Hey! Obama! Leave Those Kids Alone!

Summer vacation. It's the roughly two month period that kids all across the country impatiently wait for from the beginning of each new school year. However, if President Obama has his way, those two glorious months could be in jeopardy.

According the the article "More School: Obama Would Curtail Summer Vacation," the President wishes to keep kids in school longer. For more hours per day and more days per year. Additionally, he wants schools nationwide to be kept open late and on the weekends to act as a safe haven for underprivileged kids who have no where else to go.

While it is a reletively well known fact that kids in the U.S. tend to score lower on tests in subjects like math and science than their international counterparts, I feel like Mr. Obama is forgetting what it was like to be a kid. He is forgetting what it was like to relish in the few weeks of freedom that summer provided. Taking away, or severly shortening summer vacation would be taking away a part of childhood.

That being said, I don't believe that Mr. Obama's heart was in the wrong place. It is true that, in order to survive in the global community, kids-and the bevy of less-than-supportive parents- need to step up. To focus more on their education. I did like the President's idea of keeping kids in school for a few extra hours a day to not only keep them from getting into mischeif on the streets, but to extend class time and help support better studying habits . To make education not only a necessity, but a priority.

Good Journalism: an Example.

Every person has a view of what "good journalism" is. In an effort to allow users to judge various journalism articles, the social networking website, Newstrust.net, has set up a list of qualities used to review the content of the articles. The list includes, but is not limited to insightfullness, well sourced, and balanced.

David Colker's article describing a rumored new gadget created by Mircrosoft, posted by the LA Times, is a great example of not only Newstrust.net's, "Informative," category but also of Bruce Ross-Larson's technique of keeping paragraphs and sentences short when writing for the web. Because of David Colker's use of this technique, the article seemed less daunting to the reader.

I found Colker's article to be highly informative, exemplifying one of what I believe to be one of teh most important qualities in journalism. He details the origins of the rumor behind the new Microsoft Courier, quotes company spokespeople, supplies the site in which readers can discover more about the rumored gadget.

Aside from informing about the rumor's origin, Colker describes the gadget's features and design. Though he does not go into great detail, he provides enough information for the reader to understand the as-of-yet unrealeased product.