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More handpicked essays just for you.
Peer pressure among teenagers
Peer pressure among teenagers
Peer pressure among teenagers
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Suicide is the third leading cause of death for ages 10 to 24 (“About Suicide-ASFP”). Why are schools better prepared to deal with a natural disaster than they are for suicides? The book Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky follows the growth and development of the main character Charlie, a “wallflower;” as he experiences his first year of high school he is introduced into a strange world in between adolescence and adulthood. According to the American Library Association (ALA), Perks of Being a Wallflower is a controversial book due to its explicit content and language (Doyle 6). The controversial content includes, but is not limited to, sexuality, drug use, and physical and emotional abuse.
Currently, there are debates about whether this book is suitable for a high school class. This paper will evaluate its appropriateness in a sophomore English level class at the Applied Technology Center. The Applied Technology Center is a public high school in the Montebello Unified School District (M.U.S.D), which has a unique method of teaching commonly referred to as Project- Based Learning.
Treatment of Suicide
Suicide in Perks of Being a Wallflower
Chbosky starts the book by mentioning the death
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High schools are the bridge between adolescence and adulthood. Schools that neglect to educate students about the realities of the “real world” commit a crime against the student’s public education. Schools and parents must also realize that students attending high school, experience many of the events mentioned in the book The Perks of Being a Wallflower, including the thought of
Leon Botstein, the author of “Let Teenagers Try Adulthood,” serves as the president of Bard College, as well as a professor of arts and humanities. Botstein wrote this article after the tragic shootings at Columbine high school in 1999. This event triggered something inside Botstein causing him to think negatively about the American high school system. In the article “Let Teenagers Try Adulthood,” Botstein explains, in his own words, of the corrupt happenings of present day American high school (368-369). Although Botstein may have high credentials, he provides no evidence to support his negative claims and opinions about teenagers and American high schools.
High school. It’s tough. Especially if you’re a freshman. Everything changes when you get to high school. You start to notice specific people more, your friends start to change, and even your likes and dislikes change. These may just sound like the typical high school cliche sayings, but in the novel Sleeping Freshman Never Lie, written by David Lubar, Scott Hudson had to go through all of that in just his first year of high school. Throughout the novel, Scott Hudson encounters many changes in his freshman year of high school including, the arrival of a new baby sibling, friends coming and leaving, being on student council, writing for the school’s newspaper, working on the school’s play, all while he is chasing the “girl of his dreams”. The
The purpose of Rebecca Solnit’s “Abolish High School” is to criticize the present high school system along with the emotional and academic strain it puts on developing minds. Solnit’s intended audience is any educated person with the opportunity to voice their opinions on the current approach to schooling.
Making the transition from middle school to high school is a huge stepping stone in a teenager’s life. High school represents both the ending of a childhood and the beginning of adulthood. It’s a rite of passage and often many teens have the wrong impression when beginning this passage. Most began high school with learning the last thing on their mind. They come in looking for a story like adventure and have a false sense of reality created through fabricated movie plots acted out by fictional characters. In all actuality high school is nothing like you see in movies, television shows, or what you read about in magazines.
The trivialization of high school in the present educational organization for teens has been posited in the public; however, it is one vital issue that is being debated.
High school is the stepping stone between childhood and the real world. John Dewey spent most of his life striving to improve this transition. He believed high schools were not preparing students for the needs of society by merely teaching the basics, such as reading, writing, and arithmetic. Dewey argued that high schools “must present situations where problems are relevant to the problems of living together, and where observation and information are calculated to develop social insight and interest.” This type of education would create socially-responsible citizens who have the ability to work together and solve societal issues; in turn, America’s democratic society would flourish. With this said, high schools continue to ignore Dewey’s suggestions,
The novel, “The Perks Of Being A Wallflower,” by Stephen Chbosky is an eye-opening story about a high school student named Charlie who has to overcome the horrors of his best-friend’s suicide. In doing so, he befriends two senior students named Patrick and Sam. Patrick and Sam go to parties, do drugs, and lead Charlie down a bad path. Charlie, the Martyr; Patrick, the Warrior; and Sam, the Innocent; are all unique in their own ways, and these uniquenesses form their archetypal personalities.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower: Unbanned! The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky, is banned due to the use of drugs, alcohol, and smoking. There are occurrences of homosexuality, homosexuality and offensive language. There have been multiple occasions with sexually explicit content and has been deemed unsuited for minors. I believe this book should not be banned for any grade higher than elementary because it deals with real life situations and delivers a very powerful message that many people can relate to.
However, this book absolutely should not be banned. The Perks Of Being A Wallflower has depth. It isn’t like the cheesy high school movies you’d see on disney channel, it’s more real. It shows what actual high school is like and addresses real problems that students face. Many of the justifications for the banning were parents saying they didn’t want their kid exposed to the obscenities, but realistically speaking, their kid probably already has been. They will find out from friends or the internet either way, so why not let them read about it and learn? Suicide was also mentioned several times throughout the novel, and was another reason for its discomfort among parents. This is another thing very prominent in high school, and it often goes unspoken of; and as time goes on, middle schoolers will experience this too. The Perks Of Being A Wallflower should not be banned because it is realistic and touching, not to mention an
The high schools are made up of cliques and the artificial intensity of a world defined by insiders and outsiders. (Botstein pg.20) The insiders hold control. over the outsiders because of good looks, popularity, and sports power; the teacher. and staff do nothing to stop them, the elite.
Every teenager has the same exact problem: high school. Conflict, drama, and social assemblage are a part of every high school student experience at his or her different campus. While most students determine that there is no single adult that has any idea of the situations and circumstances that each person faces in their daily life, they are unbelievably mistaken. Novelist and screenwriter, Stephan Chbosky, perfectly captures these issues in a mature, thematic experience that every teen can relate to. And for some odd reason, some individuals feel that this coming-of-age story needs to be banned from public libraries and schools throughout our nation.
There is a great deal of social interaction that can be used for psychological analysis in the film The Perks of Being a Wallflower directed by Stephen Chbosky. This movie holds a strong focal point regarding mental illness, coming of age, and acceptance. (Halfon, Malkovich, Smith & Chbosky, 2012) Social psychology concepts from the textbook Social Psychology and Human Nature: Brief Version will be used to describe some of the actions and cognitions of the characters. (Baumeister & Bushman, 2014) The Perks of Being a Wallflower follows the life of main character Charlie, a high school freshman who tries to find acceptance and validation of his troubles by the help of his peers. Charlie, as well as his friends, suffer from mental illness in several different ways. This movie shows how the characters overcome the fears they hold and develop into stronger individuals. The three people that Charlie interact with the most are Sam, her Step brother Patrick, and Mary Elizabeth. (Halfon,
They are all middle to upper middle class Caucasian adolescents living in a suburban environment. Sam, Patrick, and the other 3 members of their clique are all seniors in high school and Charlie is only a freshman. Through the experiences of Charlie and his new friends, The Perks of Being a Wallflower provides excellent examples of cliques and crowds, dating scripts, the identity status model, externalizing problems, internalizing problems, and
Lynda Barry’s “The Sanctuary of School”, discusses how the education system can be an escape for children with troubled home lives. Barry experienced this in her childhood and found herself sneaking out of her home one night because of an urgent feeling that she needed to be at school. Luckily for Barry her school was close to home and had a wonderful staff that didn’t question why she was there. Barry found comfort in her school it was somewhere she was safe and listened too. She could paint, or draw in art class which is usually a class overlooked in school budgets. Barry’s purpose is to express that school is vital to some children’s lives and gives them a sanctuary that they do not have at home.
George F. Will’s “College President’s Plan: Abolish High School” conveys ideas that had never crossed my mind. He states, “For various reasons, some rooted in American history and others reflecting recent developments, education has become, for the moment, the most salient social concern and therefore the most potent political issue.” Will introduces Leon Botstein, who doesn’t actually option to abolish high school, just to change the structure of our schools in general. Botstein says that high school was created for 15- to 18-year-olds who were still children. In today’s society, those children are now young adults who are physiologically and psychologically more advanced.