Category Archives: Opinion

Building over nature

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By Marina Siebor,

For the longest time, we have been polluting the earth by making factories, littering and releasing toxic fumes into the air, which is harmful to humans and the earth.

Even when you think you’re doing the world some good by recycling, you still can’t escape the fact that your everyday uses are polluting the earth and nature around you. In the USA, littering is illegal. If a cop sees you in the act, you can receive a fine up to $500 and receive up to a year in jail.

All in all, we should stop littering because it’s bad for us and it’s bad for the earth.

 

 

 

Baltimore City Schools should have more interactive field days

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By: Christian Pietrowski

Baltimore City Public schools aren’t as interactive as people may think. I think every city school should have at least one field day where the students go outside and play games and interact with each other. In other Maryland districts every school from elementary to High school do field days at least once a year.

If City schools would have field day for every school in school violence would decrease by 23% according to Baltimore city public schools. According to BCPS the main reason the city hasn’t pursued this is because parents are afraid of the neighborhoods and scared of what would happen if their kids where outside for 3+ hours. A couple states have made this move and made it mandatory for every school to have at least 1 field day per school year. A state that has done this is Ohio and according to Ohiopublicschools.com in school violence for the worst schools decreased dramatically.

According to Amadou Bah, a student at Patterson High School, “it would be a great thing for schools to have a field day at least once per school year because then students can get out and get exercising and get stretching and active”. Ms. Masati, an English teacher at Patterson High, says “Yes, but students should also have a hour of activity and movement every day.”

I think every school district in the country should pursue this it really would help build bonds between students and teachers.

Freedom of the Press Matters (OPINION)

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By Justist Rice,

Freedom of the press is very important because it gives everybody a right to voice their opinions and express how people really feel. There have been more and more victims to police brutality every day. People’s families have been broken because of the deaths of family members at the hands of police abusing their authority. There are so many people who are hurt and angry. They all have stories to tell, and freedom of the press helps them tell their stories.

Government censorship affects journalism in a very bad way, because it blocks out and ignores very important facts,  making it difficult to tell the whole story. Before Freedom of the Press, people weren’t allowed to voice their opinions, and if they did they were either arrested or bullied, and were stopped from writing–period.

There are limits to Freedom of the Press, such as libel, fabrication, and invasion of privacy. All these things are forbidden. People are not allowed to publish false statements to damage someone else’s reputation. It’s also forbidden to invade someone else’s privacy, meaning you can’t take a picture of someone if they are not in a public place. Similarly, you can’t hack into someone’s emails or messages and post them online.

In many states, reporters for school publications do not have the same rights as other news reporters. In many schools, student reporters are not allowed to talk about certain things, such as politics. The Maryland New Voices Act, which went into affect this October, allows student journalists to exercise freedom of speech without prior restraint. It gives student reporters a chance to express their opinions on any topic. Freedom of the Press is essential for people who want their voices to be heard, who are tired of being overlooked, who want to vent to the world.

Forsett and The Ravens part ways

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By Anthony McNeill,

After a week 4 loss at home against the underrated Oakland Raiders, not even 72 hours after the game, the Ravens cut veteran running back Justin Forsett. I think that was a bit of a bad decision because their running back group needs a leader to set the example for the young backs the Ravens have.

Justin Forsett is a veteran so I don’t think that was a good move. If the Ravens don’t sign a veteran running back that has experience with playoffs to give them a edge in close games, then the young guys will freeze up in critical moments .

Everyone knows the name and number of Justin Forsett (#29). Getting rid of him wasn’t very beneficial and was a big loss for the Baltimore Ravens . During the 2014-2015 season Forsett’s rush yard total was 1,266. It would have been beneficial for him to stay because when he came to the Ravens it was his first year rushing for over 1,000 yards.

Students should be allowed to leave the building during lunch (OPINION)

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(Thrown food around the lunch room) -photo credit Marina Siebor

By Marina Siebor,

I believe that students should have the ability to freely leave the lunch room during their lunch time.

Currently we are not allowed to leave for lunch because people are leaving and not coming back. Personally I think if you are going to leave for lunch and not bother to come back you shouldn’t be able to leave to go buy a lunch. However, students who are being responsible and coming back on time should not be punished for the actions of others. 

My reasoning behind this is that during lunch some students might not enjoy what we have for lunch that day and just want something else to eat, but didn’t bring anything to eat that day. Then what? Should students go the rest of the day without eating? We can’t have that happening. That is just my opinion on the matter.

I asked a student in my class, Jordan Gabel-Peralta, about this, and he said “I think people should be able to leave as long as it is guaranteed for their return. I see no harm in it as long as they return within 15 minutes, or in enough time to eat and go to their next class”.

Another good reason for this is we have no place to sit in the cafeteria. There are way more kids in lunch C than any other lunch period in the school. There are too many kids in the C lunch so some kids don’t have a place to sit at lunch. You will see kids standing up, eating by the air vents because they have no place to sit.

A helpful suggestion is that we create a system where if someone would like to leave the school for lunch they would have to see a staff member at the front door of the school building to gain access to the outside. They would have to sign a piece of paper with their name on it and the current time, promising to return. If they do not return before the lunch period ends then they should be marked absent for the rest of the day and their parent or guardian would be contacted.

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(People putting their lunch trays on the air conditioner due to there being no more room on the lunch tables) – photo credit Marina Siebor

In conclusion, I think students should be allowed to leave the school grounds to buy lunch, because people won’t always like what the school has for lunch and would like a little bit of freedom.

Inside the mind of a teenager

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photo from Wall Street Journal

Photo from Wall Street Journal

By Jessica Branch,

All teenagers make stupid mistakes that one day they may look back at and laugh. But then there are some mistakes that can’t be undone and some become detrimental. Studies have found that it’s not the case that some teenagers don’t always think about a situation they may be involved in; they just can’t always come to a clear decision like adults can.

Just think of it like this: If you’re on a diet and see a slice of pepperoni pizza, are you more likely to just glance at the pizza before eating it or stop and think about the pros and cons?

You can think of it the same way as a teenager. Our brains don’t move fast as adults. They don’t fully form everything we should take into consideration and we tend to just look at what we’re getting out of the situation that would be “fun”.  Teens take an average of 170 milliseconds longer to go over the consequences of a decision, which in turn makes them more likely to decide the risk is worth it. For more information about this, go to:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/children/11739219/Revealed-Inside-the-mind-of-a-teenager.html

It’s okay to make mistakes when you’re a teenager but you have to start thinking outside the box when you’re an adult. Some teenagers don’t realize that since their brains aren’t fully functioned like adults, that they can start now by making good decisions to get their minds processed and functioned like adults and it wouldn’t be as hard if they tried later.

It’s okay to make great decisions because great decisions form you into a great person. So the next time you’re stuck between choosing your diet and that slice of pepperoni pizza, choose the right thing.

Achieving Academic Success As a Student Athlete

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By Aleem Prince,

As a student athlete, sports take up a lot of your time, so it can be almost impossible to make time to study. However, that should not be an excuse to do poorly academically. The life of a student athlete requires a great amount of dedication and determination, not only to succeed in sports but also academically. Practice is held every day and sometimes you are exhausted, but you have to create a balance between practice and class schedules. Therefore, it is imperative to learn proper time management.

Time management is key when you are a student athlete. When you can manage your time, it becomes easier to study, to practice and even to hang out with your friends every day. A great way to manage your time is to make to-do lists before going to bed at night. Write a list of all the activities you have to perform the next day. This helps you to plan and to always have a clear idea of all your obligations. When you complete an activity, cross it off the list. Then you enjoy the great sensation of completing tasks without stressing. By managing your time, you will not be frustrated, especially when you have a hectic schedule.

Many student athletes are ‘stars’ on the court, the field, or anywhere they play sports but when it comes it academics they struggle. As a student and an athlete, you should strive to succeed in both areas. In the future, if you become a professional athlete and you suffer an injury or choose to change career paths, you will have an education to fall back on. Hence, always try to achieve and maintain a GPA of at least 3.0 so you can get into a good college.

Attend class, take good notes and listen to your teachers. Students who do not understand the value of education might try to discourage you but you have a choice to make: do you let that discouragement get to you or do you persevere?

To succeed will not be easy; there will be many obstacles to overcome including people telling you that you will never succeed. Indeed, it will be hard but you should always think about your goals, visualize the end product of those goals, then work relentlessly to achieve them.

Could our smart phones be making us dumber?

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By Diana Nguyen and Manuel Aguina,

Kids today have phones, laptops, and other electronic devices that have games and are ways to communicate with others. The reason many kids have low grades and act rudely, and why people may say this generation is messed up, could be these electronic devices. Some of the people kids communicate with online could be a bad influence because these people are sharing inappropriate things, trying to make others think they are cool.

Phones distract people nowadays because people get lost in them, like its the phone, and not their surroundings, that is their one and only focus.  Twelfth grade Patterson student, Adarely Perez, says, “Phones are making us less intelligent because they are too much of a distraction.”

Also, eleventh grader Jordan Dennis says, “Phones are making us lazy in the way that you can connect with people faster and it makes life for a teenager easier.”

Most people nowadays focus on their social media status. Social media did not used to be so common on mobile devices, so when it first came to mobile devices, people were hooked on it like a drug. On devices now, it is common to see people sending tweets, posting statuses, or sending pictures. It has grown to a point that in schools, students just look at their tiny screens and forget everything else.

Although phones may sound like they are making us dumb, they can also make us smarter. Our mobile device is a highly intelligent device. “IPhone or Samsung Galaxy in your pocket is actually an incredibly sophisticated networking computer”, explains Andrew Keen, author from up front magazine. Some people don’t really understand the power that they have in their pockets the power to use a super calculator, write stories, or even edit movies, but they rarely use those powers. Apps on mobile devices help people edit movies, read books, get news , and also can help learn new things about a specific subject from science to math. Mr Mello says “No. Phones make us dumb only in the way we use them, but they are really good learning tools.”

The point is that phones can be seen as bad and good. Many people can argue that phones are making us dumber but they only see the social media  side of phones. People who see the social media side to phones only think of selfies, videos, and chatting. Other people can see the technological side of the phones, they see that phones are a learning tool. The people who do see the tech side of phones see the immense power like problem solving to reading books.

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