River Valley High School [*IP]

[mistychances]

I came across an article by a RV student in the site newnation.sg. quote the writer - a 16 year old RV student -

\"parents are, generally, a stupid bunch..\"

What have our young ones become? And why is this article even being published? Following is the link and the article:-

http://www.facebook.com/#!/newnationsg/posts/186734701427244
--------------
Dear New Nation editor,

as a River Valley High School student, I am embarrassed to find out that a shouting match erupted between a parent and the school authorities — over the use of the iPad in class.

You know one of those face-palm moments where your parents treated you like a baby even though you’re a 16-year-old adult? Yep, that was one of those moments.

Parents are, generally, a stupid bunch. They are clueless about technology.
I wasn’t there at the teacher-parent meeting, but I saw Bryna Sim’s article about the whole incident.

The ludicrous comments from some parents just confirmed my prejudices.

One questioned whether introducing the iPad would really improve learning.

Hell yeah. Give me a textbook with videos and step-by-step animation anytime. These nice touches make difficult concepts easier to understand. Plus there’s always the Internet.

The awesome iPad is also much lighter. Primary School kids would benefit the most. I really pity my little sister: The bag she carries looks bigger than my elder brother’s army fieldpack. Imagine carrying that to school everyday.

Another commented: ”The school is already doing so well without iPads. There is really no need to introduce it.”

That person needs a knock on the head.

Technology is the future. The faster we get familiarized with technology, the better prepared we are for the Information economy (I learnt that in social studies).

But this comment takes the cake: “Another fear the parents have is that their children will get addicted to games and other sites on their iPads.”

I can’t help but LOL at that. I wonder why the the reporter is hesitant to name what these “other sites” are.

Well, let me spit it out: Porn. Of all varieties: Lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, straight, oral, anal, BDSM. My parents will flip if they know I’m typing this. But you know how I know? Because the boys in my school watch porn on their iPhones all the time. In the classrooms.

I guess parents can be forgiven for being the way they are. They are products of a bygone era — fearful of the new and fantastic. In time, they and their ilk will be discarded like trash — forgotten and ignored.

But you know who is the most ignorant of the lot? Bryna Sim, the reporter of the said article. And I thought reporters are supposed to be smart.

First, she is concerned that teachers must spend time familiarizing with the device and the apps that come along with it. And she is concerned that teachers would need to devote months to convert textbooks to the digital format.

Sorry to break the news to you, Ms Sim, but even a secondary four student like me understands that teachers are not required to convert textbooks for the incredible iPad — leave that to the professionals. Furthermore, textbook publishers are increasingly selling textbooks in digital format.

So stop pretending like you’re concerned about the teacher’s need to do “regular marking, teaching, setting of papers” and start doing more research on your article.

Second, Bryna is concerned that using the awesome iPad will “breed greater selfishness and alienate teachers from students.”

As I recall, people have been saying the same thing about the telephone and the Internet. And where are the fear mongers today?

I think the opposite is happening with the iPad. It draws people together in a loving embrace. Students and teachers can talk about school work, discuss lessons, and ask questions, all on the iPad. It breaks the ice, as students are often afraid to speak out in class.

It’s simply a great way of building relationships.

I have a friend (from another secondary school) who chats regularly with a male Chemistry teacher. She frequently talks about her schoolwork and even her personal problems. They talk about anything and everything, like friends. They’ve even gone out.

Online interaction, after all, often results in great offline interaction, don’t you think?

So, Bryna misses the good ol’ days of “flipping through heavy textbooks scarred with pen marks of varied colors together”. Well, she can shove them up her ass.

She ends off her article as such: “Can we master technology and control its influence, instead of letting it master our decisions?”

How trite. Even I can write better stuff than that!

As for me, my parents will definitely be getting me the incredible, amazing iPad. Convincing them was easy. I told them that the school has an offer for female students to purchase a year’s supply of a new brand of sanitary pads.

If that fails, my backup plan would simply be to do a little arm-twisting. With Facebook and Twitter, nothing is really private these days. And they have plenty of skeletons in the closet.

Best regards,

Apple Slut

[queensotong]

I posted this earlier.


Many say that it is actually not written by a RV student, which is good thing if it is so.

Some believe that I am the one who wrote it, just to defame the school. I can only ignore.

On top of what they are doing, I hope that the school can put in a little extra effort in moral education. RVHS is a SAP school after all.

[WeiHan]

Do you still believe you can indoctrinate these young teenagers? They have their own independent thinking, often more convincing than many adults. My only "objection" is that don’t be so proud when putting forth your points. But who can blame them? Sometimes, many parents like our authority can be so stubbornly ignorant.


I’ll be worry for the future if all our youngsters are just docile sheeps that only follow direction from the shephard. When a small dosage of civil disobedience is needed to wake the authority up, who can absolutely say that it is wrong?

[meimeitan]

"Parents are, generally, a stupid bunch. "


Actually, parents know their children very well and deeply. That’s why they voiced out like that. Nowadays, a lot of (should I say ‘most of the teenagers’) the teenagers stick to the screens of TV, iPad, iPhone, hand phone, computer and etc. They are really the bunch of blind students. When u saw the scene in the hall that day, u would know how worry the parents were!!! Sometimes, the students blame their family, their school. Do they think of how they spend their time, what time management they have? Blame the others, please relfect yourself first. Just some comments.

[WeiHan]

meimeitan:

\"Parents are, generally, a stupid bunch. \"


Actually, parents know their children very well and deeply. That's why they voiced out like that. Nowadays, a lot of (should I say 'most of the teenagers') the teenagers stick to the screens of TV, iPad, iPhone, hand phone, computer and etc. They are really the bunch of blind students. When u saw the scene in the hall that day, u would know how worry the parents were!!!! Sometimes, the students blame their family, their school. Do they think of how they spend their time, what time management they have? Blame the others, please relfect yourself first. Just some comments.

I agree with you but it is not a valid reason for stopping the school from adopting technology to teach more efficiently. They can already surf with their iphones, laptops etc...anyway, what makes the difference with an extra ipad?

[mistychances]

with all without ipads, that is beyond the point. Well, at least, to me. The point is, students who probably think that they are so much more educated and tech savvy than their parents that they have totally forgotten who are the ones who, in the first place, gave them all these, or feed them, should I say?


We, as parents, have to seriously think of what has gone wrong. Is this the next generation that we want to raise? It is really so sad that our kids are calling us ''stupid''

[mistychances]

quote queensotong [I hope that the school can put in a little extra effort in moral education. RVHS is a SAP school after all.]


Yes, I totally agree. Our schools should put in more effort in moral ed. But it doesn’t matter if it is a SAP school or not.

Although it’s good that students do not follow blindly. But to me, this is out right abrasive. And having independent thinking does not have to be rude and irrespectful.

Yes, I hope RV can seriously look into this.

[Pen88n]

I do not have kids in RV, but I've kaypo my way to RV thread. Having read the article, I really think there is a better and more polite way of putting the message across.


The writer is downright disrespectful to parents - regarding parents as \"stupid / clueless about technology\", talking about parents being \"discarded like trash in time\", and sarcastically talking about \"convincing / arm-twisting her parents to buy iPad\". Did she realised that it was her parent who fed and provided for her, else she would be the \"discarded trash\"? And if her parents' generation has not moved to embrace technology, how would her generation be enjoying such technology?

There are also many \"crude\" things being spelt out in the article - do you really need to spell out such \"unsuitable contents\" just to make a point? I'm sure points can be put across without being crude and offending sensitivities. And calling oneself a \"slut\", is that an appropriate term or something to be proud of?

I'm :yikes: by the language used in this article and I'm not sure if this article is really written by a 16-year-old RV girl. If it is, I'm really concerned about the mentality of this student.

[Poet2010]

let's move on, parents.


whoever wrote that article lacks the true substance of being a student, I cannot but feel sad about the commentory made, nothing spectacular, and that he/she should reflect on the remarks posted, one word ... blunt

I am a parent whom embraces technology and it's advances towards making a mark in our lifestyle, be it, learning, entertainment, exposure to the world, communication network, business, work, ++

So ... whom had posted those remarks, do think and reflect on your commentary... in brief, do not tarnish the reputation build upon by years ofworks rendered by the P, the teachers and students ..... not forgetting the supportive parents and guardians .... Cheers

[WeiHan]

RV should try to get media reporting on her effort in using technology effectively. Virtual Reality Lab and the latest ipad…show how it is so handy in explaining some difficult concepts.


As for the article, it is an anonymous article posted on an obscured website. The article wasn’t affixed with a real name or it was posted on a student blog where you can trace and confirm the identity.

Nothing substantial in it and so I don’t expect parents to over react over it. For all you know, it may be posted by an adult imposter. So its really pointless to postulate so much and to the extent of assuming all students behave this way…Adults should be mature enough to take thing in proper context.