Re: Passing Law for Carrying Hand Guns on Campuses

In Sovana Dangol’s editorial “Passing law for Carrying Concealed Hand Guns on the Campuses!” she talks about how the Texas Senate is considering on passing a law that would allow individuals to carry concealed handguns to school. Dangol voices her opinion by persuading the readers that this is a bad idea. Not only are professors and students are endangered, schools will no longer be a safe environment to be in. 

This is my commentary on Dongol’s editorial:

I completely agree with you about how the public will be affected tremendously if people are allowed to carry concealed handguns to school. If everyone carried guns, chaos and violence are bound to happen anytime at any place. Although I do believe that people should have their own rights to carry a gun, they should not be able to carry it public where they have potential in hurting innocent people. Weapons should only be kept in one’s home where they are able to defend themselves if anything happens. In public, we have police officers who are trained professionals that can help us if we run into any sorts of trouble. Taking matters into our own hands will only stir up more problems. 

Of course if the bill is passed, people would still have to be over 21 years of age and must have a handgun license before they are able to carry them to school. Overall, I still think that this is a bad idea. Violence will eventually increase and will just leave the public in fear. In my opinion, I think the bill should not be passed because we already deal with a lot of school shootings and we surely do not need more of them. The safer the environment, the better place it will be to live in.  

Teacher Evaluation Editorial

Budget cuts have been the central conflict we have been facing in the city of Austin and as well as the whole state of Texas. One of branches that are greatly affected by the budget cut is the education branch for public K-12 schools and higher education. Because jobs are harder to find in this recession, education board members are trying to filter out the teachers that will be the best fit to educate the students and be able to exceed teaching standards to provide more knowledge for the students. 

The Texas Senate recently passed a bill that will enable school boards to evaluate teachers on their performance in the classroom. This bill makes sense that we are trying to filter out the best teachers the school board needs for their district but this idea is not completely reasonable. Millions of people go to college to get their degree and become professional educators. They have to spend at least 4 years of their life to go through college and also take an examination that allows them to be teachers. New teachers who are just starting out needs the experience to develop their teaching skills need the job just as much as the experienced teachers. Even though the experienced teachers understand more about the teaching environment and norms, they are also constantly needed to conform to new teaching methods and technology just as much as the newer teachers. 

Teachers cannot be evaluated solely based on the numbers: attendance, passing rates, and test scores. Although the numbers are important in recognizing the teacher’s effectiveness, the evaluators must consider the environment and standards expected of the students in that area. A teacher that is teaching in a low-funded or poor school district shouldn’t be judged on the passing rates of their students because those students are more likely to struggle academically. This applies likewise to the higher-funded school districts. 

Every aspect of from the teaching environment, to the numbers, and to the effectiveness should be considered when evaluating a teacher. The school board could evaluate teachers by asking the people that witness their teachings directly, the students. Some students might have different attitudes towards their teacher but they are the ones that really get to interact and see the teacher’s teaching ability. This teacher evaluation can either improve the standards for our future teachers or it can worsen them.