Minutes for Meeting 12

Meeting 12: Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Attendees:
Abe R., Alana C., Alex W., Anna F., Ashley V., Austin S., Chloe W., Colbie C., Dennis W., Elli T., Helen B., Ian M., Isaac H., Jacob L., Lindsey S., Logan T., Rebecca B., Tyler H.
Secretary:
Elli T.
Minutes:
Debate #5:

This debate was about whether the MP3 player rule should be abolished.

Teams were assigned for this debate by drawing numbers from Logan's lunchbox.
- Supporters for abolishing the MP3 player rule: Alana, Alex, Anna, Colbie, Elli, Rebecca, Tyler
- Evidence:
  - Colbie: "iPods have audio books, so we could read those in study hall."
  - Colbie: "If the rule [for MP3s] is not being enforced, then there's no point."
  - Colbie: "The school is not responsible for what the students listen to."
  - Alana: "Someone should be punished if they go up to a kid and ask them to listen to weird music, but just because someone forces someone to hear something they don't want to hear, that doesn't mean we need to abolish the entire rule."
  - Tyler: "You don't have to abolish the MP3 player rule completely."
  - Alana: "If someone's music is too loud, the people around them can just move away. They don't have to sit there and be annoyed the whole time."
  - Tyler: "They're [the person listening to his/her MP3] not the only person in study hall."
  - Rebecca: "There's always a possibility for something to be inappropriate, so what about inappropriate books?"
  - Colbie: "A lot of sites have free advertisements, and they [the sites] don't control where those links go to."
  - Tyler: "Not a lot of people pay attention to the rules [in the DA handbook]."
  - Alana: "If someone listens to their iPod during study hall, it's their responsibility to know that they're going to have homework."
  - Rebecca: "Not everyone listens to their music with the volume all the way up."
- Supporters for not abolishing the MP3 player rule: Chloe, Helen, Ian, Isaac, Lindsey, Logan
- Evidence:
  - Helen: "If we abolish the MP3 rule, then people would start assuming that they could watch videos [on their iPods] in study hall."
  - Ian: "If you have an MP3 player and you're allowed to listen to it, there's no way to monitor the songs on it."
  - Chloe: "Some kids will play their music so loud that anyone close to them can hear."
  - Chloe: "Some kids will share songs, and that may be inappropriate."
  - Ian: "If you're asked if you're sharing something inappropriate with another kid, would you tell the truth?"
  - Chloe: "When I'm listening to my MP3 player, I sort of zone out. If there's a safety risk, and you're not aware of the situation, you could be in trouble."
  - Isaac: "A lot of songs don't actually have cuss words in them, but they could contain suggestive themes."
  - Ian: "What about inappropriate podcasts?"
  - Helen: "There are ways to get around them [the rules in the DA handbook]."
  - Ian: "If you have a kid who's only doing research for academic purposes, they're not going to stumble across something inappropriate."
  - Chloe: "If they police the internet, they should police other venues of entertainment."
  - Ian: "A lot more people would play games than there are now if the internet rule was abolished."
  - Chloe: "If the MP3 player rule were abolished, everyone in my study hall would bring their MP3 player and listen to it.
- Judges: Jacob, Dennis, Abe, Ashley
- Winner: What do you think, based on the evidence above? See the results here!
Isaac will be our temporary president for the next meeting.