Monday, November 22, 2010

thINK 2: Shopping Can Be Dangerous.

Black Friday is the best day to find discounts on small and large items. According to a survey talked about on the site below, the weekend after Thanksgiving has the best shopping deals. This was perceived by 61 percent. 86 percent of these consumers believed that the best deals were found on Black Friday. 33 percent felt the best deals were on Cyber Monday while 17 percent voted for the Saturday following Black Friday.

Every year, many hear about the insane chaos of the accidents that happen by just shopping. I found many sites that have tips on how to shop and think wisely about pricings and deals along the way. Many people will think about Black Friday shopping deals, but before you get excited about it, police have warnings for you. There are numerous tips on how to be safe when it comes to Black Friday shopping.

I have already heard that many are waiting in lines right now to be the first to get into stores and buy the big screen TV’s and much more for the cheapest price of the year. Many will also get up at three or four in the morning and start shopping for Christmas. I, on the other hand, will be sleeping in on Friday for as long as I can. My family has never been a big fan of shopping on Black Friday and we don’t plan to start now. However, this year, I will have to get up a little earlier than usual to come back from Missouri to cheer on the pioneers as they battle against Greenwood in the semi-finals to see who will go on to state.

http://web-self-service.tmcnet.com/topics/mobile-answers/articles/118327-black-friday-shopping-survey-reveals-best-deals-thanksgiving.htm

Monday, November 8, 2010

thINK 1: Survey. Shmurvey. Nobody takes those seriously.

Last week, my 2B AP English 12 class had to fill out a 150 question drug and violence survey. As you probably can imagine, there was a lot of groaning and complaining.

When I was younger, we took these surveys and I remember some kids in my class would fill out the worst possible answers even though they weren't bad kids. Laughing all the way to the end of the survey, they would get to the question: "How honest were you in filling out this survey?" Of course you know they are going to mark the choice "very honest." So with this said, why take these surveys? I know there are some kids that do answer the questions honestly, but the survey and end statistics are a joke in the end because some weren’t honest.

So how can you get these questions answered privately with honest answers? The answer: You really can’t. Unless... there was a one-on-one session with each student in every school in Arkansas, but that is highly unrealistic.

I, personally, think that the survey is not very efficient. The questions get answered truthfully and not truthfully, but what can the survey and statistics do about the problems that arise in kids anyway? Kids that are making bad choices are still going to make bad choices because of their peers and maybe even their parents. There has been and always will be pressure on kids to just be included in the world. A survey is not going to fix anything.