Fighting At Five?

Throughout the year, I have been working with a ministry in Dallas, helping to tutor and mentor children of families which are less fortunate. I help them with homework, play games with them, and have also helped serve food at snack time. One particular time really struck my attention however.

After snack time, the group of kindergardeners came back to the class room and were very riled up and hyper. They were constantly provoking one another. Not only were the kids especially irritable and aggressive, but also the teacher was absent much of the time and I was left responsible to watch out for the group. All of the sudden two boys, only at the age of five, started to punch each other and yell, while the rest of the class gathered around them, cheering "fight! Fight! Fight!" Since the teacher was still missing, I had to step in and break up the argument.

I have never had to actually intervene and physically pull boys apart from one another during a fight and I don’t really think that as a 19-year-old girl volunteer, the teacher should have left such activities left to me, but it was an interesting experience. It made me feel uncomfortable that kids at only the age of five were already fighting and throwing punches at one another, while the other classmates chanted as if this were normal behavior. This was somewhat disturbing to me, because when children are developing habits like this at such a young age, their future of developing aggressive habits is inevitable.

Yet, we wonder why there is so much violence and crime. If behavior like this is rooted in children at such a young age and fist fights are a normal kindergarten occurrence, I think we need to be taking a little more time and energy on early childhood education, as that is where children learn their habits.

Mornings at Mac's

We've all heard it. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Though I myself am a huge breakfast eater and never go a day without it, many people, especially teenagers, tend to skip breakfast in exchange for a few more last minutes of shut-eye. However, studies have shown that those who consume the nutrition benefits from breakfast do better in school. With the intake of vitamins and protein from breakfast, students have more energy and concentration in class.

Therefore, as a freshman college student, as well as a frequent customer at Mac's Place, I think that Mac's Place should offer the option of breakfast to students. It stays open every night until midnight, but it doesn't open until 11 A.M. everyday. Since college students like to sleep as much as possible, and since three dorms are all very close to Mac's Place in location, I think more students would eat breakfast if it were offered close by. Why not close a few hours earlier at night time in order to open a few hours earlier if it will enhance our learning? I think it is definitely worth it.

Introduction to Grown Up Digital

As Don Tapscott introduces his views on today's Net Generation, he begins with the interesting inclusion of his children's early employment of the internet to engage readers in the new era of the World Wide Web. Observing his children's exquisite ability to use the internet, Tapscott was inspired to further his knowledge of this growing culture, as he founded nGenera to study the effect of the web on the world.

Researching the characteristics and various types of new technology, Tapscott concludes that now this "Net Generation has come of age," implementing life with the web throughout the world. As many criticisms, such as the loss of social skills or a lacking work ethic, are instilled upon such a culture founded on technological advances, nGenera conducts thorough research on the life of the Net Generation to prove the worth of the Internet. As older generations remain nervous of the new and unknown, hostility to the younger prevails, frequently displaying the cons of this new lifestyle.

Tapscott argues the way of life led by the Net Generation to be one of advancement and positivity. In agreement as a member of the Net Generation, I believe that the internet has changed all of our lives for the better. Contrary to some of the older generation's beliefs, I have not lost my social skills, but enhanced them through new methods of communication such as Skype and Facebook. I have a stronger work ethic as I am now accessible to such an immense amount of resources at my fingertips. Without the internet, all of our lives would be very different.