60 thoughts on “Investigative Journalism (Period 3)”
It all started when the state of Louisiana was in a war. A war against the world. It turns out this story is only one of many false accusations. Glenn Ford’s ordeal dated back to November 5, 1983, when Isadore Rozeman, a jeweler in Shreveport, Los Angeles, was found dead of a gunshot wound in his small shop. Three days later, Glenn Ford, who was 34 at the time, was charged with possession of stolen property, after he allegedly pawned items taken from Rozeman’s store. Glenn, who was born in Shreveport, had spent most of his life in California, where he had a history of drug problems, but no record of violent crimes. In his early thirties, he moved back to Shreveport, where he supported himself by doing different jobs, including yard work for Rozeman. “Truth is, if you pawned jewelry, you would never spend 30 years on death row,” Clements told The Huffington Post.
The Decleration of Independence states that “all men are created equal”, but Glenn Ford knew that was not the case when he was a black man going up against an all white jury. He was not happy when he got convicted of the crime, by the state of Louisiana, potentially ruining the rest of his life. More than two decades later they found the real culprit, with a DNA test, while investigating a murder that the man who was supposed to go to jail committed. Glenn spent more than 29 years in the notorious Louisiana prison before he was released from death row in March of 2014 after a judge ruled that he had been wrongfully convicted of murder. They gave him a twenty dollar “Sorry” gift card to a restaurant as if that would make a difference for the dying man. When he got the gift card he knew he had to be mentally strong and peaceful like Ghandi, while also being a powerful leader like Martin Luther King Jr. and fight for his rights. But, before he could even say a word to Louisiana, he died just a few days later with stage four lung cancer at the age of 65 and an angry family pleading for support.“He literally has nothing,” Wenstrom told the Huffington Post, “Money right now is going to hospice care.”
Now, the state of Louisiana is in trouble with the world for making such a big mistake and not taking responsibility for it. Hopefully next time, the police of the State of Louisiana will actually make an effort to find and capture the real culprit. Maybe you, the people of the world, could investigate the murder of Glenn Ford, or any murder, for yourselves to find the real culprit and save someone’s life. This just comes to show how the world is even more cruel than it already is, but with your help we can change that.
Would you believe someone if they told you that there are unstoppable murderer’s going around killing children, parents, friends, companions, and more? Would you believe someone if they say these murderer’s are addictive drugs? It is probably true that you do not look out the window everyday and see children doing drugs or drinking alcohol, but that does not mean it is not happening. It is known that drug overdose is found commonly in adults, but it is less known that there is an 8.7% death rate due to drug addiction in children. If this problem continues, there will be many more kids dying before they are able to even begin their lives. That is why everyone needs to make an effort to stop kids from doing drugs.
Parents today are not always sure why their children have bad grades or bad behavior. A lot of the time parents blame it on “kids being kids”, but that is not always the reason. Parents need to be more careful when they see their kids are acting odd. They need to understand that even though they seem to young, kids do have everyday stress. And just like many adults do, some kids begin to abuse drugs and alcohol as a way to solve their problems. With adults it is usually easier to tell if they have a drug addiction because they have had it so long that it begins to change the way they look. They look almost dead with their slim bodies, wrinkles and beaded eyes. You may see some of this in children but usually not. It is mostly seen in the way they act. They may seem depressed or angry, or they may suddenly seem much happier than usual. If parents notice these behavior changes, they have to be responsible for investigating it.
Not only is it possible for a child to die form drugs and alcohol, it can also ruin their lives while they have it. The students work habits and grade are greatly affected when they take drugs. Sometimes school stress is the reason kids take drugs. The students take drugs to have sharper memory for taking important tests, to stay awake in order to study, or to relax when they are worried. When a child starts drinking and doing drugs at a young age, it can lead to a life time of damage to the brain. The damages mainly effect a child’s memory or coordination. Drugs affect the brain by messing with the way neurons send, receive, or process information. This will make them do even worse in school.
Students nowadays think by taking one pill it will help them pass school, but what they don’t know is that that one pill entering their bodies, taking over their minds is actually changing their plans from going to UCLA and becoming a professional doctor, to going to rehab for twenty years and becoming homeless for the rest of their lives. Adults need to take an action, and do something to stop this. One solution would be having more public service announcements directed towards the danger of drugs, and how high the current death rate is. We see a lot of these announcement for cigarettes but not many for drug use. Maybe scaring the kids will be enough for them to stop or start. Schools could show this video every year in assemblies to the students. It is proven that people in Europe drink less than people in America. Even though the age restriction in Europe is lower, they abuse drugs less. Maybe the reason for this is that since they know they can have it, they don’t feel like its urgent to get. As the old saying goes “you always want what you cant have”. If the age restriction in America was lowered, maybe the overuse would lower as well. Kids tend to make mistakes that they end up learning from, but some mistakes are too deep to heal. They need to realize that ten minutes of illegal happiness, will not solve the amount of stress, pain, and discouragement their bodies have built up for them to feel.
Picture this: as a young student, you’re having hours and hours of homework and tests to study for every night. You’d rather be playing and getting exercise or doing things that are fun. These complicated days, a lot of kids are complaining that teachers give too much homework and too many tests. It simply puts too much pressure on the kids, and they get really frustrated having to work and study so much. A lot of times, it makes kids feel really depressed, because they’re not only having all this pressure, but they’re at an age when they’re starting to have hormones. This can be very upsetting. Kids hate doing homework, but mainly hate studying and being pressured to turn in assignments on time. Teachers sometimes push kids too far, without realizing the fragile state kids are in, and this might cause the kids to have bad thoughts about life in general.
After asking 10 kids how much homework they have on an average night, 90% of them said they have more than an hour, and that’s not counting studying night, which is a lot. Also, 80% of kids say that we are given WAY too many tests.
“We have too many tests,” says an 8th grader from El Rodeo named Bella Shahani. A bunch of kids standing nearby nod their heads in agreement. Ben L. also pipes up, “Teacher’s give too many tests.” It seems like everyone is agreeing to this at this point in our childhoods. And for those of us in middle school – it’s tough luck. We seem to have tests all the time, and we all think that it’s too much for us.
“In school, we are taught lessons and then given tests on them. But in life, we are given tests and are taught lessons from them,” says Ryan Javidzad. Ryan’s clever quote is saying to people that even with all the assignments and tests we get in school, the teachers are still not even preparing us for life.
It also seems to us that most teachers have no concern about what is happening in all the other classes that kids have to take. They don’t seem to coordinate with each other at all, so we end up having more tests in a school week than there are days. Teachers should plan and communicate with each other so that we have a maximum of three tests or quizzes a week, instead of having major tests in three different subjects on the same day, so we go crazy studying for hours and hours. The way it is, the teachers seem to have no care for all the other assignments and papers other teachers assign. They all think that their class is the most important or the only one. All in all, we students think that teachers should ease up on assignments and not have as many tests and quizzes so that they don’t put too much pressure on the kids.
Roy I agree with everything you said and also loved how you worded many things! I like that you added so many quotes. This is my favorite essay so far!
Roy this is a great essay and I love how this relates to many students all over the world. Even to students who don’t have that many tests a week. Also, thanks for putting my quote in your essay.
The Declaration of Independence states that all men are created equal despite their race or religion. However, there are too many instances in America where this isn’t true if you are an African-American man.
About 30 years ago Glenn Ford was accused of murder. Not only was this man sentenced to life in prison on death row and in solitary confinement, he was convicted by an all-white jury. 29 years, 3 months and 5 days later, in his 50’s, Mr. Ford was exonerated and released.
When he left prison, he was given a $20 gift card for a bus ride home. Shortly after he was released, he was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer. He died months later, leaving the man who put him in jail torn apart for ruining his life. The prosecutor and Mr. Ford met face to face and the prosecutor apologized but Mr. Ford could not forgive him for taking away so many years of his life.
I cannot imagine something as devastating as sitting in a 100 degree cell for 29 years for a crime I didn’t even commit. The real killer was already in jail for killing another man.
This issue reminds me of racial profiling. The reason is because the man convicted was African American, in his 30’s and was accused because of the color of his skin. Many African Americans are pulled over and checked by officers every day, just because of the color of their skin.
At times, like in Mr. Ford’s case, an innocent person is convicted of a crime because they are African-America. This is causing the American people to loose trust in our police and in our justice system.
The majority of Americans believe in equality. The wasted years Mr. Ford spent in prison, because of racial profiling, for a crime he didn’t commit was tantamount to the almost certain execution of the contestants in the hunger games.
I thought your essay was unique because no one else has written about this kind of topic. I liked how you involved a history aspect, including the Declaration of Inedepandance
In 2010, over 64 percent of people were overweight in America. The number continues to rise. But why is that? Why are so many people struggling with their weight? Maybe it’s because of problems with their job, or problems at home. Maybe it’s because of genetics, eating too much, or not exercising enough. Many people aren’t seeing how serious this issue is.
One study showed that overweight people, are 83 percent more likely to develope kidney disease. In the 25 years between 1987 and 2010, the number of Americans diagnosed with diabetes almost tripled to 20.9 million.
Many people are saying that sugar makes you extremely unhealthy and causes weight gain. It is also said by many surveys that it is best and healthiest to only eat foods that are not processed. So granola bars, packaged items, chips.. Only eating whole, natural foods that are in its original form, like fruit, nuts, vegetables, and grains will lead to a healthy, well-balanced diet.
Everyone has their own story and reasoning for why their weight is suffering. Some teens even get bullied for this or start self harm. It’s sad that rather than encouraging them to loose weight, others are making fun of them.
To take action, others need to start informing more people about this big issue. Restaurants can start serving healthier foods. People can begin to watch their portion sizes and what they eat. Even though something might say zero fat, or low fat, there can be a whole lot of sugar.
Do you believe that teenagers have it easy, well think again! Teens nowadays don’t get enough sleep due to studying, homework and extra curricular activities. Test day for a teenager is like doing your taxes the night before there due. Emotionally you go crazy. Rebekah Sheff says she’s under too much stress with everything going on in school plus she has dance class four times a week. Rebekah says that this makes her feel tired, confused and most of all stressed, because of everything that’s going on.
Last week’s El Rodeo Middle School’s eighth grade had nine tests in just a matter of one week. These poor, innocent thirteen and fourteen year olds are under too much stress. Studies show that teenagers need at least nine and a half hours of sleep each night. These middle schoolers certainly don’t get that much sleep a night because they are up all night studying for tests and doing homework.
30 kids in El Rodeo’s eighth grade were asked how much sleep they get due to studying and how it makes them feel. Most students get 8 hours of sleep and even a few said 6-7 hours. For how not getting enough sleep makes them feel, kids came up with answers such as cranky, not motivated, tired, exhausted, annoyed, not functional, and energy-drained. If this keeps happening with teenagers sooner or later they are going to have severe problems from lack of sleep. Problems that people can face from lack of sleep are gaining weight, depression, aging quicker, being forgetful, and worst of all this increases risk of death. (http://www.webind.com/sleep-disorders/excessive-sleepiness-10/10-results-sleep-loss)
An anonymous eighth grade student that went to El Rodeo said that they mentioned to their teacher that they had several different tests that day but the teacher didn’t seem to care and she refused to change the date. Teachers need to realize that even though these are kids they under a lot of pressure and stress as well.
After studying for multiple tests and big homework assignments each day, kids don’t get a break and they end up going to bed after midnight. Studies show that if kids don’t get enough sleep at night they grow attitude and they get annoyed really fast because they are so exhausted from lack of sleep and working hard on homework and studying. People don’t realize that maybe teenagers go through a lot more than you think. Next time you see a teenager don’t judge them too quick because they probably go through as much stress as you go through.
Bella I really like how you have many pieces of evidence and how you have a website to go along with the story. This would be a great example to show teachers and adults how hard it is for us teenagers. Also, it explains the problem very well that almost anyone would be able to understand!
People these days can’t get enough of their cell phones but do they realize what it’s doing to them? Alcoholics wake up to a glass of vodka instead of coffee but with the great increase of technology people are soon going to become Phonaholics, waking up to their phones and becoming addicted. Checking your phone every minute of the day is going to ruin your life. The main reason for over using phones is because of social media apps such as Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter. Worrying about photos, likes, and comments is definitely not benefiting anyone. The attention given to these apps is more work than they are putting into school and activities. When users don’t have their phones it is like they haven’t eaten for a week.
You may be surprised to know kids are receiving their phones around the ages of 6 and 10. This is increasing the amount of people who will become addicted through out their lives. Think about the damage this is going to do to the next generation. Kids are going to be born into playing games and using their phones to communicate instead of actually talking. The average amount of media consumed in one day is about 6- 8 hours.
Research shows there is without a doubt a negative effect from the overdose of phone usage. Users can suffer from radiation, cyber bullying, becoming anti -social, and much more. Even though they don’t notice it, people are in great danger by using these apps. There are location settings on apps that allow other people to view where the phone is which increases vulnerability to stalkers. Even though there are passwords, there could still be a chance of getting hacked and private information being stolen. Many parents are very concerned for not only their children spending so much time on their phones but for their safety.
An addiction is when the thing you are addicted to begins to control your life and interferes with your daily life; this can be hard to escape. You’re probably wondering, what can I do to prevent myself from one or even help others break away from theirs? When you are working, eating, or even having a conversation try not to be on your phone. People tend to take more time doing whatever it is when they are distracted by their devices. Try to create a no phone time zone, allowing you to have a break from technology. It is already proven to be very dangerous to have your phone with you while driving so try to turn it off in the car or put it far out of reach to avoid any accidents and concentrate on the road. These are just a few steps that can go a long way. If you notice other people on their phone try to talk to them and help them understand the dangers of phone usage.
Even though people know that using their phones so much has its downsides not all can be convinced to let them go. Cell phones have become an essential part of peoples lives and trying to reduce their usage is going to be one of the greatest challenges of the generation.
Shows many different dangers we may encounter when we get a phone and has lots of evidence. Also, this really helps draw the line for people, or me especially, when it comes to using my phone.
The stereotype for men is to provide a family’s house, most of its income, and to work. The stereotype for women is to stay home, cook, clean, and take care of their children. Men are supposed to be masculine and tough, women are supposed to be kind and feminine. Male is alpha and female is beta. To sum this up, men do the things that have more of an affect to their life, while women do the things under their power to help their offspring. According to a survey took in Mrs.Stuart’s third period class, 14 out of 15 people say the school dress code is stricter for girls and should change.
Students at the El Rodeo School get dress coded mostly for wearing leggings, tops that show your stomach, and pants with rips. Guys don’t wear any of these things except for ripped jeans, and even then the consequences aren’t that bad. This means that the rules are aimed more towards girls. However, this doesn’t make any sense because at lunch, boys play basketball and their shirts always go everywhere. Yet, the moment a girl stands up and her shirt goes exposes her stomach a little bit, she gets dress coded. How come a male stomach has different consequences that a female’s?
Everyone’s body has the same functions. The only thing that’s different is the color of skin showing and the gender. In fact, there is such a bias on these two that they get paid less than men in a workplace. Women make only 77 cents to each dollar that a man makes. An anonymous women of color said that she makes even less than the 77/100 ratio.
If I were the principal of a school, I wouldn’t enforce a dress code. Dress codes are meant to enforce what you can and can’t wear, what you can’t wear is supposedly a distraction or not professional. We are just kids and we aren’t trying to be or not be any of those things. If someone is worried about an outfit being “distracting” to someone else, it’s not their problem. The kids who are really trying to learn will not look at that person or will just not look at what that person is wearing for long periods of time while being taught. Teachers try enforce something that doesn’t need to be enforced.
I say, if someone likes what they’re wearing then don’t dress code them. I think the only reason anyone should be dress coded is if they are barely wearing any clothing and making the people around them uncomfortable. Everyone has a different wardrobe. Some people could be less fortunate than others and have only a few shirts. If they’re dress coded for the only things they have,what will they wear? What a person wears can reflect who they are. For example, if you wear bright colors, you aren’t afraid of being noticed, but if you wear dirty clothes with tears in them then you are needy.
If you are going to dress code one gender, ask yourself if you would do the same to the other. Also, put yourself into a child’s shoes; would you think it was fair to be dress coded for a temporary moment of skin showing?
Wow I thought this was great. I liked how you used many facts and I loved your wordplay. I agree with your idea and maybe we all can prove the school district wrong, and be equal to boys.
It’s a very well written story. I agree with most of what you said. But some times a bit of belly showing can bad though, I agree that the dress code is to harsh on girls.
When people think of summer, they think of the beach or vacation, sleeping in late, and most of all no school from June to September. Not anymore, now the Beverly Hills Unified School District (BHUSD) started school this past year on August 11th which according to the calendar, is still summer.
People don’t know why they have moved the time up earlier. Schools used to begin after Labor Day. Some community members say that since the schools are starting this early, the schools would have to pay more money for air conditioning. In some of the classrooms there isn’t air conditioning, which causes hot and stuffy classrooms. Also, some female students complain that they are expected to wear jeans to school everyday because they don’t want to get “dress coded” by a teacher or principal for wearing too short of shorts on these scorching hot days. Families have to cut their trips short, and students have to leave their summer camps early for the beginning of the school term. Having a short summer is like getting a big balloon at Disneyland and then having it deflate by the time you get home.
BHUSD fall school calendar begins on August 8th , but in fact Fall doesn’t begin until September 22nd. According to the BHUSD website, the number of students that make up BHUSD is 4,187. It has been said that the reason for these schools starting so early is so that the high school students which is 10% of the student body, can take their exams before winter break. When school started later in the year, students would take there exams after the break. Another reason for shifting the calendar is for the AP students, or less than 10% of the student body, to take their AP exams. Now that the calendars have changed, the students won’t be bored after they have taken their exams. BHUSD is going out of there way to change all of the district’s calendars for only 418 students out of the 4,187.
Since school is starting earlier, this means they would have to end early as well. There are not many things the students can do after the school year ends. No other schools are on summer break, summer camps don’t start yet, and most parents are still working. The official first day of summer in 2016 is June 20th. Also, in California June is usually cool, and people don’t usually want to go swimming. People would rather swim in August when it is hot, but because of the schools starting early that won’t happen. If the school board keeps shifting the dates, they might end up starting the school year in mid July! Happy Fourth of July… or happy first day of school?
I can totally agree with this summer is 2 second while school is 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999 centuries
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” says Nelson Mandela. Education is valuable and a privilege. It is useless if you don’t take it seriously. Trying to teach sleepy kids are like getting pigs to fly; impossible. Lack of sleep may seem like a student’s fault, but it is sometimes also the teacher’s wrong doing. At schools you hear about teens falling asleep in class. The students were always blamed for not getting enough sleep, yet there are other factors for drained pupils in class.
First, we researched about teens sleeping. According to kidshealth.org, teenagers should be resting for 9 hours each night to be energized for the next day. The website also emphasizes that to do well in school it’s essential to get enough sleep. In multiple schools across the country, high schools and middle schools, students must be in class at 8:00 sharp in the mornings. This would mean students would have to be going to bed no later than 10:00 pm.
Next, a local teenage girl was interviewed. She was asked to lay out her after school routine. She says that once she gets home from school at nearly 4:00, she eats and spends time with her family. She begins her homework and studying an hour later. At 6:30 she goes to swimming practice. She gets back at home two hours later where she has to shower before finishing her homework. It is now 9:30 once she has completed her shower and eaten dinner. After she goes straight into finishing the rest of her homework. Her homework is done at 10:30 and she spends the rest of her night on her phone, computer, or watching T.V. This teen goes to sleep at 11:30 only giving herself seven hours of slumber on a school night.
As well, to continue our research, we conducted a survey in a nearby 8th grade classroom. 65% of the students in that classroom said they get less than the vital nine hours. A whopping 80% of the same students stated that they come to school tired. When we asked them why they were all so tired well over majority accused all the homework and studying they’ve been given. At this point it was palpable that students are so tired due to too much after school work.
Multiple teachers expect the teens in their class to go straight into their homework once they get home from school. That would be ideal, but teenagers also have to juggle in their personal after school activities. Whether it’s doing sports, extracurricular classes, Hebrew school, or just being a kid, teenagers have many other actions to do after school rather than schoolwork.
Next time you see a tired teen coming to school understand where they’re coming from. It isn’t always that students’ a simply to lazy to do school work, maybe they weren’t able to go to sleep and charge their brain, because of all the stressful homework. If you’re a parent and your child is a couch potato on the weekends understand that teens have a big workload of homework and studying they must do.
This is a great news cast! It’s super well written, and I totally agree with everything you said, I’m always so tried, due to studying and homework. Great choice for the newscast.
Many people agreed with President Obama when he said, ”Too much testing makes education boring…”. Afterwards, many people became aware that many students in schools are receiving far too many exams. But unknowingly, to many the affects of too much testing go beyond making school boring. For they can also make school incredibly stressful. It can also cause anxiety, about grades or studying hard enough. It can also lead too panic attacks, stomach aches and headaches, too. Spending so much time studying can also, deprive students of free time and much needed sleep.
The middle school students at El Rodeo are some of many students that are suffering from huge amounts of testing from their teachers. On average they spend about 2.115483 hours studying and/or preparing for test or doing homework a day. But the range is any where from as little as 15-30 minutes all the way to 4-5 hours per night. One week their 8th graders had a test everyday for a week. In that week they had a vocabulary test, a math test, two science quizzes and two history exams. After that, about all 8th graders are in agreement, on the following fact: teachers are giving out way too many exams.
There is a way the teachers can help, though. For example if your in a middle or high school, all the teachers can plan weekly meetings to discuss the testing schedules for the students, only allowing to give a maximum of 3 quizzes a week. They can also try to avoid the days or weeks where they have lots of tests to worry about. Which had brought us back to those meetings, mentioned earlier. But despite, all the teachers efforts they’ll still be lots of exams given too them by the district or the state that are mandatory, for their students to take. So maybe, that’s why too much testing makes education not only boring but stressful, as well. Therefore in the opinion of many the educational community has a before it’s finally effective at balancing the wants and needs of the students they educate versus what’s best for them.
Picture this, it’s 100 degrees outside and there is no air conditioning in your class, wouldn’t you feel like you’re stuck on an island and there was nothing you could do about it? Every week millions of students attend school for their education. However, in today’s society there are few schools who don’t have working air conditioning. Research shows, most of the air conditioning systems at El Rodeo School in Beverly Hills haven’t been remodeled and are currently outdated.
It all started when students reported that a few of the classrooms in the middle school hallway have uncontrolled temperatures and have caused them to either become too cold or too hot. As a result, students have complained to their school principal, Mr. Allen. According to Hudson Auerbach, an eighth grade scholar, he says, “It’s always too hot in my math class, but it’s too cold in my Leadership class! Plus I never bring a jacket, for the classes that have cold temperatures.” This proves that people are being affected by this issue.
In addition to classrooms having unregulated temperatures, recently it has been observed that students during P.E. at El Rodeo were on the edge of fainting because the heat was unbearable. According to an eighth grader, Tamar Shoumer, she mentioned to one of her friends, “I can’t bare another moment of not having air conditioning in the P.E. locker rooms because I nearly fainted!” This reveals that students are starting to have major health problems.
Since 94% of the middle school teachers complained about the air conditioning not working properly, Mr. Allen said, “I will purchase the materials needed in order to fix this problem.” Next, the two eighth grade P.E. coaches were also interviewed about this topic and mentioned, “We think that having no air conditioning during the months of September and October highly affects our work because it becomes stuffy and as a result our students become distracted and we can’t focus as well.” At one point Coach Park and Coach Kurnik even had to go in the teacher’s lounge because of how humid it was!
Later on, Mr. Allen mentioned that the students will be moving into their brand new bungalows very soon. Once this was announced the teachers became excited because they knew that their classrooms would no longer have unregulated air conditioning temperatures and that these systems will no longer be outdated. Instead, they would be brand new and working while not being too hot or too cold. However, a con about this situation is that the students have no choice, but to live with unregulated air conditioning until they move into different classrooms starting from January.
In order to prevent this issue from occurring, air conditioning should be fixed in all classrooms in the district which don’t have working A.C. or do from time to time.
I like how you used exclamation marks, it made your important points pop out more. You have a lot of informative sentences and I think it would have been a little bit better if you would have added just a few more narrative sentences in a few places in the middle.
“I feel that, especially in elementary school, spending six to seven hours a day in school is enough,” says Lisa Morguess in an interview with CNN. “Kids are tired after that and need to unwind and engage in nonacademic activities — many of which are just as valuable in creating a well-rounded person as academics are.” As suggested here, now days, students are highly over pressured with too much unnecessary homework assigned to them after school.
You may be surprised to find that ten out of fifteen kids spend over two hours on homework each night; even on weekends! And after seven hours of school, plus sports, after school classes, and family, there is barely enough time for children to rest their continuously running minds.
You may often hear teachers say “this homework assignment should only take you thirty minutes, ” therefor giving the impression that kids don’t have much homework at all. But what many people don’t realize is that thirty minutes of homework from all classes besides from physical education would add up to at least three hours of homework per night. This doesn’t include tiring hours spent on studying and reading, which all together with homework, add up to an unbelievable amount of work!
Besides from lack of sleep, not giving your brain break, and too much pressure, unreasonable amounts of homework also danger your health!! When too much pressure is put on kids with homework, it increases stress levels and anxiety, making it in fact even MORE difficult for them to focus. So next time you see you or your child’s teacher or principal, maybe sit down with them and talk about the effects of too much homework, and how you can change some things to make life easier for the kids and adults involved!!
Many students are suffering at their schools. While teachers think giving massive amounts of homework and tests is the best way to teach, it might actually be causing harm. Students are burning out and giving up.
It all started when an overload of tests and homework resulted in many students not getting enough sleep. Students in middle school are supposed to get eight to nine hours of sleep each night. Because school starts at 8:00 a.m., most students wake up around 6:30 a.m. To achieve nine hours of sleep, students would have to be asleep by 9:30 pm. This is impossible to reach with having so much work to complete along with other activities and commitments. Many students are involved in sports, social plans, and religious schools. All of these activities are important but often get in the way of finalizing school work at a reasonable hour.
Students come home from school tired. Rebekah Sheff, an 8th grader from El Rodeo Elementary School, says, “By the time I come home from school all I want to do is binge eat and rest. The last thing I want to do is hours of homework after being in school all day.”. Additionally, Sierra Moe, another 8th grader, from El Rodeo Elementary School, agrees and says, “I get around six or seven hours of sleep on a regular basis because once school gets out I have after school activities to attend and then I start homework right when I get home. After homework I have to get ready for bed because it’s already so late.”. This proves that more than one person is sleep deprived.
According to http://www.startschoollater.net, Campbell Hall, a k-12 school, in California, has made a change, which made the students more successful. On Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays grades 7-12 start at 8:50 a.m. On Wednesdays, grades 7-12 start at 9:30 a.m. These students now get out at 3:40 p.m instead of 3:15 p.m. All of this led to classes and lunchtime being slightly shortened. Research shows that all the students grades have gone up! It’s amazing how such a small change can make such a big difference.
What can we do about this problem? To start, all teachers should coordinate with one another to make sure not all tests are given on the same day. When this happens, students get super anxious because they don’t have enough time to prepare and come to school exhausted and unprepared. The students are staying up till midnight or later and ending up failing tests or getting poor grades. Teachers should also consider giving less homework, including none on the weekends.
Picture this, too much school work is like being stuck in a rainstorm. At the beginning it feels good but after a while it gets to be too much water and eventually you feel like you are going to get washed away in a flash flood.
School is supposed to be a place to learn and grow but too much work and too many tests are making school a stressful place for students.
Sophie,
By far, I definitely enjoyed reading your newscast out of all the other ones that I have read! I love your introduction and concluding sentence and agree with your topic.
Sophie,
By far, I definitely enjoyed reading your newscast out of all the other ones that I have read! I love your introduction and concluding sentence and agree with your topic.
People in America are too obese. Companies like Mc Donald’s, Burger King, Fatburger, Chipotle, and many more other fast food companies are feeding the people quick and easy food that are fattening.
An article by a movie Fed Up says that 36 percent of the US population are over weight. Reasons by Fed Up is that as a babies they are over fed as a baby and the get used to getting over fed and they start becoming over weight. The movie talks about how people are getting fed over 20 grams of sugar a meal. The average amount of sugar people should have a day is 15 grams a day. The average meal for a American citizen is a hamburger, french fries, and a soft drink. By itself the soft drink has over 10 grams of sugar and the burger and french fries has over 100 mg by itself and that is going over the amount of sodium and sugar per meal. People in America are trying to loose weight by exercising.
By asking random people in Los Angeles if they have an over weight person in their family. 1 out of 2 two people said that they have an over weight relative. 1 out of 4 people say that they are obese. Learning that a lot of people in America need to watch their diet people over the years are still becoming over weight.
In an article by ABC News says that people can fix being obese. The way to fix not being over weight was to only have only 100 mg of sodium a day and 10 grams of sugar a day. By doing this it will lower their need to want unhealthy food.
A quote by Skylar Smith ” Don’t wait for action and make the action.” Skylar told me a reason to work and try to reach for success and don’t wait for success without putting any effort in your work. During the year Skylar has seen hundreds of people over weight and feels sorry but doesn’t at the same time but she feels like it is their fault for not paying attention to their body.
I think ways that people can start exercising by not running on bad food and start running on produce. The way I can help is by encouraging people to keep trying and never stop reaching for your goal.
I like how you found information from multiple sources, and how the story flows. It was great how you got a quote and included it into your essay. This sounds like a professional newscast. Great job!
The sound of a pistol bullet penetrating Cassie Culpepper’s skull. She is an 11 year old girl who lives in Georgia. This all started when she was sitting in the back of her father’s pickup-truck with her 12 year old brother, and with two other kids. Her brother fiddled with the gun her father had lent him, to scare off coyotes. He raised the gun up towards his sister. Assuming the gun unloaded, he pulled the trigger. Blood began to spill everywhere. Picture the horrible terror of the brother, when he realized he killed his sister.
A few days earlier, three year old Lucas Heagari, in Ohio found a pistol in his house. It was hidden under the couch by his father. Lucas grabbed it and accidentally shot himself. The bullet went right through his right eye. His mother immediately called 911, but he had already died.
This needs top stop! Parents need to be more responsible when it comes to gun safety. Over 259 kids have killed other kids in only 8 states. This was in 2013, and ever since the numbers have been increasing. Leaving guns in the house is tantamount to putting yourself into immediate danger. Please be cautious with guns, and make sure that your guns are secure. 95% of kids say that guns shouldn’t be accessible to children under 15. 90% said that the guns should be locked in safes. An overwhelming 95% said that the parents are at fault if they don’t take the necessary precautions. If you are a parent and own a gun, you should follow gun safety tips.
It is recommended to have to safes in your house, with either a lock or number code on each. One safe is for the gun, which should be unloaded, and the other is for the ammo. If it is a number code, make sure it isn’t seen by your children and change it monthly. Also, you should equip your gun, with gun locks, but this should not replace the safes and should be another precaution. When you believe your kids are old enough, educated your family on gun safety. 97% of kids surveyed said that you would not be responsible for your kid killing someone if you completed all the necessary precautions. Please, keep guns away from children, not just for their sake, but for everyone around them.
Middle English 
It all started when the state of Louisiana was in a war. A war against the world. It turns out this story is only one of many false accusations. Glenn Ford’s ordeal dated back to November 5, 1983, when Isadore Rozeman, a jeweler in Shreveport, Los Angeles, was found dead of a gunshot wound in his small shop. Three days later, Glenn Ford, who was 34 at the time, was charged with possession of stolen property, after he allegedly pawned items taken from Rozeman’s store. Glenn, who was born in Shreveport, had spent most of his life in California, where he had a history of drug problems, but no record of violent crimes. In his early thirties, he moved back to Shreveport, where he supported himself by doing different jobs, including yard work for Rozeman. “Truth is, if you pawned jewelry, you would never spend 30 years on death row,” Clements told The Huffington Post.
The Decleration of Independence states that “all men are created equal”, but Glenn Ford knew that was not the case when he was a black man going up against an all white jury. He was not happy when he got convicted of the crime, by the state of Louisiana, potentially ruining the rest of his life. More than two decades later they found the real culprit, with a DNA test, while investigating a murder that the man who was supposed to go to jail committed. Glenn spent more than 29 years in the notorious Louisiana prison before he was released from death row in March of 2014 after a judge ruled that he had been wrongfully convicted of murder. They gave him a twenty dollar “Sorry” gift card to a restaurant as if that would make a difference for the dying man. When he got the gift card he knew he had to be mentally strong and peaceful like Ghandi, while also being a powerful leader like Martin Luther King Jr. and fight for his rights. But, before he could even say a word to Louisiana, he died just a few days later with stage four lung cancer at the age of 65 and an angry family pleading for support.“He literally has nothing,” Wenstrom told the Huffington Post, “Money right now is going to hospice care.”
Now, the state of Louisiana is in trouble with the world for making such a big mistake and not taking responsibility for it. Hopefully next time, the police of the State of Louisiana will actually make an effort to find and capture the real culprit. Maybe you, the people of the world, could investigate the murder of Glenn Ford, or any murder, for yourselves to find the real culprit and save someone’s life. This just comes to show how the world is even more cruel than it already is, but with your help we can change that.
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I like how you worded your message! Good job stating your evidence and I like your use of quotes from various sources.
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Would you believe someone if they told you that there are unstoppable murderer’s going around killing children, parents, friends, companions, and more? Would you believe someone if they say these murderer’s are addictive drugs? It is probably true that you do not look out the window everyday and see children doing drugs or drinking alcohol, but that does not mean it is not happening. It is known that drug overdose is found commonly in adults, but it is less known that there is an 8.7% death rate due to drug addiction in children. If this problem continues, there will be many more kids dying before they are able to even begin their lives. That is why everyone needs to make an effort to stop kids from doing drugs.
Parents today are not always sure why their children have bad grades or bad behavior. A lot of the time parents blame it on “kids being kids”, but that is not always the reason. Parents need to be more careful when they see their kids are acting odd. They need to understand that even though they seem to young, kids do have everyday stress. And just like many adults do, some kids begin to abuse drugs and alcohol as a way to solve their problems. With adults it is usually easier to tell if they have a drug addiction because they have had it so long that it begins to change the way they look. They look almost dead with their slim bodies, wrinkles and beaded eyes. You may see some of this in children but usually not. It is mostly seen in the way they act. They may seem depressed or angry, or they may suddenly seem much happier than usual. If parents notice these behavior changes, they have to be responsible for investigating it.
Not only is it possible for a child to die form drugs and alcohol, it can also ruin their lives while they have it. The students work habits and grade are greatly affected when they take drugs. Sometimes school stress is the reason kids take drugs. The students take drugs to have sharper memory for taking important tests, to stay awake in order to study, or to relax when they are worried. When a child starts drinking and doing drugs at a young age, it can lead to a life time of damage to the brain. The damages mainly effect a child’s memory or coordination. Drugs affect the brain by messing with the way neurons send, receive, or process information. This will make them do even worse in school.
Students nowadays think by taking one pill it will help them pass school, but what they don’t know is that that one pill entering their bodies, taking over their minds is actually changing their plans from going to UCLA and becoming a professional doctor, to going to rehab for twenty years and becoming homeless for the rest of their lives. Adults need to take an action, and do something to stop this. One solution would be having more public service announcements directed towards the danger of drugs, and how high the current death rate is. We see a lot of these announcement for cigarettes but not many for drug use. Maybe scaring the kids will be enough for them to stop or start. Schools could show this video every year in assemblies to the students. It is proven that people in Europe drink less than people in America. Even though the age restriction in Europe is lower, they abuse drugs less. Maybe the reason for this is that since they know they can have it, they don’t feel like its urgent to get. As the old saying goes “you always want what you cant have”. If the age restriction in America was lowered, maybe the overuse would lower as well. Kids tend to make mistakes that they end up learning from, but some mistakes are too deep to heal. They need to realize that ten minutes of illegal happiness, will not solve the amount of stress, pain, and discouragement their bodies have built up for them to feel.
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Your begging is really good! The questions really made made me think about the topic beyond the writing. Great job with the information aspect.
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i agree people should stop using drugs. Strong evidence.
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Gets straight to the point, good hook and final sentence.
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IS IT ALL JUST TOO MUCH?!
Picture this: as a young student, you’re having hours and hours of homework and tests to study for every night. You’d rather be playing and getting exercise or doing things that are fun. These complicated days, a lot of kids are complaining that teachers give too much homework and too many tests. It simply puts too much pressure on the kids, and they get really frustrated having to work and study so much. A lot of times, it makes kids feel really depressed, because they’re not only having all this pressure, but they’re at an age when they’re starting to have hormones. This can be very upsetting. Kids hate doing homework, but mainly hate studying and being pressured to turn in assignments on time. Teachers sometimes push kids too far, without realizing the fragile state kids are in, and this might cause the kids to have bad thoughts about life in general.
After asking 10 kids how much homework they have on an average night, 90% of them said they have more than an hour, and that’s not counting studying night, which is a lot. Also, 80% of kids say that we are given WAY too many tests.
“We have too many tests,” says an 8th grader from El Rodeo named Bella Shahani. A bunch of kids standing nearby nod their heads in agreement. Ben L. also pipes up, “Teacher’s give too many tests.” It seems like everyone is agreeing to this at this point in our childhoods. And for those of us in middle school – it’s tough luck. We seem to have tests all the time, and we all think that it’s too much for us.
“In school, we are taught lessons and then given tests on them. But in life, we are given tests and are taught lessons from them,” says Ryan Javidzad. Ryan’s clever quote is saying to people that even with all the assignments and tests we get in school, the teachers are still not even preparing us for life.
It also seems to us that most teachers have no concern about what is happening in all the other classes that kids have to take. They don’t seem to coordinate with each other at all, so we end up having more tests in a school week than there are days. Teachers should plan and communicate with each other so that we have a maximum of three tests or quizzes a week, instead of having major tests in three different subjects on the same day, so we go crazy studying for hours and hours. The way it is, the teachers seem to have no care for all the other assignments and papers other teachers assign. They all think that their class is the most important or the only one. All in all, we students think that teachers should ease up on assignments and not have as many tests and quizzes so that they don’t put too much pressure on the kids.
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Roy I agree with everything you said and also loved how you worded many things! I like that you added so many quotes. This is my favorite essay so far!
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I like how you got people’s opinions. It helps support your claim. This is a good piece, because it is very relatable to kids reading this.
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I agree with the top two comments. Great claim and good vocabulary!
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Roy this is a great essay and I love how this relates to many students all over the world. Even to students who don’t have that many tests a week. Also, thanks for putting my quote in your essay.
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I agree with your topic! Great job on supporting your opinion and info to back it up. Youre title really shows how much you care
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I love this essay. I think it is worded really well and is very persuasive. Good job Roy!
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Great article! Thanks for using me as a quote. It’s a very informational piece, great job!
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Great job, Roy!! I really enjoyed reading your nicely researched article. Gee, I had no idea kids dislike homework and tests. 😉
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And pressure on the parents too!!! Great job Roy.
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The Declaration of Independence states that all men are created equal despite their race or religion. However, there are too many instances in America where this isn’t true if you are an African-American man.
About 30 years ago Glenn Ford was accused of murder. Not only was this man sentenced to life in prison on death row and in solitary confinement, he was convicted by an all-white jury. 29 years, 3 months and 5 days later, in his 50’s, Mr. Ford was exonerated and released.
When he left prison, he was given a $20 gift card for a bus ride home. Shortly after he was released, he was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer. He died months later, leaving the man who put him in jail torn apart for ruining his life. The prosecutor and Mr. Ford met face to face and the prosecutor apologized but Mr. Ford could not forgive him for taking away so many years of his life.
I cannot imagine something as devastating as sitting in a 100 degree cell for 29 years for a crime I didn’t even commit. The real killer was already in jail for killing another man.
This issue reminds me of racial profiling. The reason is because the man convicted was African American, in his 30’s and was accused because of the color of his skin. Many African Americans are pulled over and checked by officers every day, just because of the color of their skin.
At times, like in Mr. Ford’s case, an innocent person is convicted of a crime because they are African-America. This is causing the American people to loose trust in our police and in our justice system.
The majority of Americans believe in equality. The wasted years Mr. Ford spent in prison, because of racial profiling, for a crime he didn’t commit was tantamount to the almost certain execution of the contestants in the hunger games.
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very good connections and great usage of vocabulary
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I thought your essay was unique because no one else has written about this kind of topic. I liked how you involved a history aspect, including the Declaration of Inedepandance
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Great job Ben. I will need to watch the Hunger games now, I don’t think I could forgive either.
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A FAT Chance For New Habits
In 2010, over 64 percent of people were overweight in America. The number continues to rise. But why is that? Why are so many people struggling with their weight? Maybe it’s because of problems with their job, or problems at home. Maybe it’s because of genetics, eating too much, or not exercising enough. Many people aren’t seeing how serious this issue is.
One study showed that overweight people, are 83 percent more likely to develope kidney disease. In the 25 years between 1987 and 2010, the number of Americans diagnosed with diabetes almost tripled to 20.9 million.
Many people are saying that sugar makes you extremely unhealthy and causes weight gain. It is also said by many surveys that it is best and healthiest to only eat foods that are not processed. So granola bars, packaged items, chips.. Only eating whole, natural foods that are in its original form, like fruit, nuts, vegetables, and grains will lead to a healthy, well-balanced diet.
Everyone has their own story and reasoning for why their weight is suffering. Some teens even get bullied for this or start self harm. It’s sad that rather than encouraging them to loose weight, others are making fun of them.
To take action, others need to start informing more people about this big issue. Restaurants can start serving healthier foods. People can begin to watch their portion sizes and what they eat. Even though something might say zero fat, or low fat, there can be a whole lot of sugar.
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I really like all the information you put cookie
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Teens Weep Instead of Counting Sheep
Do you believe that teenagers have it easy, well think again! Teens nowadays don’t get enough sleep due to studying, homework and extra curricular activities. Test day for a teenager is like doing your taxes the night before there due. Emotionally you go crazy. Rebekah Sheff says she’s under too much stress with everything going on in school plus she has dance class four times a week. Rebekah says that this makes her feel tired, confused and most of all stressed, because of everything that’s going on.
Last week’s El Rodeo Middle School’s eighth grade had nine tests in just a matter of one week. These poor, innocent thirteen and fourteen year olds are under too much stress. Studies show that teenagers need at least nine and a half hours of sleep each night. These middle schoolers certainly don’t get that much sleep a night because they are up all night studying for tests and doing homework.
30 kids in El Rodeo’s eighth grade were asked how much sleep they get due to studying and how it makes them feel. Most students get 8 hours of sleep and even a few said 6-7 hours. For how not getting enough sleep makes them feel, kids came up with answers such as cranky, not motivated, tired, exhausted, annoyed, not functional, and energy-drained. If this keeps happening with teenagers sooner or later they are going to have severe problems from lack of sleep. Problems that people can face from lack of sleep are gaining weight, depression, aging quicker, being forgetful, and worst of all this increases risk of death. (http://www.webind.com/sleep-disorders/excessive-sleepiness-10/10-results-sleep-loss)
An anonymous eighth grade student that went to El Rodeo said that they mentioned to their teacher that they had several different tests that day but the teacher didn’t seem to care and she refused to change the date. Teachers need to realize that even though these are kids they under a lot of pressure and stress as well.
After studying for multiple tests and big homework assignments each day, kids don’t get a break and they end up going to bed after midnight. Studies show that if kids don’t get enough sleep at night they grow attitude and they get annoyed really fast because they are so exhausted from lack of sleep and working hard on homework and studying. People don’t realize that maybe teenagers go through a lot more than you think. Next time you see a teenager don’t judge them too quick because they probably go through as much stress as you go through.
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great essay love the part where you connected with Rebekah’s dance classes and stress and not having enough time to study and do homework.
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Bella I really like how you have many pieces of evidence and how you have a website to go along with the story. This would be a great example to show teachers and adults how hard it is for us teenagers. Also, it explains the problem very well that almost anyone would be able to understand!
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I really liked your title and your essay provides a very strong opinion!
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Love the title! This is so true and so relatable. You should give this to a teacher and hopefully it will persuade them to not give a lot of tests.
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Cell Phone Apocalypse
People these days can’t get enough of their cell phones but do they realize what it’s doing to them? Alcoholics wake up to a glass of vodka instead of coffee but with the great increase of technology people are soon going to become Phonaholics, waking up to their phones and becoming addicted. Checking your phone every minute of the day is going to ruin your life. The main reason for over using phones is because of social media apps such as Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter. Worrying about photos, likes, and comments is definitely not benefiting anyone. The attention given to these apps is more work than they are putting into school and activities. When users don’t have their phones it is like they haven’t eaten for a week.
You may be surprised to know kids are receiving their phones around the ages of 6 and 10. This is increasing the amount of people who will become addicted through out their lives. Think about the damage this is going to do to the next generation. Kids are going to be born into playing games and using their phones to communicate instead of actually talking. The average amount of media consumed in one day is about 6- 8 hours.
Research shows there is without a doubt a negative effect from the overdose of phone usage. Users can suffer from radiation, cyber bullying, becoming anti -social, and much more. Even though they don’t notice it, people are in great danger by using these apps. There are location settings on apps that allow other people to view where the phone is which increases vulnerability to stalkers. Even though there are passwords, there could still be a chance of getting hacked and private information being stolen. Many parents are very concerned for not only their children spending so much time on their phones but for their safety.
An addiction is when the thing you are addicted to begins to control your life and interferes with your daily life; this can be hard to escape. You’re probably wondering, what can I do to prevent myself from one or even help others break away from theirs? When you are working, eating, or even having a conversation try not to be on your phone. People tend to take more time doing whatever it is when they are distracted by their devices. Try to create a no phone time zone, allowing you to have a break from technology. It is already proven to be very dangerous to have your phone with you while driving so try to turn it off in the car or put it far out of reach to avoid any accidents and concentrate on the road. These are just a few steps that can go a long way. If you notice other people on their phone try to talk to them and help them understand the dangers of phone usage.
Even though people know that using their phones so much has its downsides not all can be convinced to let them go. Cell phones have become an essential part of peoples lives and trying to reduce their usage is going to be one of the greatest challenges of the generation.
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Your evidence strongly supports what you’re trying to say. Also, your ways to stop this is inspiring.
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Great job Rebekah I loved how you used your facts and I thought you had a nice flow.
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Shows many different dangers we may encounter when we get a phone and has lots of evidence. Also, this really helps draw the line for people, or me especially, when it comes to using my phone.
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Very interesting , so glad you will be using all these suggestions in your own life. now get off the phone and talk to me !!!!
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Is One Gender More Privileged Than Another?
The stereotype for men is to provide a family’s house, most of its income, and to work. The stereotype for women is to stay home, cook, clean, and take care of their children. Men are supposed to be masculine and tough, women are supposed to be kind and feminine. Male is alpha and female is beta. To sum this up, men do the things that have more of an affect to their life, while women do the things under their power to help their offspring. According to a survey took in Mrs.Stuart’s third period class, 14 out of 15 people say the school dress code is stricter for girls and should change.
Students at the El Rodeo School get dress coded mostly for wearing leggings, tops that show your stomach, and pants with rips. Guys don’t wear any of these things except for ripped jeans, and even then the consequences aren’t that bad. This means that the rules are aimed more towards girls. However, this doesn’t make any sense because at lunch, boys play basketball and their shirts always go everywhere. Yet, the moment a girl stands up and her shirt goes exposes her stomach a little bit, she gets dress coded. How come a male stomach has different consequences that a female’s?
Everyone’s body has the same functions. The only thing that’s different is the color of skin showing and the gender. In fact, there is such a bias on these two that they get paid less than men in a workplace. Women make only 77 cents to each dollar that a man makes. An anonymous women of color said that she makes even less than the 77/100 ratio.
If I were the principal of a school, I wouldn’t enforce a dress code. Dress codes are meant to enforce what you can and can’t wear, what you can’t wear is supposedly a distraction or not professional. We are just kids and we aren’t trying to be or not be any of those things. If someone is worried about an outfit being “distracting” to someone else, it’s not their problem. The kids who are really trying to learn will not look at that person or will just not look at what that person is wearing for long periods of time while being taught. Teachers try enforce something that doesn’t need to be enforced.
I say, if someone likes what they’re wearing then don’t dress code them. I think the only reason anyone should be dress coded is if they are barely wearing any clothing and making the people around them uncomfortable. Everyone has a different wardrobe. Some people could be less fortunate than others and have only a few shirts. If they’re dress coded for the only things they have,what will they wear? What a person wears can reflect who they are. For example, if you wear bright colors, you aren’t afraid of being noticed, but if you wear dirty clothes with tears in them then you are needy.
If you are going to dress code one gender, ask yourself if you would do the same to the other. Also, put yourself into a child’s shoes; would you think it was fair to be dress coded for a temporary moment of skin showing?
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Wow I thought this was great. I liked how you used many facts and I loved your wordplay. I agree with your idea and maybe we all can prove the school district wrong, and be equal to boys.
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It’s a very well written story. I agree with most of what you said. But some times a bit of belly showing can bad though, I agree that the dress code is to harsh on girls.
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I think the principal should see this. You make great arguments!
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Melanie,
I really enjoyed reading your newscast because it was very informative and educational! I definitely agree with the topic you talked about.
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Summer?
When people think of summer, they think of the beach or vacation, sleeping in late, and most of all no school from June to September. Not anymore, now the Beverly Hills Unified School District (BHUSD) started school this past year on August 11th which according to the calendar, is still summer.
People don’t know why they have moved the time up earlier. Schools used to begin after Labor Day. Some community members say that since the schools are starting this early, the schools would have to pay more money for air conditioning. In some of the classrooms there isn’t air conditioning, which causes hot and stuffy classrooms. Also, some female students complain that they are expected to wear jeans to school everyday because they don’t want to get “dress coded” by a teacher or principal for wearing too short of shorts on these scorching hot days. Families have to cut their trips short, and students have to leave their summer camps early for the beginning of the school term. Having a short summer is like getting a big balloon at Disneyland and then having it deflate by the time you get home.
BHUSD fall school calendar begins on August 8th , but in fact Fall doesn’t begin until September 22nd. According to the BHUSD website, the number of students that make up BHUSD is 4,187. It has been said that the reason for these schools starting so early is so that the high school students which is 10% of the student body, can take their exams before winter break. When school started later in the year, students would take there exams after the break. Another reason for shifting the calendar is for the AP students, or less than 10% of the student body, to take their AP exams. Now that the calendars have changed, the students won’t be bored after they have taken their exams. BHUSD is going out of there way to change all of the district’s calendars for only 418 students out of the 4,187.
Since school is starting earlier, this means they would have to end early as well. There are not many things the students can do after the school year ends. No other schools are on summer break, summer camps don’t start yet, and most parents are still working. The official first day of summer in 2016 is June 20th. Also, in California June is usually cool, and people don’t usually want to go swimming. People would rather swim in August when it is hot, but because of the schools starting early that won’t happen. If the school board keeps shifting the dates, they might end up starting the school year in mid July! Happy Fourth of July… or happy first day of school?
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I like how you used numbers and evidence to support your story. I agree that our summer is too short!
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Great topic sentence! It really made me want to read more. I agree with everything you say. It is horrible that we have to start school so early.
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I can totally agree with this summer is 2 second while school is 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999 centuries
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I agree with your arguments and I think your topic is a huge issue for many people! Great job.
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“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” says Nelson Mandela. Education is valuable and a privilege. It is useless if you don’t take it seriously. Trying to teach sleepy kids are like getting pigs to fly; impossible. Lack of sleep may seem like a student’s fault, but it is sometimes also the teacher’s wrong doing. At schools you hear about teens falling asleep in class. The students were always blamed for not getting enough sleep, yet there are other factors for drained pupils in class.
First, we researched about teens sleeping. According to kidshealth.org, teenagers should be resting for 9 hours each night to be energized for the next day. The website also emphasizes that to do well in school it’s essential to get enough sleep. In multiple schools across the country, high schools and middle schools, students must be in class at 8:00 sharp in the mornings. This would mean students would have to be going to bed no later than 10:00 pm.
Next, a local teenage girl was interviewed. She was asked to lay out her after school routine. She says that once she gets home from school at nearly 4:00, she eats and spends time with her family. She begins her homework and studying an hour later. At 6:30 she goes to swimming practice. She gets back at home two hours later where she has to shower before finishing her homework. It is now 9:30 once she has completed her shower and eaten dinner. After she goes straight into finishing the rest of her homework. Her homework is done at 10:30 and she spends the rest of her night on her phone, computer, or watching T.V. This teen goes to sleep at 11:30 only giving herself seven hours of slumber on a school night.
As well, to continue our research, we conducted a survey in a nearby 8th grade classroom. 65% of the students in that classroom said they get less than the vital nine hours. A whopping 80% of the same students stated that they come to school tired. When we asked them why they were all so tired well over majority accused all the homework and studying they’ve been given. At this point it was palpable that students are so tired due to too much after school work.
Multiple teachers expect the teens in their class to go straight into their homework once they get home from school. That would be ideal, but teenagers also have to juggle in their personal after school activities. Whether it’s doing sports, extracurricular classes, Hebrew school, or just being a kid, teenagers have many other actions to do after school rather than schoolwork.
Next time you see a tired teen coming to school understand where they’re coming from. It isn’t always that students’ a simply to lazy to do school work, maybe they weren’t able to go to sleep and charge their brain, because of all the stressful homework. If you’re a parent and your child is a couch potato on the weekends understand that teens have a big workload of homework and studying they must do.
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I found your newscast to be very educational and I enjoyed reading it. I can see that you have done your research on this topic.
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This is a great news cast! It’s super well written, and I totally agree with everything you said, I’m always so tried, due to studying and homework. Great choice for the newscast.
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A Message to the Educational Community…
Many people agreed with President Obama when he said, ”Too much testing makes education boring…”. Afterwards, many people became aware that many students in schools are receiving far too many exams. But unknowingly, to many the affects of too much testing go beyond making school boring. For they can also make school incredibly stressful. It can also cause anxiety, about grades or studying hard enough. It can also lead too panic attacks, stomach aches and headaches, too. Spending so much time studying can also, deprive students of free time and much needed sleep.
The middle school students at El Rodeo are some of many students that are suffering from huge amounts of testing from their teachers. On average they spend about 2.115483 hours studying and/or preparing for test or doing homework a day. But the range is any where from as little as 15-30 minutes all the way to 4-5 hours per night. One week their 8th graders had a test everyday for a week. In that week they had a vocabulary test, a math test, two science quizzes and two history exams. After that, about all 8th graders are in agreement, on the following fact: teachers are giving out way too many exams.
There is a way the teachers can help, though. For example if your in a middle or high school, all the teachers can plan weekly meetings to discuss the testing schedules for the students, only allowing to give a maximum of 3 quizzes a week. They can also try to avoid the days or weeks where they have lots of tests to worry about. Which had brought us back to those meetings, mentioned earlier. But despite, all the teachers efforts they’ll still be lots of exams given too them by the district or the state that are mandatory, for their students to take. So maybe, that’s why too much testing makes education not only boring but stressful, as well. Therefore in the opinion of many the educational community has a before it’s finally effective at balancing the wants and needs of the students they educate versus what’s best for them.
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Climate Creates Chaos
Picture this, it’s 100 degrees outside and there is no air conditioning in your class, wouldn’t you feel like you’re stuck on an island and there was nothing you could do about it? Every week millions of students attend school for their education. However, in today’s society there are few schools who don’t have working air conditioning. Research shows, most of the air conditioning systems at El Rodeo School in Beverly Hills haven’t been remodeled and are currently outdated.
It all started when students reported that a few of the classrooms in the middle school hallway have uncontrolled temperatures and have caused them to either become too cold or too hot. As a result, students have complained to their school principal, Mr. Allen. According to Hudson Auerbach, an eighth grade scholar, he says, “It’s always too hot in my math class, but it’s too cold in my Leadership class! Plus I never bring a jacket, for the classes that have cold temperatures.” This proves that people are being affected by this issue.
In addition to classrooms having unregulated temperatures, recently it has been observed that students during P.E. at El Rodeo were on the edge of fainting because the heat was unbearable. According to an eighth grader, Tamar Shoumer, she mentioned to one of her friends, “I can’t bare another moment of not having air conditioning in the P.E. locker rooms because I nearly fainted!” This reveals that students are starting to have major health problems.
Since 94% of the middle school teachers complained about the air conditioning not working properly, Mr. Allen said, “I will purchase the materials needed in order to fix this problem.” Next, the two eighth grade P.E. coaches were also interviewed about this topic and mentioned, “We think that having no air conditioning during the months of September and October highly affects our work because it becomes stuffy and as a result our students become distracted and we can’t focus as well.” At one point Coach Park and Coach Kurnik even had to go in the teacher’s lounge because of how humid it was!
Later on, Mr. Allen mentioned that the students will be moving into their brand new bungalows very soon. Once this was announced the teachers became excited because they knew that their classrooms would no longer have unregulated air conditioning temperatures and that these systems will no longer be outdated. Instead, they would be brand new and working while not being too hot or too cold. However, a con about this situation is that the students have no choice, but to live with unregulated air conditioning until they move into different classrooms starting from January.
In order to prevent this issue from occurring, air conditioning should be fixed in all classrooms in the district which don’t have working A.C. or do from time to time.
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I like how you used exclamation marks, it made your important points pop out more. You have a lot of informative sentences and I think it would have been a little bit better if you would have added just a few more narrative sentences in a few places in the middle.
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Great article. How long has it been since the air conditioners were last fixed?
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“I feel that, especially in elementary school, spending six to seven hours a day in school is enough,” says Lisa Morguess in an interview with CNN. “Kids are tired after that and need to unwind and engage in nonacademic activities — many of which are just as valuable in creating a well-rounded person as academics are.” As suggested here, now days, students are highly over pressured with too much unnecessary homework assigned to them after school.
You may be surprised to find that ten out of fifteen kids spend over two hours on homework each night; even on weekends! And after seven hours of school, plus sports, after school classes, and family, there is barely enough time for children to rest their continuously running minds.
You may often hear teachers say “this homework assignment should only take you thirty minutes, ” therefor giving the impression that kids don’t have much homework at all. But what many people don’t realize is that thirty minutes of homework from all classes besides from physical education would add up to at least three hours of homework per night. This doesn’t include tiring hours spent on studying and reading, which all together with homework, add up to an unbelievable amount of work!
Besides from lack of sleep, not giving your brain break, and too much pressure, unreasonable amounts of homework also danger your health!! When too much pressure is put on kids with homework, it increases stress levels and anxiety, making it in fact even MORE difficult for them to focus. So next time you see you or your child’s teacher or principal, maybe sit down with them and talk about the effects of too much homework, and how you can change some things to make life easier for the kids and adults involved!!
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Stress and Tests Are Not the Best
Many students are suffering at their schools. While teachers think giving massive amounts of homework and tests is the best way to teach, it might actually be causing harm. Students are burning out and giving up.
It all started when an overload of tests and homework resulted in many students not getting enough sleep. Students in middle school are supposed to get eight to nine hours of sleep each night. Because school starts at 8:00 a.m., most students wake up around 6:30 a.m. To achieve nine hours of sleep, students would have to be asleep by 9:30 pm. This is impossible to reach with having so much work to complete along with other activities and commitments. Many students are involved in sports, social plans, and religious schools. All of these activities are important but often get in the way of finalizing school work at a reasonable hour.
Students come home from school tired. Rebekah Sheff, an 8th grader from El Rodeo Elementary School, says, “By the time I come home from school all I want to do is binge eat and rest. The last thing I want to do is hours of homework after being in school all day.”. Additionally, Sierra Moe, another 8th grader, from El Rodeo Elementary School, agrees and says, “I get around six or seven hours of sleep on a regular basis because once school gets out I have after school activities to attend and then I start homework right when I get home. After homework I have to get ready for bed because it’s already so late.”. This proves that more than one person is sleep deprived.
According to http://www.startschoollater.net, Campbell Hall, a k-12 school, in California, has made a change, which made the students more successful. On Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays grades 7-12 start at 8:50 a.m. On Wednesdays, grades 7-12 start at 9:30 a.m. These students now get out at 3:40 p.m instead of 3:15 p.m. All of this led to classes and lunchtime being slightly shortened. Research shows that all the students grades have gone up! It’s amazing how such a small change can make such a big difference.
What can we do about this problem? To start, all teachers should coordinate with one another to make sure not all tests are given on the same day. When this happens, students get super anxious because they don’t have enough time to prepare and come to school exhausted and unprepared. The students are staying up till midnight or later and ending up failing tests or getting poor grades. Teachers should also consider giving less homework, including none on the weekends.
Picture this, too much school work is like being stuck in a rainstorm. At the beginning it feels good but after a while it gets to be too much water and eventually you feel like you are going to get washed away in a flash flood.
School is supposed to be a place to learn and grow but too much work and too many tests are making school a stressful place for students.
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Sophie,
By far, I definitely enjoyed reading your newscast out of all the other ones that I have read! I love your introduction and concluding sentence and agree with your topic.
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Sophie,
By far, I definitely enjoyed reading your newscast out of all the other ones that I have read! I love your introduction and concluding sentence and agree with your topic.
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Love your creative title. Same I feel over whelmed with homework because I have so many after school activities. Great Job.
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People in America are too obese. Companies like Mc Donald’s, Burger King, Fatburger, Chipotle, and many more other fast food companies are feeding the people quick and easy food that are fattening.
An article by a movie Fed Up says that 36 percent of the US population are over weight. Reasons by Fed Up is that as a babies they are over fed as a baby and the get used to getting over fed and they start becoming over weight. The movie talks about how people are getting fed over 20 grams of sugar a meal. The average amount of sugar people should have a day is 15 grams a day. The average meal for a American citizen is a hamburger, french fries, and a soft drink. By itself the soft drink has over 10 grams of sugar and the burger and french fries has over 100 mg by itself and that is going over the amount of sodium and sugar per meal. People in America are trying to loose weight by exercising.
By asking random people in Los Angeles if they have an over weight person in their family. 1 out of 2 two people said that they have an over weight relative. 1 out of 4 people say that they are obese. Learning that a lot of people in America need to watch their diet people over the years are still becoming over weight.
In an article by ABC News says that people can fix being obese. The way to fix not being over weight was to only have only 100 mg of sodium a day and 10 grams of sugar a day. By doing this it will lower their need to want unhealthy food.
A quote by Skylar Smith ” Don’t wait for action and make the action.” Skylar told me a reason to work and try to reach for success and don’t wait for success without putting any effort in your work. During the year Skylar has seen hundreds of people over weight and feels sorry but doesn’t at the same time but she feels like it is their fault for not paying attention to their body.
I think ways that people can start exercising by not running on bad food and start running on produce. The way I can help is by encouraging people to keep trying and never stop reaching for your goal.
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I like how you found information from multiple sources, and how the story flows. It was great how you got a quote and included it into your essay. This sounds like a professional newscast. Great job!
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Good job Quincy, sounds like you really researched your topic. Very Informative
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Unnecessary Contact
“Pop!”
The sound of a pistol bullet penetrating Cassie Culpepper’s skull. She is an 11 year old girl who lives in Georgia. This all started when she was sitting in the back of her father’s pickup-truck with her 12 year old brother, and with two other kids. Her brother fiddled with the gun her father had lent him, to scare off coyotes. He raised the gun up towards his sister. Assuming the gun unloaded, he pulled the trigger. Blood began to spill everywhere. Picture the horrible terror of the brother, when he realized he killed his sister.
A few days earlier, three year old Lucas Heagari, in Ohio found a pistol in his house. It was hidden under the couch by his father. Lucas grabbed it and accidentally shot himself. The bullet went right through his right eye. His mother immediately called 911, but he had already died.
This needs top stop! Parents need to be more responsible when it comes to gun safety. Over 259 kids have killed other kids in only 8 states. This was in 2013, and ever since the numbers have been increasing. Leaving guns in the house is tantamount to putting yourself into immediate danger. Please be cautious with guns, and make sure that your guns are secure. 95% of kids say that guns shouldn’t be accessible to children under 15. 90% said that the guns should be locked in safes. An overwhelming 95% said that the parents are at fault if they don’t take the necessary precautions. If you are a parent and own a gun, you should follow gun safety tips.
It is recommended to have to safes in your house, with either a lock or number code on each. One safe is for the gun, which should be unloaded, and the other is for the ammo. If it is a number code, make sure it isn’t seen by your children and change it monthly. Also, you should equip your gun, with gun locks, but this should not replace the safes and should be another precaution. When you believe your kids are old enough, educated your family on gun safety. 97% of kids surveyed said that you would not be responsible for your kid killing someone if you completed all the necessary precautions. Please, keep guns away from children, not just for their sake, but for everyone around them.
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I really feel for these kids and I hope your story will change society today.
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Everything you said was true! Teachers need to start coordinating when they will give tests. Your essay is my favorite and is the most informational.
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