On June 13th, I participated in a Young Debaters Program with other students from our school competing against various junior high schools in a debate contest. I arrived too early, was wearing a far too casual dress, and was walking in extremely painful shoes. I had butterflies in my stomach and I felt terrible. The debate was absolutely awful, but the experiences I had with my friends during and after the debate were some of the most memorable occurrences of my 7th grade year. I clearly remember waking up. It was 7 AM on a Saturday, and I was incredibly confused about why I was awake, and then I saw the dress on my chair and my open laptop. I had fallen asleep typing up my closing statement. I was feeling quite tired at this point, and I was extremely uneager to get up. I was already so comfortable in my bed, and who knew what would happen if I went to the debate? What if I made a fool of myself? What …show more content…
if our school lost because of me? I could get into a car accident for all I knew! My mother called me downstairs to get ready for the taxi. Reluctantly, I pulled myself out of the bed and began to get ready. When my mother and I finally got to the debate building, it was 8 AM. The debate started at 9:15 AM. I was wearing a black - and - white dress, flats, and my hair was tied back. It was probably the most uncomfortable clothing I had worn in a school environment. It was hot, and I was trying to find the building in the bright, burning sunlight.I was walking around in painful shoes, and when I finally found the room, I had to stand around for about 15 minutes before the other participants arrived. It was horribly uncomfortable. I felt as though if I took another step or said another word, I would collapse. I wasn’t used to the clothing or the environment, and although I love public speaking, I still felt queasy. The debate itself was a bit dull.
We were first lead into a room where we could eat breakfast and revise our arguments. All of the participants were given a fact sheet outlining the details of the case ahead of time. We each had to prepare an argument for our case that we would present in front of experienced lawyers. After eating breakfast, we were divided into groups, and after we all presented our statements, each group would have a winner to represent their own school. After giving our arguments, we went into the auditorium, where we had a quick raffle, as well as a talent show with representatives from each school. The representative from my school, JHS 194, was my former classmate, Dylan, who spoke and made jokes for the audience. Other participants danced, sung, and did gymnastics. The winner was chosen by the level of applause they got from the audience, so of course, the winner was a young girl whose family was in the audience. Afterwards, we were each given certificates of achievement, and the names of the winning schools were announced from each
school. After the awards ceremony, a few of the members of our school’s debate team went to Bay Terrace to eat lunch and hang out. Dylan invited the entire team to the mall, and a few of us agreed. Dylan and a few of the girls got a ride in the same car, and since I could get a ride from my mother, I went to Bay Terrace separately. I remember going to Five Guys and worrying about being late, because I had dropped by my house beforehand. The moment I walked in, I saw my friends laughing and waving me over to their table and offering to share their fries. I remember that Anna’s older brother was showing us a video on his phone, and I noticed that he had a Doctor Who phone case. That stood out to me because these people, who weren’t even in the same class as me, shared the same interests as me. They all loved books and movies and TV shows. We were all nerdy and quirky. We may not have been in the same class, but we were all just as crazy as each other and were friendly with each other. I remember Hayee playing a prank on Dylan and putting ketchup into his Sprite. I remember Dylan throwing peanut shells at her in retaliation. I remember the rest of my friends joining in the prank and adding more ingredients into the Sprite. That was incredibly fun, but our celebratory outing wasn’t over yet. After eating (and subsequently making a huge mess), we visited Barnes and Nobles. Of course, we walked to the store. A few of us had to leave to go home, so it was just a group of four at this point - Dylan, Hayee, Theresa, and me. I remember walking with them in a triangular formation, with Dylan in the lead. Dylan was playing “Uptown Funk” on the loudest volume from his phone and strutting along to the rhythm. He was yelling at Hayee for mispronouncing the word “hummus”. When we reached Barnes and Nobles, Theresa and I immediately abandoned the rest of the group to find the books we wanted but we quickly found our way back to the rest of the group.
Have you ever felt stuck? Wherever you are, it’s the absolute last place you want to be. In the book Into the Wild, Chris McCandless feels stuck just like the average everyday person may feel. Chris finds his escape plan to the situation and feels he will free himself by going off to the wild. I agree with the author that Chris McCandless wasn’t a crazy person, a sociopath, or an outcast because he got along with many people very well, but he did seem somewhat incompetent, even though he survived for quite some time.
The definition of grit is simple; it means being passionate about long term goals, and showing stamina to pursue them, but should students in public schools have a class dedicated to a grit-focused curriculum? This has become a major topic of discussion among teachers and mentors. Angela Duckworth, a professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, claims grit is not a fixed quality but one that can be developed. Many disagree with her statement. Grit is something everyone all have within themselves, but some just do not utilize this characteristic as often or as well as others. Grit is a puzzling concept. Duckworth has had an obsession with grit for over a decade. Her obsession started when she visited West Point,
After high school, there are many different opportunities that open up for everyone. Some people have the chance to go to a prestigious college right after they are done with their high school career. Others might just want a break from school and possibly take a year off. There are no right or wrong answers to what someone does after they finish high school. It all depends on the person's situation or what they feel is best for them. However, there may be some more benefits to taking a year off than going straight to college.
Every day, more and more attempts of banning books and taking away the rights of our First Amendment get violated. The challenging of a book is the attempt to remove or restrict materials, and the banning is the removal of these materials. I believe that books should not be banned for these reasons.
Common core is not a new method. America has set standards since at least the 1950’s and many schools have since then implemented a curriculum supporting this ideal. These standards in language arts and mathematics are supposed to help the nation prepare students for college and their future careers. The effects of common core, both positive and negative, lead to the debate on whether or not it should still be implemented in schools today, but thanks to federal funding it has made it hard to get rid of the program. It is because of this that the governor of Louisiana, Bobby Jindal has decided to sue the federal government for violating the 10th amendment. Although many can agree that having standardized goals gives both the students and staff
At our pep rally we all just kind of stood in shock for a while, then the fun started. We all “moved up”, the freshmen walked over to the sophomore spot, the sophomores to the junior spot, the juniors to the senior spot, and the seniors just all walked out. It was a very eventful day and it probably could not have gone better. The biggest plot twist of all time happened, as well as the biggest drug addict and rudest person of Mount Juliet got arrested with two
What makes a good person good? According to WikiHow, "We should learn to define our own morals ourselves. One of the simplest ways to do so is to love others, and treat them as you would like to be treated. Try to think of others before yourself. Even doing small things daily will greatly enrich and improve your life, and the lives of others around you." This quote shows us what we need to do in order to be what society thinks as, “good". In order to be a good person, you have to do good and moral things in your society consistently. However people might think that by doing one good thing once in a while will automatically make you a “good person”, but in reality it doesn’t.
When in the course of school and school events, it becomes necessary for young adults to end their association with teachers and the school system which have controlled them nearly their whole lives, and to assume the powers of the basic rights of adults. This requires the young adults of this nation to declare independence from the school system and the rules that bind them, for all the world to see why we as young citizens of this great nation should and will gain independence from the US school system.
My personal literacy development has not always been easy. In grade school I struggled with dyslexia. Additionally my family moved several times and new school districts were teaching reading and writing using different methods. These difficulties have made grade school not nearly as central to my literacy development as most students. My high school career was much more influential in creating my literacy practices. More specifically my experience as a member of my high school debate team really influenced the literacy practices I use today. My high school debate team placed me in a literacy community unlike most high school students experience there I was taught more sophisticated literacy skills, enhanced discourse, social confidence and empowerment of ideas.
I agree and think that we should not have that long of a summer when we can just have more breaks but shorter. When summer is that long then what is the point of going back to school because we forget everything anyways during that long break. So I believe we should have a fall break during Thanksgiving, a winter break during Christmas, a summer break that’s not as long, and a spring break.
Many years ago when I was a freshman in high school, an event happened to me that changed my life for the better. My friend invited me to go hiking with him and his sister. He was going to go hiking in Yosemite. The following day I prepared myself mentally and physically in order to accomplish this hike.
The problem with America is that no one will actually take action towards their complaints and instead settles on sitting back complaining. That right there is exactly why I too am about to do. In order to fix the United States, we need to focus on societal and economic issues. There are many societal issues needed to be addressed but we will be focusing on racism, gender inequality and police brutality. Lastly, the economic issue that will briefly be covered is the need to decrease military spending.
Before, the education system used to have the best interest of children but instead it seems as if the professionals who work for the system cares more about the job qualifications than the true value of education and how well the people are attaining it. Public education uses to led the road to success, but after going through thirteen years of it and seeing what the public education system is all about, people have come to realize that it only affect others later on in life negatively.
Summer break is awesome, but after a couple months, it’s always time for school again. Walking into the class on the first day and hear, “Pop quiz! Let’s see what you know.” Then you realize that over the summer you have forgotten everything from the previous year. Why should we have to relearn material because of a long summer break? This is why we should have school year-round.
As I started to advance into my high school education, I noticed that my attitude about school and grades was not going to get me anywhere. I went to school and goofed off with my friends and did enough work to get a decent 70 on my work and go home. I had no “active responsibility”, as Freire would say, because I didn’t have anything to motivate me to want to do well. It all changed when I started high school at Bear Grass Charter School. Bear Grass had just reopened as a charter school my freshman year. I was a new beginning for me because not only was I starting out at a new school, but I started to realize that I needed to improve my self-effort in my classes. I knew that I wanted to be a nurse when I graduated and I