Dear Who It May Concern,
Hi, heartland here! I am writing this article to tell what I think about Whyville. First of all, I hear a lot of stuff about a school in Whyville. Well, I visit Whyville 24/7 and I never saw a school anywhere!
I also heard that Whyville is an educational site. Well, I don't think we learn anything, really. I mean, we had that whole Why-Pox thing, but it was nothing like the real chicken pox. So it wasn't really educational.
Here are my reasons why it wasn't educational:
1. You don't say Achoo when you have chicken pox.
2. You also don't have them only on your face, you have them everywhere!
I think Whyville is basically a chatting site. Also, I have another comment I would hope to see answered. If Whyville is supposed to be educational, then why should we have to wait to get on? I mean I love Whyville, but after a while it gets boring because all you do is chat. Whyville should replace the old with new and improved features.
Also, I don't think that you should have Why-Passes. I mean, who would want to pay to get on to a site that is supposed to be educational? I think that you should find other ways to earn money, also maybe not let only new people get on for the first five days. Let it be whoever gets on first not just the new people and like 5 of the older people. Thanks for listening!
Sincerely,
Heartland
Note from City Hall:
You ask some very interesting questions in your article, Heartland. Let me try
to address your points by asking some questions as well.
Do we really only learn in school? What about when you play a game like
chess or figure out a challenging puzzle? What about when you watch a good
show on TV about animals in Africa?
Us folks here at Whyville believe that learning can actually happen at any
moment during our everyday lives. If you are paying attention, you can
learn something with everything that you do. You can learn something from
your friends when you are just chatting with them, and they tell you
something you've never thought about before. You can learn something when
you go to the supermarket, and you figure out that you save by buying the
24 oz juice for $2 instead of 2 12-oz juices for $1.25 each.
Life is full of opportunities and challenges, big and small, and if you're
brave enough to give them a whirl and willing enough to pay attention, you
can learn a lot. That's what we had in mind when we made Whyville. We
made it just like life, with lots of interesting challenges, from earning
clams to spending them wisely, from starting businesses to suffering from
Why Pox.
Some citizens do come here just to chat with their friends, and
probably not even remember much of what they just chatted about. I sure
hope, though, that more citizens come here to take every opportunity our town has to offer and come away with some new thoughts and understanding tucked safely inside their brains.
Would you like to tell us what you get from Whyville? Here's your
chance to let us know how Whyville may have influenced your life, and maybe
even win a prize. Check out Bigfoot's article for more details!
City Hall
P.S. To quickly address Heartland's other points: we really cannot afford
to run Whyville for free. Just like how bookstores must charge you for the
books they sell, and game stores charge you for all their games,
educational or not, we need Why-Passes to help pay for the cost of
Whyville. Please see my article on the history of the Why-Pass if you
want more information. Did you know that even public schools cost money?
The money comes right out of the taxes that your parents pay. If it helps
you any, think of Why-Passes as Whyville tax, as chilibean suggested in her article.
