kind of extra help. Grading on a paper is making a pupil´s progress very clear. If the pupil´s progress isn´t what it ought to be, grading shows this. Perhaps this can make our pupils get help with their difficulties in time. It is very important that we teacher´s don´t wait for the child to mature. The pupil needs help.
I can agree with those who are afraid of putting a label on the pupils. But we must remind ourselves about our mission as a teacher. We work in school, because we want to make all our pupils reaching the goals. We must help the pupils succeed. Perhaps grading is one of the ingredients to make it happen?
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