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hmmmmmmmm

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Do You Prefer Your Children’s Book Characters Obedient or Contrary?

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Do you prefer children’s book characters like the willful children of Maurice Sendak, or the tamer characters of many other books?

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Questions about issues in the news for students 13 and older.

Stephen Hawking believes that alien life very likely exists - and that any contact with aliens would be "risky" because they would probably consider Earth as a conquest. Do you think intelligent life exists on other planets? Do you welcome or fear an alien invasion?
This week's post by Opinionator blog contributor Robert Wright is about physicist Stephen Hawking's recent comments that any intelligent extraterrestrials out there may pose a threat to life on Earth. Wright mused:

Doesn't discerning the motivations of aliens who show no sign of existing amount to the most untethered thought experiment ever?

Not necessarily. Rather than build a whole thought experiment de novo, we can just look around - because, in a sense, we are the thought experiment. We're an example of an intelligent species (as species go, I mean) that is a century or two away from the technological capacity to voyage beyond its solar system and, upon finding civilizations that are less advanced, having its way with them. Which way would that way be?

Students: Tell us what you think about life in the galaxy and elsewhere in the universe. Do you think intelligent life exists on other planets? Do you think alien visitors to Earth would probably come as friendly explorers or threatening conquerors?

Students 13 and older are invited to comment below. Please use only your first name. For privacy policy reasons, we will not publish student comments that include a last name.

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Do You Believe in Intelligent Alien Life?

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Questions about issues in the news for students 13 and older. Stephen Hawking believes that alien life very likely exists - and that any contact with aliens would be "risky" because they would probably consider Earth as a conquest. Do you think intelligent life exists on other planets?

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Liberals And Conservatives Fight Labels And Stereotypes

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Library Guides: Evaluating resources: Home

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Library Guides: Evaluating resources: Home

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student editorial

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collumnist editorial

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Contests

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A lockdown drill interrupted an eighth-grade gym class. Related Article Credit Credit Alec Soth/Magnum, for The New York Times

We are honoring each of the Top 10 winners of our Fourth Annual Student Editorial Contest by publishing an essay a day. You can find them all here.

Below, an essay by Daina Kalnina, age 15.
Stopping Bullets With Locked Doors and Silence Is Already Pulling the Trigger
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It has become very familiar for high-school students to practice the infamous level-three lockdown. In all cases, we all share the semi-nervous chuckle of "wow, maybe we get Swiss-cheesed today" and sit in a corner, stare at our phones and text our friends. Only very recently, after a vivid dream - more a nightmare - of a school shooting, did I realize that sitting in the dark and stopping bullets with locked doors and silence is the exact opposite of what one would want to do. It wasn't until I stumbled upon the fact that the "people shot and killed in the Columbine library sat there for five minutes before the shooters entered and shot them." My school is full of able-bodied kids, and surprisingly, a great chunk that has had experience with self-defense and even marksmen training. So why sit and wait?

To say that the drills today are relevant is a mistake. They do more than just offer very little protection; they also endanger students and teachers more so than ever before. The lockdowns I've been taught over and over again, sitting in the dark, actually tell future active shooters exactly where we're going to be - cornered. More so, in The New York Times article, " In Shift, Police Advise Taking an Active Role to Counter Mass Attacks," studies conducted by law enforcement in the Virginia Tech shooting showed that "the students and teacher blocked the door with a heavy desk and held it in place, [the shooter] could not get in, and everyone lived," compared to those that tried to "hide or play dead," in which almost all were shot or died. It is shown more clearly here than ever by making the vital choice to barricade and move as a means of security will utilize finite time better and save lives.

Many educators and parents have questioned the authenticity and have begun to develop alternatives for active-shooter lockdowns. The ALICE project is one such adaptation. Developed by a former SWAT officer Greg Cane, ALICE stands for alert, lockdown, inform, counter, evacuate. It provides specialized tactics for K-12 and higher education schools. Fundamentally, a moving target is harder to get an aim on than a stationary one. That same difference marks ALICE's method from the old one; it encourages movement, distraction and most importantly, it encourages direct action from students and teachers. This significantly decreases the number of lives lost and helps me sleep a little bit better at night knowing that if the time ever comes, I'm not idly waiting to become Swiss cheese.

It's unnerving that the students of this country must learn how to cope with active shooters.
Works Cited
It's even more unnerving that current procedures say that they should sit, wait and die.

Lupkin, Sydney. " School Safety Experts Disagree on Lock Down Procedures." ABC News. ABC News Network, 16 Dec. 2012. Web. Mar. 2017.

Cane, Greg. "Active Shooter Response Training - ALICE" ALICE Training Institute. ALICE, n.d. Web. Mar. 2017.

Goode, Erica. " In Shift, Police Advise Taking an Active Role to Counter Mass Attacks." The New York Times. The New York Times, 06 Apr. 2013. Web. Mar. 2017.

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Editorial Contest Winner | 'Stopping Bullets With Locked Doors and Silence Is Already Pulling the Trigger'

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Contests We are honoring each of the Top 10 winners of our Fourth Annual Student Editorial Contest by publishing an essay a day. You can find them all here. Below, an essay by Daina Kalnina, age 15.