As it’s stated in the title, there’s a new kind of iPad for all the apple lovers out there. The iPad air is 6.4 ounces lighter 20% slimmer than the regular iPad. The Wifi signal is now faster and the battery life lasts up to 10 hours. The cheapest version is $400 which is expensive compared to other brands. However, this article praises the new iPad air and encourages consumers to buy it. I recently bought a MacBook Air and I’m very happy with it. I like it better than the MacBook Pro because it is almost half its weight. I think students would agree that weight is a big factor especially if you’re a commuter like me.

-Radhiyah Kaiyum

Mayor Bloomberg has decided to sign a bill that will change the legal age to buy cigarettes from 18 to 21. The bill will be enacted 6 months after the signing in an attempt to decrease tobacco addiction. Since the mayor’s administration there have been many anti-smoking measures. After raising the price of cigarettes to at least $10.50 a pack the youth smoking rate has steadily declined. A 16 year old girl named Nicole Spencer stated that she does not believe this bill will make any difference. I believe that in the short term there will be no changes; young teens will find ways to get a cigarette. However, in the long run, it’ll be harder and harder to get a cigarette and as someone who is against smoking, I support this bill. Personally, I believe that 18 is an old enough age to decide whether to smoke or not but I’m glad that the age is raising to 21 because there will be less smokers. I think smoking is repulsive and because this is New York and there is a smoker on every corner, I find myself breathing in a puff of secondhand smoke everyday and I hate it.

-Radhiyah Kaiyum

In this article on education in New York State, various groups of people –students, parents, teachers, and elected officials – are calling for the New York State Education Department to scale back on standardized testing. These groups claim that the amount of testing has become too excessive and are unnecessary. The Department responded to these concerns by agreeing to scale back on testing because even they admit that there were more testing in place than are needed, and that some schools were too focused on preparing their students for the exams rather than teaching from the curriculum. The Department also made some adjustments to its current testing plan. Under the new plan, students struggling in English would have to take exams in their native language, students with disabilities would take exams matched to their level of instruction rather than of age, and math tests would be eliminated for some eighth graders. These were some of the different testing procedures laid out by the New York State Department of Education to be put in
place in the near future.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/26/nyregion/new-york-state-seeks-to-scale-back-student-testing.html?ref=nyregion

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/23/education/annual-rise-in-cost-of-public-college-slows.html?emc=edit_tnt_20131023&tntemail0=y&_r=0

According to College Board reports on tuition price increases for the past year, public universities’ tuitions have increased at a lower rate compared to those of private institutions.  Tuition rates at public and state colleges increased by less than 3 percent this academic year, the smallest increase in three decades. Unfortunately, this does not mean that higher education becomes more affordable, as growth of grants is dropping because of budget cuts on educational programs. After grants increasing by 30 percent in 2008-09 and 2010-11, in 2010-11 to 2012-13 grants per student grew only by 1 percent. This is an important article for students who rely on federal financial aid, because it shows them the possible grant decreasing trend in the future.

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