Kent started school finally

Yep, today was the Kent School District’s first day of the 2009 – 2010 school year.

The source of the delay in state was a teacher strike, which our own G. Liu discussed in a post right here.

The pure source of the teacher strike, the absolute root of the issues G. Liu stated as the source of the strike is money. The Kent School District’s lack of it. Kent lacks money to pay for building refurbishments that add classrooms, to pay for new teachers, and other issues.

The other problem is that Kent has way too much property covered by them. This specific point means that their schools are packed. There’s also 4 grades packed into the high schools, and 6 packed into elementary schools. Tahoma’s scheme of K-5 in Elementary, 6 and 7 in Middle, 8 and 9 in Junior High, and 10-12 in Senior High works very well. It provides a gradual approach to High School for students and gives a more gentle narrowing of schools. Tahoma has 4 elementary schools, 2 middle schools, one junior high and one senior high (as well as a “High School Alternative”). Kent has 28 elementary schools, 6 middle schools and 5 high schools.

Kent School District is about to be the next GM, going through an awkward “restructuring” to solve their problem. (GM still makes lousy cars though.)

Hopefully though Kent can survive at least until December without further strikes.

Kent teachers STILL on strike and I’m pissed

As a KSD student, I have been absolutely pissed at the fact that Kent teachers remain on strike despite the judge’s order for them to get back to class today. Before August 26th, the School District had offered them a handful of proposals, all were rejected by the Kent Teachers’ Association, so the teachers went on strike.

The reason the teachers went on strike in the first place was because issues such as classroom head count was unregulated and time spent with students was very small. In terms of these two parameters, Kent School District is not up to par, and the teachers wanted the School District to be. Thus, the teachers were really striking for the benefit of students, since less classmates equals more productivity and more time with the teacher means more learning.

August 31st, the first “day” of school, came around, and still no agreement between the teachers and the District. Finally, our superintendent, Edward Lee Vargas filed a complaint to Judge Andrea Darvas. On Thursday, she ruled that the strike was illegal, ordered the teachers to return to classrooms on Tuesday, and students to go back on Wednesday. But yesterday (Monday), teachers voted 71% to defy the judge’s order. I was absolutely ticked off.

Some parents and students actually supported the striking teachers. I stand fast in opposing this strike though. First of all, school has been delayed because of this stalemate between the two sides. Secondly, the School District has already offered the teachers a multitude of proposals that the teachers might as well accept, but no. The teachers are so stubborn, even in this recession, that they will by no means compromise. Horrible attitude, teachers. Such proposals they got were assistance for large class sizes and more pay. An alternative is better than nothing, so why not just accept and end this stagnant strike? Lastly, Judge Darvas already ordered the teachers back to class, and defying a judge’s order can result in jail time or fines. I would not risk this to continue on strike, and I don’t get why the hell the teachers are.

I’m absolutely pissed. This strike has made life boring, and there’s no end in sight. Some of my classmates say school will likely start in October, and Darren asked me what I would say if this case was taken to the Supreme Court? First of all, I’d laugh, and secondly, I’d already be attending a different school.

Everything’s made out of matter… right?

The office chair or the iPhone you’re touching right now is made of matter. So is the air around you, and the keyboard and mouse you’re using to view this blog. No one doubts that everyday items all around you are made up of building blocks called atoms.

But there’s still one type of “matter” that perplexes me, and I’m not even sure if it can be classified as “matter.” This blog is made out of data. Before we go on though, let’s make sure we have this concept clear. It’s the data we’re talking about; not the data storage device, be it a flash drive or a hard drive; nor the type of machine you’re using to view the data, be it a mobile phone or a monitor.

1s and 0s are all that make up this blog. Matter takes space, but data doesn’t. Matter has mass, but data does not. A hard drive with 1 terabyte of free space will not weigh less (or more) than the exact same hard drive with no free space remaining. Yet, the hard drive that is completely occupied with data weighs no more than an empty hard drive, and still can store thousands of photos, videos, and applications. A photo album with no photos in it will weigh less than a photo album with a thousand photos in it. Yet with a hard drive, more photos does not equal more weight.

So here’s the question- is data matter? Are we violating Newton’s first law of thermodynamics, saying that you can’t get something out of nothing? Are we getting something out of nothing? Is this a paradox? Does this spell doom for physics? science? the world? the universe??? existence as we know it?????!!!!!!