Category: Public School

As stated by a popular television show, talking about what our generation is known for, “our one defining trait is a numbness to the world, an indifference to suffering”(American Horror Story). Because of the number of people that are in pain, mental health should be an excusable reason to take days off school. Universities and High schools should give students mental health days to deal with their issues.

Depression: “a common and serious medical illness that negatively affects how you feel, the way you think and how you act” ( Ranna Parekh, M.D., M.P.H. January 2017). Students who suffer from depression or other mental health issues such as anxiety or panic attacks need breaks from spending hours every day studying and stressing about assignments. This could allow the youth to seek the help they need such as therapy or simply resting their mind at home.

Two parents speak out about the law that says students can take mental health days in Oregon, “Parents Roxanne and Jason Wilson agree. They say the law might have helped save their 14-year-old daughter, Chloe, who took her life in February 2018.” (newsela)

Approximately 17% of teenagers commit suicide and 20% of all teens suffer from depression, according to childtrends.org. Giving students a break from school might lower those percentages. Mental health days are needed more than ever now since suicide rates are only increasing, making it the tenth leading cause of death in the United States, according to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

Some students experience fear of missing school due to the fact that they would have to make up for a lot of work which would only negatively impact a teen’s anxiety. If students were able to be excused from most assignments that wouldn’t have a large impact on their grades, then they would be more likely to allow themselves breaks. The due dates of tests and projects could possibly be pushed back as well. We need to give teens the assurance that it is okay to deal with their mental health or their overwhelmed minds. One way schools could make this possible is by giving students 1-2 days a month to use if they are experiencing depressive episodes or extreme burnout. “Stress and burnout affect both our mental and emotional well-being and both fall under self-care” (Erin Pawlak).

Having time off school for a few days during the semester could prevent future burnout and gives students the opportunity to receive the help they need instead of letting it build up, potentially saving them from possible harmful thoughts.

There will always be the question “Will students just abuse the privilege of mental health days?” It is a possibility, of course. But should school districts risk losing students to suicide just because a few teenagers may take the opportunity to lie about their well-being?

“One of my fears initially… would be the students that would take advantage of this, potentially manipulating it for the reasons that are not what they are initially intended for,” Watts said in an article on mental health days written by Veronica You on countable.us.

As spoken about in an article on newsela, “ We need to say it’s just as OK to take care for mental health reasons as it is to care for a broken bone.” (associated press. Published on August 5th, 2019)

Schools, parents, and everyone else needs to accept the fact that mental illnesses are illnesses and we as a society have to figure out ways to help those in need. Parents should, however, should know when to allow their child to take a mental health day and when they shouldn’t. Amy Morin, a licensed psychotherapist, argued, “when they’re feeling so bad that they’re struggling to function, and going to school is likely to make it worse, a mental health day might be just what the doctor ordered”(psycholgytoday.com).

For example, a mental health day is great for those dealing with breakdowns, emotional burnout, depression, or severe panic attacks. A mental health day is not great for those who are nervous about a school presentation or when they remember they didn’t do a homework assignment.

To conclude, mental health days should be given to students. Whether it be only a couple of days a semester or a couple of days a year, teens need breaks to deal with their mental illnesses or stress. Letting teenagers have this time to heal and destress could potentially improve their worth ethic, mindset, and well-being. Some states already have a law that gives mental health days such as Florida and Oregon, and hopefully, more will join them.

Introduction

Attention getter (teaser): Congratulations, you’re pregnant! You’re going to be a mom! Those were the words I heard around the same time I decided I was finally going back to school 9 years after graduating high school.

Significance (why important to them?): I hope my story inspires you to not give up your dreams and goals even if at the time it seems impossible to achieve. Anything is possible if you put your mind to it.

Central idea/thesis: Two important life decisions motivated me to work harder and not give up easily.

Preview of main points: I finally decided to go back to school in the same year my husband and I decided to have a baby.

Body

First main point: My husband and decided to finally have a baby after about a year and a half of being married.

Subpoint: The excitement we felt was unexplainable and we knew our family would be equally as excited as us.

Support: After being married my husband and I knew we wanted to add to our family. We made plans of when it would be the best time. The planning of this went as far as deciding at what age it would be best to make a little addition that required work and attention. We wanted to have energy for our kids when they began to be more active in the future. The timing was important for us.

Support: In June of last year we finally found out we were going to have a baby! We couldn’t wait to share the good news with family. Immediately after finding out, we broke the good news to my husband’s family. I waited until the day after to surprise mine. It was hard to keep it a secret, so we didn’t wait to say anything! Our plans seemed to be going accordingly as planned.

Subpoint: I knew being a mom wasn’t going to be the easiest task.

Support: Although there was excitement, there were also worries. “Your life is going to change forever”, “Your priorities are going to have to change”, “It’s going to be difficult!” and “You won’t have time for yourself”. Those were just some of the things that were said to me when I announced my pregnancy to some people.

Support: I knew my life wouldn’t be the same and my priorities would have to change. I just wondered why it felt like people were trying to discourage me rather than just be happy for us. I had plans for my future self when I found out I was pregnant so everything that seemed negative made me question my future plans. I was ecstatic about my pregnancy, but it did make me wonder if I was going to be capable of achieving the goals I had set for myself. I gave birth on February 3rd, 2020 and that’s when the real journey began.

Transition: Internal summary of point I, the internal preview of point II: Being pregnant and then being a first-time mom isn’t an easy task. That same year my husband and I decided to become pregnant, I decided it was time to go after a dream and goal I had for myself.

Second main point: Becoming pregnant is already a huge decision but I decided I also wanted to become a student.

Subpoint: I became a college student a few months after becoming pregnant.

Support: Becoming a college student was something that was on my list of goals I wanted to complete. Going back to school meant that I could be proud of trying to better myself. I was taught that education was an important step if you wanted to become someone in life. Making my parents proud is also an outcome I wanted to achieve by going to college and graduating eventually.

Support: My parents immigrated to this country from Mexico to give us a better life. They have worked hard their entire lives to make sure we didn’t have to go through the same things they did. Going back to school meant that I could show them that I was grateful and thankful for them having to go through struggles to give us a nice life. There were many events in the past that set me back from even starting the process of college. I felt like I was failing.

Subpoint: Sometimes in life, you just have to take a leap of faith.

Support: Although it was something I wanted to do, I didn’t put my full focus on attending college after graduating high school. Instead, I decided that I was going to work first. One thing led to another when the thought of going to school came to mind. The “right” timing just didn’t seem to show up. Bumps in road after bumps in the road seemed to just show up when I thought of applying. Nine long years passed when I decided that enough is enough. I was going back to school no matter what and this time I was determined! It just so happens that it was the same year that my husband decided we wanted to have a baby.

Support: It was last year when I first started college. I decided to take a leap of faith that was needed. Many obstacles and many thoughts of “I can’t do this” had crept into my mind every time I wanted to go back to school. Becoming pregnant wasn’t going to stop me from achieving my goals. Being pregnant was actually a motivation to give the school a start. I want to make my baby proud one day. It was going to be hard work but nothing good in life comes easy. My thought was, “If not now, when?”. Pushing through obstacles in life is just part of the process of becoming successful.

Conclusion

Summary of main points: Going to college and being a first-time mom isn’t easy especially if it’s during the same time frame. I used to have what I like to call a weak mindset. Before starting school, I did not push myself hard enough mentally to get to where I wanted to be.

Concluding statement (pleaser): It might be hard and difficult at times but you sometimes just need to push through to reach where you want to be. Some goals might seem hard to achieve in life under certain circumstances but it’s your strong will that won’t make it impossible.

Here’s the thing. I can tell you how to answer a polyamorous equation. I can give you a completely memorized timeline of both World Wars. I can recite the 9 animal phyla and their characteristics. But you know what I can’t do. I can’t cook. I have no idea how to pay taxes. I know absolutely nothing about financial stability and If I’m honest I really don’t know anything about healthy living or important communication skills. These things seem a little more important to me than polyamorous equations considering they affect my life, but for some reason, I have no idea how to do them or really have any understanding of them.

The reason is this. Schools do not teach important life skills that are necessary for students entering the adult world.

The joint study between Monash University researchers and the Australian Scholarship Group (ASG) collected statistics on what parents thought of the education system. According to the study, 69 percent of parents believe schools should do more to teach their children about social skills and other real-life behavioral problems. Even parents want to see this change! It may also be the fact that by not having your teens and young adults prepared for the real world, they will stay at home for longer and be much more dependent on their parents. 43% of 20–24-year-olds were living in the family home in 2016, up from 36% in 1981, and 25-29-year-olds still at home has also grown from 10% in 1981 to 17% in 2016. Don’t you want to see your kids independently thriving?

Students are taught to memorize information rather than learn critical life skills such as financial management, healthy living, emotional management and training, communication skills, and all-around personal growth. I must give some credit to schools though, in my time at school I have learned a lot of information, but just not enough for me to confidently enter adulthood. Whilst the information taught in schools is helpful and significant it is not entirely useful for students to become well and easily-adjusted adults.

‘Schools teach knowledge, but life requires wisdom’

Here are some possible changes I would like to see made:

1. Incorporate life skills into already existing classes – to avoid people like me nearly burning the house down by putting alfoil in the microwave offer some sort of basic cooking class in science for those schools that don’t already have a food science class. In maths class, give the students the basics on smart credit usage and savings to avoid young adults having heart attacks by looking in their bank account and realizing they only have -2 dollars left. In health classes, teach the importance of health insurance. How important is insuring my life and health? I have absolutely no idea.
2. Offer additional classes for important life skills or simply an all-around life skills class – something like this would’ve been my main choice as a subject or subject. Offer a class in financial management, psychology, emotional management, goals, personal growth, communication even just general things that seem so small but are so important to know. Having a class like this would offer so much relief to high schoolers entering the adult world. It would mean that maybe adults would be able to stop saying ‘I still have no idea what I’m doing because we could get our minds straight, our ideas set, and know exactly what to do as soon as we enter adulthood.
3. Stop throwing kids off the cliff to adulthood – being a teenager is hard enough. I know what the adults are probably thinking. Oh my gosh, children who get everything really have it rough. But with the stress of exams, social pressures and so much more I and many others don’t have the time to learn about financial stability. Having a class that could offer to teach kids these basic skills will mean we won’t be completely thrown into the deep end. Maybe we would then be able to get ourselves together to enter adulthood confidently.

The idea of learning life skills in school seems like a very ideal idea to me, a 16-year-old high schooler. I would love to be able to confidently say that when I become an adult I will have great credit (whatever that means), supportive health insurance (if that’s the right term to use), and I will no longer risk burning my house down with a basic cooking appliance. Sure, the things I learn in school a great, interesting, and challenging but they aren’t really going to help me know exactly what I need to, do to become an adult.

Of course, I can’t generalize this idea as many schools do offer courses in job preparation and cooking but regardless of this, there are gaps missing in our education that, if taught, would easily help us settle into the real world. I want kids to be able to stop constantly asking themselves ‘when am I ever going to use this information?’ and ‘how will this help me after high school?’ by offering information that will. The transition into adulthood is already stressful enough and the fact is kids aren’t being prepared well enough for the real world. Schools don’t teach enough life skills that are necessary for teens entering adulthood.

When American children reach the age of primary school, parents need to make a choice between public schools and private schools: public schools are cheap, but the quality of teaching varies according to the school district; while private schools can almost be labeled as ‘expensive tuition, high quality of education.

Whether it’s a private school or a public school with good education quality, parents choose to provide the best education for their children. Therefore, public schools with low tuition and no bad teaching quality have become the first choice for American parents.

But do public schools and private schools really have the same teaching conditions? What kind of school should parents choose for their children? What’s the difference between public schools and private schools? There is no doubt that there must be a difference between them.

1. Tuition

Public schools are funded by grants from the federal government and local governments of the United States. Children’s tuition is free. Parents only need to pay part of the tuition fees and occasional school organization activities. It can be said that they don’t need to spend much money.

Private schools are mainly funded by students’ tuition fees and donations from alumni, faculty, and parents. Students’ tuition fees are very expensive in the United States; it is not affordable for ordinary families. However, it is generally the choice of bourgeois families. Moreover, the tuition fees of many private schools do not include books, materials, spring outings, and after-school tutoring classes.

There is no doubt that our own family’s economic conditions are the primary consideration when we choose schools for our children.

2. School Facilities and Resources

Public schools are funded by the government, so the circulation of school facilities is relatively limited, and the dilapidated infrastructure cannot be maintained and handled in time, so they cannot provide students with perfect infrastructure services sometimes. In addition, students’ learning and activity resources in and out of class will also be limited. Of course, all of these are relatively speaking, and do not exclude the public schools with rich resources.

However, the capital flow of private schools is very convenient, and the capital is sufficient, not limited to the government. So the schools can invest sufficient funds in infrastructure construction and can invite various outsiders to undertake various activities to enrich student’s learning and life.

Of course, most parents want their children to have the best resources. Between money and resources, maybe it’s the parents’ entanglement.

3. Teaching Concept and Curriculum Design

There is basically no entry threshold in public schools, and children who reach the age of the school district can enter the school. Public schools aim to cultivate children’s basic learning abilities based on society and let children complete compulsory education, with relatively low requirements. The courses in public schools are usually set up according to the national syllabus. In addition to the regular courses such as Chinese, mathematics, history, and science, some public schools with sufficient government funding usually have some classes of interest for children to choose from;

In private schools, the entry threshold is relatively high. Most children usually need to pass the school’s examination or interview, and sometimes there will be IQ and EQ tests. The teaching requirements of private schools are also higher than that of public schools. In addition to basic learning ability, private schools will also focus on cultivating children’s more diversified abilities, such as leadership, social ability, etc. In terms of curriculum design, the courses of private schools are more colorful. In addition to the basic courses, there are more courses to cultivate children’s interests and expertise in various aspects, such as music, reading, performance, etc. Some private schools also require students to master two musical instruments, be good at two sports, and so on.

4. Children’s Circle of Friends

Relatively speaking, the types of students in public schools will be more mixed, because they are divided by school district, so there may be various families living in this district. The type of private school students is relatively single, because most of the children are selected to enter the school, and most of them come from wealthy families.

So as parents, in order to choose a good school for children, in addition to focusing on the quality of teaching in the school, what kind of classmates children are with every day is also the concern of parents.

Although the above statements always seem to favor how well private schools are. It doesn’t mean that public schools or private schools are necessarily better. After all, these are two completely different types of schools. Private schools are student and parents centered. All resource construction and ultimate goal are student and parents oriented. Students can get more attention and care. In public schools, when resources are relatively scarce, they can cultivate students’ hard-working spirit, and train students’ response-ability to seize resources. Children can also meet more peers from different backgrounds and promote their communication ability.

What should parents consider when they choose a school for their kids?

First of all, for the ‘compulsory education provided by public schools, the education provided by private schools can be regarded as a ‘commodity’. What level of education parents want their children to get in private schools depends on how much value parents are willing to pay for this ‘commodity’.

Secondly, although the level of teaching quality in public schools is not uniform, good public schools are very worthy of learning. The quality of teaching is not necessarily worse than good private schools, and children in public schools can contact more diverse students. On the whole, the teaching quality of private schools may be better than that of public schools, but on the one hand, the price is relatively expensive. The annual tuition fee is a big expense for ordinary families. On the other hand, the class is relatively fixed, and children may not be able to reach groups of different levels and meet more people from different cultures

So parents should choose their children better based on their family situation and education concept. If the family economy is relatively good, it is natural to go to public or private schools. You can let your children go to high-quality public schools in a good school district, or you can let your children go to the private schools that you recognize. If you want to send your child to a private school, you can go as early as possible if you have the conditions, because the foundation of early education is very important for your child’s future and life-long learning.

If the family’s economic conditions are not particularly good for parents, in fact, there is no need to let children go to private or even turn themselves into ‘Moonlight family’ because there are also good public schools for you to choose from, and good public schools are not necessarily worse than private ones.

In fact, in America with high social welfare, as long as children are healthy, happy, and safe, it may be the greatest wish of parents.

The education system must provide the right tools for students to be able to succeed. The most vital tool is providing free school lunches for students. Without proper nutrition, students would be unable to focus on their schoolwork leading to failure. Schools need to provide lunches that meet students’ needs by giving them a variety of options at a fraction of the cost helping to alleviate financial stress for parents while still managing to follow the guidelines of a healthy meal. This would then provide a path in which students would have one less thing to worry about, making them more likely to have a healthy and successful life.

Students’ culture and values integrate into what they consume. Schools have taken into consideration those components and have altered the school lunch to match their preferences. For instance, in January 2014, the California Department of Education demonstrated how the Jewish community would be benefited from alternations that were implemented. The U.S. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service declared “During the religious observance of Passover, Jewish agencies from the enrichment and whole grain portions of the CNP grain requirements” (Nutrition Service Division). Since religion obligates students to subsequently change their eating patterns due to required ceremonies, institutions must be flexible in the choices they provide. Moreover, schools provide with options that are substitutes for the foods that are restricted for some. For example, the Nutrition Service Division explains “Serve vegetables in place of dark green vegetables that come from red and orange vegetables or beans and peas subgroups” (Variations in Meals for Religious Reasons). To further prove that schools accommodate students’ preferences, they also provide additional options to substitute the food they would originally eat. Nevertheless, schools can change their menus to provide students with the appropriate lunch that is to their liking.

Most prominently seen today, financial crises could arise which could cause many to be put into a financial struggle leading to the need for free school lunches. For instance, the year 2020 was a year like no other, in the sense that many students’ parents did not have money to provide for food, because the COVID-19 pandemic caused them to lose their jobs. Many parents depended on a school to give them lunch which would take some weight off their shoulders. To prove this, an article titled “Should all American kids get a free school lunch? The pandemic might make that a reality”, states “The Cares Act $600 unemployment benefit ended this week and moratoriums on eviction are lifting many places on Saturday.” (Reiley). Once the pressure to pay debt and bills start to pile up, parents would have to figure out how to provide food for their children. However, schools are willing to provide students with free school lunches as expressed by Regie Ross, the SNA president, in the article which asserts “With so many families struggling…during the pandemic, millions more students will depend on consistent, daily access to school meals this fall.” (qt. in Reiley). More than ever, free school lunches are necessary since students and parents cannot tolerate the financial pressure, they have accumulated because of the pandemic. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic started, families were heavily relying on free school lunches that would feed their children on a regular basis. In brief, financially easing the worries of families during a time in which finding a job is extremely difficult, can make free school lunches seem like a positive outcome in this dreadful situation.

Schools have established that simply providing free school lunches is not enough. Critically, nutrition is the most important element which must be carefully thought of and implemented. This said, schools have not taken this lightly and have invested money and time into helping this cause. For example, the USDA along with other organizations will be providing millions of dollars for schools to acquire the proper tools to be able to achieve a balanced meal. Thus, as revealed by the USDA News Release, “…$5.6 million will go to help states expand and enhance food service training programs and provide nutrition education in school, childcare, and summer meal settings.” (USDA Awards $8 Million to Support Healthier Foods in Schools…). Although it is not an easy task to provide nutritional lunches for all students, operations are constantly trying to provide with the necessary resources to support the means of achieving a nutritious lunch. Even though it is not an easy task the USDA has provided the education system with capable staff that will ensure the best results. Apart from providing a staff that will implement changes to make a nutritious meal, there will also be changes in the environment that will promote in making healthier decisions. The government source reveals “…the Oregon Department of Education will use the grant funds to hold 10 Smarter Lunchroom workshops on strategies for arranging the lunchroom that promotes healthy choices.” (USDA Awards $8 Million to Support Healthier Foods in Schools…). Even though it is a tedious task to give the education system the appropriate supplies to provide students with a nourishing meal, they are keen to invest as much money to make it work. Nevertheless, the nutrition aspect of school food is not taken easily. Schools know the importance that a free meal could make throughout the day and helps the cause by investing time and money to obtain the best results.

Despite this, many people suppose that school food consists of unhealthy food and pay little to no attention to fruit and vegetable intake. To illustrate, Dorren Klausnitzer reasons “…the amount of fast food appearing on lunch trays has alarmed nutritionists, educators and parents alike.” (School Lunches Heavy on French Fries, Light on Nutrition). This helps support the idea that people believe that schools implement no rules that limit the unhealthy food provided to the students. To further support this, Karen E. Stout explains “We capitulate to the fast-food mentality of the kids” (qt. in Klausnitzer). This gives schools and the government a purpose to provide students with unhealthy lunch choices, despite knowing it is not a wise decision to make. Lastly, the newspaper “School Lunches Heavy on French Fries, Light on Nutrition”, provides a testimony of Jerry Jones, a student that consumes school lunch on a regular basis he expresses “I eat normal things like fries, school pizza, burgers or chicken patties.” (qt. in Klausnitzer). This strongly emphasizes the idea that students have developed a mentality in which they are strongly inclined to believe that junk food is something that is not harmful and should be consumed every day. The equilibrium between healthy food and junk food is strongly argued about. Many believe that providing free school lunches will cause the growth of health problems by not regulating and by having other intents, such as money making, influencing their decision.

That is an understandable concern; however, they fail to oversee the fact that the government would soon notice these concerns. This would result in an immediate call to action to implement laws and guidelines that would better the situation. A recent essay edited by David Haugen and Susan Musser, thoroughly explains how there are many myths surrounding the quality of food, schools serve. For example, Haugen and Musser note “Meals served under the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) must, by federal law, meet nutrition guidelines based on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.” (“School Lunch Programs Encourage Proper Nutrition”). Nevertheless, schools cannot simply provide school lunch that is to their preference. Educational institutions must follow specific rules that manage to meet the requirements of foods that should be provided to every student. Additionally, schools have one goal in mind when they offer a nutritious lunch, and that is to avoid health issues along with developing bad eating habits. When students pack their own school lunches, they are more likely to include foods into their diet that are detrimental to their wellness. In contrast, when the school provides lunches, they are able to control some of the unhealthy food intake leading to a healthy diet. As the essay informs, “…students who eat meals served through the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) are more likely to be at a healthy weight.” (Haugen and Susan). This goes to show how schools can make an enormous impact on student’s health since they are providing them with healthy options. Laws and regulations have been placed to avoid the overconsumption of foods that can be harmful in the long run. Even though people believe that schools have no rules that make the idea of a balanced meal work, the reality is that the government has a strict idea of what healthy food should be and schools must follow the given guidelines.

In the end, schools should not be given flexibility in deciding whether students should receive free school lunches. Free school lunches are not an option for many. Several students have values they have to uphold due to religion or personal preference. However, due to the economic situation, COVID-19 has presented to society, many parents do not have the capability to adapt to their children’s preferences much less have a choice in purchasing ingredients that are critical in making a balanced meal. Schools have shown that they can be adaptable to students’ preferences while still maintaining a nutritious meal. Not only would they be helping millions of students, but they would also guide parents into a path in which they are less economically burdened by the situation the pandemic has caused.

How many of you think that school is too long? According to the National Center for Education demography, high school students in 2013 had the same anxiety levels as insane asylum patients in the 1950s. The insane asylum is a society for the shelter, treatment, or custody of the mentally ill. The disadvantages of longer school hours often outweigh the benefits. Long school days can result in mood swings, conflicts, low energy, and exhaustion. Nowadays, anxiety levels are more than they have ever been. Hello Mr. Mccabe and my fellow classmates, today I am going to talk about how long school days affect us negatively

Long school days can cause eating problems for students who don’t eat at school, or who use up all their energy while learning. Arlene Ackerman says she and her students don’t have the strength to teach or learn near the end of the school day. According to The Notebook, longer school days add to low energy and exhaustion. Exhaustion is one of the main causes of anxiety. There are many other problems that can be caused.

Believe it or not, long school days can cause issues for teachers, too. Most have work after-school such as making lessons, making activities, organizing and cleaning the classroom, grading assignments, recording grades, and talking with parents and other staff members. According to Steven Ashby, professor of labor and employment relations at the University of Illinois, teachers work more than 58 hours every week. With so much work before and after school teachers have little time with their families. They also might not have enough time for personal matters.

Many students have after-school activities almost every day. Since school days are so long, some students don’t get home until 6:00 o’clock. When they get home they most likely have homework too, which probably gets finished by 7:00 or 8:00 o’clock. Then you have to do things like eat dinner and get a shower, so you won’t be in bed until 11:00 o’clock. This reduces the time we have to sleep. Students would benefit from shorter school days. If you get home early you can do all the things need to do before the next day. You also get to study longer, which could also make your grades rise. You can also spend more time with your family. We all know work comes first but you also need to enjoy it or you will lose sight of what’s important.

Now we know how longer school days impact our life. It can cause problems for both students and teachers. We stop learning near the end of the day since we have low energy, they disrupt the personal lives of teachers, and can also disrupt the personal lives of us, students. As I said earlier many health problems can be caused by exhaustion. There is no point in going to school if you are not able to learn. We all know we start to lose focus on stuff when we get bored. In that case, it would be better if you stay home. I hope you guys enjoyed my speech. Thank you for listening to my speech presentation on longer school days.’

School prayer would result in many shared benefits. The public school system is, unfortunately, crumbling as proven by the rise in school shootings, increasing drug use, alcoholism, etc. School prayer can help fight these issues.

School prayer should allow religious students a chance to observe their religious views during the school day. All the disagreement over publicly sponsored prayer in public schools didn’t just start in 1962. It began a little more than one hundred years earlier, back in the 1830s when the Supreme Court first ruled that such performances went against the Establishment Clause. It’s also been said that the constitution authorizes just about most private religious activity in and about the public schools, maybe for safety reasons.

A lot of Students may be taught about religion, but public schools may not teach religion. Confident people do not feel the need to include prayers in daily school activities. They think it’s only right to train the students only academically and not get involved in the religious aspect of their minds. Those in disfavor of prayers in school feel that school is only an educational institute.

I believe fundamentalist religions would not support something if they didn’t know a little something about it. If they already knew something about it, they’ll take advantage of it. Some people of different religions, for instance, think it’s right to sacrifice their lives for what they believe in. For both instances, the prayer in schools and the intelligent design case, are somewhat similar. Both wanted to bring in religionGod into the schools but with different backgrounds and approaches to the issues.

Science defines evolution as the change in the characteristics of a species over several generations and relies on the process of natural selection. Back in the 1990s, intelligent design began to attract notice all around the world. Some school boards on their own initiative added it to the program. Many scientists and religious authors were said to write expressively about their amazement and wonder at the history of the universe and of life on this planet, enlightening that they see no disagreement between the evidence for evolution and belief in God.

Science and religion have different features of the human experience. Scientific explanations are focused on empirical tests by means of watching and experimenting. As well as they are subject to the possibility of alteration and elimination. The explanations are based on evidence drawn from observing the natural world and rely on natural processes to account for natural occurrences.

In religious faith, it does not depend on empirical tests and is not subject to the possibility of rejection based on real evidence. The purpose of the world and human life itself, as well as problems concerning moral and religious values, is very important to many people. People of faith are always curious whether accepting evolution is compatible with their religious beliefs. Science and religion have always been and will be foundational components shaping an increasingly global human society as a whole. Both science and religion have served to threaten and provide for the common human good.

Are the sex education classes provided in United States public schools teaching the right things? According to the Guttmacher Institute October 1, 2018 update on State Laws and Policies for Sex and HIV Education, in Illinois public schools sex education is not mandatory, but health education including information on HIV is required and it must include medically accurate information on abstinence. When provided in Illinois, sex education must include information on contraception and the negative outcomes of teen sex and how to avoid coercion, must stress abstinence and the importance of sex only within marriage. The state of Illinois does not require information on sexual orientation, healthy decision-making, or family communication. Many of us know someone who acquired an STD or STI or even got pregnant in their teens. When you were in high school do you wish you knew more about gender identity and sexuality?

In order to decide how to move forward with our sex ed program we will hear from these individuals directly affected by our sex ed program through their perspectives.

We will first focus on the medical perspective and what medical impact sex ed classes have on students’ lives: we will then approach the economic balancing the cost of sex ed classes and the cost of students having unprotected sex; the religious and finally the moral perspective.

We will start our discussion by examining the medical advantages and drawbacks of sexual education classes.

Perspective 1: Medical

For most students, sexual education classes are their primary source of information on medical issues associated with having unsafe sex. Doctor, would you please start our discussion on the medical impacts of sexual education classes?

According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists Committee Opinion from November 2016 written by Dr. Joanna Stacy, comprehensive sexual education should be medically accurate, evidence-based, and age-appropriate, and should include the benefits of delaying sexual intercourse, while also providing information about normal reproductive development and contraception. Therefore it is critical that a medical personnel who specializes in female reproductive health, pregnancy, and childbirth is available for public consultation in sex ed courses in public schools, especially when addressing the precise medical treatments for STDs and other sex-related diseases.

I think from a medical perspective, it’s important that my students know about the sexual process and what surrounds it. Many of my students will go and become parents themselves, especially the young women in my classes that may go through pregnancy themselves so they should know what will be happening to their bodies.

In addition to knowing about pregnancy, knowing about dangers like STDs and STI’s important for all students to think about going forward. Young men can also learn about things like consent with a partner which is important following the “Me Too” movement. According to an article on the website Neatoday.org, writer James Paterson states that learning about consent in health class is, “the perfect venue for those conversations, and now is the time to make sure sex ed is taught sensitively, thoughtfully, and comprehensively in every school in our country” (Patterson, 2018).

I agree to that sex education classes at least from a medical perspective are essential. As a pregnant teenager, I was unaware of all the medical struggles and consequences that would come my way. My pregnancy became my life. I didn’t realize how sick I’d feel, or how tired, stressed, and lonely I’d be. My parents didn’t find out about my pregnancy until I was 7 months in. I hadn’t seen a doctor until they found out. I had a lot of catching up to do on my health and my baby’s. My delivery was a struggle. Being a teen left me with a disadvantage. My hips were not wide enough to have a vaginal birth. I was left with the only option of having a C-section. If I ever choose to have more children, I can only give birth surgically with a C-section. Had any of my public schools given me proper sex education, my pregnancy and all the medical struggles I went through could have been avoided.

It’s important for my students to be taught sex ed because it can help teach them how to prevent diseases like HIV, prevent STDs, and unintentional pregnancy. According to American public health, association adolescents are more likely to get STIs and are half of the new 20 million diagnoses of STIs every year even though they only represent 25% of the sexually active population. Teaching them sex ed would help lower these numbers by teaching them how to prevent getting these diseases and being safe while having sex.

Well, even if we were to preach abstinence in health classes, it’s immensely likely that there will be students who have sex. According to an article in the journal Teen Pregnancy titled, “Sexual Health Education from the Perspective of School Staff: Implications for Adoption and Implementation of Effective Programs in Middle School,” they state, “By sixth grade, almost one in 10 students is sexually experienced, and this percentage increases to 32% by the ninth grade” (Peskin et al., 2011). It’s been happening for generations and it won’t stop now. Because of this, I think our students have the right to know what they’re getting themselves into before they’re already doing it.

Should school time be extended? That is a question that many adults are keeping on top of their minds. They believe that 6 to 7 hours of school are not quite enough for a day, some suggest that school time should match the average of 8 hours of work every day. This divided the debate into two sides: “Reduce school time and extend school time”. However, it’s believed that most of us prefer the school hours to be left untouched and many other considered alternative hours could cause havoc to the schedule that the students are used to.

The school hours debate had been around since the school existed and there was no way to satisfy both sides. About one month earlier, a shocking announcement was made through the news source CNN addressing a bill created by Democratic presidential candidate and US Senator Kamala Harris that establish the intention of matching school hours with the traditional workday of the adult. This act named “The Family Friendly Schools Act” would accomplish to extend the school day by three more hours making the average school time now from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Kamala backed her suggestion by explaining that the current school time may cause parents to waste time trying to find a way to take care of their kids while they are still at work and put low-income families at a disadvantage. Even Catherine Brown, a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress expressed that she fully supports this movement through an interview: “The misalignment between school and work schedules puts working families through unnecessary financial stress — a burden we know is disproportionately shouldered by Black and Latinx families and families with low incomes,”(CNN.com). Another benefit of this act mentioned was it allows schools to keep going during many events like teacher conferences and also provides enrichment activities without any cost on days without classes through a $5 million dollars grant across five tears to each school district to help students improve in class and help the school achieve higher test average overall.

Even with all the benefits stated above, many people were not moved by this bill and expressed their opinion about the bill and why it shouldn’t be official. The co-host of: “The View,” Whoopi Goldberg, notified the act could guide to ‘institutionalizing’ of schoolchildren which means “not all schools have gymnasiums or spaces for the children to escape the classrooms,” (CNN.com) she said. A UK/US newspaper/online news publisher name “The Independent” interviewed many experts in regard to school and parenting and their opinion on the extension of the school day and here is some responses. Karen Whitlock, a secondary school teacher said: “…I see how older children get tired at the end of the current school day. Making children stay longer will not result in quality teaching and learning.” (Independent. co) and Siobhan Freegard the founder of a site called Netmums said: “Educational experts agree children need time to relax, to play and to wind down, it isn’t wasted time where they should be at school and cramming in more lessons – it’s a vital part of childhood. Extending the school day will also cause thousands of job losses as childminders and people who run after-school clubs like sports, drama, and music are forced out of business.” (Independent. co)

Further research also proves that a longer school day is not as needed in many ways. Because the act is pushing toward the convenience of parents’ schedules and helping better students improve in school, it may have some effect on how students adapt to their everyday schedule. Extending the school days may look like a good solution but in reality, it’s just a simplistic approach. In actuality, most problems can be solved by using time in school more efficiently. A study proved that students only make use of a third of their school day to do work, extending the school days most likely will not change the students’ study behavior as much. A more reasonable solution for this is to keep the students in check throughout the day, monitoring their behavior, etc. There are many reasons why longer school days will spark more opposite results of what it is intended to do, exceptionally long school days could result in extreme fatigue and lacking attention in class making studying ineffective. Consequently, when students are mentally exhausted to focus on the lesson near the end of the day, most of the information from the lesson becomes useless. Some students are prone to diagnoses of post-lunch attention deficit syndrome which totaled their mental power for class after lunch.

Another reason why students’ energy diminishes so quickly throughout the day is because of the lack of sleep. According to a chart created by Sarah McKibben named “Wake UP Call”, as kids, the average sleeps time for us is at least 8 hours a day. High school students are struggling to achieve the recommended time of sleep due to the excess amount of work they receive in school, some even start doing their homework as soon as they get home to finish their work in time. The decision to extend the school day could affect the students’ schedules to do their homework and cause their quality time with their families which sounds like a lose-lose situation overall. From here those struggling students may become too tired actually to learn in school; additionally, the charts also show: “33% of teenagers report falling asleep in school” (Sarah Mckkiben). Sleeping in class could lead to students missing out on important lessons that may be tested during the test in school and cause the test average to drop, which was one of the obvious reasons why some people want school time to be extended. However, a longer school day doesn’t mean that students could achieve higher test grades. A report showed that spending more time in school doesn’t necessarily mean the test average would be higher. The United States students spent an average of 1146 hours of study in class while other Asian countries were shown to spend significantly less amount of time and were able to outperform the United States, especially in Math.

It’s understood that most of the students wouldn’t want to spend more time in class every day and are upset with the new act being introduced. However, senator Harris dropped the act due to the low amount of support from the people, this showed the result of someone who is trying to do something way out of the ordinary and fail to gain traction for the idea to go through. The current school schedule is already a perfect balance for the students to make room and improve in school, rather the best option is for the teacher to take action and help the students in many ways and support them until they succeed

Schooling in the United States

Summarize the purposes of schooling in the Spring chapter

The purposes of schooling are determined by elected officials. Therefore, they always have a political bearing. The primary goal of schooling is to educate people on similar patriotic and political values as a way of ensuring there is no unrest in society. Also, as education increases the chances of equitability, it serves the purpose of diffusing any social tensions. Besides, education teaches people about morality, therefore, helping reduce crime. Due to the opportunity cost of attending schools rather than doing other things in life, education aims to reduce poverty by increasing the chances that one has of earning higher compensation. Education has also become critical in helping solve modern problems such as racial diversity, epidemics, industrialization, and challenges posed by globalization. As such education has greatly been purposed as a means to solving societal problems with little regard for primary stakeholders such as the teachers and the learners.

What the purposes of schools in the United States should be

The purpose of schooling in the US should focus on the learner rather than political aspects. Although schools are a part of the social institutions and cannot operate in isolation, it would be more effective if the primary stakeholders including teachers and students had significant influence in the decision-making process. As such schools could be giving quality education that would empower students at a personal level. As it is the standardized curriculum and testing place many students at a disadvantage. The purpose of empowering students is critical in their realizing their skills and abilities as well as having their teachers help and guide them in nurturing them. Talents and skills utilized help not only the person but the society as a whole, therefore, the goals of political aspects such as fighting poverty and improving welfare would still be attained.

Additionally, the purpose of schooling should be for self-fulfillment as well as prosperity. The schooling experience in the United States should allow students to grow holistically. Consequently, certain degrees of flexibility should be embraced so that the schooling experience is more accommodating of different personality types and their needs. For instance, teachers should be allowed to have different methods to teach different students as such students would learn in a way that appeals to them. It is likely to improve both educational outcomes and outputs both of which would lead to prosperity.

Why do you believe these are the ideal purposes of schools?

I believe that empowering people through quality education brings some level of equity thereby they have equal predispositions to life. Each person will have had their needs catered to appropriately and effectively than it is when education is based on standardized procedures. The empowerment will have equipped them with the confidence and competency they require to proceed in life after school. Empowered people also make better citizens which is good for the political, social, and economic aspects of society as a whole. Prosperity and self-fulfillment will positively impact their quality of life by preparing them to be globally competitive as well as equipping them with skills that will help them cope with rapid changes in society.

How well are these aims currently being achieved or not

These aims are being realized through the reforms of the curriculum to be more inclusive of recent changes in trends and development. There is also the implementation of recommendations from research that shows the advantages of learner-centered learning in which students whose teachers use teaching methods that are more flexible learn faster and with ease and interest in education. These choices indicate hopes of reforms that may produce more holistically developed students in the workplace and social sphere.