Monday, February 13, 2012

2/13/12

The article is about the uprising of e-books and how they are starting to take over instead of buying the traditional, paperback book. These aren't just taking over the book business just because of the simple fact that they are easier due to the fact that alomst everyone has a smart phone, it is because, unlike real books, these e-books have other features that are more interative with the user. For example, some of the e-books have short movies, trivia, photo albums, ect. that further help the reader understand and help them interact with the book. Since, most readers really do like these features, the sales of e-books are sky-rocketing while sales of the classic book are on a downward spiral.

These books have come along with the uprising of smart phones and tablets. With people all over the world buying and using smart phones or tablets, they then can do many more things that they couldn't do before. For example, with these inventions, you can now carry multiple books with you without even having them physically on you. You can just download them to your phone and people really enjoy that. Also, since, these e-books are much more user friendly, people would rather spend the $9.99 on a book like this than spend that money on a regular book that doesn't have the fun, interactive features.

Although people are still buying tradtional books, no AS MANY people are. Their sales aren't the same. People don't want them as much. They want the extra stuff that traditional books don't have. But, like I said before, although their sales are hurting, they aren't at rock bottom....yet!

The way an e-book works exactly is that you go right into your app marketplace on your smart phone or tablet, you then find a book that your would like to download. From there, you spend the $9.99 or so on your book. Once it downloads, you can read it straight from your phone. The book may come with extras that are fun for the reader to use and they may help them understand the text even more. Not only, do they have the fun games and such, there are some other cool things. I know that with my phone, when I downloada book, I can highlight and underlince certain words or phrases that I find important. Also, if I don't know what a word means, I can highlight and click the word, and then I will be taken to the definition of the word so that I can go on and finish reading.

Is this smart? Of course. With the amount of people that are using such smart products, it would be dumb if they did not produce such a thing. Why would people go through the hassel of going to a bookstore and rent a book that doesn't have the extas you want. And you can't even highlight the text because you have to return it? In the long run, it is just not worth it.

Monday, February 6, 2012

2/6/12

Part 1
The article is somewhat depressing considering the fact that a school district in a small t0wn about 150 miles outside of San Antonio is considering shutting down their high school sports programs all together. The district in Texas is thinking about this because they hope that by cutting the sports program as a whole, it will save enough money in the long run to keep the struggling schools open and keep the small town alive. To some students, this is disappointing due to the fact that they play many sports. One student said that he and his friends were really disappointed when they heard that there would be no more tennis, baseball, and track since they participate in all three of those. Although the state did say that they would re-consider the decision if they were to see improvements in students test scores across the district.

In my opinion, I don' think that this is the right decision. There are other things that the district can do so that they can keep their sports alive and also have students with higher test score. For example, the district can do what we do here at Pine Ridge. They can put in a system where if a
students is ineligiable if they don't have a passing grade in all of their classes and they student may not play until they raise their grades so that they are passing. That way, if the student really has a passion for the sport, then they will work hard to get their grades up and get back on the field.

Sports are important to schools. They bring in revenue. Since the tickets cost money and items at the consession stand do also. Although this may not be a lot of money, it is still a source of revenue and can help the school in some way. Also, if they were to put in a "pay to play" system like we have here where it is $75 to play your first sport and then a second sport is $25. That way, the school is making money that way too.

Honestly, I think that the schools have such a high truancy rate due to the fact that students grades aren't very high. If the grades were better, you would probably see an increase in school attendance and then from there, see the test scores increase, and then from there, the sports programs stay intact.

Part 2
Here at Pine Ridge, we are not so much as to cutting sport programs as a whole, we are more or less keeping as many as we can active, but having them draw in more revenue with the whole "pay to play" program that I had mentioned earlier. By doing this, we make more money, and students get to play the sport they love. Also, we the rule that you must have a passing grade to be able to participate. If a student is not passing, then they must go to tutoring, raise their grades, and then they can go back to playing the sport.

Instead of cutting out sports, you can cut certain clubs that a lot of people don't participate in. By doing this, you save students and teachers their time and money so that more money can go towards things that students actually participate in. I mean really, how many people actually join and participate in the Earth First Club? If we were to cut those kinds of programs, then money would be saved.

I would apprach it like I just said. By cutting other things that a lot of students aren't active in. So that they fields that the school has put in, don't go to waste and the real clubs/sports that are really a waste and are actually costing the school money to keep, would be cut and have that money go towards more important programs.