CC 2.1

In a recent article by the Los Angeles Times entitled, "Father fights back against bullying after son's suicide," Brad Lewis, a father whose child committed suicide, fights against bullying. By making it public to the world, and being closer to your children. 

Additionally, Brad Lewis tries to end bullying. Brad Lewis, father of Jordan Lewis, has been stated, "took to Facebook that night and posted a series of videos explaining his son's death and the events leading up to it." Due to these acts at school, Jordan, killed himself. His father's intentions are not to get vengeance, but to get justice for his sons and victims across the world being bullied.  

Brad Lewis's son had loved football and also enjoyed playing it. Jordan Lewis, sophomore at Carterville High School, says, "You wouldn't understand, Dad," Jordan said. "I'm being picked on at school." His dad says that kids would push him into lockers and was hit at least once in the head by a football teammate, which lead to him quitting his first day of practice. 

Many wonder what also lead him to killing himself. The day before his death, Brad Lewis reports, "At the end of the video, the kid that was being bullied went home and killed himself." Brad said that on Wednesday the day before his son's death, he had watched a video on anti-bullying at school. He had probably though that following in the kids footsteps would be the easy way out of his situation. 

Personally, I have not been around or been friends with someone who has committed suicide. Although, some of my friends have been friends with a girl named Brylee Verser, who had committed suicide. Not because of being bullied, but of home troubles and boyfriend problems. Like Jordan she had no one there for her most of the time. Jordan's parents were separated like Brylee's. Her mom was always at her boyfriends like the mom of Jordan. Bullying, a subject that is not taken serious, leads to harmful punishment or even death. 

To conclude, Bullying can cause harm to the innocent or even death. Bullying must come to stop and Brad Lewis agrees by making it public to the world and becoming closer to your child. 

CC1.1

Random Drug Tests

In a recent article by Daniel E. Slotnik in the New York Times entitled "Drug Testing in Schools Divides North Jersey District": A student protests against random drug tests. Jason Baretz feels that drug test make him feel like a criminal, invades their personal life, and parents being accused of supporting drugs. 

Additionally, random drug test make students feel like they've been accused of doing drugs. Jason Baretz, Junior at Northern Valley Regional High School at Old Tappan, 16 years of age claims, “Ladies and gentlemen of the board, I've come here today to ask you to look down upon me as a criminal. Not because I have engaged in anything unlawful, but because this is how a random drug testing policy will make kids feel." The student was drug tested and was putting his input on the topic of random drug testing to the board of education. So on behalf of the students being randomly drug tested, causes them to feel like they've done something wrong.

Parents argue that drug test invade the students personal life. Anne Baretz, mother of Jason Baretz states, “We’re talking about the school involving itself in the behavior of students outside the school, which is not their province.” Anne Baretz statement is partially true. The personal lives of the students is being raided by schools drug testing them. Anna is basically saying that whatever happens outside of school is none of their business. 

Some arguments between some board members and the public has turned personal. BIll Baretz, Ms. Baretz’s husband, father of Jason Baretz argues, "Mr. Schettino, a 'pathological liar', during a meeting accused him of telling other families that the Baretzes encouraged teenage drug use." Many people like Mr. Schettino himself have been telling lies about parents who are against random drug tests. These parents are being falsely accused. 

I, personally have been made to take a drug test. I had to take not one, not two, but three drug tests, the day before a district track meet 9th grade. Apparently, I failed the first and was in major trouble, but when I took the last one that same day I passed with flying colors. I think what had made me fail the drug test is the weekly allergy shot I take and the daily allergy pills I take everyday.   

To conclude, many students get randomly drug tested. Those who go to Northern Valley Regional High School, get drug tested take offense to it. Drug test are for the good of the school community and athletics. 

CC1

Goals of Education

 





To what extent do our schools serve the goals of a true education? Do they really get you to where you need to be? An articled entitled, "The Goals of Education" by Dara Adib argues that it is not any one specific goal, but several goals. 


One of those many goals is the to prepare students for what the author calls the "real world" and to succeed in the "maze of life." Dara Adib claims, "No doubt, the many years of schooling have an impact on a student's knowledge and the student therefore learns some things which may be useful in the workplace." Our teachers make us even do non useful assignments and test our comprehension on that material. On the other hand, those that are useful tend to stick in our minds after it has been repeated and smashed into our brains. 

Another goal of education is to teach students how to socialize and communicate in small groups or the entire classroom. Dara Adib also states, "Without teamwork and interacting with others in school, students have a hard time succeeding later in life. This is a major reason for perfecting writing styles and learning new vocabulary." For example: presenting a speech or essay to the class. One does not want to present the assignment with week vocabulary or unknowingly using words that your not familiar with. One of the many reasons teachers still let students work with partner to get use to the future where one won't know their coworkers and be forced to work with them whether they like that person or not. 

Lastly one of the most important accomplishments of schools is to teach students to be good citizens and good neighbors and to be able to deal with others who need their help. Adib  informs, "School does teach students ways of life that benefit society as a whole, for example by promoting recycling. A classic example is the sharing that school promotes, which the business world does not." Since school is all about helping to students emotionally(respectfully), money is the second in line. Like the author says, "school should not teach how to become the richest person."

Personally, I do agree that do serve the goals of a true education. Such as working with partner or giving a speech to the class like my oral comm class that I am currently taking. Just the other day I had to present a speech to the class. Classes like oral comm prepare you for the real world. 

To conclude, our school serves the goals of a true education by preparing us for the "real world", communication skills, and being good citizens. 

Topic of Choice

Drake - Aubrey Drake Graham

Many know the name Drake. Some may not. Drake the singer that is. Not Drake from the show Drake and Josh. Aubrey Drake Graham is know by Drizzy Drake as his stage name. Although, many do not know about his childhood/background, how he got recognized, and his fame as of now.

As a child drake had a what one can call "rough" life. His mother's name was Sandi Graham and his father was Dennis Graham. Drake's father is an African American from Memphis, Tennessee, and Drake's mother is a Jewish Canadian. Little known fact, Drake attended a Jewish School.  His parents divorced when he was five years old, and he was raised by his mother in Toronto; he lived on Weston Road.They later moved to Forest Hill when he was in 6th grade. Another little known fact, Drake's mother found themselves a half home. Yes a half home. The bottom half of a house belonged to them and the top half belonged to the other people. Drake explains, "I lived in the basement, my mom lived on the first floor. It was not big, it was not luxurious. It was what we could afford."

At the age of 15, Drake had a friend with a father who was an agent. He got him a role on the Canadian TV show Degrassi: The Next Generation as Jimmy Brooks. That would be only the beginning for him. The money made from the TV show was the only movie available because his mother was sick causing them to poor. Drake claims, "A season of Canadian television is under a teacher’s salary." How he got discovered? Well, he was on Degrassi for years but Degrassi had nothing to do with forming his rap career, then he finally left the show. Although,  he said he always loved music. He was just to shy to rap because he didn't know if he was any good so he used to record himself and then he had a friend that was a girl listen to his song but he would lie to her that it was one of his other friends rapping just to see what she thought of it, and she thought it was good. Then he formed a rap group and he was actually performing in the same building as Rihanna (Pop Singer) while she was making her first music video. His rap group kicked him out of his own group because they thought he wasn't a good rapper so he just kept rapping on his own and made independent mixtapes and got noticed by a lot of people in Toronto then he eventually got noticed by people like Lil Wayne(Famous Rapper). His passion for rapping was as strong as a mouse to cheese. Some may call it a burning passion, but others call it love for the music.
Drake has a fairly recent CD out as of now called "Take Care." Personally, I love that CD! I love all the songs on the CD! Yes, EVERY song. On most albums I only like a few songs, but this CD is amazing! "Take Care" is his most successful to date, topping charts in the United States and Canada. The singles on the CD have all landed a spot on Billboard  Hot 100. Additionally his first CD, "Best I Ever Had," is his first greatest track to land. The song "Best I Ever Had" smashed the Billboard's at number one out of 200!
To conclude, Drake the singer, has made himself a huge star even when others pushed him to the curve. He strived for what he believed for and reached success at the end of the road. Without his father, raised by his mother, he accomplishes his dreams.

CC3 - Bullying is wrong

     Bullying. Is. The. Worst. Thing. Ever. To. Do. Why would someone do it? Bullying is simply wrong. An article entitled, "Another Tragic Result of Bullying, Felicia Garcia Jumps in Front of Train," by Kristen Driskill is about a girl who kills herself by being ran over by a train from being bullied. Kristen tells why bullying is moral wrong.

     "The 15-year-old freshman at Tottenville High School killed herself after being bullied by classmates over her having sex with four football players the weekend before. The encounters were recorded, kids began talking about it, and bullying quickly ensued. The bullying drove Felicia to the point of tweeting "I cant, I'm done, I give up" on Monday." Yes, I agree what Felicia Garcia had done is wrong. On the other hand, being bullied about a mistake she had done is wrong. Nobody is perfect, and everyone makes mistakes. Although, it is not something you take your life for, not that big of a leap.

     "Kids literally can be bullied to death." This statement is absolutely true. Not everybody knows what one another is going through. For some, situations are easy, but for others it may be a whole different story. Kristen has proven a point using Felicia Garcia and Amanda Todd as an example. These two ladies killed themselves because of bullying.

     "These horrific incidents are prime examples of just how important it is to educate children about bullying and cyberbullying. Although bullying isn't new, cyberbullying has increasingly become a topic of concern. Kids can't escape negativity thrown their way over Facebook, Twitter, text messages, etc, so that feeling of desperation and despair is amplified." Bullying can come from the Internet such as the daily social networks we teens use. Most of what bullying leads to is "drama." Drama is a concern when it deals with cyberbullying. Like Kristen mentioned, we should educate teens and young children about the after effect of bullying.

     I, personally have not been bullied, but I have witnessed bullying before. When I was in elementary, I would see the older kids push the younger kids around. No. I was not one of those who pushed kids around. Although, there was one kid who would try to bug kids and later on got expelled.

     I agree that bullying is morally wrong. Likewise, Kristen would agree with me also. For all those who have bullied before, think of yourself being in that postion and how would you react?

CC#1 2nd Semester

     Based on Will Shanklin's article, "iPhone 5 vs. iPhone 4s vs. iPhone 4" he believes overall that the iPhone 5 is the best out of the 3 current iPhones. Will compares the iPhones qualities to one another to see what they have to offer. Additionally, he compares and contrasts their Dimensions,Weight, Display,  Processor, RAM, Storage, Wireless, Battery, Camera, and Intangibles.

     "There are noticeable boosts of speed in each successive model. The A6 chip in the iPhone 5 is a screamer, breaking smartphone benchmark records. Though the A6 was originally believed to run at 1GHz, 9to5Mac and TLDToday report that it dynamically clocks itself up to 1.3GHz (it may also underclock too, to save power). The iPhone 4S still performs well for a modern smartphone. The two-year-old iPhone 4 is a bit sluggish for 2012 standards." Despite the iPhone 5 being A1 more the iPhone 4s and A2 for the iPhone 4, makes the Internet on the iPhone a lot faster. Furthermore, the iPhone 5 offers "unprecedented performance," allowing it to have almost double the the MHz that the iPhone 4s has.

     However, the great achievement that many love about the iPhone 5 other than the other iPhones is the display! "Though the pixels-per-inch (PPI) are identical, the iPhone 5 display gains an extra half-inch of real estate. This ups the resolution and shifts the aspect ratio to an oblong 16:9. Longtime iPhone users may find it strange at first, but will soon appreciate the extra room for apps, photos, and web pages. Apple also opted for a thinner display in the new model. Combining a layer of touch sensors also brings those pixels closer to the surface. The company also boasts of 40 percent greater color saturation in the iPhone 5." Overall, the iPhone 5's dimensions are a 1136X640 with a 4-inch IPS. The dimension of the iPhone 4s and iPhone 4 are a 960X640 with a 3.5-inch IPS. That being said, the iPhone 5 is also a lot lighter than the other iPhones, also a bit longer.

     "The iPhone 5 takes Apple's handset into true 4G speeds, with LTE (where available). Actual LTE download speeds can range from 8Mbps to upwards of 40Mbps, with low latency to boot. It may be faster than your home broadband connection." Nonetheless, the iPhone 5's Internet speed is faster than the other iPhones. The iPhone 4s runs on "4G," but they prefer to call it "3G+;" is faster than  3G, but not in the same league as LTE. Depending on one's carrier, "LTE" for iPhone 5 is spread out just about anywhere if one has Verizon, says Will Shanklin. AT&T does not cover as much ground, in other words, does not hold the ability to cover nationwide or cover certain places.

    To conclude, the author Will Shanklin argues that the iPhone 5 is the best iPhone out as of now. He compares and contrast one another with facts. Additionally, he claims that if one happens to get the iPhone 4; they will be "rocking" a 4 year old smartphone when the contract ends.

Current Connection

As many students start the new school year, they might not see eye-to-eye with the

teacher,or they might be adored by their teachers. In an article called "The Favorites" by a guy named Dryw Freed, heells why it is not fair to have favorites.

"With very few exceptions, each kid has something that endears them to a teacher,

so there don't tend to be dramatic, clear-cut favorites," says Freed. It's more like a

collection of beautiful, funny, endearing little people, a couple of whom happen to stand

out slightly at one end of the spectrum or another."

I think that every teacher has a favorite in every one of there classes. I personally

think its wrong for teachers to have favorites because every student is equal. No

student should be taught less or given less help because the favorite or "Teachers Pet"

is in the class and is getting all the attention from the teacher. Don't get me wrong, being

a favorite in class has its advantages. But it is still wrong for a teacher to treat any tudent better than the rest.

But it's not as simple as having one favorite. In a class of 27 students, Freed says,

the majority of the students would all rotate and have "moments of being one of the

favorites."

"I would say, first off, that teachers do their best to treat all kids fairly," said Dryw Freed,

who has taught for 16 years in public schools in North Carolina and Virginia. We are only human and do react differently to different children.

I think most of the teachers in my school have there favorite or "Teachers Pet". You

can clearly see who the teacher treats better and gives more slack to and to other kids

its not fair. In some cases it might hurt another students feelings, because they might

think that the teacher doesn't like them or they might think that the teacher simply just

doesn't care about the student.

As I said before, favoritism is wrong. No student should be treated less or unfairly or

be treated better than everyone else. Everyone is equal like Freed says that it is unfairly.

american dream

  

Have you ever thought about your American dream? Martin Luther King, creator of equal racial rights claims, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” Like Martin Luther King, we all have a dream. A dream can consists of something huge or rather small. My accomplishment in life is to become a Dentist!

I have been informed by local teachers here at Batesville High School, that one would have to complete a bunch of science classes in order to become a Dentist! Science has always been my least favorite subject and also my hardest subject. Therefore, completing all science classes in college would be a huge accomplishment in my book. Just alone the classes in college are harder than those of high school. However, it takes six years of college to complete the Dentist path. The only obstacle standing in my way, like I said before is…science.

Based on my research, Dentist make up to $101,000 per year! When first becoming a Dentist they make about $34.55 per hour or $71,870 per year. The crazy part about this is that they start making "bank" in other words money right off the bat. Although money can vary based on one's experience, location, the amount of hours worked and so on.

To conclude, my overall dream is to become a Dentist and take on the tasks at the college level. We all have a dream. Now I ask you the essential questions, “what is your American dream?”