The world is full of problems; our environment may not support life much longer, we suffer from myriad diseases, many are plagued by poverty.
What do you care about? Why should anyone else share your passion? Explain what issue(s) you are most concerned about and why anyone else should also care. Educate us. Inspire us. Make a difference.
To start i'll say what I care about. I care about the environment and the progression of mankind in terms of technology and knowledge to better the world. I don't really care about politics, war, or anything like that, leave me out of it. I care more about the environment efficient ways people can live on this world without trashing it. I don't care about country affairs or world hunger for example because mankind is the source of most of the earths problems. There are billions of people and that is concerning to me because the more people the more problems. Ive began to lean toward Thoreau's views on the subject. Nature does not have the corruption that society and mankind does. On a smaller scale I care about things in my personal life like my friends and family. Other than those things there isn't much else.
ReplyDeleteWhy should you care?We should care because there are all these problems. They shouldn't discourage but rather motivate us to make a difference, to come up with solutions to make a better world. If you didn't care for something life would be meaningless. ( If you really don't care about anything then FIND SOMETHING) Try to protect what you care about, unless its something like meth which is... You know not good. Caring for the environment or a world without violence to create and brighter future.
Thats kind of the generic thing people say " a brighter future" but if we create a bad future you're probably thinking " Whats it matter i'll be dead by then?". Thats a possibility but future generations have to live with what we screwed up. President Theodore Roosevelt created national parks because he cared about the environment to some extent. Because of his actions there is still wildlife in places like Yellowstone that might not have still been there if not for the care he showed. At this point if you still dont care think about people in history we look back on. People who cared and made a positive impact we respect and remember. People who didn't care are either forgotten or seen as an *******. People will look back at our generation one day as well, do you want to be a forgotten *******?
- Doctor Professor/ Quantum Physicist Robert Todd Cameron Bunyea Chief of the newly reformed Zulu Tribe... With dinosaurs
As for me, I have no foolish sterotypical beliefs of solveing world hunger, preventing childhood obiesity or establishing fairness and equallity among all man kind. To me personally the growing issue at hand is the addiction and increaseing dependence of today's growing technological advancements. I say this in regaurds to not only to our student body at Western Hills High School on a smaller scale, but to our staff, public board of education, the very people who hold the foundation and rules of our students soon to be released into society as young adults; on a larger scale sculpting the progress and future of our nation.
DeleteThe technologial advancements of the world in the last twenty years is truly astounding. It is hard to resist the fascinating shortcuts in work and communication that these advancements offer. To state the obvious, the growing demand of Apple products has poisend the work ethic and art of cummunication among todays youth. The most Apple product most commonly found among students and staff is the Iphone. The signiture product of apple. It offers such easy access to the social medias such as Twitter, Facebook and instigram as well as the quickly growing way of communicating adopted by most Americans, texting.
All though I do not stand completely against these amazing technological advancements, I do believe that in the hands of our youth, young adalts, students it can be hazardous. It is dissheartening to think that our young americans have a growing addiction to our cellular defvices. The thought of a teenager losing the art of communication in person due to texting is tragic.
Why should we care? This growing addiction is poisoning the minds of our youth. It is dissplayed by our staff, parents, and teachers who have also gained an adiction to these technological advancements. Only together as a student body, as a school and on a large scale, as a nation can we find a solution to prevent this downfall and great dependance on technology gained an addiction to these advancements.
-yours truly, Will Shuffett
Well I don't really care about anything, it's pretty plain to see. In a world full of trouble and turmoil, most of the time I wish I couldn't see. There is murder and politics. War, starvation, pollution, even ticks. So some time ago I came to a realization. Why should I give a hoot?
ReplyDeleteThis may seem harsh and it may seem cold, but who cares anyway. The world will end eventually, that's what the scientist say. The sun will burn out and we'll all get to cold. The dark will eat the world, body and soul. So why should we care, what can we do? Donate some money, give starving people food? We can't fix all the worlds problems, it's just common sense. Especially when we choose not to think about all these problems, it's our minds defense. People watch the TV, see all the starving people. All the beaten puppies, all the hurt and the evil. Most of us just ignore it cause we think it's better if we do. If I could solve only one problem, it would be the negligence of me and you.
To change the world we must first change ourselves, open our eyes and look at reality. We may not solve everything, but just helping is a good place to start. Like recycling, being kind. You could eat healthier, help the needy in your spare time. Education leads to change, or else the world would be the same as it was 3000 years ago. But if no one else cares to even try, why should you care? why should I?
Infectious Disease of the day: Onchocerciasis- Also known as river blindness, this is the world’s second leading infectious cause of blindness. It is caused by Onchocerca volvulus, a nematode that can live for up to fifteen years in the human body. It is transmitted to humans through the bite of a black fly. The worms spread throughout the body, and when they die, they cause intense itching and a strong immune system response that can destroy nearby tissue, such as the eye which causes the blindness.
- Gabriel Warren-Stark.
Why should you care? Look around you. How can you not care. I understand those videos of the sick people or hurt animals are a waste of time because we just flip the channel but seriously?
DeleteGabe warren I know your human. I know you have a heart inside that wall you continue to through up at people. But I know you care. WE ALL CARE ABOUT SOMETHING OR SOMEONE. And that's where it starts. That's how we "fix the world". We embrace the ones we love. We reach out take their hands and pull them out of the darkness
- Jennifer Lynn White
If you can honestly think you don’t care about anything, think again. Try having someone/something ripped away from you. Have someone you love promise to come see you once they get back from a trip. Better yet try having your family member splattered across the road; and the jerk who did it say “I’m fine, but that guy isn’t having a very good day.” while he points to your family members decapitated body. Let me tell you here and now, when this happens, you want to rip their throats out with your bare hands.
ReplyDeleteI’m not normally a open book, but I want all of you to understand why I fight so strongly against drunk driving. So here is my personal experience with the issue…
My cousin was towing a car, a last minute job for his friend so he could throw a party for his 18 year old son who was leaving for a year of deployment to Africa. He had stopped his tow truck to check and make sure his load was secure. (note: he had all of the proper lights on) this was when he was hit by a drunk driver; who driving was a tractor trailer. This killer decapitated, ripped my cousin’s left arm and left leg off of his body. His left arm flew by the window of where his 18 year old son was seated. With his 2 year old son in the back. BOTH of his sons seen the arm fly by, and BOTH of his sons watched as they looked for their FATHERS head. His body was torn to shreds so badly that we couldn’t even has a funeral, so we had to have a memorial. (You think its bad enough to see your dead loved ones at a funeral, be happy you can see them, be happy you can say good bye. I never got the chance, my family never got the chance.) His sons and daughters will never be able to tell their father they love him, they will never get to spend a Christmas or a birthday with him ever again. His 2 year old son will grow up scared for life, with only one last memory of his father. A bloody half body laying on a highway. The man who did this has yet to have a proper trial, they keep delaying it. Its been a year and four months to the day since this happened, and his jerks trial isn’t until January 11th, 2014. This happened July 7th, 2012. Even after all this time these wounds still bleed.
My story isn’t any worse than any one else’s drunk driving story. Mine just hits close to home. Accidents like this happen all of the time. (10,228 drunk driving crashes occur a year, this makes up about 31% of ALL car accidents.) To some of you those are just numbers, but others… that might just hit a nerve. I can’t change how you feel, I cant stop you from doing the stupid things we humans do. But I can promise I will do everything I can in my humanly power to make our roads safer, I don’t want to have to worry about my love ones getting a flat or checking their car, and getting killed for it. I can promise I will lower those number of drunk driving accidents as much as I can in my life time.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not telling you should care about drunk driving accidents. (I totally think you should care but I wont make you) I don’t know what you truly care about, I just hope you care about the people who love you, and the people you love. Don’t let someone leave your side without telling them you love them. Even if you have to chase them down. DO IT!! They can be gone in a matter of seconds, and sometimes you don’t get a second chance.
“It doesn’t get better. The pain. The wounds scab over and you don’t feel like a knife is slashing through you. But when you least expect it, the pain flashes to remind you you’ll never be the same.” -Katie McGarry
-jennifer lynn white
We think you posting this was very brave of you. It really opened up our eyes about drunk driving. We are awfully sorry for your loss.
Delete-Lauren Knarr & Whitley Bardroff
I think this post was amazing. It made me very emotional to be honest. It was really deep and I loved it
Delete-Hannah Hyatt
This was a wonderful and very great post. Thank you for sharing your story with us and hopefully we'll be able to change te future of drunk driving laws.
DeleteLexie Richardson (:
Not to sound cliché, but this post almost made me cry. You never know what happens to the ordinary people you go to school with everyday because most of them are not open to people who aren't their friends. I appreciate your bravery in sharing your cousin's story. I love when people share their personal stories and I love getting to know certain things about certain people. This was an awesome post Jenny!
Delete-Hannah Tice :)
Why should you care? Better question why not? If you don’t care about what you’re passionate in no one else is. Stand up for what you believe in and don’t be afraid to try.
ReplyDeleteBuilding a sense of self confidence in people and saying what is there to loose, go for it. The Skillet song One Day To Late says “so much to do and so much to say will tomorrow be to late” I’ve always lived in the moment and when I saw my first opportunity to play football and I went for it. Having self-confidence is not only inspiring to others it gives you a since of self-worth and the feeling of accomplishment. The football term that you hear from coaches all the time is “Heart “Mrs. Hill used the term call “grit”. It’s the same thing, it’s the willingness to keep moving forward. Two of my favorite quotes are “courage, it’s like a muscle, you strengthen it with use” the other one is “be a shark, keep moving forward”.
It is your willingness to fight for what you believe in, that should drive you. Those who play sports may hear this “don’t make excuse make improvements “ I think that this quote helps give you a drive, don’t look at the failure as an unsuccessful attempt, look at it as a way to improve. Einstein I believe said this when he found the carbon based filament for the incandescent light bulb. when he was asked to elaborate on how he persevered through the many failed attempts. He said “I dint fail, I figured out how not to make a light bulb.”
William Shakespeare said this “some are born great, and some have greatness thrust upon them.”
I will leave you with this thought, how are you going to aspire to greatness are you going to tackle it when the moment finally comes or, are you going to look at the task in front of you, and turn and walk away and give up before you even decide to start.
Robbie Olson
I am strongly passionate about the lives of others and what us healthy citizens
ReplyDeletecan do to help those in need. Organ donors give thousands of people new leases
on life every day. But for every individual who receives an organ donation,
there are many, many more who wait. Organ donation is one area in medicine where
there is a cure, but often there aren’t enough organs to help everyone who needs
one.
I believe that the idea of being an organ donor is a very important issue we
face in society today. We now are given the opportunity at the age of 17 to
officially decide if you are a organ donor or not. For me it's an easy decision,
for others maybe not. The question I would ask myself is why not? What is a good
reason not to donate your organs after death? Besides a certain religion there
is no harm or reason for you not to make the decision to donate to those in
need.
With personal experiences of an organ being donated to my uncle a couple of
years ago and how long it took, it made me realize just how many people are in
need of a healthy organ in order to live. I hate to think what would have happen
to my uncle if this women decided not to be an organ donor?
By donating you could easily save the life of another person, and that's
something that everyone should care about.
Brooke N. Spaulding
I believe a HUGE problem in our society is the tobacco product usage, but mainly smoking. In my opinion anything to do with tobacco products is just plain gross. It poisons our bodies, and causes awful side effects. According to the centers for Disease Control and Prevention each day in the U.S. 4,000 people younger than 18 smoke their first cigarette, and an around 1,000 young adults become new tobacco users every day. This averaged to 400,000 young people a year becoming users of tobacco products. This is 400,000 people each year becoming closer to getting lung, kidney, bladder, pancreatic, and stomach CANCER. Each day they use tobacco products they are closer to having a heart attack, or dying.
ReplyDeletePeople look at these statistics and just turn away but according to the World Health Organization over 40% of children have at least one parent that is a smoker, therefore everyone should care because we all more than likely know someone or have someone in our own family who smokes. This could be someone you know getting any of this, including CANCER. The WHO also states that because of second hand smoke 600,000 premature deaths occur each year. I know how dangerous smoking can be because people in my own family smoke, my uncle whom has a heart problem smokes, this is probably one of the dumbest decisions, but he can’t help it he’s addicted. Do you know how many addictive ingredients there are in cigarettes? According to the Department of Health and Human Services, there are 599 addictive ingredients in cigarettes.
But we are only teenagers; we aren’t smokers why should you care? Look at these statistics you should care because you don’t want to be a statistic you don’t want to be one of those 400,000 people who start using tobacco. You don’t want to be a person who is constantly sick or has a hard time breathing and has to have oxygen. You don’t want to get cancer and have to try to fight it with you weak body. You do NOT want to be ADDICTED. We young people need to stand strong and keep our bodies healthy.
Our generation needs to make a change we need to stand together and promise to never smoke a cigarette or us tobacco products, so we can and need to length our lives and live them to the fullest. We need to stand strong and not become a statistic.
Ashton Chaney
http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/health_effects/effects_cig_smoking/
http://www.quitsmokingsupport.com/whatsinit.htm
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs339/en/
Honestly if you think what I’m going to tell you about is insignificant, I am going to worry about you a lot, ask you how you survive, and then ask you to teach me your ways, however I’m pretty sure you are passionate about it too. I’m passionate about sleep. Of course there’s other things I can talk about besides sleep, but I consider it important because honestly, how many of us actually get the recommended amount of sleep? I know I don’t and I know most of America doesn’t or the world for that matter. That’s not good, lack of sleep is dangerous. Let’s talk about sleep.
ReplyDeleteHow to be crazy in one easy step: Don’t sleep. If you think about it, sleep is a really weird thing. You close your eyes and drift off into your own consciousness. Without it however we literally go crazy. The longest a person has ever gone without sleep is 18 days, 21 hours, and 40 minutes. This record didn’t come without a cost though, the subject reported hallucinations, paranoia, blurred vision, and memory lapses. Lack of sleep is destructive to the mind and the body. It’s symptoms include irritability, cognitive impairment, memory lapses or loss, impaired moral judgement, severe yawning, hallucinations, symptoms similar to ADHD, impaired immune system, increased risk for Type Two diabetes, and increased risk of heart disease. Say what you will, but a couple of hours can be more destructive than you think.
We all know the rule of thumb that you are supposed to get eight hours of sleep per night, but as teenagers did you know we are actually supposed to have the same amount of sleep as children, which is 10 hours. Just let that sink in and imagine getting 10 hours of sleep every night. Different cultures have rest times in the day (probably the most famous is a siesta), but not the American culture. Certain studies show that if schools incorporated a nap time in the day, test scores and grades would sky rocket. In Japan if a person falls asleep on the job it is considered a sign of exhaustion and that they are working hard, and they are left to sleep. 45% of americans walk around sleep deprived, imagine what we could do if we got the right amount of shut eye.
Dove DeNigris
Sources:
http://www.abc.net.au/science/sleep/facts.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_deprivation
There are many topics that I could bring up here. Global warming, violence, world hunger. Each of these is a very important topic. But they're not what I am most focused on.
ReplyDeleteThe issue that bothers me the most is intolerance. There are many forma of intolerance; racism, sexism, the works. But the only one that truly affects me is intolerance towards homosexuals.
I'm not saying that this is a problem everywhere. Our school is actual pretty tolerant, compared to others. The students may not like people who are homosexual, and they may make fun of said people, but it never progresses further than that. And the students are way more tolerant than the teachers. I've seen teachers mistreat those that are open about their sexuality, or they'll look the other way when they see someone bullying one of us.
Like I said before, intolerance isn't as bad as an issue in our school as it is in others. I have gone to many different schools, and in every one of them, the intolerance was terrible. Students would go so far as to beat homosexuals unconscious. The things I'd seen, and the things that were done to me, still haunt me. I've been both physically and emotionally harassed, just because I'm not straight as an arrow.
People are steadily growing more tolerant towards us, but humanity is still a very long way from being accepting. For example, over the summer, California legalized gay marriage. I was on my lunch break at work, when the news channel we were watching did a story on it. They showed a man talking about how happy he was that he could finally marry the one he loved, without it being some sort of crime. I was so touched by it, and so delighted that another state had made it legal, that I actually teared up a little. My coworkers, on the other hand, weren't quite as pleased. They all started up on a huge rant about how disgusting it was, and how humanity was going on a downhill spiral. The scene they were making pissed me off to no end, but there was nothing I could do about it. Nothing I could do to change their minds.
Not too long ago, homosexuality was considered a disability. A form of mental retardation. Like people could just lock is into a padded room and shoves meds down our throat, and suddenly all their problems would be over. I know a lot of people that still wish this were an option. A guy that I know once said that he wished he could put all of the homosexuals onto an island, and then blow it up.
How screwed up is that?
The point of all this is, I want to get my voice out there. I want people to realize that we are people, too. We're human, just like the rest of you. And we don't deserve to be treated this way. We don't deserve to be beaten within an inch of our lives. To be antagonized and pushed and harassed, to the point where many of us commit suicide. To be forced to feel like what we are doing is wrong; that it's wrong to be in love, to be with whoever we want.
I know that this blog is made specifically for the AP Language and Composition students here at Western Hills, but I know that at least one of you has a parent that actually reads the blog. Hopefully, that parent will get more people to read this post. Hopefully, my word will spread.
And maybe, just maybe, I might be able to get a few people to open their eyes, and to look at this situation in a new light.
~Rose Lalonde
Thank you for this post. This issue is the epitome of what's wrong with our school, our state, and our country.
DeleteThe fact that this is even an issue is disheartening, but as we can see by progress in places like California and even Frankfort with its recent fairness ordinance, there is a movement gaining traction that is going to bring about justice for the LGBT community. We currently have in office the first president to openly support gay rights as a platform. Even hip hop and R&B are becoming more and more tolerant, with artists like Macklemore and Frank Ocean setting examples for the rest of the music industry.
The sad part is, there are probably people even in AP Lang who will read this reply and say to themselves, "Wow, Bates is a f*****," simply because I believe in the inalienable rights of all people. And if that hideously ugly word is what comes to mind, I'd like to be let it be known that I don't take offense to it. Call me stupid. Call me cocky. Call me anything. But if that's the best insult that comes to mind, you need to try harder.
Andrew Bates
There are obviously many different topics that students feel passionate enough to blog about yet, out of every single post posted thus far, this was the only post I stopped to read a second time. This post spoke to me, not because of my sexuality but because of the obvious emotion shared in the post.
DeleteIt’s clear that humanity has come a long way in becoming more tolerant to homosexuals, for example, as of July 17, 2013, 14 out of 194 countries allow same-sex couples to marry. But the issues still stands that what the blogger said is true; on a daily basis people are harassed both physically and emotionally because they aren’t “as straight as an arrow”. I think it’s ironic how people can be so against bully but yet they are the same people who hate on homosexuality. There’s something wrong with that and I think this blogger has the right idea. Slowly but surely our generation is making their voices heard and little by little humanity is becoming more accepting. So props to the blogger, keep speaking and maybe you can open a few more eyes.
Harper Jones
I personally believe that everything that you are saying is true, But I'm not talking about just intolerance, I Believe that it is much bigger than that. (I'm not saying that you aren't) But, I believe that society is just afraid to view people as individuals, and would rather separate the believed problems than to accept it. If more people thought like Andrew & Rose, and believed in individuality, Then the world might just be a more open place for self expression.
Delete-The greatest non-great person in my world- Donovan Billings
Although we have come a long way there are still about 80 countries where it is illegal to be gay and in several of these country you can get life in prison or even the death penalty. I believe this is an important topic but I feel that we are wasting time and money into something that shouldn’t even exist (by that I mean restrictions on gays and their rights). We don’t seem to realize that this is just a repeat of rights for black people. Interracial marriages in the US were not fully legal in all US states until 1967. Some day we are going to look back and think about how stupid this is.
DeleteI don’t have any kids, but the way Mrs. Hill talks they are the best things in the world. I was listening to a student’s conversation, while waiting for the tech bus, about how if he had a son that turned out gay he would first verbally abuse his kid and then kick him out of his house. It is the things like this that make me wonder about the future of America.
Tariq Onodu
I thought this was a very good post because it addressed a lot of my thoughts on this subject but I thought I would add some personal experiences and observations of my own.
DeleteI tend to hang out with more tolerant people that support equal rights and protections, but there are some people who are also not so tolerant. And while my friends themselves are more modern and tolerant, some of their friends/relatives... not so much. There are two particular people who I find it coming from most often and coincidentally, they're both on the football team. I personally think it's a combination of a macho locker room attitude (which of course seeps out of the locker room) and ignorance, religious or otherwise. Note, that was not calling all religious people ignorant homophobes, because most are not, however there are some religious people who are. Nor was I saying that all football players are homophobes, but locker room attitude does breed a kind of disdain or mockery for things that don't exactly fit a masculine point of view.
While I said my friends are tolerant, they themselves don't exactly support everything I support. Of my core group of about 7 friends, only two share my same level of support for marriage equality. And sometimes that support is mocked or taken to the extreme. I myself have been labeled as gay (when I am not) just for simply supporting the idea that people should be allowed to marry who they love, no matter who that is; that people who marry a member of the same sex should have the same benefits of heterosexual couples; and that people shouldn't be made fun of because of who they are.
And while WHHS is a pretty tolerant school, I have witnessed people saying that if they had a son that was gay that they would put him up for adoption, "beat the gay out of him" and even worse things. Some often yell and shout at males who look more effeminate or butch looking girls, calling them f*** and d**** and that is so totally unacceptable. And while people are entitled to their opinions and beliefs, some of our teachers need to step up more in instances like that. Words like f***** and q**** are thrown around and lot and while some teachers are very good about addressing that type of situation other teachers won't say anything, and that is a problem. I'm not exactly sure how to go about fixing it, but acknowledging there is a problem is the first step to solving it.
-Evan Hatter
Evan, this blog post is excellent. You use situations you have experienced at school, and gave your insight on why it was happening. We do need to acknowledge the mockery of homosexuality in our school, and need to do something about it.
Delete- Dallas Taylor
I agree with Rose's post 110%. It was a very brave thing for you to post. I love your sense of passion for this topic and I hope other people start to open their eyes and see that everyone should have equal rights and that everyone deserves the right to love who they choose too. Thank you for this post!
Delete-Hannah Tice :)
Perhaps the most pressing issue that I am most passionate about is that of gun control. It seems to me that, while all of society and western civilization is taking one step forward for progressing on the issue, the United States is taking two steps back by constantly blocking any meaningful solutions to the problem.
ReplyDeleteIt feels like in today's society, we are constantly bombarded with news of horrific mass shootings that leave many dead, families fractured, and society mourning. Many of the most prolific and most tragic mass shootings have taken place in our lifetime, from Aurora to Sandy Hook to Virginia Tech to Tuscon. Even more sickening is the sheer number of deaths every year caused by firearms, an estimated 31,672 people (source: CDC), which is about 10.3 deaths for every 100,000 people in the U.S.
This is a stark contrast with the United Kingdom, who completely banned all firearms after the Dunblane Shooting in 1996. Since the ban, gun crimes and murder rates are falling year after year in the U.K., and there were 60 shooting homicide victims in 2010/11.
We know these events are horrifying, and many mourn the victims, but nothing seems to ever get done, which is where my frustration lies. Even the simplest bi-partisan measures like the Toomey-Manchin Background Check Expansion Bill can't even gain passage in a legislative body due to lobbyists for a plethora of special interest groups getting politicians to vote their way.
Gun control is not a new concept that is invented to restrict the rights of citizens. Gun control has been implemented before, from 1994-2004 with the Federal Assault Weapons ban, which is exactly what it sounds like. Now, I'm not calling for a massive ban on all firearms in the U.S., but I am asking for sensible and gradual measures to progress our nation, starting with background checks and moving on to banning assault weapons.
Gun control won't solve 100% of the United States' problem with shooting homicides, but we must start somewhere, lest we run the risk of more possibly avoidable tragedies occurring.
Cam Newton
I compassionately care about being healthy and taking care of my body; this includes going to Cross Fit almost every day and only putting nutrient-filled foods into my body and having a positive attitude. I do it because it makes me feel good; not only do I feel more alert and energized, but I also feel accomplished because I see and experience results. I am also a perfectionist, so if I am not improving myself in some way, I feel as though I am a disappointment. If I could live at Cross Fit with people who are basically my family, I would. But that’s the thing: I can’t.
ReplyDeleteEvery morning my alarm goes off at 5:15 am, I get up, brush my teeth, put my contacts in, lace my tennis shoes up, and head over to Cross Fit Unbridled, sore or not, where my class begins at 6. From wall-balls to dead-lifting to kettle-bell swings to muscle-ups to handstand pushups, I work extremely hard and I am then required to rush home, drink my protein shake, shower, get myself presentable for school and make it there on time. (And people wonder why I am always tardy.) As I sit in class, I constantly think about going back to work out, because it’s what I love.
Everyone has something they love, even it isn’t adding years to your life through healthy habits, and I honestly think school and the many other responsibilities we as teens have stand in our way. Think about it; we go to school for nearly 7 hours then go home to do almost as much homework. According to the CBS News Article titled “Study: U.S. teens eating better, watching less TV,” teenagers in our society are moving more and watching less television. However, I think this has a lot to do with the fact that we are literally ALWAYS busy, stressed, and overwhelmed with the loads our school systems drop on our backs. The ACT and grades are demanding enough, but add in some extracurricular activities, and it almost becomes unbearable and impossible to do the things we actually enjoy.
Why should we be required to learn things that don’t interest us when it would be more beneficial to our future if we taught people what they want to be taught? The answer to both “What is wrong with girls?” and “What is wrong with boys?” can be tied together in one universal answer to the question of “What is wrong with teens?” A lot of things, that’s for sure. The web page titled “Troubled Teen 101” states that 14% of adolescents in the United States are overweight and this figure has nearly tripled in the last 20 years. Think of the portion sizes when you go out to eat or even eat at home. Think of how much cheaper and easier it is to eat junk food. Think of how expensive it is to become a gym member. Think of how difficult it is to find the time to dedicate yourself to being healthy. Then think of how many excuses can be made for why you can’t do it, and Just Do It because it’s worth it. :)
-Destiny Hyatt
After thinking about what I care about, I’ve came to the conclusion that I don’t really care for anything yet. I believe that at my age I still haven’t found what I care about. I do have many interests but nothing I care for too much.
ReplyDeleteI say this because I’m only 16, I’ve got plenty of time ahead of me to decide what I truly care about. I know many people can already say they care about what they are good at whether it be sports, academics, or just something their good at. I’m extremely good with computer hardware and it probably is one of my interests I’ve put most time in pursuing. But it isn’t what I center my life around. As of now, I seem to center my life on school, work, and church. I enjoy all of the things I center my life around but still haven’t found the one thing that just clicks, and is like that’s it that’s what I care about more that anything.
Conner Nelson
Service has brought so much to my life. I will never forget the moment I worked as a volunteer at a soup kitchen, serving people scrambled eggs and bacon and seeing the impact that a few hours of my morning could do for so many people. At this moment I forever stopped thinking of service as a chore, but as an opportunity to get that bliss that comes from helping others. This feeling is one that I feel too many people are missing in life, and getting other teens to experience this would have to be one of my biggest passions.
ReplyDeleteThis apathy towards service, in my opinion, is one of the biggest vices of our nation. Too many times we see a world issue, label it as impossible to fix, and then move on with our daily lives. I believe this has a lot to do with stereotypes about service. Many teens, when asked about service would believe that a project has to deal with a major world issue like ending hunger or curing cancer. What many fail to recognize is that a simple kind gesture, such as shoveling snow out of an elderly lady’s driveway or giving an hour of your time to the soup kitchen is service, and all these kind deeds, when combined, can have a greater impact than imaginable.
Service, however, is often about getting your hands a little dirty (both figuratively and literally) and stepping out of one’s comfort zone. This is especially impactful on teens, who are at a point in their lives when image is seen as very important. I concede that, at first, service can be intimidating especially when it involves a task you are unfamiliar with. I witnessed this when volunteering at Duke Farms over the summer. Many kids there had never set foot on a farm and were very clearly uncomfortable with the prospect of weeding and planting. However, I noticed that people dealt with it in two different ways; either by hiding in the back of the group, or by stepping up and learning something new. In this way, not only were they providing a service to others, but learning something new and expanding their horizons.
Service has had many impacts on my life personally and brought me so many new and cool experiences. If I had to pick my biggest passion in service it would be getting others to get the benefits I’ve gotten through service.
Sidney Cobb
To speak very generically, I could say that I am passionate about Christianity, the religion that I believe in with my whole heart. But for me it’s more than that. Many people have the conception that Christianity is a list of rules that you have to follow, and that Christians think that they can do no wrong and freely judge others that do not share the same believe system. For a time I thought the same thing, but I was wrong.
ReplyDeleteI want to show every person that Christianity is about being accepted for who you are and being forgiven for the mistakes you’ve made and becoming a radically new person. One of the most effective ways of doing this is going on mission trips. Now, mission trips are expensive, whether its inner city mission trips or international mission trips, they require substantial amounts of money to fund and to participate in. as many mission trips are held, many people that wish to go on mission trips don’t have the opportunity or the money to go on a trip. Because of these issues many people don’t get to live out their passions and many people don’t learn about what Christianity really is, or may never hear about it at all.
If one person thought Christianity is a list of restrictions and rules, then that person could possibly tell others how horrible or how suffocating it is and may never get the opportunity about how it is so different from that. If no one goes around the world and show those people what Christianity really is, then they will believe a lie for the rest of their lives.
So in conclusion, my passion is showing people what Christianity really is, and going on mission trips really helps achieve that goal. I hope that everyone that wants to can have the opportunity to go on a mission trip to help change lives for the better.
Erin Chapman
I want to see more development in the number of medical professions. The importance of the medical field in general is much greater than most people think or would ever know. The field is lacking the specialized professionals that it needs to grow and provide more advanced and specialized care to patients who require specialized care.
ReplyDeleteThe medical field has been growing steadily for years but the professions haven’t been; the work that medical professionals do now is not much different than what has been done for 20 or 30 years just with the addition of modern technology which has not been able to be put to use due to the lack of medical professionals trained to operate the new equipment that has been developed.
What this in return gives us is a large group of people perfectly able to operate the new equipment but not given the proper training to do so. When you start talking about medical issues that now seem un-curable, there not. The more we develop and grow the medical industry the number of healthy and happy individuals we have in society will grow and age will become less of a pain and more of a future.
Drew Dearborn
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children says about 800,000 children are reported missing each year. If you do the math, that is nearly 2,000 a day. They also said roughly 203,000 children are kidnapped each year by family members. Another 58,200 are abducted by non-family members. (from cnn.com).
ReplyDeleteIf these statistics do not alarm you or get you to care the slightest bit about these children and family members who are affected by this, then I'm not sure what else to tell you to convince you that this is a serious, sickening issue. We should all be deeply concerned. But what else is there we can do to help prevent kidnappings? Be more cautious with our loved ones is the only thing that comes to mind for me. This is sadly always going to be an issue in the world. Just one of the many. The way I have became so profoundly concerned with this topic is because I very briefly got a feel of what it is like to have a loved one missing from you. Not knowing where your little five year old sister is, for about 2 hours, is quit the scare. It was her first day of school, kindergarten. The game plan was for her to get on the bus after school that would deliver her to her babysitters house around 3 o clock. Well 3 o clock came and there was no Sydney. The babysitter called my parents and told them the news which then got to her other parents aka myself and two other sisters. By this time we were all thinking the worst, like any family in this situation would naturally do. We called the school who said they put her on the bus, they were sure she was on the correct bus. What else was there for us to do? Drive around town? Just thinking about having to do that was a scary thought. Anyways, long story short, my step dad drove to the school who called the bus drivers cell phone. He said he got to Sydney's stop, but he could not visibly see anyone there for her, so he had to drive on. Two hours later, he made it back to the school where she ran inside and jumped into her daddy's arms, bursting into tears. When we got the news that she was alright, we were all extremely thankful. Ever since then, I have wondered how tough it must be for the families who have been affected by kidnappings.
To sum it all up, we should all be more aware of children around us whether it is at the grocery, or parks, even at the mall. If something looks out of the ordinary we need to speak up. The worst thing that could happen is a little embarrassment.
-Samantha Roberts
Samantha, I am very glad you brought this issue to attention because I feel strongly about this problem as well.
DeleteDuring our grandparents, parents and even our generation was much safer than it is today. Parents didn’t have as much of a fear of having their child kidnapped. Parents could let their kids walk to school on their own and play in the neighborhood with other kids without much parental supervision. Now days, you can hardly take your eyes off your child of any age, infants to teens, for the frightening fear of your child being kidnapped.
Kidnapping is a parent or any caregiver’s worst nightmare, just thinking about it can make you sick at your stomach. I do not personally have children, but I have a 4-year-old sister and a 10-month-old cousin that I’m like a second parent to. My parents, family and I are constantly worrying about something happening to them whenever we’re out in public with them.
My sister can’t even play in our front or backyard at home by herself, which is sad because we own our own private property and our neighbors are our grandparents and great-grandparents. Even though we’re surrounded by family, my parents still have that fear that someone could snatch her.
Kidnapping isn’t just for little kids, even though it is more common, pre-teens and teenagers are still at risk to be abducted. My parents are still concerned about letting my 11-year-old brother go to the bathroom on his own in public or crowded restrooms. My brother thinks it’s embarrassing for him not to go to the restroom by himself but kidnapping can happen so quickly and especially in crowded areas, I completely understand why my parents are so worried.
I just hate that the world has to be like this. It’s honestly hard to trust anyone because you can never tell if someone's a bad person because they may look like a normal.. It’s sad that creepy, disturbed people think it’s okay to take someone else’s child. Do they not realize that they are taking that parents or caregivers whole world?
Hannah Smith
Part I: Here’s an incongruity to think about. The greatest and most powerful democracy on Earth is ranked 17th in the world in education.
ReplyDeleteThis education gap that has left the US in the dust behind 16 other countries seems like an insurmountable deficit, given the large amount of ground we have to make up and the sheer size of our school-age population.
However, as I sit day after day in the same Advanced Placement classes as thousands of students across the country, I’m surrounded by unique brilliance on all sides. Trumpet virtuosos, software whizzes, great writers, gifted lawyers, and the next pioneering biochemists. Yet here we all sit—not only in the same school, but the same English class. Everyone takes roughly the same classes, with little specialization. How can these naturally talented students refine their gifts?
The answer is simple. We need a magnet school system.
Let’s look at a few of the most successful schools in Kentucky. The consensus top proper public high school in the state is duPont Manual High in Louisville, a U.S. Dept. of Education Blue Ribbon school, with an astounding 63.6% college readiness rating. Manual is the best example of a magnet school in Kentucky, with not one but five magnets to choose from, including math/science, communications, and visual and performing arts. Manual is ranked 169th in the country, mostly because of its outstanding development of students’ specialized talents.
Another great example of a successful magnet system is the collective magnet program of Fayette County Public Schools. For years, the public high schools in Lexington struggled along, trying to maintain their former glory as top institutions, but suffering from chronic low achievement. What helped rescue the public high schools in Lexington was the establishment of specialized academies in each school: liberal arts at Henry Clay, foreign language immersion and information technology at Bryan Station, International Baccalaureate at Tates Creek, visual and performing arts at Lafayette, and the most dominant, prestigious, and selective education machine in the Kentucky public high school system: the math, science, and technology center (MSTC) at the relatively new Paul Laurence Dunbar High. Each program has produced its share of brilliant students armed with the tools to succeed in life, but Dunbar’s MSTC has had astronomical success—headlined by an average ACT score of 31. MSTC graduates have attended 20 of the top 30 universities in the country, as ranked by US News & World Report.
The finest example, however, of magnet education in not only Kentucky but also the United States is the Gatton Academy of Mathematics and Science, located on the WKU campus in Bowling Green. Gatton takes 128 of the top students in Kentucky each year and brings them together in a rigorous collegiate environment that produces an average SAT score of 2010 out of 2400 and an average ACT of 31. Gatton is ranked by Newsweek as the top public high school in the nation. Students at Gatton conduct real-life research and earn credits just like college upperclassmen.
Part II: Now, the obvious response to all the grandeur of Kentucky’s successful magnet programs is, “what about the kids who can’t make it in one of those?”
ReplyDeleteThis is where Franklin County Public Schools gets it right. The state-of-the art career and tech center at FCHS is on the track to providing non-college-bound students with a meaningful career. Students are learning the skills to succeed in their desired field. However, there are two flaws in the system.
First, the tech-ready students are not identified early enough. In places like France and other European countries, children are identified at a young age—even during middle school—as fit for a technical career. This strategy is utilized in some magnets of Fayette County, such as the School for the Creative and Performing Arts, which feeds into Lafayette High, and Lexington Traditional Magnet School, which feeds Dunbar’s MSTC. In other countries, even tech students are identified early and diverted into an entirely separate program just for them, which leads into the second flaw in our system.
There is not enough separation between the college-prep path and the technical path. Tech students should be so separated and so rigorously trained in their fields that they graduate ready to take on a job in the real world and earn a living. By allowing them to flip-flop between tech and regular school, we degrade both sides of the education or tech students.
Creating magnets throughout Kentucky, and the US, would take time, money, and a lot of consolidation of students and authority. It would be a difficult task and would put strain on the classical idealism of American education. But the fact of the matter is, in the 21st century a nation must either innovate or be left in the dust, so let us choose to innovate.
I agree with you Andrew
DeleteRobbie Olson
Naked & Hungry- where each of us would be without agriculture.
ReplyDeleteCurrently very few of us can fathom living without an excess of clothing and food, however by the year 2050, a mere 37 years away, it will be our reality if agriculture production does not increase by at least 70% to adequately provide for the projected population. So, while many of you continue to laugh openly or behind my back poking fun at me for wearing the blue corduroy jacket, I will continue to be 1 of the 579,000 members of the largest student run organization preparing for premier leadership, personal growth, and career success while your future is in my hands.
I am proud to be a part of the National FFA Organization, an organization started in 1928 by a group of young farmers with a mission to prepare future generations for the challenges of feeding a growing population. As the challenges remain the same, we are still the Future Farmers of America, but we are the Future Biologists, Future Chemists, Future Veterinarians, Future Engineers and Future Entrepreneurs of America as well. The FFA reflects the growing diversity of agriculture from production farming, agribusiness and forestry to biotechnology, marketing and food processing. The organization has grown to be more than cows, sows and plows; the modern FFA is about beakers, speakers and job seekers.
As increasing demands are placed on us to grow even more, we are young innovative agriculturalist focused on the future of agriculture production, whom you can thank later.
Grace Higgs
Thank you for posting this Grace! I agree with every point you made! Our world is centered around agriculture, and many people don't take the time to notice that. Like Grace I also wear a blue corduroy jacket that I am proud and honored to wear! I may personally not live on a farm or raise livestock in anyway, but I realize that agriculture effects my life in so many different ways! That's why I am so passionate about the people in our world learning about how and where agriculture fits in to our everyday lives!!! So when you wake up in the morning and get ready, maybe think about the things you eat and use everyday thay may have just came from the agricultural industry.
Delete~Taylor Gilbert
As a high school student athlete myself I feel that it is very important for us to set high standards and be good role models for other students and middle school athletes that will be coming to high school to play sports. Most high school students now days are into drugs and drinking. This got me thinking and I strongly suggest that we should drug test all student athletes. By drug testing all the athletes I believe it will make them buckle down and realize that if they keep abusing the use of drugs they will not be able to play the sport that they love and could mess up there future. We as athletes get looked up to and a lot of kids say "I want to be just like them when I get older." With such young athletes saying that they want to be just like “you” how could we afford to abuse drugs and alcohol and let the young athletes of America down? I also believe that parents should know about their kid’s life in and out of school but as I’m sure most of you all know we don’t really keep our parents informed on what we do especially if it’s something that would “disappoint” them. But by the drug testing of our athletes their parents will be informed of the example that their children are setting for the younger athletes and maybe even the younger one at home who wishes to grow up and be just like their big sibling.
ReplyDelete**Miranda Gunn
I agree with Miranda. Being on a sports team is a privilege and comes with responsibility. Being on a sports team is your choice, doing drugs is also your choice.
DeleteAs Miranda said, “it is very important for us to set high standards and be good role models for other students”. Coaches should hold student athletes accountable for their behavior because the athletes are not only representing themselves, but they’re also representing their team.
Drug testing students on sports teams would not only make them “buckle down and realize that if they keep abusing the use of drugs they will not be able to play the sport that they love” but it will make the athletes prioritize in better ways. Drugs affect the performance of the athletes, so coaches should hold their players to being above the influence.
Miranda talked about involving parents… many parents don’t know what their children are doing on a Friday night. If parents got involved, I don’t think we would have a problem with drugs. A parents dream for their kids is for them not to be on drugs, they have better expectations of their kids and their kids should have the same expectations of themselves.
Casey Marshall
FOOD! Okay, I could never be anorexic or bulimic or anything like that because I simply love food. If you look on my self portrait, I painted a little hamburger at the top which just shows my love for food. But not just any food. I like greasy, fattening, unhealthy food. The most healthiest thing I've eaten (in the past probably 2 months) was half an apple. Actually I lied, I had a few bites of green beans a couple weeks ago.
ReplyDeleteAnywayyyys... I'm actually talking about fast food as an "issue" a lot of Americans apparently face today, and I'm just saying that fast food is NOT bad. Okay first off, no one is making you eat fast food so if you don't eat it then don't complain. I think a lot of it has to do with self control. I personally have no self control to be honest. I eat fast food everyday of my life pretty much. My point is that I don't think we should try to make fast food more healthier. I know the First Lady tries so hard to make everyone eat better an exercise. So, a lot of menus have calories next to the item, and a lot of food is cooked and prepared differently so it's a little better for you. STOP THIS MADNESS! If you want it to be more healthier then just don't eat it. I hate when people blame their obesity or size on fast food. Like I mentioned earlier, YOU DO NOT HAVE TO EAT IT!
It's like when people go to the tanning bed or get in a car accident. People aren't going to sue the car company or stop driving vehicles because someone was in a car accident (unless it was technical difficulties like bad breaks or something.) And if you go to the tanning bed and you get skin cancer, you can't get mad at the bed company or the tanning salon because YOU made the choice to start tanning.
I guess you could consider fast food a risk but if you're so concerned about it then don't eat it. I guess I don't really care about my health as much as I should but whatever.
I read so many stories about how all the ingredients in fast food are "fake." Like how McDonalds uses that pink slim stuff in their ice cream and hamburgers, but it doesn't really bother me cause it stills tastes good.
If people are concerned enough about what's in the food or how unhealthy it is for them, then they shouldn't be going through the drive through in the first place. I am extremely blessed to have a high metabolism and all but it just bugs me when people that eat fast food quite often; complain about how "fat" they are. If you're so concerned about it then go to the gym.
I've seen Super Size Me like 3 times since the 6th grade and it didn't really change me view on McDonald's. (If you haven't seen it, it's basically about this guy who eats nothing but McDonalds for a month straight) Me personally, I still wish that they delivered and had a supersize option but nooooooo, two girls just had to complain that they got fat from McDonalds food. I don't think it's anyone's problem but their own that they have no self control or choose to not exercise. I mean I can't even walk up and down a flight of stairs without breathing heavily but that's only because I CHOOSE not to exercise. I would honestly much rather lay in bed and eat all day than eat a carrot and go for a run.
This is 110% my personal experience and how I view this topic. If you eat good and exercise than great and if not, cool. I just do not think people in the world such as myself; that like greasy food, should have it changed because people have no self control or don't exercise. (I'm not even sure if that last sentence made sense but you get the idea)
-Hannah Hyatt
Thanks for saying somthing different from what everyone did, which is also something you are passionate for me to share your passion.
DeleteNerisia Ngum
It has taken me an embarrassingly long amount of time to figure out what in hell I was passionate about and what I wanted to talk about, and even now what I have in mind seems to pale in comparison to the causes and things above. I’m not even sure if this is right, but if I don’t get credit for this I’m gonna’ be a little salty. So, here we go.
ReplyDeleteUrban Exploration; I know that it isn’t a cause, or charity, but it’s something I’m passionate about, and something I absolutely love. Urban Exploration (Urbex) is, in short, the exploration of cities. Not the bright, shimmering face of the city, but the dark underbelly, the abandoned buildings, the dark alleys, the dimly lit corridors, the forgotten places.
I’m sure you’re thinking something like “Wtf, so this guy crawls around abandoned buildings?” well, yes. sorta. Imagine:
At the end of a long alley, you notice a smaller alley and turn down it, running your hand along the brick and mortar to your sides you think about the history of this very wall. You think about the hands that built it, and the lives that have are being lived around this very wall. You come to a dead end, with a wooden door at the face of a tall building, windows smashed, boarded over, and broken again. You open to door into a dark lobby, like a hotel, but long gone. The roof is dim, the floor stained and cracked. Walking in you absorb the sights, the sounds, the smell. All of it hits you at once, your thoughts race. Imagine how many people must have walked through this very spot, you could be standing in the very spot someone was proposed to, or the spot where someone died. You would never meet these people, you’ll most likely never even know their names, but you imagine. There is a chair overturned in the corner, evidence that humanity once existed here, but is now long gone. You are the only living soul in the entire building. A feeling of isolation wafts over you, an amazing thing.
A feeling of isolation, in the middle of a city?
Crazy right?
Maybe, I’m crazy, but I find so much beauty in the things forgotten. The things that people leave behind, I never see them as trash. I see the dingy building, surrounded by foliage, to be a story, a book waiting to be read. A book containing the life stories of possibly hundreds of people. The things we forget are the things our children will remember. They are the things that will be pictured in history books after we are all dead and gone. You pass empty buildings all the time, but do you ever think about what might have happened there, have you ever thought about how many lives we’re changed in that very place? All of the people who died to create that? Urban Exploration is about seeing the beauty that resides in the filth. The spectacular things, hidden away by progress, pushed from the eyes of public, and covered with things society deems to be more attractive.
The greatest adventures aren’t in far away places, especially today. In an age of urbanization and progression, so many things are hidden away, and the ones who know of these places die off. It is the urban explorer who rediscovers these places, who documents them, and shares the beauty of the world that has past with the world that has taken its place. Urban explorers find adventure in the past, in the trails of the generations who came first. My dream is to visit Pripyat, an entire town that was abandoned overnight due to the Chernobyl disaster.
Oh yeah, I don’t think I established ethos or whatever, well, you can trust me because I explore a lot. I’ve been to a lot of places downtown you’ve probably never seen before.
So, I hope this comes out right, because it sounds amazing in my head, and I hope I get credit for it! Oh, and just to show you guys the kind of beautiful things that rest right under your noses, here are some amazing photos I found:
http://www.fotopedia.com/albums/609728be-e1b3-4f52-b4f3-a65aa719c6fd
(They aren’t my pics, so credit should go to the photographer and what not)
Ive never thought of a subject such as this. The way you explained what ut is and how you feel about it makes me want to learn more about it. It is quite a unique topic that not many people know about in the first place. I'm glad you posted on such a unique and interesting topic.
DeleteAdmiral General Jacob "Aladeen" Silvernail
There are things I care about. I could tell you about them but I'm not exactly going to do that. For the most part, you shouldn't care what I care about. ( geez, only the beginning and I've already used the word “care” too much)
ReplyDeleteYou should care about yourself. You should care about things that affect yourself. You should care about your Companions, your rivals, your partners in crime, the people who are friends but also compete with you and challenge you to become better. Lastly, you should care about your enemies and the challenges, the problems, and the force they provide against you, for they give you a reason to fight, and another good reason to live.
Now you might be thinking: “You're just a stupid selfish bastard”. Well, There are some decent morals to all of this, or at least I think there are.
Caring about yourself over others first is a good idea because it ensures that you will accomplish your goals, you will live the life you want, and you'll generally be happy. Once you've taken care of yourself, attention may then be given to those around you. If you turn this around and care for others first, you'll be destroying yourself. There are tons and tons of people around us and each person is likely to have even more problems. If you try to care about them, their problems, and satisfy them over yourself first, you're going to be drained of all energy and become a lifeless shell which systematically attends to others like a robot servant.
As well as caring about yourself, you should care about things that affect you. ( this includes companions and enemies ). Other people have an effect on you. You shouldn't exactly care about them, but you should be Aware of them. Once you are aware of them and all other factors, pick out the things that need attention or care and attend to them.
So, I feel like I'm done typing. I don't think I said all I wanted to or explained it well enough, but some basic concepts are there. Also, I just realized, from the average person's point of view, there's probably still no morals here you would consider good. Haha, oh well, I tried to make it at least a little decent sounding :3
--Coleman Williams
I'm not particularly passionate about anything. I have things I care about and enjoy doing, but there is nothing in my life that I am truly passionate about. I just don't care(for lack of a better phrase). So I've decided to talk about a topic that I care about (a little).
ReplyDeleteSo, today we had a Veteran's Day assembly. I barely stayed awake through it due to the garbled sound quality, the poor quality of the power point presentation, and an overall lack of organization. I think our veterans deserve more respect than this. These people risk their lives so we can sit here and waste our time arguing about issues that don't really matter in the grand scheme of things (healthcare, gun control and gay rights, just to name a few - just so anyone doesn't get offended, these do matter, just not as much as wars being fought overseas because of crazy dictators that shoot a woman because she wants to drive a car.)
Some veterans have suffered horrific injuries, both visible and non-visible, some are able to receive help through programs like Wounded Warrior, but many more struggle to overcome the injuries they sustained protecting us. Don't these people deserve more than a few hours worth of recognition at school assemblies and a few parades?
Why should you care? Well, really, since I don't have any true ethos you don't have to. (Okay, I have a little ethos, my great-grandpa, my step-grandpa, my great-uncle all served, and one of my 2nd cousins will go to basic training in a few weeks. By the way, he's 4 years older than me.) But what about all the veterans? Today at the assembly they asked anyone with a family member who was a veteran or currently serving to stand. An overwhelming number of people rose. So don't look to me for ethos, look to all the people that stood up during that assembly. People's fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles and many more have been willing to sacrifice their life to protect us and the rights we cling to so strongly. So, even though I said I don't care (but really I do), we all should care. Because of these people, we are able to care (or not care) about many hot-button issues and not worry about our lives ending because that crazy dictator disagrees with you.
Emily Crowe
And just to make your day better (and for Veteran's Day) here's a link to a picture of a soldier petting a kitten:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.thisblogrules.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/soldier-cat-9.jpg
Emily "I don't really care" Crowe
Tobacco. This word may cause you to cringe a little bit. In my opinion, tobacco is one of the biggest problems in our school. We label our school as a "Tobacco-Free Campus", but indeed, this is 100% false.
ReplyDeleteI have to relieve myself of my bodily fluids just like every other human does, but I feel compelled to not go into our school's bathroom at all. You wanna know why? Tobacco. There is literally always some form of tobacco present in our bathroom. Whether it is dip spit into the urinals, or people smoking their cigarettes and using our toilets to put them out, it is just disgusting. Quite honestly our administration does nothing to stop it either? I just don't understand. I don't feel comfortable to use a public school restroom and they are doing nothing about it.
Tobacco isn't just a problem in our bathrooms either. I see people with dips in their mouth every single day while they are holding their jug of dip spit. A prime example of this is last I had a class (that shall not be named) where my teacher always had a dip in his mouth. This wasn't the only problem as he allowed his students to dip in his class, and the students even let him have dips??? I know this is Kentucky but come on FCPS. This is just ridiculous. Please don't label your schools as "Tobacco-Free" if teachers are allowed to dip with no punishment.
Here are some facts for you to think about: 18% of high school students smoke, An estimated 150,000–300,000 new cases of bronchitis and pneumonia are recorded annually, and approximately 7,500–15,000 hospitalizations annually in the United States. This is why you should care about the problem we have with smoking in our schools.
As someone who has had experience with death in a family over the effects from smoking, I advocate that we actually try to stop what is going on in our schools.
Let's try to make our school district's slogan, "Tobacco-Free Campus", not just a false advertisement.
- Dallas Taylor
Although this topic is very cliché and its the same stuff you hear over and over, it is something I am extremely against: BULLYING. Bullying is something that will never be completely out of the picture, I get it, but until everyone knows the effects of it, it's only going to get worse.
ReplyDeleteI can guarantee that everyone reading my post has been bullied in some way. So here is what I want you to do: think about when you got bullied. Relive it. Think about who did it to you. How it felt. How everyone reacted. How, if even, you handled it. It's not fun and by no means does it feel good, and I would bet that when you sat and remembered all those times, you felt that pit in the bottom of your stomach, the emptiness. Why is this something that is so frequent in today's society?
Bullying has become so easy with all of the social media and technology that we all have. It is so much easier to hide behind your device and bully someone. You don't have to say it to their face, and there is no confrontation. There are even sights where you can do it anonymously.. even better. Here is my theory- if you are "man" enough to bully someone, you should be "man" enough to say it to their face. Don't get me wrong, I don't think you should bully at all... but if you are going to, at least have enough respect for yourself to grow up and say it to their face..
Now, think about all of the people you know that are the bullies.. why do they do it? I think it makes them feel better about themselves. It's kind of sad, to be honest.. if you have to resort in picking apart someone else, you need to reevaluate how you see yourself. Since when did tearing someone else down build you up?
Everyone is weird in their own ways.. so why pick out someone else's faults when you have just as many on your own?
Here are my final challenges to you all:
1. If it is not nice, keep your lips shut.
2. give more compliments.. you never know who's day you are going to make.
3. If you see someone getting bullied, stand up for them.. think about how you would feel in that situation.
The quicker we all start working as one, instead of working as individuals against each other, the quicker we will have a better, more peaceful life.
Torey
I am passionate education. From pre-school to high school, we go for free other than paying for textbooks but once we get to college we have to pay for so much more. Many people want to go to college and get a degree and of those people, some will need financial aid to get there. I am all for financial aid and scholarships to make things cheaper but I think colleges should really consider who they help.
ReplyDeleteI believe that everyone one deserves opportunity to go to college. Some families will have no problem in paying for all the necessities while others may find trouble with it. Scholarships are always a great achievement and tend to help people tremendously.
People who don't receive scholarships might still need help to go to college. I think that for the first semester of college, all students who qualify for financial aid, should receive help. During the first semester though, the students should be watched over to see if they actually want to be there and are willing to put forth the effort. The students who do show that they want to attend and are showing potential should be allowed to continue receiving financial aid. for the students who do not show effort, I don't believe they should receive help. That may sound harsh but why should colleges try to help you if you are not trying to help yourself. I understand that some people need more guidance and assistance so their grades may not show too much effort but universities could have a way of discussing with teachers about how much effort students put into their work. This probably isn't realistic for many colleges seeing as some courses may have a hundred students in them.
People should care because the majority of students plan to go to college. Students will apply for financial aid and some will be helped. Those students will be able to go to college and they should be grateful. They have the opportunity to further their education. Those students should not take advantage of that. They should work hard and show the college that they did a good thing in helping this student. Going to college isn't about partying but to work hard so you are able to get a job. If you don't show interest in being at college, why should they give you help when you don't deserve it? That money could have helped others and you would be taking advantage of it.
I believe that everyone deserves the chance to go to college no matter what background you come from. Financial aid helps so many people to be able to learn and lead them one step closer to building a stable and successful life for themselves. I just think that colleges should choose carefully and patrol their progress to make sure that the students who deserve help, receive it.
~Ashleigh Johnson~
This probably sounds so terribly cliché coming from me, but I care about having everyone be exposed to music. Specifically instrumental music. I feel that it important to get good grades and try to learn as many facts and skills as possible, but I don't think that any of that stretches the brain in the same way and to the same extent that music does. When you play music it activates both sides of your brain because you are focusing on reading and interpreting the music, putting down the right fingers at the right time, blowing air, staying in tune, articulating the notes, using artistic expression, breathing, listening, playing louder or softer, understanding what others are playing and how you fit into the big picture and finally, sounding good. All at once. That mental aerobics that we musicians put ourselves through every day expands our cognitive ability allowing us to have more success in our academic endeavors.
ReplyDeleteIn my experience, my life as a musician started when middle school came rolling around. I joined the band because I had always loved to listen to music, so when I actually got my hands on an oboe I realized how special that would become for me, so I kept working at perfecting the art of oboe playing. I like to think about it in the way that it is sole thing that is getting me through high school without any hiccups. It is actually one of the only things that I can be passionate about. In fact, I am addicted to music. When someone plays music, their brain realizes how good it is for your cognitive functions so special glands release dopamine into the pleasure receptors of the brain causing a euphoric sensation. So in a sense, I am a dope addict. You should be one too.
-Simon Holden
As a fellow classmate who is concerned about the poverty that’s affecting our nation, I have personally seen its effects in my school, church and community and I know you have too. I am hoping to educate you on the effects it has done to our nation and to encourage you as an American, to help make a change to try and limit poverty in our community and eventually, the entire world.
ReplyDeleteCauses of poverty include a vast list such as; losing a job, having the inability to afford quality health care and decrease in today’s economy of income in a family and everything is generally expensive. Poverty isn’t a choice. Children are born into tough times because of their family. Retired elderly citizens are forced to choose between paying for their medications, groceries and house bills such as heating and electricity. Disabled citizens can’t help it if they’ve been surprised with a serious injury. They now are faced with little or no income for bills. This stress for an individual alone is numerous; just imagine if this person has a family depending on them.
“How can you help?” “I’m just one person, I won’t make a difference?” These questions are popping up in our minds all the time. It is so easy to help families in our community. Making a difference doesn’t mean stopping poverty in the entire world; it can just involve the ones close to you and making their world a little better. Yes, you can make a huge difference in the eyes of a family whose income and bank account dwindled impossibly low. Little improvements such as donating clothes, can goods or helping out with Christmas gift like the Angle Tree to families in need to help to save the few bucks they have left in their bank accounts. They may feel a little embarrassed, but deep down I’m sure they’re grateful knowing that they have someone supporting them and someone willing to help them through their tough times. The relief that comes later, knowing that tomorrow they’re going to have food or warm clothes on their back is worth the slight embarrassment or insecurity. Without support and someone believing in you, it’s hard to get back up on your feet. I consider helping families through tough times is more of a privilege than a service.
There are other ways to help poverty in our community. You can volunteer and help families in need through organizations such as a local civic organization, charities or churches. The greatest way to help people is by word of mouth. Poverty is a well-known issue, but it doesn’t hurt to educate others on the subject and explain to them exactly what poverty is and that its effects are world-wide. By helping one person, you are helping many. Spread the word, educate, and help to accomplish the goal of ending poverty.
Helping people in need is something that I am very passionate about and a dream of mine would be to end poverty. I have seen so many families who can’t afford Thanksgiving dinner or Christmas presents during the holiday and I believe that’s something that everyone should be able to have access to. I have participated in Angel Trees at my church during Christmas time, which is picking a child’s name off a tree and filling up a stocking with gifts because their family couldn’t afford Christmas gifts. I always include a necessity item they need such as clothes or bedding items and then a toy or game. It brings me so much happiness knowing that child will have something to open Christmas morning.
Hannah Smith
I am very passionate about people being and becoming independent. I think of my self, as a independent young woman, for my age especially. The main reason I think of myself as independent is because I often don't like to dependent on others, as well as trust them. My experience with depending on people (practically the men in my life) hasn't always gone well. I always feel that I often receive lies from the men and woman in my life that I should be looking up to.
ReplyDeleteAnother reason that I believe that everyone should become independent, is because of the amount of people getting divorced in our day and age. When I did some research on divorce, I found that over 50% of marriages in the United States Of America end in divorce. And a lot more men and woman may want a divorce, but don't feel that they could get out of the marriage because they may lose financial stability. I do encourage people that are either in a marriage or in a relationship to get out, if they are being abused in anyway or if they person just aren't happy.
I know that money isn't everything, but in my own experience I find that it is a lot less stressful if you have enough money to buy the things you need and pay your bills and such. I think that if more people were independent and made their own money we wouldn't be paying money to pay for as many people on government funding. I know that times get tough and bad things happen to good people, and I am glad That I live in a country where you can have government assistance if you really need it and deserve it. But I do not like the fact that some use government assistance in the wrong way, when certain people cheat the system, it makes me less supportive if government funding programs. I would love to see more people beome independent by abstaining a job or trade that could be used to make money to suport themselves. I would also personally love to help and encourage people to become independent. I love seeing people happy, and I believe that for most people independence can help someones self esteem, and overall better their lives. ~Taylor Gilbert (:
After thinking long and hard about something that I’m passionate about, I came up with nothing. The task became even trickier when it had to be an issue. So, after doing some research and brainstorming, the most passionate-issue-thing I could come up with was amblyopia. For those of you who don’t know, amblyopia is the medical term for lazy eye. It’s characterized by impaired vision in an eye that appears normal or one that wanders. To put it simply, it’s when your brain receives mixed images from one, or in severe cases both, eyes so it “turns off” the visual processing in order to prevent double vision. Amblyopia is estimated to affect 1-5% of the world’s population and is the most common cause of vision problems in children.
ReplyDeleteLazy eyes are dear to my heart because I actually have one! (It’s my left eye because I know you’re wondering.) As an amblyope, I wore special glasses as a child and sometimes an eye patch that I hated. But enough about me, I think others should care about this issue because with it being the most common cause of vision problems in children today, the only solution doctors have come to is to attempt to strengthen the patients “bad” eye by using methods like eye patches, or eye drops that blur the vision in their “good” eye. I have to wonder, if it’s so common why aren’t there more doctors thinking of a cure? I have considered optometry as an occupation simply for this reason and maybe if enough awareness is raised, the 1-5% can become 1-2%.
-Courtnie Carr
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ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
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ReplyDeleteThis is Madison Wallace
DeleteI love this reply because my papaw just went through the same thing. It has so much to offer besides the fact that you care. It is a personal experience that so many other people can relate to and I think you are absolutely right, we shouldn't let our loved ones be part of a statistic. Whether it be nursing home abuse or anything else. I loved this writing very much. You did a great job
Delete-Madison Whitman
She was only 11, had glasses, and a face full of acne. Full of life and determination and soon all of that would be sucked out of her. Somebody would pull the rug out from under her feet while she walking towards a flight of stairs she thought would go up, but it turned out to be 10 going down.
ReplyDeleteShe was only in 7th grade and in a class of 13 people. She was ruled out as a nerd. Patricia was a small girl that had no chance in the 1 mile long town of West Point and she was in the advanced classes. So the other kids would pick on her. They though it was all in fun and games. They just wanted the school work and answers from her, but she took it way differently. She thought it meant that she was ugly and stupid and nobody would ever want to just be her friend. Even her own cousin would push her around and scream curses at her because she was different and it embarrassed her cousin. This bullying had gone on fore Patricia's entire life and she was done.
In July 2009 Patricia tried to commit suicide.
Bullying is so much more than picking on someone, or getting the correct answers for a test, or even just the fact that they are different and you don't like it. It is a life changing thing. It is part of a butterfly affect that affects us all. You bully them, they bully the people at home, their parents punish them, and then it can lead to a permanent solution for a temporary problem. It's cruel and ridiculous. It is a cowardly thing to do.
People think that laws and assemblies in school will help without taking disciplinary actions but it won't. We thrive on the ideas that our next generation is a clean but group of well educated polite children but most of it isn't. Bullying should not be tolerated. If we see someone getting bullied we should speak up and not just watch. It's time to change and all it takes is for the butterfly to flap it's wings and take off.
-Madison Whitman
What do I care about? At first I thought plainly good grades. Because all A's means that you are smart...right? I have realized something over the past several months and that is that I care about the future. In turn I do care about my grades because it is something that can change my future but i feel like knowing real world skills and what i can really do are more important than having straight A's. (I am not saying that F's are okay either)
ReplyDeleteI tend to stress myself out more over what I am going to do after high school than the blog posts due every couple of weeks.
I feel that there should be more focus on what an individual wants to actually accomplish because I know I am not the only one that feels like after high school I won't know what to do.
Why should you care about what I do after high school? You probably don't but when others feel the same it becomes a problem that should be given time and care.
Dillon Smith
ReplyDeleteBullying, why should I care? Why should you care? I care because my 7th and 8th grade years I saw class mates being bullied. Most of you don't know that I went to a private school. One might think she's lying people at private schools don't bully each other. My opinion/past experiences are that there is more bullying at private schools than there is at public school. My reason is at private schools there aren't enough people to make the stereotypical groups that public schools have. I say this because I grew up with the same 27 people my whole life, after while you just give up on trying to become friends. For me bullying started as early as 2nd grade by the time 4th grade came I was finished trying, new people came and I become friends with them and still are to this day.
I care about bullying because there are too many kids killing themselves/others or trying to kill themselves/others because they are being bullied. The rates in the link below are unbelievable. I think if we try to support the ones that are being bullied and stop the ones that are bullying others we could take the rate down to a low. Being bullied isn't fun, it make you feel like no one cares about you. Support your peers and don't be that one person bullies.
http://www.heyugly.org/aboutStatistics.php
~~Megan Blanton~~
I agree with Megan (partly because I went to the same school with her). I came to High School thinking that it would be worse than middle school. With a private school (pre-K to 8th grade) with an enrollment just barely over the 100 mark I was for sure that public school with 750+ would be the worst thing in the world. Although I don’t fully know what goes on around the school I would say that bullying is not a huge problem at Hills.
DeleteTariq Onodu
It’s hard to choose just one thing that I’m passionate about, but if I had to it would be education. As Andrew stated above, the fact that the United States is ranked 17th in education is horrifying. To point out what’s wrong and what needs to be fixed I’ll use Western Hills and Franklin County Public Schools as examples.
ReplyDeleteThe first thing that I see wrong is a few classes that are mandatory that shouldn’t be. PE is a great example of this because it’s a class that was required in middle school and is something that most of us will never use in our everyday lives. I’m not saying we should eliminate the class all together, just make it an elective.
The second thing is that we don’t have a way to specialize your skills. For example, each student would select an area of focus (math/science, English, history/social sciences, performing arts, etc.) where they were given a wide variety of classes to choose from. One problem that many people would bring up would be the fact that you wouldn’t be well rounded. I however believe that it should mandatory to have 25% of your classes in an area of opposing study.
I hope these ideas on education have inspired you to want a difference in what you have now and encourage you to make difference in the way that many of us learn.
Todd Stetler
One of the bigger issues I am concerned about is something fairly simple. People disagree with this topic, and others agree with it. It shouldn't be that big of a deal seeing as how it's dealing with a basic human right, the right to control what happens to our own bodies without people telling us what we have to do with it. The issue I am referring to is abortion, and pro-choice in general.
ReplyDeleteOn 25 July 2013, Wendy Davis, a politician in the state of Texas, stood up for eleven hours holding a filibuster to stop a bill from passing that would not let women have an abortion after 20 weeks. She stood up the entire time, since the politicians said that if she sat down, or left the room, the filibuster would not count and they would pass the bill. The entire time, she was arguing to get a word in and continue talking so that midnight fell and the bill wouldn't be passed. After midnight a bill cannot be voted upon. However, the Republican politicians that were inside the courtroom tried to sneak past that and said that the bill had passed, completely ignoring her filibuster. After Democrats had pointed out that it was after midnight, they had another vote on the 26 July 2013, and the bill had passed. Wendy Davis's hard work on that day will not be forgotten, and will only encourage more people to try to do something in their own community.
Banning abortion doesn't make it go away; it only means it happens even more. According to Guttmacher Institute, in 2008, there were over 500,000 cases of abortion in the Philippines every year and about 1,000 deaths due to abortion-related complications. Maternal deaths, which is highly preventable if they could have received the proper care, account of about 12%-14% of all women's deaths in the Philippines. In fact, the risk of death from childbirth is about 14 times likely than that from abortion.
Every year, worldwide, about 42 million women with unintended pregnancies choose abortion, and nearly half of these procedures, about 20 million, are unsafe. Some 68,000 women die of unsafe abortion annually, making it one of the leading causes of maternal mortality. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), every 8 minutes a woman in a developing nation will die of complications arising from an unsafe abortion. Unsafe methods would include drinking toxic fluids (such as bleach) or direct injury both externally and internally.
These are living people who have to go through all of this stress, or in many cases pain, because they don't have any money to raise a child or will get ridiculed due to social or religious reasons.
You can't touch a corpse's life and its organs if it would save someone living, so why would you try to force someone who's alive to throw away opportunities that they may have to find out a cure for a disease or come up with better and more efficient technology or decide new ways to deal with the homeless in our own country?
Aurora Strider
Studying abroad in Italy has been my passion since 7th grade. My grandfather was a full blooded Italian and his parents came over to America with him, in the early 1900’s and none of them ever went back. He always wanted to go but could never find a convenient time, especially after he was shot in the Korean War, before he passed away about four years ago. When I go to college I can’t think of anything more thrilling than to learn about the culture and language that my grandfather was raised with and get to experience that for him but, every time I look at the different colleges I would like to attend and look at the study abroad programs, my hopes are almost diminished because of all the extra fees that are added to the tuition.
ReplyDeletePeople all around the world want to travel to different countries and experience the different cultures or maybe learn more about their family heritage. Studying abroad gives college students that opportunity but the prices the colleges set, limit the amount of people who can partake in the program. Other people should care about this highly priced program because it is something that, if they were to go to college, they could participate in and get to discover the world.
I will concede that scholarships are offered to any student who would like to participate but when you put a lot of thought into it, you can see that is completely ridiculous to have to pay for a tuition to a college that you are only attending in theory and yet still have to pay for all the expenses that go along with the expedition. In my opinion, colleges should not make students pay for the tuition unless it is a college like Dartmouth, where they have a “pure’ study abroad program: “Some colleges like Dartmouth College run their own programs with Dartmouth professors and standard Dartmouth level grading. Those are the "purest" type of study abroad programs as the grading and level of classes is exactly the same as it would be on campus.” Colleges like Dartmouth deserve the tuition but other colleges who don’t use their own professors or the same grading do not deserve the tuition.
Every student should have the opportunity to go see the world and learn about the different cultures and societies whether they have the money to do so, or not, therefore, colleges should lower the price of studying abroad.
Taylor Moreland
Jamey Rodemeyer woke up and went to school just like everybody else. He liked Lady Gaga just like you might like The Beatles, Coldplay or Capital Cities. He posted on a blog just like you. He had parents that loved him just like your parent love you. He was 14. The only thing different was he struggled with his sexuality.
ReplyDeleteThe thing that blows my mind is that he was bullied for something that he couldn’t change. He was bullied for something like religion, gender, or skin color. Bullied to death, he will never get to experience the things you and me will get to experience. He will never sit behind the wheel and drive for the first time. He will never get to work, vote, get a house, or have a kid. He won’t get to do the things you and I take for granted every day. He never asked to be bullied, he never asked to like whoever, he just did, and people had the nerve to bully him for it.
Jamey was obviously thinking about suicide, but nobody cared. He put up a separate post that day letting everyone know it was National Suicide Prevention Week. He posted a lyric from Lady Gaga's song The Queen on his Facebook page which said, “Don't forget me when I come crying to heaven's door.” He left two final messages on one of his blogs saying he was looking forward to seeing his great grandmother, who recently died, and another thanking Lady Gaga.
What did his fellow classmates do? They left comments. “JAMIE IS STUPID, GAY, FAT ANND UGLY. HE MUST DIE!”“I wouldn't care if you died. No one would. So just do it :) It would make everyone WAY more happier!” One day in late September Jamey killed himself. His life was taken by a rope. That’s not even the worst part. At the school dance a Lady Gaga song came on and his friend started chanting for Jamey only to be quickly drowned out by bullies chanting "You’re better off dead!" and "We’re glad you’re dead!"
Bullying needs to stop there is nothing funny or cool about it. You may not realize it but there are people out there who are bullied and it can affect someone’s life drastically. It is all of our jobs as fellow students and peers to help those who need it and report those who bully. Just know you have the power to save someone’s life.
Tariq Onodu
You know when you're a little kid and everyone ask you what you want to be when you grow up and usually you say a singer or an astronaut, well my answer was simply to be a teacher. When I got old enough to understand that a teacher doesn't get paid very well, I tried my hardest to find something else that I was interested in doing but I just ended up right back where I started; I wanted to be a teacher.
ReplyDeleteNow there are many things wrong with school systems but for this assignment I really wanted to find a problem no one else has addressed. To do this I thought about what I would change if I could change anything about Western Hills. I thought and thought and thought and finally I came up with something; I would get rid of the disrespectful, rude, misbehaved kids that don't care about their education.
I know you all are thinking that this is impossible, but at the same time think about how much better our school would be without them. By lowering the drop out age or even being able to deny a child free education would benefit us tremendously. I bet everybody is thinking "I can't believe she just said that" but seriously, do you think that a kid that starts a fight every month, disrespects teachers on a daily basis, and doesn't even appreciate the opportunity to go to school for free should still be offered the opportunity?
The kids that would be affected would be the ones that would end up working at a fast food restaurant anyway and sitting in school learning poly atomic ions isn't going to help them learn how to make a hamburger. I'm sure you guys are now thinking that they could always change and become motivated but by freshman year in high school you pretty much know the kids that will be something and the kids who won't. Not only would this benefit us by allowing us to focus more in our classes and lead to a better education; it would also benefit them because they could work instead of being required to stay in school where they don't want to be.
Abigale Wilson :)
Since everyone is already talking about serious topics such as world hunger and what not, I thought i would talk about something I'm sure everyone on this site can relate to. What is it that every gifted student has in common you may ask? Well the answer is quite simple. Being in an "advanced class" that is doing the same work as the normal level class because there are students who just simply shouldn't be in there.
ReplyDeleteNow I know what the two reactions to that are. "Yes I completely agree with you" or "Shawn you are an awful person don't say that! Everyone is gifted!". Now let me tell you why you should be thinking the first one and why the second one is only half way right. While I will give to you that everyone is gifted, I won't say that justifies you being in 4 AP classes and 3 honors classes.
While everyone is gifted as something, the is hardly no one who is gifted at anything. Take me for example, you give me a couple of equations and I will tell you the sun's mass in donuts for fun. But I probably shouldn't be in an AP English course, with my inability to spell and my very small understanding of how opinions even work anything without an absolute and final answer upsets me. Everyone has their gifts, but the new expectation that everyone must be an all around honors student who is great at everything is just absurd.
-Master Doctor Shawn "the guy who just accidentally admitted he likes doing math" Thomas Pope
I'm not sure that I have really figured out what I am most passionate about. However, I do know of a pressing issue that greatly concerns me. As a former AP Environmental Science student(this class can, at times, paint quite a dismal picture for our future), I have come to realize that changes need to be made in regards to the world's attitude towards the environment. Every minute, at least 51 acres of tropical forests are destroyed (truthbeknown.com). This adds up to at least 73,440 acres of forest destroyed every day. Deforestation contributes to a host of problems, such as the erosion of soil, loss of habitats for many species, and also the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere, which is a greenhouse gas that in turn contributes to global climate change. According to a recent article on the Los Angeles Times website, a drafted report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change states that global climate change(not global warming, as some places will get colder) "...will disrupt not only the natural world but also society... By 2100, hundreds of millions of people in coastal areas will be flooded or displaced by rising sea levels...The report 'brings this issue home and it shows us why it's important,' said Katharine Hayhoe, a climate scientist at Texas Tech University who did not contribute to the assessment. 'The reason we care about climate change is because it affects us: It affects our food, our water, our health, our roads, buildings and infrastructure and our natural environment.'" With each day, the already startling number of difficult-to-reverse environmental problems in our world continues to grow.
ReplyDeleteI know that most of us have already heard a million times that "the environment needs to be saved". Also, measures have been taken to sustain and repair our environment, such as the Montreal Protocol, which required countries who accepted the protocol to ban chlorofluorocarbons, which are substances that, when in the stratosphere, break down the ozone layer. Many other protocols and projects have been undertaken to combat the harm that is being done to the environment. However, this is not enough. Those who are trying to save our environment need all the help they can get, and every little action taken helps. It might seem unimportant, but the condition of the environment is something that affects every person living on this planet, as well as others who will come in the future.
Will Grasch
P.S. - Here is the link to the LA Times article, if anyone is interested.
http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-climate-change-20131112,0,6958165.story#axzz2kTeejkHf
Phones are extremely useful at school. It’s just that most of the time it really distracts me while I’m in class because I honestly don’t use it for educational purposes 87% of the time. I try and keep it away but having it solely at lunch just isn’t enough and that’s sad. I have a few classes that are extremely lenient on cellphones to the point where virtually nothing is done about them. I will sometimes looks around and think Are we getting anything out of this class? How is this affecting our grades? I’m not purposing some detailed plan be constructed to prevent cell phone usage but simply suggesting that if teachers see a cell phone being used that wasn’t given permission to be used, it shouldn’t be ignored. Something should be done. It’s up to the school or the teacher to decide what, exactly, but it should definitely be treated as a big issue. Just think what it would be like if we went to day at school without our phones; much more able to engage with the rest of the class.
ReplyDeleteIn a recent study, multitasking was proven to reduce a student’s productivity up to 40%, which makes the student more stressed, and even cause their IQ to fall by 10 points (http://blogs.hbr.org/2010/05/how-and-why-to-stop-multitaski/). I can relate to this because If I let my phone distract me during class, I completely freak out when it’s due because I haven’t done it yet. I know there are others that suck at prioritizing because of technology and all I ask is for a little tough love from teachers. Please, be a Phone Nazi. It only helps and while we students might hate you, we’ll most likely concentrate better and learn more efficiently.
- Emilee Agee
Thanks for been honest Emilee.
DeleteI agree with Emilee in that in some of my classes the teacher to care if we look up the questions on the internet: which is ok with me on one hand, but on the other hand I hate it because at the end of the day I don't learn anything. Cellphones are greet tools to be use in aiding are studies, but we depend on it most of the time a lot, that we don't what to think anymore. we already had another blog post on advantages and disadvantages of technology. sometimes it doesn't all depend on the teacher though; we should also have a little self control not to be on our phones the whole time and actually learn something.
Nerisia Ngum
There are many things I care about, but one overpowers the rest.
ReplyDeleteWe go through many situations that we feel helpless and unwanted in our lives, but we can fix it. Many children in foreign nations are put through neglect or abuse or starvation simply because of poverty or their community. While we sit at home in our beds, they are sleeping on rocks in nothing but t-shirts. While we worry about how we haven't eaten in a few hours, they fight over their food with their families. While we are complaining that we are in school for 7 hours a day, five days a week, they are begging to be educated. When we are pitted against our teachers and families, they are subjugated to disease and murderers. We complain on a huge multitude everyday when the real thing we should be doing is being thankful for what we have.
We have the chance to be educated, work for money, eat food when we want, wear the clothes we want, and be connected with one another through technology. They don't get the luxuries that we do. We worry about who got what and who did what, and they worry about why her or not they'll see their parents and siblings the next day. We don't realize how impacted they are by their daily lives because we have our noses shoved so far up each other's asses to see it.
When we picture poverty, we picture Africa, but honestly there are people in our own country and state that are effected by poverty daily. We bet look them to see others in different countries. I feel that we need to focus on the people in our own nation before we go giving away our resources that we really don't have.
Evan Montgomery
I agree with Evan, some of us have more than enough, but still yet we complain about unnecessary things, when there are some people in other nations and even here in America that don't know where their next meal is going to come from. we have all we need and also some of what we want, others aren't even able to meet some of their needs not to even talk about their wants. I don't think we can stop world hungry or anything, but just by not wasting food, because some people somewhere can't even afford that, makes a great difference. We should not be selfish, but be contented with what we have.
DeleteNerisia Ngum
Since everyone is already talking about huge issues such as world hunger and what not, I’ll talk about something I'm sure everyone on this blog can understand. What is it that every AP and honors student has in common you may be asking? Well the answer is simple. Having students in an "advanced class" who just shouldn't be.
ReplyDeleteNow I know you had one of two reactions to that “I know, that’s the worst” or “Shawn you can’t say that! Everyone is gifted at something!” Well now let me tell you why you should be the first one and how the second one is only half right.
While I will give you that everyone is gifted, it’s silly to think that someone can be gifted in everything. If you give me a few equations I’ll tell you the mass of the sun in donut units for fun. But I probably shouldn’t be in an AP English class seeing at how I have an inability to spell and the mere idea of an opinion that doesn’t make logical sense confuses me.
We live in a generation where everyone is expected to be gifted at everything. That is ridiculous. That’s like asking one person to compete in every sport in the Olympics. Yea they may do well. But they won’t bring home gold if they can’t focus on what they are best at.
-Master Doctor Shawnathan Thomas Pope Esquire the fourth twice removed
I care about the impoverished. I care about the ill, and the starving. I care about equal rights. I care about feminism, and I care about gay rights. I care about the environment, and conservation.
ReplyDeleteSeveral times more than any of these, I care about education.
This may, at first, seem very cold. Inhumane, even. How could I ever value the recitation of a child's multiplication tables over how many healthy meals she gets? And how could I worry more about about a boy's knowledge of early American literature than the discrimination he receives for his homosexuality?
The answer is simple. Essentially any human problem can sliced through at the root by education, and by education only. If war and struggle form the pound of cure, then education is the ounce of prevention. I mean not only the varieties of schooling that we are familiar with, but every kind. Not just elementary schools and high schools and colleges, but foreign outreach programs and word of mouth and museums.
Take, for instance, an area in a third world country where starvation and lack of food are common. Several studies have shown that when educators teach a small population methods for more sustainable agriculture methods, the quality of life in that area improves drastically. If these attempts were increased to a larger scale, their benefits could be enormous. In the same way, economically sparse areas can be taught to produce and trade. If even basic medical skills were taught in these places, death and birth rates could improve greatly.
Or, imagine sex education classes that spanned more than merely listing the main STDs. If we were only to take the opportunity, these could be the perfect places to discuss sexuality acceptance, fight rape culture, and even combat sexism.
As for matters of medical and environmental research, the connection is obvious. The more our youth are educated, the more innovative minds we have to develop the next breakthrough cure, the next more efficient fuel.
Knowledge is more than power; it is salvation. As the saying goes,
“Give a child a fish and they'll for eat for a day. Give a child a good education and they will rise above poverty, bigotry, and any other obstacle.”
Well, I mean, that's how I think it should go.
Samantha Hensley
There are many things I care about, many things I don't. But I'm not quite sure if I am passionate about anything. I could go on about my viewpoints on abortion, gay marriage, or just about anything, but none of that stuff is what I'm passionate about. Until the day comes when I do find my passion, I am just going to have to pick a topic and wing it.
ReplyDeleteI care strongly about the safety of American soldiers. I believe if we don't have to get involved, we shouldn't. I do understand that there are times when America really has no choice but to get involved, but I don't think that America should be sending troops into situations in which American lives can be lost. Not trying to say that American lives are more important than the lives of people from other countries BUT why sacrifice American lives for other countries when if the roles were reversed, they wouldn't have the ability to help us. The U.S. should avoid foreign affairs unless absolutely necessary.
Some of you people lovers will argue that "everyone deserves to live a long happy life free of fear" (which isn't a bad argument) but there are factors that go into helping other countries that can not be over looked. Money for instance is such a large issue today, wasting millions of dollars on affairs that get America NOWHERE is exactly that, a waste. Again I would like to include the life's of our troops as a factor, simply because it is the absolute most important factor.
America parades itself around and advertises freedom and independence. Should we be proud? Absolutely. But should we involve ourselves just to show that we are the boss? No. World peace is a great idea, but we will not accomplish it any time soon (if ever). We should let people have there problems and only get involved if 100% necessary.
Emily Evans
When you hear about stereotypes people think about people, but do you ever think about animals? People stereotype against bully breed dogs all of the time. There are breed specific laws, banning the "American pit bull" in over 600 cities when in fact the term doesn't refer to one breed.
ReplyDeleteI'm passionate about this because of my two dogs. My dogs are afraid of loud noises, bubbles, and the garden hose. But most people that step foot on my property would be scared to death of my two staffordshire terriers simply because their looks.
My dog Kayla was adopted when we got a call about a dog that was about to be euthanized at the shelter. She had lived at the shelter for two years and had not been adopted for fear of aggression, not because of her past behavior but because of her big dog exterior. We were taken back to look at her and a seven year old showed her to us. She was just as harmless as the chihuahua in the next kennel over, the dog adopted the week before and the rest of the dogs in the shelter. She almost didn't get a chance at life because of stereotypes.
Dogs are not aggressive due to genetics or their breed. Dogs that are aggressive were raised that way. And no dog should be judged by something that they can't change.
-Courtney "raises her pets correctly" Woodyard
My topic is something that gets me a bit angry. If people are unable to get a job, they can be placed on government welfare which are checks that are mailed to you every month with money to live on based on your disabilities. In our day in age, people looking for an easy dollar pretend to have disabilities just to receive these welfare checks from the government. This may seem like a microscopic problem in a world so full of turmoil, but it affects people more than you think. There are elderly people who really need the checks to live and without them, they'd have to decide whether to buy groceries or medicine for that month, electric or water bill, heat or house payment. Not only does it take money away from people who need it, but you're paying for the perfectly able people to live comfortably. When you get your pay check from your job, some of the taxes that are taken out if it are for the government welfare checks. This is a big problem in our nation because our elderly and disabled population aren't being taken care of like they should and they're not getting as much money as they could be getting (and that they need) due to the increasing number of welfare leaches (meaning people who go in and pretend to either have mental disabilities or physical- you can get a check for saying that you have back problems. How could they disprove it?) I do not think that we should blame the people, rather the government. It is important for people to be tested extensively so that the ones that need it are the ones that get it. So you should care because it's you're money. You're money is being taken away from you to fund lazy people who are capable of work, and that's not right.
ReplyDelete-Amanda LeMay
What do I care about? I care about capitalism. It's the concept our government was economically founded upon. Recently, the government that once christened this concept are now limiting it, strangling it, making it a life long endeavor to pursue successfully.Most of you probably think that local small businesses are extremely important. I agree, they are important, but are nearly irrelevant to the bigger picture, the national economy. Corporations are what make your lives the way they are. Without corporations and big business, life as you know it would cease to exist. Imagine if cell phone manufacturers were small businesses like a restaurant. None of you would have iPhones. You would have a phone made here in Frankfort. Now I'm sure I got your attention. Corporations literally built America.
ReplyDeleteDuring the 19th century, several men depicted how important corporations and laissez faire are to the nation. John D. Rockefeller owned the Standard Oil company. This company controlled up to 90% of all manufactured oil in America. He efficiently and effectively provided kerosene to every home, brining light and warmth to the citizens. Rockefeller later debuted gasoline to fuel Henry Ford's automobiles, which eventually became quite popular in American culture.
Andrew Carnegie was the owner of Carnegie steel, a steel producing corporation. At its height, he produced nearly 90% of the steel in America. Because of his efficiency and quality, cities grew, skyscrapers were erected, bridges were built, and urbanization expanded. His company literally built New York City into the metropolis we know it as today.
However, the forces of liberalism and socialism are gaining a grip on capitalism by imposing limits and restraints to businesses. These restraints prevent mighty companies to revolutionize our nation and revitalize our economy.
Remember Standard Oil? The corporate superpower? The government sued it. A new piece of legislation had been passed prohibiting monopolies. Because of this, Standard Oil had to dissolve in 1911. Arguably the greatest capitalistic endeavor in our nation's history, destroyed. What I'm saying is, our nation is gripping tighter and tighter on capitalism. Many fail to accept the fact that laissez faire is what made our country the way it is. The foundations of America, destroyed by those who were benefiting from it the most. We should be able to go where business takes us, without the strangling hand of government regulations.
-Chris Hughes
I disagree with this completely.
DeleteCorporations do not make up a functioning government. Corporations are out for one purpose and one purpose only: to make money. Corporations do not care about the U.S. Government except for when they are able to use it to corrupt politicians in order to gain advantages in the business field.
Also, regulation is very much needed in today's society. Just as some of the earliest anti-trust legislation was enacted early in our history to prevent large monopolies from becoming too powerful and wrecking any semblance of competition, we need bills like the Dodd-Frank Act to regulate Wall Street and business. Businesses were one of the main causes of the 2008 financial crisis, due to the predatory lending, decades of de-regulation under previous administrations, etc.
Also, the men you mentioned (Rockefeller, Carnegie, etc.) were all robber barons who used ruthless tactics to gain whatever wealth they could, even if it meant subjecting workers to terrible conditions. They didn't care about America except for the fact that it was a country that was allowing them to walk all over its workers.
If the government is not supposed to be socialistic, then I ask why we even have a post office, military, police department, fire department, libraries, infrastructure, medicare, etc. These are government-provided programs that I'm sure many capitalists love, even if it is against what they believe. If the government was hands-off of everything, our quality of life would be much worse off, and we'd be whisked back to the dark ages of history.
The purpose of a functioning government is to provide for its citizens and offer them protection; it is not to ensure that businessman can make as much money as they desire.
Cam Newton
Like Cameron, I had to take a few minutes out of my day to disagree with this post.
DeleteWhile I admire Chris's attention to detail and historical references, there is no way to cover up the fact that it's all wrong.
As Cameron said, corporations exist for the sole purpose of making money. That's it. And throughout the years, they have always done very well at that. Yet, like it or not, corporations have almost always made their money by exploiting someone--be it the East India Trading Company exploiting the peoples of the British colonies or Chris's beloved U.S. Steel company, with Carnegie's relentless pressure on his mostly impoverished workers.
Corporations make money because their purpose is the opposite of a government's. This is where Chris's argument goes the most wrong. One has only to look at Wal-mart's terrible treatment of its workers to see that even in today's society corporations will not necessarily police themselves, because, gee whiz, to do so costs money. Let's look at some things that cost corporations money:
-a reasonably high minimum wage
-environmental protection
-worker's compensation
-installing more efficient or safer technology
-better working conditions
-better working hours
-(for restaurants) serving food that doesn't give you heart disease.
For almost all corporations, if it hurts the bottom line, it's out of consideration.
Many to most of the worst problems we face today are directly or tangentially related to corporations' greed. Global warming, obesity, low minimum wage, unemployment, and inflation are all somehow connected to the corporate juggernauts that rule society. Irregulation caused the Great Depression, and the Great Recession. Corporate greed is NEVER going to solve our problems, unless the world becomes too messed-up for corporations to do business. God forbid.
My love for children and their health has developed my hatred for child abuse and neglect. Child abuse is the physical or sexual maltreatment of a child, it also is not giving enough attention to child. The thought of having kids, is most amazing thing ever. When you are not able to take of it and love it the way it deserves to be love and care for; that is considered child abuse and neglect. Given the fact that most people work twenty-four seven, doesn't help matters either.
ReplyDeleteBroken and disfunctional families turn to be less for used on the child, at times because of the lack of parenting skills. It is so heartbreaking for those innocent children who are brought into this world and forced to do certain atrocious things. Becoming rather unfortunate the don't get the opportunity to have a normal and happy life like all of us do. According to Dosomething.org, approximately five children die everyday from child abuse. This hurts the children not physically and emotionally, but also psychologically for life. Still according to Dosomething.org, abused and neglected children are eleven times more likely to engage in criminal behavior as an adult.
We can all help in preventing or at least controlling it in our society, because it is not a good place for someone to ever be: by just simply saying something to someone if we see a child being continually bruised on the head. We may not understand it, but people who experience this situation; would tell you they went through hell.
Nerisia Ngum
Scientists have shown that embryonic stem cells have the potential to help create replacement cells for an enormous array of tissues and organs, including the heart, liver and pancreas. The fact that we’ve discovered a new strand of treatment for major and thought-to-be-untreatable-conditions amazes me. It also amazes me that the research for this new type of science has been cut, illegalized, and unfunded. As someone who truly loves health care, it really hurts to see people suffering from diseases and conditions that can be so easily treated. I’m passionate about stem cell research. It has the ability to be the next miracle medicine and to change so many people’s lives. It’s so frustrating to me that people every day have to face death or critical illness when they don’t need to.
ReplyDeleteIn case anyone doesn’t know, the only way to obtain these life changing embryotic stem cells is to remove them from unborn fetus. The fetuses used would come from abortion. I respect everyone’s opinions on abortion, but, as of now, it is legal. I think if there are going to be thousands of aborted fetuses coming out of America we might as well use the end of one possible life to save a life that already exists.
The legalization of stem cell research and embryo-treatment is one thing that I would really love to see before I die. And I hope I get lucky enough to still be young when it passes so I can get a job in embryology. I’m really tired of people causing controversy over such a beautiful discovery, and I think it’s about time people start valuing the life of an existing human being over an unborn embryo on a petri dish.
Caroline Coles
Make a difference. Make. A. Difference. In order to do this, take what you love, go out of your way, and share it with everyone. Not your friends, EVERYONE. That is how you make a difference. I would love to be able to take a warehouse of soccer equipment with me to Africa and teach the kids that grow up playing barefoot on dirt, glass, and rocks, the game of soccer. Why? Because I love soccer more than anything, and for me to make a difference, I want to share my god given abilities with the rest of the world, to allow kids to enjoy the game as much as I do. It is such a blessing to play on grass, with an inflated ball, even with shoes. I want to put those kids under the same blessing that I have. I would go out of my way, to share what I love, to make a difference. And that's all it takes.
ReplyDeleteCorey Rogers
@iAmCR10
My strong passion is volunteering within my community. I enjoy helping others and making an impact, without getting anything in return. Bell ringing at Walmart with my family, working at the soup kitchen, to even giving my clothes to people who are in need of them. In society, us humans tend to only care about ourselves. I think that being able to have a loving family, shelter, and food... People should at least help others that do not have the most valuable things that we have. Our generation should really consider thinking about others instead of ourselves.
ReplyDelete-Sierra Smith
What do I care about? It's A simple question but very hard to answer. I care about many things that everyone has already blogged about so I'm not going to bore you all with the same old "I care about the environment" blog.
ReplyDeleteI think that twins and triplets should count as one person when it comes to the intermediate rule. All you nonmultiples are probably reading this thinking in your head "wow. Who really cares about if a person can drive only one twin". But anyone that has friends that are multiples or are multiples themselves know the struggle. I lost count of how many times my friends couldn't take us somewhere because they didn't want to leave one of us out. And picking which one gets to ride with the friend and which one is with mom is a whole other story.
You all can argue that we always complain that we are individuals and should be treated like individuals but this is totally different. Multiples not counting as one causes many more problems than it helps anything.
- Makayla Hawkins
Planned Parenthood is the largest provider of Abortion in the US. Planned Parenthood only gives 2,300 referrals for adoption. But in 2011 alone over 333,900 abortions were preformed, and over 1,425,700 Morning After Pills were given out. I asked the question why do women have abortions? 74% say having a baby would interfere with work, school, or responsibilities.
ReplyDeleteLess than 2% say they became pregnant as a result of rape or incest. But that seems to be the major defense for abortion. I understand a women's right to choose but what about the people that can't have children, they don't have a choice. Think about how many presidents, preachers, athletes, singers, inventors. Think of a mother that can't have a child, yet all these children are being slaughtered because their an inconvenience. Take Steve Jobs' birth mother, she was going to have an abortion but chose not to, she chose to give that baby a chance. Steve Jobs said “I wanted to meet [her] mostly to see if she was OK and to thank her, because I’m glad I didn’t end up as an abortion,” he said. “She was 23 and she went through a lot to have me.” We would have never had Apple if Steve Jobs would have been aborted. The constitution says that you have the right to live, you're talking the most basic right away from people that can't defend themselves. If we found a single celled organism on Mars we would say "we found life on another planet" but a human baby that has a beating heart isn't alive and has no value. We spend millions of dollars saving animals but we won't take the time out to save helpless babies. When will we see that we can't take life for granted, God has a purpose for each of us.
Rachel Blackwell
You make a great argument, however I would like to know WHY you care. What personal affect has an abortion or lack of abortion had on you? We know that a fetus is incapable of making a literal life or death decision when it's inside a mother's womb. But why is that significant to you?
DeleteMorgan Gay
"I understand a women's right to choose but what about the people that can't have children, they don't have a choice."
DeleteAm I correct in surmising from this comment that you believe that because some women are unable to have kids, other women should be forced to bear a rapist's baby? Please tell me if I misinterpreted that. But I reread your comment several times and I'm fairly sure my interpretation was correct.
I can't say I understand your logic. Here's an analogy: although not all people are able to play sports, it is not compulsory for all athletically gifted people to play sports because of the inability of others.
Also, your "life on mars" comment is invalid because we kill unicellular life all the time and think nothing of it. Then again, we also kill mothers when we don't allow them to terminate a risky pregnancy, but that is another discussion.
Bates
I think she means that abortion is a form of murder and no it isn't right to have a rapist's baby but there are other options such as an adoption or yes raising it. No it's not right but it isn't right to kill a child either.
Delete-Madison Whitman
Something I feel passionately about is preventing and putting an end to bullying. I find it incredibly ridiculous that some people are rude and mean to other people for absolute no reason at all other than to make themselves feel better. I'm sure everyone, during some point in time during their life, has been a victim of bullying. The feeling of being bullied and having no one to turn to has to be one of the absolute worst feelings in the world. Its effects can cause suicide, and that truly breaks my heart.
ReplyDeleteThere are so many ways people can prevent bullying, and simply being friendly and nice to someone who has been bullied is one. When seeing bullying happening I always try my best to stick up for the person being bullied. We don't know what kind of things people go through in their personal lives. Bullying should not be tolerated. Its ruining lives of many people all over. I believe that by being nice to everyone you encounter, is one of the easiest ways to help brighten someone's day and you never know, you might have just saved that person's life.
Whitley Bardroff
This is going to sound cliché, and most people will probably stop reading this right now because they’re “tired of hearing about it”, or “have already heard about it before” but one of my biggest concerns right now is childhood hunger. Seventy-five percent of people who die of hunger are children. I am so involved in this problem for three reasons, one being that it is a problem in places as close as the classroom next dorm or as far away as Africa or Asia and the second one being that I can easily help fix this problem and the third one being that I myself was affected when I was younger.
ReplyDeleteChildhood hunger is such a widespread problem that can easily be corrected or at least helped. Just about anybody can pick up an extra can of corn for thirty seven cents and take it to the food pantry, or find someone in need to give it to. There may be people in your own class, or in the classroom next door that dread going home because they aren’t going to get dinner, or because they don’t know if they will or not. They look forward to coming to school just to get a good meal every day. Just think about what they do on breaks when they can’t go to school to get breakfast or lunch. You can help them. It’s easy.
I can easily help fix this occurring problem, and I have in multiple different ways. I donate at least one can when people are standing outside of Walmart or Kroger taking up donations, I organize food drives as the HOSA President at WHHS, and I am in the works of creating multiple public service announcements to spread the word. One of my favorite opportunities that I was given to help out was actually at a birthday party. We split up into two teams; all wore matching shirts and went door to door asking for food pantry donations. Pushing a grocery cart from the local grocery store to collect them in and then took our collection to the local soup kitchen on Second Street in Downtown Frankfort. The lit up faces we saw when we took all of the donations were priceless.
Now as to me suffering from this, I was not a critical case by any means. But the people I was living with were having to steal food form the grocery, or calling places and lying about getting the wrong orders so we could get free food. It was awful. I went through it and nobody should have to. It’s an easy fix.
You can help on your own by donating to our food drive, coming up with your own unique ways to give back or visiting the websites to just donate money.
-Kali Whitaker
I am concerned about nutrition in schools today. The government issued guidelines make most schools ship in frozen food that tastes like cardboard. I got so fed up with the crappy meals I was getting, I started bringing my lunch so that I could enjoy my lunch, but also leave the table satisfied. There are several school districts in other states, such as Massachusetts and Wyoming, which have switched to or have started adding local farms as the source of the food served in their schools. Even in our neighboring Fayette County, the beginnings of a cafeteria food revolution because of a $45000 grant allowing them to experiment with the idea of local food. If the Franklin County Public Schools switched to locally grown meals, I think that more people would be satisfied with their meal, and could also eat healthier, fresher food.
ReplyDeleteThe National Program, Farm to Schools Network, allows schools to have locally grown food items available to them. There are programs in all 50 states, which is amazing. There are already three programs in Kentucky, showing that it is completely possible for Franklin County to do. The average cost of a meal in this program is $2.50, only $0.10 more than the cardboard we get now. According to the Farm to schools website (http://www.farmtoschool.org/index.php), each state has an advisor that works with school districts to get their program up and running. They also offer grants and other monetary awards to help schools get a program in their district. In Kentucky, there are plenty of farms with a huge variety of produce and other products, so a program like this seems completely viable. If students work for what we want, then I believe that the district would be open to a locally grown menu.
Everyone else (especially students) should care about this issue because you should be able to somewhat choose what you eat. I don’t think that anyone would disagree with a fresher, healthier, and tastier meal. After all, you are what you eat. Would you rather be soggy, cardboard-flavored mush, or a healthy, vibrant meal?
Hannah Webber
As a student athlete nothing irks me more than being stuck in a gym class being “active” for a grade when I know I have a two hour practice that night. The amount of time I waste sitting in gym class walking in a circle to “warm up” is incredible. Gym class does nothing for student athletes. The whole purpose of gym is make sure kids are active and yet student athletes who practice hours every week shouldn’t be subject to gym class because they are active.
ReplyDeleteI completely understand that on a whole our generation is steadily becoming overweight and a great solution to that is making kids be active. Let’s be honest though. The only people who truly participate in gym class are the extremely athletic kids who like to mess around and show off. Honestly, having these athletic kids in gym class only makes it harder on those who are overweight to participate. I can’t count the times I’ve seen some who is not quite athletic and not quite in shape try to play only to have a kid who is uber athletic take the ball from him/her because they just want to win.
Tomorrow, like many others, I will go to gym class, walk in a circle for 5 minutes, do some halfhearted stretches and then don a penny and stand on the court, occasionally catching the ball, for approximately ten minutes until it is time to change. Then I will go to practice after school where I actually run and actually benefit myself in being active.
Harper Jones
I completely agree with Harper. Gym is such a waste of time for people who actually play a sport. In gym, we don't even do much because the teachers just don't care. I think that students that are part of a sports team sould be allowed to be exempt from gym because we are wasting time we could be spending in a class, actually furthering our education.
DeleteHannah Webber
He walked into the nursing home on his own two feet, and left on a stretcher.
ReplyDeleteAmber knew her father was dying of cancer, but could never have imagined that it wouldn't be the death of him. “It wasn't the nursing home of my choice, but my hand was pushed by my siblings. They did it behind my back. There are less male beds than female beds in nursing homes. Females usually live longer than males. We were waiting for a bed. The same sibling that forced my hand had gotten him kicked out of the hospital, so I tried to make the best of the situation. On arrival, originally they promised two baths a week and to be walked and have therapy regularly. But some weeks he went without one bath and wasn't walked daily.
The nursing home was private. I tried to pay for a private room, but none were available. The first room he was in had no air conditioning. The beds had to be manually cranked to change position. We asked if we could personally pay for a home health equipment supplier to bring an electric bed. They would never give me answer. It was always that they were trying to find out it; it went on for weeks. Daddy was the youngest patient that had ever lived there, as well as one of the sickest.”
John Baldwin was a sixty six year old man with stage four cancer. His wife had died eight months prior. He had moved to a rural area in a neighboring county, which made it difficult for hospice to come help. With Amber living in Frankfort, a single mom with three children, she didn't have the ability to stay with him full time. As her father was battling cancer, Amber tried to visit regularly. None of her siblings stepped up to the plate, and the only choice that remained was to place him in a nursing home. He remained in that nursing home for under a month. On May sixth, John was due for a dentist appointment to have his teeth pulled out, because he fell on his face twice and knocked them lose. They hoped pulling the teeth would result in him eating again.
“I arrived that morning, on May 6th, to take daddy to the dentist. I got there and discovered that his CPAP machine was not attached correctly, nor was it turned on. The mask was on his face. They wouldn't allow a call to be made to get an ambulance until a doctor came in. His oxygen level had fallen gravely low. Daddy’s feet and hands were blue, and he could barely talk. I had to go out of the room and search for cell service to call for an ambulance.” He walked into the nursing home on his own two feet, but left less than three weeks later on a stretcher.
“I have blocked out so many of their mistakes.” John was a man that suffered from nursing home abuse. He died due to the lack of attention from the nursing home staff. He was left in his bed, bed sore forming and not feed properly and waiting for staff to acknowledge him. Their neglect, which they never accepted responsibility for, lead to the end of a man’s life. “30 percent of nursing homes in the United States were cited for almost 9,000 instances of abuse over a recent two year period.”(abcnews.go.com/US/t/story?id=92689) Reports have shown that this type of abuse has increased each year since 1996. Don’t let your loved ones be part of that statistic.
-Madison Wallace
What I'm going to write about is not necessarily a controversial issue, it is something that I am very passionate about so here it goes...
ReplyDeleteEven though I am only a junior in high school I already know the career I would like to pursue. I've had a pretty good idea since I was a child. When I was younger, I was the little girl who would go to the doctor's office and leave with the long Q-tips they use to swab your throat, the Popsicle sticks they use to hold your tongue down to do so, and a pair of rubber gloves. I would then take all of these home and play doctor with all of my dolls. My passion for wanting to help people started from childhood and has grown stronger over the years. Going into high school we had to choose a career cluster and I thought to myself, what better career cluster for me than Health Science? There are tremendous ways for me to help more people than I could ever dream of in the medical field, so that is what I chose. Freshman year I took the class Principals of Health Science. We studied a unit on different careers in health care. One that we studied really stuck out to me. It was a Nurse Anesthetist. For some reason the career really appealed to me so I decided to learn more about it. After doing some research I knew this was the career I wanted to someday have. Recently, I have discovered two things that hold a dear place in my heart and a way I can incorporate them into my career. Cancer has had an enormous impact on my family and is something that has affected my life. The other is children. I love being around kids. They can make anyone's day better and they are in my opinion a joy to the world. So as I'm thinking of how to incorporate these two new passions into my career, I thought why not be a Nurse Anesthetist and work in a hospital for pediatric cancer patients. As this idea came to me, I realized that I wanted to do something to positively impact the patient's lives in anyway I can. I would like to start some type of program for the kids, rather it be collecting donated stuffed animals for them to sleep with, to setting up different fundraisers to help pay for treatment. I want to do anything and everything I can to be able to make sure those kids have the best life possible, regardless of what they are going through.
So after writing this, I learned that I have three main passions in my life. One being helping people in any possible way I can, two, having a positive impact on other's lives, and three, my future.
-Hannah Tice
I am a junior in high school, I have no idea what I'm going to wear tomorrow, let alone what I really what to accomplish in my life. Sure I have hopes, dreams, and wishes, every teenager does.
ReplyDeleteWith a whole decade under my belt, and only four more years till my next, I still have no idea what that "Great Big World" is like. I was blessed with a miracle for a sister. She may not be able to communicate with word of mouth, or play intense sports, or even walk straight at all times. She is the main drive behind my goals and what I want my future to be involved with.
The field of education that I hope to reach to the highest degree is called FMD (Function Mental Disability), this field involves helping and teaching children with mental and physical disabilities. These disabilities are too serious to allow the students in everyday classes. My sister is one of these children. Since she was diagnosed with severe epileptic seizures with a small case of cerebral palsy on her left side. She has been put in a classroom off to the side with other incredible individuals that are her closest friends and peers.
It hard to put in words exactly what my life is like. I don't know how to describe certain circumstances that seem unreal to others my age, when that is all I know. Parents want to be able to share their attention to every one of their children my brother and me wouldn't know what to do if we got it anyway, don't get me wrong, me and my brother would both give up anything our parents give to us just to see Melodee smile. I didn't always believe that a smile would make the darkest moments the brightest but witnessing hers is exactly what it does. Just being in her presence, brightens anyone's day.
The only thing that I truly dislike in the system is that these children are left in the corner room off to the side, forgotten. They aren't literally forgotten, but it still seems like this program is still in the early 1900s, where the not so perfect individual is kept secret and out of "normal society". I know this isn't what happens now, because these actions are for the protection of the students with disabilities.
When Melodee walks the hallways in her school, she doesn't get to experience the crowds and the laughter and conversations that take place in the lapse of five minutes. Granted she would probably be trampled, but to her I imagine school is a small room that's it, she never gets to see past peers that attend everyday classes.
My one goal behind my passion in FMD, is to educate not only the students I may have, but also to educate the students throughout the entire school. I want to be able to provide experiences with special individuals that are born into unwanted circumstances and how they never complain about the petty obstacles that we moan and groan about on a daily occurrence. I want to share the amazing gift I was given when I was blessed with my sister.
*Mikka*
I care about the development of our nation as a whole. I think that our country is too worried about helping out other countries when we have a big problem in our own hands. If you walk around downtown in big cities or even Frankfort, you will see that there are quite a few people in need of food, water, clothes, and shelter. My question is, why don't we help our own first? Our unemployment rate is way more than it should be. I think that if we could get some people to stop being so lazy and motivate them to go get a job, then our nation would start to progress more and more. I don't think that it is fair to our nation to ignore those who are starving or need clothing, and then go try and help other countries out with their problems. We take care of our problems and they take care of theirs. Other countries problems should be none of our concern. We need to improve OUR nation, not theirs.
ReplyDelete-Grayson Arnold
I love soccer, I feel it is important for to give back to a game that has taught me so much. I referee kids in the Frankfort YMCA and Select Leagues ages 5 to 14. I enjoy watching little kids play, cry for their parents, and often pay no attention to the game whatsoever. They're still benefitting whether it be making new friends or just being a active.
ReplyDeleteIn the youngest YMCA league (U6) there was a little girl who threw the ball in incorrectly time after time. In U6 you let the kids keep trying until they get it right and assist them. I believe she took three shots at it the first time but I helped her. The next time was two and then one. Eventually every time the ball went out of bounds the coach was wanting her to throw it in.
Why should you care? These kids are the next generation. Just how our parents and teachers share their knowledge with us so that we can be the best version of ourselves and create a better community. The kids are taught more than just the game of soccer.
Eli Sutton
One topic that I have been studying for my GSP application and that all of you should be familiar with, is self doubt. This is one of the main ideas we went over as a class when studying the works of Emerson and Thoreau. I know it may seem cliché that I am writing about such a widely discussed topic, and hypocritical or even ironic that I have not done much in the name of Self doubt. But my work has only begun, and I bring an interesting twist to this age old concept.
ReplyDeleteI strongly believe that every person on this world should set their sights on a goal, big or small, short term or long term—and pursue it. These goals will vary from person to person, and depending on said persons values and morals, may be very simple or complex. However, the goal is not as important as how this individual goes about accomplishing their task.
A person should not allow negative criticism or judgment to discourage them in their pursuit. For as long as this goal and means of fulfilling it are good in nature, you should never second guess yourself. Putting this concept into context will probably clarify what I am trying to say. We have all had that feeling in class, when we have wanted to say something in a discussion, or wanted to give that answer, but thought, “Oh, someone else will answer that.” Or “I don’t want to share my ideas, what will the class think.” This is the feeling that I want to rid from our generation. That fear of criticism is the very reason that many great ideas do not get shared in our world today, and that “What if” mindset has to go.
The beauty of this concept lies in the fact that it can be applied to our everyday lives, even this very blog. If we were all take all of these topics and ideas that we feel so passionately about, and articulate our opinions about them freely, and on a regular basis, we could really make a change in the world.
This may not be how you think of self doubt, but take what you want from it. And feel free to add onto my ideas or argue them in the comments.
-Parker Buckley
It's crunch time folks and I can't get points for replying, so I must reiterate the issue that has already been addressed - intolerance. I support gay marriage for reasons I'm not going to go into detail on a blog, because that's not the issue I'm addressing. The problem I have is how naive, ignorant and harsh people are because they associate themselves with a different sexuality. You may not like it, but there is no reason you shouldn't tolerate it.
ReplyDeleteI find great offense to the word "faggot" used as an insult to others. Like Hill, I cannot stand to hear it and I won't let it slip by me if I have the opportunity. However, I hear it daily. You're joking with your friends, you say it. Someone runs into you in the hallway, you say it. Someone insults you, you say it. It's a word that, to many, has lost all connotation and is just another meaningless insult. But said to the wrong person, it could mean a blade to a wrist later that night or one too many pills when they're feeling said. Verbal harassment because of sexuality or any form is something I despise. After being a victim of not only verbal harassment, but physical and cyber as well, toleration and bullying have an immense effect on me and how I carry myself, and a huge reason why I view this situation the way I do.
There is so much more I want to say about this, but cannot seem to put in words. Like Harper said, the two posts made by Andrew and Rose were some of the few submissions I read in detail. As I was reading, I was thinking, and as I was thinking, I couldn't help but feel a swelling need inside of me to voice my passion for tolerance of one another. Whether it be your sexual orientation or something else, no one should feel discriminated against because of someone's opinion or rude intolerance.
Morgan Gay
As I’m sitting pondering about what to write about not much is coming to my mind. I mean there is a lot I care about such as Christianity, society, bullying, politics but all seem very boring and unoriginal. Something that I really care about and am passionate about is life in general. I care about waking up in the morning, I care about making sure I get a good education, I care about living my life to the fullest. Although “life” isn’t technically an issue however for some people may be a struggle just getting by on the necessities.
ReplyDeleteI feel that our job as human beings on this earth is to grasp every opportunity we can and enjoy this life that god has created for us. Many people around the world don’t get the privilege to go to school every day or get to experience the things that we have experienced. I think as a generation and species we must strive to become more passionate about living. Creating an atmosphere of love and happiness could cause more people to have a positive outlook on life.
Take chances, make mistakes, be spontaneous and live the life you want to live!
Lexie Richardson (:
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people will not feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone and as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give others permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
ReplyDelete- Marianne Williamson
This quote by Williamson sums up my life and passions in the best way possible. There have been many times in my life that I have had to stand up for what I believe in, it isn't always easy. Many times I am very afraid, especially when I have no one else to back me up. Then I remember this quote. Who are we not to be? Our serving small does not serve the world. But, when we stand up and rise to the occasion we automatically show other people that it is okay to be different and stand up for what we believe in, because when we stay silent we do not help anybody at all. So, I guess you could say I am passionate about standing up for what you believe in and not staying quiet because of the fear that holds us back.
-Amber Booth
AMBER I love the fact that you used the quotes from Marinanne Williamson. That was a good quote for a good blog post.
Delete-Nick Raymond
When Mrs. Hill fist announced this topic I thought I didn't care much about anything. Yes of course, there are some things that bother me and that I wish I could change but nothing that I felt so passionate about that I could try to convince others to care about also. Until I read Jenny White's post. I have not experienced the loss of a family member to drunk driving but I have experienced dealing with a drunk driver and realizing how against it I truly am.
ReplyDeleteI have a relative that has struggled with alcohol abuse ever since I was a child. He began drinking whenever he got back from Afghanistan to clear his mind of all images that have basically been engraved in his head. During this time he made a few stupid decisions due to intoxication. One being to drive under the influence. Now before I go any further I do want to clear up that he never hit nor injured someone else while he was on the road. It was a one time thing. (Didn't want anyone to freak out) After I found out about his stupid decision my mind filled with all the endless outcomes of what could have happened. He could have easily taken another persons life.
I believe this is a huge issue because many people don't realize how serious drunk driving is. That person has little clue of what they're doing and could hurt some innocent person doing nothing wrong. People should care and try to stop it at all costs because you never know what the outcome may be and it could easily affect someones life forever.
Heather Fry
Something I feel very strong about is adoption. There are so many kids out there they get left behind, have no where to go, and just want to be loved.
ReplyDeleteWhen children are put into foster care, or in orphanages, they don't get the care and attention they need to be happy. When we adopted, she was 11 months old and couldn't even sit up by herself. The people running orphanages are just holding the babies there, giving them essentials they need and that's about it.
Www.childrensrughts.org/issues-resources/adoption/facts-about-adoption/
This website shows exactly how many kids are waiting to be adopted.
Think about if you were one of those kids, how you'd feel. The government should at least find people who actually care about working with children who need family's and not someone who's just going to work to be paid.
Casey Marshall
I wouldn’t necessarily say that I have found my passion in my life, but I do have things that I feel strongly about. One of those things is that fast food is taking over America. Americans as a whole are lazy and we like to take the easy way out of things, so fast food being a popular industry is unmistakable. It is leading to numerous problems that are becoming larger by the minute. One of those problems it is causing is obesity, two-thirds of adults in the U.S. are overweight or obese.
ReplyDeleteI know what you’re all thinking as you’re reading this “You have no room to talk, you eat fast food all the time...” You’re absolutely right! I am a fast food junkie and I do not condone it at all, but I am trying to work on it and I believe you should too.
If I can’t change your minds, then maybe these facts will:
□ Each day, 1 in 4 Americans visits a fast food restaurant.
□ Only seven items on McDonald's entire menu contain no sugar.
□ Willard Scott was the first Ronald McDonald - he was fired for being too fat (ironic, huh?).
□ Chicken McNuggets contain over 20 different ingredients and few of them have anything to do with chicken.
□ Deep-fried foods are high in fat, they also contain an ingredient most people are unaware of; silly putty plastic. A chemical called Dimethylpolyiloxane is used to keep frying oil from foaming and this is the same chemical compound that silly putty is made from.
Sources:
http://sum-interactive.com/fastfood/
http://www.vivavegie.org/101book/text/nolink/social/supersizeme.htm
●Caroline Cunningham●
I care about the earth. I care about people (I don’t necessarily like all of them, but I do care for them), animals, plants, even bugs-pretty much anything with a heart. There is a wide variety of issues having to do with these topics, anywhere from drug addictions to endangered species, but I would like to discuss humans’ actions towards animals, plants, insects, or, in other words, nature.
ReplyDeleteHumans don’t give enough respect to the brilliant creations on our earth. We take things that are wonderful, resourceful objects, as common as the iPhone, and don’t take care of them. We crack them, drop them in the toilet, throw them, leave them in a car door handle (my bad), etc. etc. We tend to treat everything in this inconsiderate manner. We instinctively kill ants, bees, ladybugs. Bothersome or stinky animals, like possums or skunks, aggravate us to the point where we don’t care if we see them dead on the side of the road. The problem is that we don’t consider the fact that they have lives, they have families, that they’re necessary to sustain life on this planet. We waist our resources. We cut down rain forests, even though they provide us with a significant amount of oxygen. We don’t see how the things we do now will lead to the destruction of our earth in the future.
I’m not saying that you shouldn’t swat a wasp coming at your face or swerve off of the road to miss a raccoon, protect yourself, there’s just no need to be a creatures dreaded serial killer. I also admit that some animals and insects give me the weeby-jeebys, but you know, so do some humans! We don’t treat humans differently because they freak us out… okay we sometimes do, but we shouldn’t. Animals and bugs are actually extremely similar to humans. They communicate, they eat, they poop, I mean we are practically twins. Shouldn’t we show some respect to our living, breathing brothers and sisters of nature?
I’m going to tell you about one of my yucky, yet ultimately inspirational experiences that happened to me just the other day. So there was this snake, small but still creepy. It’s body was all coiled up and stuck in a box of a sticky, goo-like material that is meant to capture insects and make them stick there until they die (awful, right?). So we were attempting to pull the snake off this gunk without hurting it, and were having little success. We finally got the majority of the body off and the only part of him still was, of course, the head. So I jerk his body up, away from the paper, then I see blood and feel some kind of tear that was very unnatural. I dropped the snake and ran straight inside towards the bathroom. I thought that I had ripped the poor things head off! My mom pronounced it dead at the scene and set it off in the grass to rest in peace. A few minutes later, we were leaving and we see the snake, just making its way across the sidewalk, slowly but surely, head attached and everything. It was the strangest best feeling ever.
Connecting back to my point, animals, plants, insects, nature need respect. They aren’t unlimited resources and they will die off. That snake may have only been one tiny, unimportant creature with little significance in our lives, but that experience taught me that good intentions will pay off. We have to take care of the earth in order for it to continue to exist. If you respect the world, the world will respect you. The fate of the world literally rests in our hands.
Darby Taylor
Well, it’s almost midnight and I don’t think I can procrastinate this any longer. After googling “important issues in America” around five times, I've reached the conclusion that I have not found something I’m passionate about yet. I've tried to explore a few different topics, but I haven’t found one that has clicked with me yet.
ReplyDeleteJust because I’m not sure what I’m passionate about yet doesn't mean I don’t care about anything though. I care about the well being of myself, my family, and my friends. I care about my future and what I’m going to do with my life, even though I’m not sure what that is yet. However, these are things all of you care about so I won’t bore everyone with more generic things.
I really liked Conner’s post and a lot of what he said made sense to me and I agree with. I’m young, and there is still time to find a genuine passion I have. I hope to figure out what my passion is soon.
Ethan Aldridge
I really admire your honesty! Thanks for the laugh!
Delete-Amber Booht
It took me a while to think of something I care about that is a worthy cause that affects us all. And finally, I thought of quite an obvious topic: texting and driving. While many of you may scoff at the mere mention of this topic and think to yourself "I've heard this too many times before to even bother reading this post", I urge you to actually give this subject some serious consideration before completely disregarding the message I'm trying to send out.
ReplyDeleteMany of us are at the age now where we can drive on our own. More and more of us are passing our driver's test and driving ourselves to school in our cool, shiny cars that we're so proud to call ours. We're growing up, and it's exciting, but with that comes increased responsibility.
Our generation has become very attached to our beloved cell phones, myself included. I understand that it can be hard to pry our eyes away from the screens of our phones, especially after a long school day where we aren't allowed to have our phones out. So, as I'm leaving school at the end of the day, I often observe many students looking down at their cellular devices as they're walking out of the building, towards their vehicles, stepping into the driver's seat, and then, as they're driving. I see kids texting as they're driving out of the student parking lot, where they were sitting in park just a few seconds ago, totally able to wrap up that text before they put the car in drive. And quite honestly, it scares me.
I'm not going to pretend like I've never tried to sneak a text in while waiting at a prolonged stoplight; we're all guilty of it. But, I feel that the seriousness of this situation has not been stressed enough. Here are some alarming numbers to ponder over: over 100,000 car accidents are caused every year by texting and driving alone, and 75% of teenagers claim that texting and driving is common among their friends. (http://www.itcanwait.com/?WT.srch=1&wtPaidSearchTerm=teen+texting+and+driving)
If nothing else, I hope you at least think twice next time you're ready to pull out your phone and send a quick text while you're driving, no matter where you are or how fast or slow you're going. No text is worth risking your life and/or the lives of innocent people. If it's that important, at least pull over and stop the car before you look at your phone. We're new, young drivers; the habits we set now are likely the ones we'll have for the rest of our lives.
Diana Rudic
It was really hard for me to figure out what exactly to write about. I tried doing my blog post a few times and every time it turned into a lecture and I just deleted it all. I'm passionate about many things but I think that for these purposes it will be most effective for me to talk about my passion for fitness.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I hate mcdonalds. I wont eat anything there it all disgusts me and I wont have anything to do with that food. Pure sugar disgusts me too; pixie stix, glaze on donuts, an inch thick of icing on a cake, or too many chocolate chips in cookies= eww. Im not saying that I don’t like sweets, in fact I have a big sweet tooth, but I like it in moderation. I don’t want to put a bunch of unnecessary junk in my body and feel guilty long afterwards for a moment’s taste of greasy and addicting fast food.
It’s your body so you can do what you want with it. That’s the general idea nowadays isn’t it? Try this on for size: It’s your body so take care of it. I don’t see how anyone can feel like they are getting the most out of life by sitting on their couch watching tv and eating potato chips. That’s not living, that’s waiting to die.
What is it you say when your about to do something stupid? YOLO? Yea that’s it You Only Live Once. That’s you excuse for a moment of stupidity that you refuse to think about the long term effects of, but when I think about YOLO I think about how short our time is on earth and how I want something good to come of that time. I don’t want to be obese and/or have diabetes, I don’t want to miss out on life because I wasn’t able to see the harm I was doing to myself. That’s what eating all the sugar and grease and salt and sitting on your butt all day is… its self-harm.
Many people are ignoring the huge problem that is arising around them or maybe even the problem with their selves. More than one-third of Americans are obese and Kentucky is one of the leading states in obesity. This greatly bothers me and this is what I am passionate about. I don’t care about only my health, but also the health of the people around me. Maybe we wouldn’t have so many people going hungry if we weren't constantly over-feeding ourselves.
~Katie Moore~
Whenever people think about major problems in the world, most think about food and clean water and shelter or homes. I think about what will help them be able to provide for themselves and be independent. There are many people in the United States and in other countries who don’t have the education to help them in this world. Some can’t read or write or solve mathematical problems. These are all things that are learned from school and books. Simply providing a book or giving kids the opportunity to go to school could help them develop a useful skill that is used in the real world.
ReplyDeleteToday kids all complain about going to school. We are all too lazy to get up out of bed and actually attempt to learn something. This is a requirement for the children in the United States where other places, like third world countries, where kids would jump at the chance to learn, don’t have this benefit. Do we already forget the hardships people went through to get girls and African Americans in to schools? Have we already lost sight of when kids used to be eager to learn instead of dreading each coming school day? I believe that we need to help the kids who want to learn by giving them the ability and supplies to learn because sometimes poverty can hold students back. In third world countries “less than 75% of students even reach grade five due to poverty and the poor quality of education.” http://sitemaker.umich.edu/salas.356/usa_vs._world Some of their small, crowded classrooms don’t even have the appropriate supplies. It’s sad that in the US, where we have all these possibilities, there is still a large percent of our population under the poverty line and many kids drop out of school. On average, about 3,030,000 US kids drop out of high school each year. This really limits you possibilities when you can only do 10% of US jobs without a high school education. http://www.statisticbrain.com/high-school-dropout-statistics/ The former President of the United Republic of Tanzania once said, "Education is not a way to escape poverty - It is a way of fighting it." All of this works together to show that education is important to our own and other societies. Education helps us provide for ourselves.
Rachel Wallace
We choose our leaders because we believe that they will direct our country in the right direction. so tell me what is the use of a governing body that cant agree over the simplest of issues because they're too far up on their high horse to compromise, its their way or the highway. They sit round with their thumb up their ass raking in the money that corporations give them t vote a certain way. Then when push comes to shove they just shut the government down effectively screwing many hard working honest people because they didn't agree with the other side, but why should you care?
ReplyDeleteYou should care because as a United States citizen the decisions or lack there of that these people make affect us all. If we allow the same people to continue what they have been doing it will just get worse and worse. People will continue to drift farther to each extreme side of the spectrum. We need to elect more moderate people will to work things out between sides, If this doesn't happen soon the people of this country will continue to be taken advantage of by their politicians.
Admiral General Jacob "Aladeen" Silvernail
Well if I think about it there aren't really any problems in our world that I'm truly passionate about. Its just that I see all the problems surrounding us that I find it hard to choose just one and focus solely on it. If I see a women standing out in the cold ringing a bell of course Im going to give money to that cause. Why wouldnt I? Isn't it supposed to be the right thing to do? In our world we like to focus on one thing and through our 'passionate hearts' at it and give no regard to the other problems the world faces. But there are just so many problems in the world, thats really all we can do. So why should I care for just one problem? Then I think why should I care for all those problems? There are just too many and I'm just one person! So in the end why should I care at all because caring won't help much when you only have one dollar when it could feed a kid in Somalia and a panda going extinct in Asia from poaching. But which one would I choose? (Personally the kid in Somalia but others would disagree I guess...)
ReplyDelete-The Muses of Sharon Hockensmith-
Like most everyone else, I haven’t fully found a passion in life nor have a passion found me, despite the lack of passion; I still have things I care strongly for: lowering the national debt, poverty, obesity, and child and adult fitness levels. Of these pressing issues I feel that we, as Americans, can do the most to change our bad fitness habits and decrease obesity.
ReplyDeleteEvery day millions of Americans plop on their couches, with bags of fatty snacks, drinks, the TV remote, and no intention of getting up for a while. These people, the majority of us included, are most likely watch sports, NFL, NBA, NCCAAB, MLS, but yet once that programs over how many of us stay laying there; most of us. Once the program is over how many of us get up and go exercise, or even exercise the next day; a lot less. My point exactly.
In our society we are blessed with the accessibility and availability of so many great technologies, yet they are taking over our lives. We are blessed with a more than abundant food supply, yet we eat the worst foods for us, and way to much of it. We are blessed with the freedom to do so many things, yet we do nothing.
Obesity is a huge problem facing our generation and it’s not just caused by eating too much or eating badly, in majority it is caused by the lack of exercise and frankly we should be embarrassed of this. I can’t make you exercise or eat better, your parents can’t, nor your friends; it is up to you to change yourself. If more and more people begin to fit obesity and exercise every day our generation, our nation, and our world would be better off.
Also with a decrease in the obesity levels we can slowly help combat other pressing issues like national debt, poverty, and decreasing levels in the U.S. military. Here are some facts to show you the negative effects of obesity not on the individual but on our nation.
•Obesity-related medical conditions cost our nation nearly $150 billion every year and account for 16 to 18 percent of our total healthcare costs (1 in every 6 dollars spent).17
•Projections estimate that by 2018, obesity will cost the U.S. 21 percent of our total healthcare costs - $344 billion annually.18
•Those who are obese have medical costs that are $1,429 more than those of normal weight on average (roughly 42% higher).19
•The annual cost of being overweight is $524 for women and $432 for men; annual costs for being obese are even higher: $4,879 for women and $2,646 for men.20
•Obesity is also a growing threat to national security – a surprising 27% of young Americans are too overweight to serve in our military. Approximately 15,000 potential recruits fail their physicals every year because they are unfit.
-Keenan Jones-
I care about getting kids who are less fortunate than me the opportunity to play sports. Sports are a very important part of life to me and millions of other kids, but not everyone gets a chance to play them.
ReplyDeleteThere could be another Kobe Bryant or Ronaldinho in the world who might never get a chance to play. Other people should share my passion because you want kids to be happy and sports make kids all around the world happy. Every kid deserves a chance to play sports and certain organizations help kids achieve their dream. This is my passion, helping other kids who are less fortunate than me get at least a chance to play sports.
Ian Teasley
i think sports are important too. getting that experience and being involed in school is a good thing.
Delete-quaneshaclay
The number 1 high school youth leadership organization in america, is the FFA. Or as Zinner refers to it: Fun For All. See, FFA isn't just about the cows, plows and my favorite, sows. It's about the ten thousands of members across the WORLD. That are involved for not just the farming, but the leadership skills you can gain in general, yes there are welding competitions, and livestock judging, even meat judging. But also there are mock job interviews, parliamentary procedures and proficiencies on any topic imaginable. Why should you care? Ag classes are the 2nd most enrolled classes in western hills. This year, FFA has deemed it the year of the farmer. Yes people see farming and FFA cliche, but it's the truth, we are going to have to feed more people in 2050 than we ever have in the past, with even less land. Your survival depends upon farming and youth organizations such as FFA.
ReplyDeleteMackenzie Jones
As a seventeen year old in high school I hold many responsibilities. But I truly care about my friends, family, sports, and grades. When I look at what I truly care about I notice that these things don't help with the major problems in the world.
ReplyDeleteI think I have a common problem as many others do. My goals in life are big, but they don't appear to solve any huge problems in the world.
Working to reach your goals and dreams should be your number one priorities. I think that being helpful to others in the world should be something that everyone cares about. Though they should still have other things that they care about as well.
I've dedicated many years of my life to chase my dreams. I've gone to school for all my life, played ball since I was nine, and tried my best to be a good friend or family member. You shouldn't have my exact goals or beliefs. You should try to find what your own goals are and succeed in them.
There will always be problems out there. So when I ask myself what I care about I will think of these problems, but I mostly just think of what I've been working for in my life. All I really want is to be a successful person. I succeed through my goals not the goals of others. Helping out in the world should really just be a priority.
Davis Nesselrode
I care about the world and everyone else should too— reality check it's gonna be ten times harder for us when we become adults if things are going the way they are.
ReplyDeleteThere's things like politics that are big issues in the world also, but personally I believe that's a topic where on both sides can be considered close-minded and it's minor compared to all the other problems in the world that we have. Look at the bigger picture guys, things like pollution are gonna bite us in the a-double-s before disagreeing with what Obama is doing will.
As a person living in America, we try to go and help other countries like Africa and starving kids. That's perfect, we should do that. But there's millions of U.S citizens here that are homeless, sleeping on cardboard on the street, picking out of trashcans that we ignore. We're willing to help a stray puppy on the street but not willing to help a human being. I mean, it sounds terrible, right? Why go across the world to help when there's people here needing help also? In order to fix the world, we need to fix ourselves as a country and branch and help out.
Things like allowing drivers to have the choice of being an organ donor or not really helps out with diseases and what not, and also still in the process of trying to find a cure for cancer.
Ling Lo
Nice blog post ! i agree with you 100%
Delete-quanesha clay
I personally am very passionate about music. But I honestly don’t think that anyone should care. I think that everyone is passionate about their own things and want to things to help the things that they want to do and why should they waste their time caring about something that they absolutely hate and have nothing to do with. If they really cared about as much as I did then the people that cared about it could make a difference but why try and make a difference with music if you don’t like music and would rather help the world end hunger. Yes I do care about trying to end world hunger but I wouldn’t spend all of my time trying to think of a way to end world hunger when I would rather spend my time on something I’m truly passionate about. I know that I am not the only person that is passionate about music so me and the other people that are passionate about music should be the ones that try and make a difference not the person that you persuade to help you. In the end I think the people that are truly passionate should be the ones making the difference.
ReplyDelete-Annie Cunningham
I care strongly for the need of Agriculture Literacy. Kids and even adults don't know what happens to the food that is on their table and food that is placed on the shelves at the grocery store. People need to realize that the simple things they eat and use daily come from agriculture. Most kids when you ask them where their food comes from they will most likely have no idea at all. With generations not knowing the real truth about how hard farmers and agriculture works thy will be in an disadvantage. I live on farm and have grown up around agriculture, I am not at a advantage over other people but I just a have a better knowledge than most.
ReplyDeleteBailey Bishop
There isn't really anything I have a passion for but there is one thing that makes me so mad.... That would be, people discriminating gay marriage. I am not for this but I am also not against it. Yes, I know what the bible says and yes I am a religious person. But how would you like for someone to tell you that you can't be happy with how you are or who you're with? I know I wouldn't like that and well, we all know you wouldn't either. I think society tries to control people's life a little too much.
ReplyDeleteI am very guilty by this, but I do not think you should care what other people think about you or the decisions you make in your life. You will never make it if you are not happy with yourself and in all honestly, that's all you should care about. But I also do know that it's hard not to listen to other people because I do it everyday, I listen to people and do things that aren't going to make me happy. But if I've learned one thing from sophomore year to junior year, your friends are all that matter. It's not the people that are telling you not be gay or that you're not pretty, etc, its the people that stick there with you when everyone else turned their back on you. Words do stick with people nowadays and I know I talk about people, who doesn't, but you really gotta think about where they come from or what they go through.
Just don't judge people by what makes them happy and think before the next mean thing comes out of your mouth. Be that person that sticks through all the hard times with them, not the one that leaves. One day you'll need someone and they will turn their back on you.
-Mackenzee Sawyer
I agree with you fully and I think your post reveals a huge issue in society; that we often try to control those around us. In your first paragraph you hint at a concept that fuels the basis of many of my political and moral views, that if you don't believe in something, don't do it, but don't tell everyone else how to live their life. I think one of the biggest lessons I have learned in my high school career is that you will never be happy controllling others; a lesson too many people learn too late in life.
DeleteSidney Cobb
There are plenty of problems in this world. What I’m going to talk about can be considered to not even be a problem to some people. Something that I really care about is abstinence, or at least teen abstinence. To me, abstinence is a promise I made to myself based on my religious beliefs. To others, abstinence can be a form of birth control and STD control.
ReplyDeleteI completely understand if you choose not to be abstinent. We are humans and humans have “needs”, but there is no reason for those “needs” to be fulfilled in your teenage years. You should be focused on school, not your hormones. With abstinence, there is no chance of pregnancy. Frankfort wouldn’t be like number 2 in the state for syphilis if people didn’t have sex until marriage. With abstinence, anything you can risk by having sex can be prevented. It really is the only 100% contraceptive.
Shannon McCutcheon
There are a lot of problems in the world and one of the problems I care most about is how the majority of people are judgmental. There are many examples i could use to support myself but the two most relavant examples to me are same-sex marraige and people in school. i think everyone can relate to time in school where they were asked to be in a group with someone else they didnt know or in other cases maybe becoming friends but turned out not wanting to because they either heard something they didnt like about them or they judged that person on the way they dressed, talked, or hung out with. youll never know who they really are unless you truley get to know them. "dont judge a book by its cover".
ReplyDeleteSame-sex marriage has become a big issue it seems because people want everything to be "right" or "whats normal". I care about this topic a lot because i have a few freinds that choose to be so. tThey really don't do anything to bother others so why tell them its wrong or judge them by their choices? the over all problem is society. The mojority of people are followers and thats how issues accur.
Sydney sell
What I care about is making people happy to be honest. Whether it's makin them laugh, smile, or just a heartfelt compliment, I feel i do my best to make the people around me have a good day. Other people should care about that because, well, why wouldn't you? I understand when people don't seem to deserve kindness, but everyone needs a kindness from somewhere, it'll have a lasting effect on them. I walked by someone in the hallway an stopped to pick up a binder they dropped. They stopped me a week after and thanked me again for it. Being nice to people has a lasting effect, and making other people happy makes me happy. So why should you need to make everyone around you NOT happy, or just not care?
ReplyDeleteTyler Chapman
My passion might not be seen as important to other people, but believe it or not, it is important to everyone whether you think it does or not. My passion is music, and I believe that high schools should allow students to choose which classes we want to take and not make us have to take un-needed classes in order to graduate. students should have the opportunity to take classes that they feel passionate about! I am so passionate about students being able to take classes they want ,because I am not able to. I love music, music makes me, me. Music is how I get away from all of the problems in the world, and everything seems perfect. If I was able to, I would be taking many music centered classes, but ever since freshman year, I have been told that I have to take a certain amount of classes in order to graduate. These classes include: Foreign language classes, Health, and Physical education. Are you serious!? Who cares about classes that teach you either common sense, or some other language that we will never need? These classes have done nothing but get in my way, and make it impossible for me to even take one music class. Music is my way of expressing myself because I cant any other way, and with my school keeping me from music, They are keeping me from self expression. If my school is doing this to me, Then I believe that it is doing it to other people. I know I am not the only student who is passionate something, so, schools are restricting us from our passions by giving us non needed classes. So, schools should take away these "needed classes" before they take away all of our humanity, Because we all know, schools should be building us up. Not tearing us down.
ReplyDelete-Donovan Billings
PART 1 I respect your opinions. You have the right to believe what you wish. However, after receiving a counterargument, I feel the need to defend my opinion and articulate the points in yours that I believe are incorrect.
ReplyDeleteBoth Cam and Andrew stated that the sole purpose of a corporation is to make money. This is just ridiculous. What do your parents wake up every morning to do? They wake up to go to work. What do they get for their work? Money. Everyone makes money. That is the American dream, isn’t it? Isn’t it to be able to hold a job and make a wage to support a family? Corporations also make money, obviously, so I don’t understand what your argument is.
Next, I would like to discuss the working conditions of the workers you claimed to be harsh and the wages unreasonable. The working conditions in these factories had been the same for generations. These men’s fathers worked in these conditions, as well as many of their other family members. What should they expect? It was normal during that time period. Unreasonable wages were a result of lack of legislation preventing them from doing so. It would be like not having a law preventing murder. People would kill people because there is nothing that says they can’t. So in reality, could you blame them? Even today, workers complain about not being paid enough and gripe about their working conditions and hours, even with legislation in place to prevent conditions of those in Rockefeller’s day. This only proves that people will always try to find a way to harp on corporations working conditions and wages. Corporations are not all greedy like you claim. Just a few years after Carnegie and Rockefeller, Henry Ford opened up Ford Motor Company, which had some of the best working conditions ever. Before it was required by law, Ford allowed his workers to work 8 hour days for $2.00 an hour, 5 days a week. At that time, that wage was excellent. This proves that corporations are not all about greed. They can police themselves, even at the expense of some profit.
Was Rockefeller greedy? Yes, but for a good reason. The oil industry at that time was dismayed and full of disorder. He brought order in the only way he knew how. Was Carnegie greedy? It’s arguable. The famous strike at the homestead steel mill was a result of the company’s second in command being ruthless. Henry Frick was in control of the homestead steel mill during the strike, and is responsible for the well-known harsh working conditions and terrible wages. And another thing, Andrew complimented my historical references, so I suppose it’s my duty to correct one of his mistakes. Andrew stated that Carnegie’s U.S Steel Company put relentless pressure on his workers. Carnegie did not own U.S. Steel. Carnegie sold his company to J.P. Morgan who combined it with another company to create U.S. Steel. Just thought I’d clear that up for you.
-Chris Hughes
PART 2 Next, Cam asks why we have things like post offices, military, fire and police departments, libraries, Medicare, etc., if a government is not supposed to be socialistic. First of all, I find it humorous that you would jump to such an extreme just to make a point. You’re assuming I believe in no government at all, like some sort of anarchist. That’s completely false. My point was that socialism is preventing the growth of industries. Besides, most things on that list are local services, such as fire and police departments. Those are not social programs provided by the government. The only social program in that list is Medicare. The military is a service guaranteed by the Constitution, not a social program. The only “program” on the list that would benefit capitalists in any practical way is the post office, which is not a social program, it’s a national service.
ReplyDeleteNext, you both claimed I said things that I never said, or you blew my point out of proportion. For example, “Corporations do not make up a functioning government.” Did I ever blatantly state this? No. I never said that corporations run a functioning government, nor did I say the purpose of government is to “ensure that businessmen can make as much money as they desire”. You also boast about the greed of corporation owners. If this is so, then why are there dozens, even hundreds of libraries around the world built by Carnegie? Why are there universities founded with the aid of Rockefeller? What is Carnegie Hall? Isn’t that a public performance hall? These men spent millions of dollars giving back to the needy. In fact, Carnegie even said this famous quote: “A man that dies rich, dies disgraced.” This clearly states that these men believe in philanthropy and wanted to give away their fortunes to help those less fortunate. Translation = not greedy.
To wrap up, I’d like to thank Cam and Andrew for replying to my post. I enjoy reading and arguing people’s differing opinions. I apologize for the length, I was just being thorough. I hope everyone can better understand after my argument after reading this.
-Chris Hughes
First off, I'd like to address the contradiction you made in the first paragraph when you say that the thought that a corporation's goal is to make money is "ridiculous", yet you continue to say that we go to work to make...money. The point makes no sense because obviously a corporation's purpose is to make money. If they don't make money, then they go out of business. Saying that they don't desire the money is ludicrous.
ReplyDeleteAnother point you make that is completely off is that it's understandable that these robber barons took advantage of their workers because of the fact that there were no laws put in place protect these workers. You;re basically providing a situation in which workers are hurt either way, as you don't want laws restricting corporations, but you also defend the tycoons because there are no laws put in place to restrict their actions. And the defense of that stance is absolutely unreasonable. You liken their actions to a murderer taking advantage of the fact that their are no laws to prevent murder. If you hark back to a time where no social progress had been made, I'm sure that very same argument could have been provided to go against issues such as women's suffrage, the civil rights movement, etc. There were no laws against it at the time, so they were free to commit all the injustices they wanted.
Also, being a social service DOES NOT mean that it must be a social program such as Medicare or Medicaid. All of the services listed are provided BY the government, be it local, state-wide, or federal. You know how I know this? Because there aren't hordes of citizens who run around like vigilantes to fight crime, put out fires, and act as a military unit.
And finally, I'd like to point out that of course these men were greedy! Giving their fortunes away at the end of their life doesn't detract from the injustices these men committed when they were in their prime. Their love of money and desire to get more and more of it is what caused them to gain so much of it. To say these men weren't greedy and ruthless is absurd.
Cam Newton
The thing that I am most passionate about is gaming and the importance of a gaming community. I have been a gamer since I first got my hands on a Gameboy, which was when I was six years old. The industry has kept me occupied and inspired for many years, and I believe it will definitely be something I will continue doing until I can’t do it anymore. Throughout these many years, I have noticed we are looked down on by society; we are called lazy, uncreative, and boring. I would like to change that image by starting a gaming community within the school to show that gamers are much more than that.
ReplyDeleteAs a gamer, I have noticed that schools believe that gaming should be completely separate from school activities. I want to change this attitude toward this community of gamers because it is an important industry that is only getting bigger. For example, Minecraft, a popular PC game, is a game that has been helping schools teach certain subjects. On the MinecraftEdu website, they say that “The game is being used to teach more than just computer skills. It easily lends itself to science, technology, engineering and math explorations (STEM).” Connecting to your friends has never been easier when playing a game online.
Another community for the school would be a way to reach out to kids that are not involved in other school activities. My idea for this community is to have any type of gamer join and give their ideas on what makes a games successful, enjoyable to play, and what functions games have in their lives. This will prove that gamers are creative and can tell some amazing stories based on what they have done in virtual worlds. By the end of each meeting, this community, I hope, will have inspired new ideas so that the global gaming community can grow even more. This spread of ideas could give more confidence in a student’s ability to speak out, which will result in more class participation and more social interaction between students at school.
Dylan Ruble
why should i care ? what do i care for? well it took me awhile to think about what i actually care about and why. but something that i care about is world hunger because its sad that there are people out there that go without eating for days and we waist food. we look in the fridge and there could be alot of food and we still complain about not having what we "want" to eat . this concerns me alot because awhile back when i was in california the church i went to wasnt in the best neighborhood and there was alot of people struggling with buying food and clothes. so every now and then my church got involed met up somewhere and had a food bank for the community. Everybody who came got a bag of food with some potatoes, chips, and fruit ect ect. I also know what it means to struggle me and my family go through hard times thats why i care so much on this subject.
ReplyDeletequanesha clay
What do I care about? I care about a ton of things but when asked nothing comes to mind. So, I went through some of the comments on here and realized that many of us care about the same thing's, some care more than other's but most of us do care.
ReplyDelete-World Hunger
-The Enviorment
-War
-Poverty
-Progression
the list continues for some length. One of these came up in all the post"s. I care about all these thing's as well (shocker right?) But 9/10 of us all do the same thing- nothing. We tell ourselves "There is nothing we can do." or "It'd take a miracle, not me!" we all say we care about these thing's and maybe a few of us do something about it but a majority complain about it and wait for someone else to do something. And that is the main source of the problems, we don't try, we wait, we don't communicate, we fight like we have no sense. Now don't take that last part so hard; I support the one's out there keeping us safe but I do not support the war because I do believe that we let thing's get out of hand and don't try to keep thing's orderly with other country's. The world hunger issue is crazy to me as well, we farm, we have meat, we can help but we don't- why is it so hard to give away some food to a child who's rib's stick out like a sore thumb. The poverty issue and debt to other contry's- we can print the money so why do we act like it'll break us to give back what we owe? It's just me though I suppose. I think alot of thing's can be handled without making it such a problem.
-Kendra Harris