My Thoughts on Comments

In this blog post, I will discuss and analyze comments on my controversy, which I introduced in the post "My Controversy." I found two credible comments, and two comments that lack credibility. I also answered a few questions about each comment.

Public comment sections have always scared me. I can't help but wonder who is sitting behind the computer, ranting and cursing to or about someone they have never met. I also don't understand how they have this much time on their hands.

Reasonable/credible: 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/no-child-left-behind-overhaul_55c25483e4b0f7f0bebb53da

1. This commenter seems like she wants to be understood, as an educator. She is fearful and anxious that the school system that she knows and has worked with will crumble, because standardized testing may not be in place anymore.
2. She clearly believes that some sort of testing is a fair and trustworthy method to determine a student's knowledge. She also believes that it is not only beneficial to the student's success, but to the faculty and teacher's.
3a. She is a credible commenter because she uses her full name, uses grammatically correct language and punctuation, and does not seem too aggressive or angry. She is also a teacher, and has first-hand knowledge of what standardized testing is used for.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/no-child-left-behind-overhaul_55c25483e4b0f7f0bebb53da

1. Karl Wheatley clearly wishes that all standardized tests would simply "disappear," and he seems somewhat anxious that instead of this, tests will be used more often in the future.
2. I think that this commenter is a firm believer in a traditional method of schooling. He seems to have an extensive knowledge on how the current education system works, and perhaps he believes that the recent developments and changes done in the educational field have been harmful.
3a. Clearly, this commenter sounds credible, primarily because he titles himself as a "researcher" in a related field and provides a believable statistic. He also uses appropriate language and grammar, and seems very calm about the subject.

Not Reasonable/Credible:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/no-child-left-behind-overhaul_55c25483e4b0f7f0bebb53da

1. This commenter seems to be talking from personal experience. She might personally have had difficulty in school with tests and memorization, and might be fearful or nervous for another student that might have to go through the same experience. I gathered this information because she is clearly using aggressive language and exaggeration.
2. Conway most likely believes that each student should learn at their own pace, and that testing should be done away with altogether. She seems to value education, but not the system that we are using in schools today. She seems family-oriented, as she talks about "our children."
3b. At first I thought she was a credible source, because she put her own name and used somewhat decent grammar. However, the farther I got in the comment, the less I thought she was reasonable. Her cursing and metaphors (parrots?!) make her sound immature.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/no-child-left-behind-overhaul_55c25483e4b0f7f0bebb53da

1. This commenter is clearly afraid and nervous of the people being left to their own devices. He believes that people are not responsible enough to determine what success looks like without standardized testing.

2. I think that this commenter is extremely pro-government. It seems to me like he trusts the government more than any other institution, and would like to leave the majority of the responsibility up to them.

3b. This commenter is extremely unreasonable because all of a sudden, he mentions World War II. This war and the education system have absolutely nothing in common, so the fact that he brought this up was hilarious to me. His point was not made clear, which made his lack of credibility even more apparent. 

Like I said, comment sections are scary, but more significantly, they are overwhelmingly entertaining.

--Jenny Bello

REFLECTION: After reading and viewing two other blog posts, I have a few thoughts on format and content. As my classmates and I have just started this course, we have not completely figured out everything yet. We have not mastered formatting, hyperlinking, including citations and blogging itself. However, I see that a common theme and mistake is the lack of "blogger formatting." We discussed what is expected in a blog's format, however we have not put these things into practice. Betsie did a great job at leaving plenty of white space in between paragraphs, and I need to remember to do this in my posts.

Relating to content, both Betsie and Bree did a great job analyzing and examining comments. I was reminded how many commenters on the internet bring up their own experiences and lives into their posts, and how their background changes their point of view on a wide variety of controversies. This was especially true in one of Bree's "credible" comments. I personally loved getting to see my classmates' views of their controversies, because it allows me to understand things in a different light.