Category Archives: Opinion

Women should have the right to choose an abortion (OPINION)

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Pro-Choice demonstration from 2018 (Photo: Paul Becker – Wikimedia Commons)

by Ashley Sarmiento Rodriguez

Abortion–let’s talk about it. Abortions are a choice all women in Maryland have if they get pregnant and they don’t want to keep it. Abortions are given in two ways: a pill you take or a surgery. Some types of abortion can’t be performed after a certain amount of time of the fetus being formed.

In my opinion, it’s good that women have ways to at least choose whether or not to have a kid because there are a lot of woman who get pregnant without planning and don’t really have stable income or homes to give to a baby so they do what they know is best and get an abortion.

I understand that many people are strongly against abortion and say women should keep their babies, but at the end of the day, the people with all those opinions aren’t actually the one who will be having to take responsibility for these babies, so they honestly shouldn’t have a say in the decision of any woman who chooses to have an abortion. Also, no woman should be shamed or looked down on because they had an abortion. It should be an option for all pregnant woman and nobody–especially no man–should even think they have a say in what a woman can do with her own body.

A woman’s right to choose used to be protected by the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade, but in 2022 that ruling was overturned, giving state governments the power to ban abortions. I’ve been researching this issue and I’ve seen that there are a lot of states where abortions are banned or heavily restricted, such as Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Tennessee, Missouri, etc. I find that so upsetting that all these places have banned something so many woman need. Why keep producing more humans to be raised by people who aren’t ready to be responsible for taking care of a kid or kids? It’s just better to at least have a solution for women who know they can’t raise a child and for women to have a say in what they want.

Transgender people are valid (OPINION)

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By Zander Hatzigeorgalis 

Transphobia is a huge problem here at Patterson and in the world. Transphobia means that a person is prejudiced against transgender people. One example of a transphobic act is purposely calling a transgender person by a name or pronoun that they do not identify with. Instead of respecting someone’s gender identity, transphobes insist that a person is the gender that matches the biological sex of the body they were born into.

I say this transphobic behavior has to stop! In my experience, I’ve been harassed about being FTM (female to male). The people who always said I was not a boy kept saying I was a girl no matter how many times I corrected them that I am not a girl. Transgender people have feelings too. They are valid as who they are.

I always give respect to others but in return most people do not respect me at all. Transgender people take a while to process their transitions (especially as teenagers) and it takes a few years to fully change the testosterone and estrogen hormones. For me, it took forever just to convince my dad to cut my hair shorter than it used to be. When transphobia happens, the transgender people feel very uncomfortable and unsafe.

Transgender people have gender dysphoria every day and it does not feel very good. Gender dysphoria refers to psychological distress that results from an incongruence between one’s sex assigned at birth and one’s gender identity. I have the biggest gender dysphoria ever. It ain’t even funny. I experience this feeling every day, all day. There is no reason to add to the stress that transgender people already experience by being disrespectful to them.

Making fun of transgender people is not cool at all. It causes a lot of emotional damage to FTMs (female to males) and MTFs (male to females). I have been called offensive slurs before. Listen to the transgender people who say a word is offensive to them, like the “T” slur. When transgender people say it, it’s fine for them, but when others say it without knowing the real meaning of it, it is offensive.

Everyone wants to be respected for who they are. Gender identity is a very complex and personal thing, but if we just listen to what people tell us about themselves and treat everyone the way that we would want to be treated, the world will be a better place.

Patterson should get rid of its uniform policy (OPINION)

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by Ashley Sarmiento Rodriguez

Patterson High School has had a school uniform policy for years and many students, including myself, don’t agree with it.

One reason why Patterson High School made students start wearing uniforms is because there used to be a lot of students who would go into neighborhoods and mess around and do disturbing things and with the uniform you’d be able to identify where they are coming from. Another reason they added the uniforms is because there were some students wearing inappropriate clothes. The main reason why they made uniforms is to stop outsiders who don’t belong here from coming in.

However, I think that’s dumb because the school used to make us scan ID cards before coming in and if you don’t scan, you can’t come in–so why stop now? It’s so much more reasonable to do that than to require students to wear uniforms, because anybody can wear a Patterson shirt and khaki pants and pass as a student. That could be even more dangerous because as long as you are wearing anything from Patterson, teachers think you’re from here. Besides, there are many people still in the school not wearing uniforms despite the uniform policy existing, so if they really wanted to see if anybody was coming in who shouldn’t, they still can’t tell.

I disagree with the uniform policy. I think that’s not fair that because of certain students wearing things they shouldn’t, the whole school needs to basically get punished for the actions of a few. Yes, they can say it’s for identification, but there are IDs that can hang around our neck and many other ways to identify Patterson students beside uniforms.

I think they should take uniforms away or make it optional because not everyone wants to wear the same pants every day or the same two shirts all week and many students can’t afford to buy additional uniforms. If someone decides to wear something inappropriate, then let them get punished on their own because what a handful of students do should not result in the whole school is getting punished.

Another reason why I don’t agree with the uniforms is because they’re just short sleeve shirts. The building is cold and even when people are wearing hoodies under the uniform shirt, school staff members ask you to take it off. For now, they’ve run out of the uniform sizes and only have big clothes that don’t fit me. Why would I or anyone want to wear that every day?

Yet another reason why I don’t agree with the uniform policy is that this year they have been making it a much bigger priority than it was the year before and not everyone is able to go before school even starts to pick up their uniform. Then, when we’re actually in school trying to get them, it’s much harder. I didn’t have anything for the first few days of school and went around asking for the uniform but they never had right sizes. Then if I wanted to get any Patterson hoodies or sweatpants, I’d have to pay them myself. They don’t even give out the khaki pants now that school started; I have to go buy my own. There are just a lot of things that not everyone has transportation or money to get.

My friend, Yeimmi, another student who goes to Patterson High School, also does not agree with the school uniforms.

“I don’t like the uniforms because they have only given me a big shirt that doesn’t fit me and I’ve been yelled at a few times to change at school.”, she said. “It’s uncomfortable.”

“I didn’t have time to go get the uniform before school even started and since then I’ve only gotten an XXL shirt.”, Yeimmi added. “I feel like they’re useless and there’s no point in having them. It makes no difference.”

For all these reasons, I think that Patterson should get rid of its uniform policy and let students have the freedom to wear what they want, as long as it doesn’t violate the District’s dress code.

Homework doesn’t work (OPINION)

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by Wilfredo Portillo-Quinones

Being assigned homework after school for is often stressful for students. Being given work for HOME after coming back from school seems illogical. Spending seven hours a day studying and doing assignments is already a lot for most students.

Teachers seem to assign homework to students in order for them to learn more and understand topics they’re studying, but this seems lazy, if students are being taught this at school, why do they need to spend more time doing homework in order for them to learn or give teachers a better understanding of their skill level if they’re already giving that effort in school?

According to the Florida Department of Education, “Homework teaches students that they may have to do things—even if they don’t want to.” I think that is an example of misuse of time. If we genuinely want students to get into real world stuff, we should be doing it at school. There should be more said and done at school than at home. Putting a lot of stress on students will drain them mentally, driving them away from learning and education as a whole. It’s already enough for them to get up early and go to school and exhaust their brains. Giving them more work after school just seems exhausting and very unnecessary. Teachers should take time in class to see if their students are understanding lessons and not expect students to give them a review with homework.

To build character in students, teachers should be working hands on in order to understand them and see how they grasp most ideas. Some teachers should put more effort into understanding students individually, the same way they’d check our homework to see that improvement or understanding of where most students are at. A lot of teachers love to be hands-on with students in order to actually see where they are at in terms of learning and understanding the lessons they are currently learning and working on. If more teachers did this, it would help students feel better at school and feel more supported by their teachers, because a lot of the work students do nowadays is pretty much on computers and a lot of students aren’t really built for stuff like that. Most students would rather talk to another person or be taught with actual spoken words than with what a computer, textbook, or worksheet shows. This would improve education a lot more than homework and give more students helpful ideas and a better understanding of their current work.


School lunch needs improvement (OPINION)

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by Wilfredo Portillo-Quinones

School lunch is a very important part of school and a major topic that needs to be discussed. Currently, school lunch at Patterson is not enough, nor is it nutritious.

I think we should improve our school lunches because it would benefit everyone. It’s something a lot of our students come to school for. When lunch is good, it is one of the most enjoyable parts of school. I think improving school lunch would bring more students to Patterson, because the quality of school lunches is a factor behind children and teenagers changing schools. If we were to improve the lunches, we’d be able to promote that as one more reason why young people should enroll at Patterson.

Whenever people talk about school, one of the most common topics that come up is school lunch and whether it’s good or not. I think it would be beneficial for us to add more food to the plates or give it some sort of improvement that could bring in more students. It would also be nice to add more nutrients to our lunches because a major health factor is whether or not we get enough nutrients in our school lunches.


By improving school food, we should go off of the suggestions made by our students about what they want, specifically the students who usually eat at school. A lot of times students don’t have food at home and they come to school to eat and have lunch. When they don’t get enough or the food is bad, they end up not eating enough, and it’s sad. Although it isn’t the schools problem, we want our students to feel good at school and feel like they have more reasons to come. Another major point of this would be including healthier foods, like more salad bars or fresh fruit.


I think the best way for our school to understand and change would be to have a poll where students can vote on whether or not we should change and improve the school lunches or keep them the same. I think it would be very popular once students understand the changes, because we’re so used to school lunches in their current state. A major change would stir up a lot of activity for our school.

These are the main reasons why our schools should improve school lunches. A lot of us want these changes made and there are many programs working for these kinds of improvements in schools across the country.

Voting age should be lowered to 16

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By Wilfredo Portillo-Quinones

We learn in school that voting is one of the most important rights of citizenship. Yet most high school students are not allowed to vote because they are under 18. I believe that 16 and 17-year-olds should have the right to vote. As a teenager we have fresh perspectives with new thoughts and ideas that can add to what our government already has in mind for the country.

Our current government is run primarily by older people. When the two main candidates for President are the oldest to ever run in history, it feels like we’re lowering our standards. There needs to be a better mind at our highest office of government, especially when we’re making enemies out of other countries and military forces. I think if teenagers could vote, we would vote for a president with an open mind and someone who can relate to our ideas for the country.
Our country needs a leader who has an open mind about things and isn’t quick to make enemies. We as teenagers could support our government with ideas and feel better about our government if we knew we had a president who could relate to us.

There are claims that young people don’t care or even think about our government power and that is false. A lot of young people care about our government, as studies show. According to the website youthrights.org, people of the age of 17-18 vote more than people ages 20-40. In 2014, Chicago allowed their youth to vote and 75% of eligible people ages 16-17 voted compared to 54% of people ages 20-50, showing us that our youth care at least as much as older people do. In Baltimore, we let our youth vote for our mayor in one election and people of the age of 17 voted 35% compared to 36% of people 18 and older, showing us that teens will vote at more or less the same level as older people. This proves that our youth care as much as older people do. The same website also shows data that shows that contrary to popular belief, high school students actually know more on average about the government that older people. This makes sense when you consider that we are learning about government in school and the information is fresh in our minds. Despite some people’s claims that teenagers are too ignorant to vote, the truth is that youth have open minds, are as well-informed as other age groups, and should have the same rights as other Americans. We also care about our country and who our leaders are.

There are many organizations fighting for youth rights and they’ve proven the facts that teenagers have the right ideas for our country. We should support and fight for teenage voting rights. Voting rights for teenagers would create many new opportunities for us to become active citizens and make our country better. I hope these specific facts will convince you that teenagers above the age of 16 do care about our country and should be given the right to vote.



High School Choice: Why you should care about it as a student and why I think it should be gone 

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By Jayzanay Blessett, Junior at Patterson High School and Diversity Chair of the Associated Student Congress of Baltimore City

Baltimore’s School Choice was established as a program in 2002. It determines whether or not you get accepted into the school you chose by considering your composite score and your academic performance during your Middle School years. If you do not get into the school you would like to go to, then you are typically placed in your zoned school or your other choices. Certain schools require special application requirements, such as Polytechnic Institute, Baltimore City College, etc. In this article, I will express my opinion on why I believe we should put an end to this and why, as a student, you should care.

My Story

As a middle school student you constantly hear your teachers drill thoughts into your brain like, “Go to Poly”, “Go to City”, or “Make sure you do the best you can so you can get accepted into Poly and/or City”. Hearing teachers consistently say that makes students feel pressured that they have to go to those said schools and if they don’t it’s bad or is not “acceptable”. Putting this kind of stress on 12-14 year old children is not healthy whatsoever. 

The idea that only those two schools you will give you the best education is a terrible idea. From a personal standpoint, my School Choice year was during the pandemic. My virtual school year was bad and I was struggling with many mental health problems just like every other student. I was so scared to miss the deadline for my School Choice and I was nervous that I was not going to get into the school that I wanted to, which was Baltimore City College. Once I got my results, I cried, because I got into one of the supposedly “worse’’ schools in the city, Patterson High. 

For the majority of my 7th grade year, I heard so many stories about why Patterson, Mervo, and honestly any school that was not Poly, City, Western, and or BSA was bad, so getting into a school that was not on my list was embarrassing for me because every time I would tell anyone about the school I went to/was going to, I was told I would be “too smart for that school’’ and that I need to transfer to get the education I deserve. 

The Issue

Understanding High School Choice from a student’s point of view, I will now give some reasons why I believe School Choice is an ineffective program and why the District needs to stop doing it. Baltimore’s School Choice creates equity issues, a hierarchy among schools and students, and transportation struggles.      

The Baltimore City school system has long had an equity issue. I feel as though School Choice will hinder us from solving this problem. When I took a look at Baltimore Polytechnic Institute’s website I noticed that they state, “Baltimore Polytechnic Institute (“Poly”) is a citywide magnet high school for Baltimore City Public Schools that emphasizes a rigorous college preparatory curriculum in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields. With a student body of more than 1,600 students and 85 teachers, Poly is committed to ensuring that all students have access to college and post-secondary opportunities.”

Viewing the part where is says “Poly is committed to ensuring that all students have access to college and post-secondary opportunities’’ threw me off because all schools in the city do this. You should not have to go all the way across the city because you only have maybe 2 schools that have a “rigorous college program”. Every school in Baltimore City should have equal robust classes dedicated to help them get into college. Being a Patterson student, we are not offered many of the classes that schools like City have, which makes it difficult to receive the education I need to compete with other students for college.

Having a program like High School Choice also creates a hierarchy between the students because you will get shamed for going to a school that’s not highly liked. It also creates an issue with transportation. If we focused on giving each school the same resources and opportunities, students would not need to transport themselves all the way across other parts of town to go to school. 

We could have school busses that take kids to school because no school would be better or worse than the others and students could just go to their zone school, but in the system that we currently have, we push all “high achieving’’ kids into one school and kind of just push out the other students. If you take a look at Baltimore County’s public school system, they are outperforming us because they don’t have something called “School Choice”. They have zoned schools with each school properly allocated equal resources and robust class courses. 

Taking Action

If students speak up on this issue a lot more, we could possibly make a change in some way. Imagine going to a school that has everything you need to be successful and pursue higher education without having to pick a school and maybe get rejected. Every single school in Baltimore need to have robust science, math, and English courses. If one school offers AP in Freshman year, then all schools need to that.

Yes, I understand that School Choice is an important tradition for Baltimore City, but the System is setting us up for failure and as a student, you should care about this too. As the student Chair of the Diversity Committee for Baltimore City Public Schools, I plan to advocate on the issue to the best of my ability.

Can new technology make our school safer? (OPINION)

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By Elijah DeBerry

In this article I will be writing about the safety of our students and our school building as a whole. 

Some concerns about safety at our school are the possibility of weapons being brought into the school building and those weapons being used on students and teachers present in the building at the current time. The school leaders are taking precautionary measures to ensure that the school is safer, such as implementing a new weapons detection system, which is mainly focused on detecting weapons rather than all metal objects like the old metal detectors did. 

In my personal opinion, I believe the weapons screening machines were functioning as intended. But recently they replaced the screeners with the old system: metal detectors. While I believe the screeners were temporary, as a sort of test, they worked great while they were implemented into the school’s security plan. I believe that the school should just stick to one thing, instead of switching back and forth. The screeners made entering the school quicker and possibly safer for students, whereas the metal detectors are too narrow for students to pass through easily. I say just stick with the screeners as they’re quicker and more convenient.

In conclusion to this article, I believe the leaders of Patterson High School, over the summer, should consider further implementing the weapon screenings system into the school to ensure that students are feeling safer with the screeners, rather than the metal detectors we originally have.

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