What Are You Doing With Your Life?

It seems like all people want to know is what you are doing with your life.

Early Schedule

                If it is easy for you to get up in the morning then you are lucky.  It seems like a lot of teenagers have trouble waking up early to go to school, or at least it is for me.  What should be the start time for school?  While many people have different opinions over this subject, many don’t consider the functionality of the teenager that has to wake up early to go to school.  I personally feel like a zombie when I have to go to school at seven in the morning.  What is the purpose of a student going to school so early in the morning if they can’t function properly enough to learn anything?

                It was recently decided in my school district that classes will now start at 6:45 in the morning and get done around 2:55 in the afternoon.  That seems like a lot of school time right?  Due to snow days we had to add time to our school day to make up the lost time.  It was already hard enough getting to class at seven but now we have to go in fifteen minutes earlier?!  Instead of being like a zombie, my functionality would be like a dead person.  There is a little exaggeration there obviously, but teenager’s brains aren’t even fully awake or functional until around ten in the morning.  This article explains teenager’s brains and sleep. 

                Along with getting up earlier to go to school, a student would then get home later and if that student is involved in extracurricular activities; they would be going to sleep later due to a later practice time.  It seems like there just isn’t enough time in a student’s day to sleep and do everything else.

                While this earlier start time may not seem like a big deal, it will impact a lot of students and their learning.  I expect to see more tardies in the morning because people can’t or won’t get out of bed that early in the morning.  While I am only thinking about the students because I am a student, a person would have to think about the teachers as well.  They would still have to get up as early if not earlier than the student’s.  A sleep deprived teacher is not a good thing and therefore we should consider starting school later in the day to make sure everyone gets enough sleep.

Wicked High five

                It might be hard to imagine, but there are some wicked people in high school.  Actually it is not that hard to imagine, teenagers are just strange creatures that can do terrible things to others.  Other ages do the same thing, but it is extremely prominent in high school.

                A recent incident occurred at my high school and has shown me how mean students can be to each other.  Have you heard of the wicked high five? Well you are about to learn what it’s about.  High fives are normally a celebratory gesture or even just a casual hello.  They can get wicked though and not in a good way. 

                This high five consists of a student or several students giving random high fives to people they see in the hallway.  Seems normal, but it isn’t.  I am leaving out one crucial detail.  These students have tacks in their hands pointing out so it would prick the person they are giving a high five to.  It may seem like a joke, but it’s all fun and games until someone gets their hand sliced open.  That is what happened at my school.  A certain individual though it would be funny to do that to another student that they were passing by in the hallway (they didn’t even know the student).  When all of a sudden blood is pouring out of the victims hand onto the floor of the foyer.  Seems gruesome and cruel.  Why would someone want to cause pain to another person?  Some people can just be so wicked.  Are you wondering what happened to the victim?  He or she had to go to the hospital and get stitches.  No severe nerve damage, but it was a pretty bad cut.  The student who gave the high five ended up getting suspended and the mother of the victim pressed charges against that person.  What happened was assault so it would only make sense to press charges and have their medical bills paid for by the person who caused it.  So far the charges have gone nowhere because the parents of the person who did the crime claimed that it was juvenile and just a joke.  That would not be a good excuse in my book.  This is not just happening in my school if you are wondering.  I don’t go to a bad school, there are just bad people in my school.

                A similar incident happened and was reported on ESPN in this article.  Charges were pressed against the person who did the whole thumb tack prank, but so far nothing has really been done.  This just goes to show that things aren’t taken seriously in schools and administration doesn’t do much when bullying or other serious stuff occurs.  “They are just students that don’t know better.”  That is a common saying used by administration to brush off an incident.  In my opinion the student does know better and if they don’t then it is on the parents to teach them right from wrong.  I have noticed that students are making more poor decisions than before and they have no respect for other people.  What is happening to society?  While a lot of the blame may be put on the parent at this point for raising their child wrong, it is still the student that did wrong and they should have to take responsibility for their actions.   Was suspension enough or should the student have it put on their criminal record?  That will be for the judge to decide, but it just goes to show that things aren’t taken as seriously in my school.  Assault is assault and should be handled like the crime that it is.  Hopefully no one else has to experience a wicked high five, but for those who think this is just a joke, grow up and open your eyes.  That’s not the only bad thing happening in schools now.

School Absences

                It is so much fun having a school absence.  Even if you are a studious person, a field trip or another event is always better than going to school.  I personally enjoy learning, but sometimes getting away from the same 2000 students in my school is a good thing.

                A school absence is different from any other absence.  Why? Well, it is the school that is actually calling you out and excusing you from classes.  Your parents wouldn't call you out and make up the often excuse of having a doctor’s appointment.  You have a real reason to miss school and it involves school!  Fun, right?  Some teachers can get pretty upset about their students missing school often because of a sport or other extracurricular activity, but they can deal with it.  It's not the student’s fault that so many activities are pushed on to them.  It is always good to get involved in what you like.

                Like any other absence it would still be expected that you make up your missed work.  I know several people that use the excuse of a school absence for not having to do anything and just being able to skip those missed assignments.  A student should be committed to school as well as their extracurricular activity.  It is always a good idea to find out what you will miss before you miss that way you can make plans to do the extra work to catch up. 

                A school absence has the word school in it, so it should be focused on school right?  Well that’s not always the case.  Sports aren’t always focused on school, they are focused on the sport at hand and winning, but it is the school that provides that sport.  Athletes often have a lot of school absences and I would know from personal experience.  Being involved in band, golf, and several other activities; I am missing out on a lot of school.  A policy in my school is that you can’t fall behind in classes due to sports and if you receive a D or lower in a class, you are not able to participate in that sport and will sit out on the next few competitions.  I value that rule, but I wish that they would change it to be a C or lower because C is average and an athlete should be able to maintain an average grade if they really want to commit to another thing.

                Field trips are another type of school absence.  Most likely you wouldn’t go on a field trip by yourself, so your whole class or group would also miss out on school.  In that case, hopefully the teacher wouldn’t have any make up work because they would also be attending the field trip.  As you increase in grade level field trips tend to occur less often unfortunately.  I feel that field trips are important to a student’s education because they are able to go outside of school and apply what they learned or even learn more stuff that they wouldn’t be able to learn in school.  This school absence is definitely worth missing school for.  In this article it discusses all of the advantages of taking a school field trip.  With all of the advantages I hope schools see that it is a necessary thing to do even at the higher levels of education.  I guess it wouldn’t necessarily be missing school because it would be like the school would come with you.  You would just be out of the building for the day. 

                School absences are necessary and should be enjoyed.  It is sometimes a rare occasion to have a school absence so take advantage of it.  Everyone needs a break once in a while and it should be a school break that still slightly involves school. 

School Start Times

Recently in Iowa there was an announcement that waivers wouldn’t automatically get approved for schools to start at an early date.  A school would have to show that a later start would have a negative educational impact and get approved by the director if they wanted to start early, meaning before the Iowa State Fair.  While that may benefit some school districts close to the Des Moines area, the later start date will definitely hurt most students in the Cedar Rapids Community School District and our Superintendent and School Board should consider filling out a waiver to have our normal start date of before the end of the Iowa State Fair.  If you are not familiar with this new change, here is a website that explains in detail what has been said and what will be done in the future for an early start date. 

 The main reason for having a later start date was to make sure that students could work and go to the Iowa State Fair.  By doing a recent survey in one of my classes, I found out that the people who don’t go to the Iowa State Fair still wouldn’t go even if there was a later start date in the school year that would allow them to. Most of the kids in my school district don’t work at the Iowa State Fair, which would have caused them to miss the first week or so of school.  The Iowa State Fair doesn’t impact most of the student in my district, so the whole district shouldn’t have to suffer with a later start date.

 Educationally it will hurt most of the Advanced Placement students because although our schools will be starting later, our Advanced Placement exam dates will not.  It just means that there would be less time to learn and study information for the exams.  I would then expect that the test scores would be worse because it already feels like there isn’t enough time to prepare for the exams.  If a student is spending time in class for an exam and if they spend a lot of money on an exam, it would only be fair that they get a fair amount of time to prepare for the exam so they can pass.  

 It was also said that if school was started later, there would still be football games that would happen around the same previous dates.  There would then be around three football games that take place before school even has a chance to start.  With school not being in session and there still being football games, I would think that not as many students would show up to the games.  Fewer students attending games means less money raised at the sporting event that would have gone back to the school.  The school would then receive less money and there would be a lower budget that could then educationally impact the students negatively.  

 Although it may be nice to not start school so early and have what would seem like a longer summer, it would just push back the final day of school.  School would then cut into summer activities that may include college events, church camps, and sports camps.  A student would then have to balance all of those activities together which would most likely cause more stress and a possible decrease in grades.  With all of that being said, the school start dates should not change to be after the Iowa State Fair ends.  It will negatively impact the students educationally and personally.

Uncomfortable Discussions

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                There are always those awkward or uncomfortable conversations during class.  Whether it is about slavery, racial issues, political views, and other stuff; it can always make for a weird talk.  I feel that sometimes those conversations need to stay at home.  It is always good to make students be aware of the issues of the world, but I feel like having an open discussion sometimes leads to students having a heated debate and being judged by the other class mates.  I feel like a classroom should be a safe place to express yourself, but sometimes hearing certain things can make a person feel bad and unsafe. 

                Getting graded on participation is also hard when there is an uncomfortable debate.  

School Uniform

                Although my school doesn't have a school uniform, sometimes I wish it did.  A dress code at times is just not enough and can be abused.  It’s like the staff doesn’t have enough authority to say that a person can’t wear what they are wearing.  It is time for a change.
                Clothes can be a big distraction and if teachers are eliminating phones because they are a distraction to the class, why can’t there be a better regulation on clothes?  If everyone wore the same clothing, there should be little to no distraction and it also wouldn’t make kids feel bad if they can’t afford the new trending clothing.  It seems like clothing is now a part of someone’s social status and many people can’t afford to keep up with new fashion.  Not all kids have parents that will provide them with new clothing for each new school year.  Some kids have to keep the clothes until there are too many holes and can’t be worn anymore.  Just thinking about how they would feel if they had to worry if their clothing was good enough to wear to school is just sad.  A school uniform would make sure that everyone wears the same thing and then kids wouldn’t have to be judged for what they can and can’t afford. 
                Females are not the only ones with distracting or too revealing of clothing.  Have you noticed in your school that there are more guys wearing the pants low on their butts and then having their boxers show?  Well it has happened in my school and it is very disgusting.  It is called underwear for a reason; it is supposed to go under your clothing, not be your clothing.  No one cares what your boxers look like, you have a belt for a reason and should use it.  Why should a person feel like they need to wear something revealing to be noticed?  This goes out specifically to girls.  Yes we know that you have boobs, we don’t need to see them hanging out of your skimpy shirt all the time.  I don’t know about you, but it can be uncomfortable and I don’t think it is appropriate for school.  Do I even need to talk about booty shorts?  No one should be able to see a person’s butt cheeks.  Enough said.  With so many distractions, something needs to change.
                I was reading online the pros and cons of having a school uniform and the number one con was that it would limit a student's rights and they wouldn't be able to express themselves.  I strongly disagree with that.  By having people wear more clothing in general, it would not be severely limiting their rights of wearing what they want.  If a woman thinks that by requiring her to wear more appropriate clothing, it would be going against the new feminist revolution, then they obviously don’t think so high of themselves if they feel that they need to express themselves through their body parts instead of their voice.  If by expressing yourself through clothing, you mean wasting money on stuff that won't last forever and caring a lot about what someone thinks in the way that you dress.  Personality should be a way that you express yourself.
                A school uniform would almost create equality and I think that the whole world needs some more of that.  Clothing choice should not be what represents you the best, if you want to be noticed, use your voice rather than your body. 

Homework and Busywork

                 There is a difference between homework and busywork.  Homework helps reinforce information that was just taught to someone and busywork just gives teachers the time to catch up on their stuff.   While this topic has been widely discussed, many people don’t consider how busywork can actually harm the student.  Busywork can make a student not want to learn and can trigger a negative response to doing actual homework that can help them.  Being assigned busywork can just make a student think that all work is stupid and there is no purpose to doing it.
                Being a high school student, it is pretty obvious to me when I get handed an assignment that is just busywork versus actual homework that will help me.  Have you ever considered an assignment as homework for a teacher also?  I don’t see why teachers would want to hand out so much homework if they would then have to spend a lot of time grading it.  Some teachers have figured that out though and don’t assign homework unless it is absolutely necessary.  Some teachers have also figured out that no matter how much they try to get students to do homework, some students refuse to and believe that it is a waste of their time. 
                Well, there is also a lot of busywork for teachers.  Do you think that they want to grade papers and teach stuff on the curriculum that isn’t important?  As I read this article it made me realize that a lot of the “busywork” stuff that teachers give students is actually meant to help improve many skills.  With that being said, what really is busywork?  Many people have different thoughts on that and most teachers think that there is no such thing as busywork because all homework assigned is meant to help improve a student educationally.  So is “busywork” essentially homework?  Do I have you stumped now?  Homework can be busywork and it may be beneficial or it may harm you, but that is for you to decide.
                Homework isn’t the worst thing ever.  Neither is busywork.  I think that in the end, everything with assignments happens for a reason.  The reason can be to help you improve with skills or to keep your mind busy and active.  Whether it is to help a teacher or to help a student, homework can be extremely beneficial. 

School Food

School food can be pretty nasty at times, but on some occasions students get lucky and there is actually a decent lunch being served.  This website talks all about kids health and food nutrition in school.

Punishment

               School punishment is always under debate by adults, but what about what the students think.  I do not speak for everyone, but I do speak for many when I say that students need discipline sometimes.  How else are we supposed to learn from our mistakes if we don’t even know what they are?  Teachers now hesitate to assign detentions because they are afraid of lawsuits and other unfair retaliations.
                Discipline doesn’t always have to be abusive and sometimes detentions aren’t enough.  What are adults supposed to do if students don’t care about detentions and only want to make teachers mad?  Well I have no idea, but sometimes I think that students respected teachers more when teachers were able to hit kids.  I am not saying that abusing kids is alright, but something has to be done about the lack of respect for teachers. 
                Getting sent to the office can sometimes help with punishment, but some kids get so used to that and see it as a way of getting out of learning in class.  Some kids just need to be put in their place and if fear has to be a way of doing that, then so be it. 
                I rarely get in trouble when I am in school, but one time I did get into trouble for no reason and I got really embarrassed because a teacher yelled at me in front of the whole class.  Yelling should never be allowed by a teacher towards a student and a student should also never yell at a teacher.  Yelling gets people nowhere and it only shows disrespect to both people.  I would say that for me to show someone respect, it would mean that they would also have to show respect to me.  Respect goes both ways and sometimes I think if rebel students would just get some respect and attention, then maybe they wouldn’t be so bad and would also show respect to the teacher.
                What other punishment should be done?  For me I would be devastated if I got any form of punishment, but some people just don’t care.  I would say that it is the parents’ responsibility to make sure that their student is good during school because how a student acts at school represents the home life. 
                How about lowering grades or not allowing someone to go to an activity?  That is already a form of punishment, but what more can be done legally?  Having teachers being able to hit kids with a ruler just doesn’t seem right, but it might be the only option left. 
               What if punishment is only making the kid want to rebel more?  Well in all reality, it is.  I read this one article and it has made me realize that everyone is different and what might seem like punishment to someone can feel like another reason to just keep rebelling to another person.  Children are hard to figure out and no specific thing is going to work for each person.  That is why I think each person needs and individual approach and maybe that is why the parents should focus on punishment at home and teachers should only focus on teaching.  Nothing against teachers, but I don’t think it is their place to discipline someone else’s kids.  Parents just need to get a handle on their children.