Recently, schools have been losing days because of severe weather such as blizzards, floods, and even heat waves. For some schools, the solution to this is Edays. These are two days, pre-set on two days of the year, in which students stay home and learn using technology for pretty much the whole day. Many parents are angered because they cannot go to work if they have to stay home with their children, whereas if they had to stay home because of weather, the parents too probably would not have to go to work. In places such as Massachusetts, children can miss up to two weeks of school with only five days set for make up weather days. Because of this, school districts struggle to make up the lost days with extended school years. This doesn't just happen with snow, it also happens with heat. Since most children are up to date with the latest technology, we should use that technology to make up lost school days.
The author of this article, Thomas Kostigen, is a National Geographic writer and founder of the website theclimatesurvivalist.com, so he knows a lot about severe weather. I think that technology should be used to make up for lost school days, however I do not think the solution is Edays. Edays make it hard for parents, and even for children. If I had to stay home yet also learn like I was at school, I would not be able to focus, seeing as I am at home. I believe that a solution may be that schools can post assignments for the day on the school website for children to do on their own time. Most kids have access to a device to atleast check the school website. Just the idea of Edays shows how much technology has evolved over time, from the beginning of America, until now.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/10/10/should-schools-embrace-edays-make-up-weather/73590202/
It will be interesting to see if they actually put this plan in motion and how they will get it to work because it doesn't make full sense to anyone right now. I agree that technology in this day and age is a great source for school work, but Edays is not the solution.
ReplyDeleteI think this proposal is interesting, but unfair to some kids. Not everybody has the same resources, and some children may not have a computer or data or wifi and then they would be missing out on then whole day and therefore be behind. Also, if it is an inclement weather day, bad weather might affect wifi or phone signal, making it hard to do anything. I also agree with you in that it would be hard to focus at home.
ReplyDelete-Isabella Montague, 5th period
I agree that Edays might not be the most effective option. It's not fair to the adults who have to work but also to the kids who don't have the same access to technology as others do. This is an interesting attempt at trying to compensate for lost days, however, I think they should just stick to setting aside designated make-up days.
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