Generation Me By Julia O'Gallagher

Let's face it, our generation is way more selfish than the one before us. What happened to spending time with family and taking pictures just for souvenirs? 30 years ago the concept of a selfie didn't exist, today that's all we hear about. Some of the products we use these days seem to suggest being self-centered. Being self-centered doesn't lead anywhere, it only shuts you out from reality.

You might think I'm crazy for saying this but, kids these days have it made. Teenagers especially, are often way too caught up in there own lives to care about others and what goes on around them. You'll notice that lots of people our age don't pay attention to what goes on around them. They're too busy updating their Facebook status or checking how many likes their picture got on Instagram. The most common devices around us also seem to have an effect on us: iPods, iPads, iPhones, etc. The name says it all. Even songs we listen to have lyrics are less and less inclusive. They have been studied and they contain more "I" and "me" in them than "you" and "us". If these facts don't say selfish, what does?

The next thing I want to talk about is our generation's attitude towards others. We don't say thank you to bus drivers, cashiers or teachers. We don't hold the door for the person behind us and we act without thinking about how it will affect others. I have seen this so many times since I have been at school: "But, I have the right to do this" students say this all the time to teachers or other adults when they get in trouble. You might have the right to do something stupid but, you really don't have to. Not saying "thank you" can make you look too self-centered to care anything or anyone besides yourself. Not holding the door for the next person can also give people around you the feeling that you don't care. What do you do? Do you ignore others or do you thank them for what they have done for you?

To finish off, our generation is selfish, rude and can be ungrateful. Instead of the "I" in iPod, why not use "we"? All I want to say is to take off your earphones and look up from your phones. Share a smile and say "thanks". Just that could make someone's day.

Our big obsession by Alicia Avery

Are we too obsessed with celebrities? They are just normal people who need attention. Many children want to look like them but are we really obsessed? Whenever I hear today's music, I figured that they only talk about drugs, sex or cars. Now, I know that not everyone likes Celine Dion but she is one of the artists who always has a deep meaning in her songs. So, are we too obsessed with all this celebrity thing?

I always ask myself why people care about things like beauty, popularity and if you are thin or not. I have better things to do such as doing my work in school and pursuing my dream of becoming a singer. I want to become a singer simply because I really enjoy singing and I want to do what I love everyday. Not because of fame. Why is our society obsessed with celebrities? My opinion is that people wish they had the "celebrity life", a life where they can have anything they could ever want, popularity throughout the globe and the most expensive things money can buy.

Teenagers are being affected even though they don't know it. I've heard many girls saying that they are too fat and wish they were skinny like Paris Hilton and others who have lost a lot of weight and who are now really slim. Teens all over the world are influenced by actors, singers and models. They want to dress, talk and act like them even though they don't admit it. Some would be ready to do anything to look like their favorite celebrity including plastic surgery. When you get plastic surgery, there's about 85% chance of you regretting to have done it.

One thing that really bothers me is this magazine called star. It only shows stories about celebrities! They never show or write the lives of everyday people and the problems they go through. It is as if celebrities were the only ones to have hard lives. To this magazine, they think that fashion and how you look is the most important thing. They judge artists on how they dressed, they comment on their faces and compare their dress to another
by saying mean things about it. They comment on non-important things of everyday life but we still read this magazine and love it. We give ourselves permission to judge people we don't even know and that we have never even spoken to.

My answer is yes, we are too obsessed about celebrities, people who care only about themselves and will never do anything to help the people in need and less fortunate. Of course, there are some exceptions such as Angelina Jolie who does contribute her time to help the people in need around the world. So, instead of trying to know more about celebrities` lives, spend your time in your community to make our world a better place. Instead of caring about them, be a celebrity in your own community.

Time consuming, and almost useless, is cursive worth to learn? By Mika Dopheide

When you were in third or fourth grade, we all learned how to write cursive. But, how often do you use it? Elementary schools shouldn't be teaching cursive writing. Schools in this generation are teaching cursive, in the third grade. While in the past this skill was mastered throughout grade three up to six. Schools simply don't have time to teach this skill, students need to learn real subjects. The younger generation in the 21st century don't need cursive, with all the smartphones and computers we now use.

In the 21st century, is cursive a necessary skill? Kids have the power of internet and technology in their hands. Therefor, it isn't a useful way of writing. On computers, people all use the standard English alphabet (I'm pretty sure you know that if you're here). I remember my teachers trying to "fool" us into learning cursive, saying it would help us when taking notes in high school. But they never quite imposed on having us write cursive. It was a waste of time for both the teacher, and the students.

Secondly, schools don't have time to teach cursive. Teachers want to use their time on real subjects, what's going to help their students in the future.[Again] I remember my third grade teacher giving us five classes (approximately) to learn the whole cursive alphabet. My peers and I were getting nervous, thinking there would soon be a test. But the test never came. Our teacher had probably thought it was a waste of time, and rushed the chapter. She had never really taught us how to write cursive, all she did was give us worksheets. Truthfully, I don't even remember how to write cursive!

Ultimately, cursive has never served me. My teachers, just disregarded cursive in their learning. It also never helped me when taking notes in high school. Therefor, cursive writing shouldn't be taught at all. It wastes precious time for a students learning. It also isn't a relevant skill in the 21st century. I wonder if our standard alphabet will be "extinct" like cursive, in the future!

Is Cheerleading a sport? by Emerick Beaulieu

Is cheerleading a sport? Let's put this question in a more appropriate manner. Is practicing a sport that requires a complex set of technical skills, physical fitness and real guts a sport? Yes it is. Cheerleading should be considered a sport. For some people, cheerleading only sends the image of pompoms and pleated skirts. However, it requires as much physical fitness and as much technic as any other sport.

 

First of all, the use of physical fitness is one of the main criteria for an activity to be considered a sport. As some people would think, cheerleading is not only about pompoms and pleated skirts. It's about strength. Some tricks cheerleaders do are very hard physically. cartwheels and twirls may look banal, but they require a lot of strength. especially if you are in a competition and making tones of them. Also tossing someone in the air and then catching him is very demanding. An average women weights about 155 lb. This is very heavy especially if you consider the height they are throwing them in the air. Catching someone is even harder since as they fall the person will accelerate making it harder for the person to catch. So I'd put a check mark on that criteria.

Secondly, another very important criteria you need to fulfill is the presence of technic. Have you ever noticed how every move cheerleaders do seems to be so easy and graceful. This is because there is a lot of technical skills in each of them. Cheerleaders practice very hard to ameliorate their technic. A cheerleading choreography is very similar to an acrobatic dance. Dancing is considered a sport, so why not cheerleading? It is way harder to make flips look good than sliding movements and turning around. you also need a lot more technic because flips and and throwing people in the air is very dangerous. So, I think that this criteria is also fulfilled.

  

In conclusion, cheerleading has about all the criterias needed to be a sport. It should, therefore, be considered as one. Physical fitness and technical skills are required in cheerleading almost more than in any other sports. So for all the people who say that cheerleading is not hard, try it first. An activity who uses physical fitness and technical skills should be considered as a sport. 

 

 

Family Actually By Catherine Mailly

What is the most important thing to you in life? Is it money? Is it your job? Or even your car? There are millions of possible answers to this question, but one comes back more often than the others. Family. But what is it exactly? I think that family cannot be defined because it takes a different aspect to each and every one of us. Some consider that family is only blood relatives, others will think DNA doesn't matter. There are so many recomposed families after all. It's a personal choice.

The first group I thought about represents the cliché, the stereotypical family:  both parents raising their children. People who think that this is the only definition possible of a true family are becoming rarer with time. However, in the 1950's for example, this was the only sort of family people could imagine. There was no homosexual marriages, no multiracial marriages and almost no divorces. This mentality really has changed and the definition of a family (if there's one) has too. This perfect little family sometimes includes a pet or two, but besides that, it is a very closed circle, extremely hard to penetrate. Does it means the ones inside that circle aren't feeling trapped? I would say it depends.

The second possible definition of a family is the following: a group of people who cares and stands-up for you. It's simple, isn't it? My philosophy is that family should be simple. I don't think that DNA and lineage should matter as much as they do currently. Yes, we have to take care of our blood relatives, but what about others? You know somebody since so long that this person is almost like a brother or a sister to you? What keeps you from treating that person a such way? We should be more open to it. Everybody should quit trying to enclose themselves in a tiny circle impossible to break through. Why don't you welcome your father's girlfriend or your new step-father's children in your circle? Your family can be whatever you want it to be. It cannot be defined, remember?

The last group can create the most diversified types of families: people who consider their friends as their true family.The one they picked for themselves in a certain way. There are moments in your life when your friends can bring to you things that your parents or your brothers and sisters can't. Friendship is such a magical thing! You are not forced to like or to endure these people. You just are with them because you want to. Plus, you can meet new ones everyday and enlarge your family each time. Friends don't necessary share your DNA, your skin tone or your genes and it just makeseach of them more special. A rainbow wouldn't be as beautiful if it had only one color, right?

Family has a different face to each of us. It can be large, small, multiracial, it can share your DNA or not... Everybody has its own perception of what a family should look like. Should it be a rainbow with one or many colors? It's as you wish. Should it be composed of your friends? Or of your relatives only? Or of both? I won't give you the answers to all of these questions. You will have to find them yourself.

The Endangered Art of Cursive Writing by Florence Clément

As time goes on, less and less people write in cursive, which is not a good thing because they are missing all the benefits of cursive writing. Elementary schools should keep teaching this art of writing, as it is a precious skill that everyone should own. Many experts have extensive knowledge of the gifts cursive writing has for us and our brain. Unfortunately, a lot of people still think that cursive writing is a useless, time wasting type of writing.  Schools should not miss this great opportunity of teaching cursive writting.

First of all, let's see what experts think about the benefits of cursive writing. Some explain that children who write in cursive generate more words and ideas than those who type. It can also help the brain to develop categorization skills, which helps to improve its capacities faster . So, let's imagine that you are an important person that does not know how to write in cursive, and that you need to sign a contract. Wouldn't you be afraid to sign a important paper in block letters ? If not, you should be. Signatures should always be written in cursive, because it decreases the chances of forgery. Elementary schools should continue to teach cursive writting because of its various benefits.

Second of all, cursive writting can help some people get smarter in some subjects that require note-taking activities, like math. Some teachers say that since they made their students take notes in cursive, they have become more good at remembering their notes. As we write in cursive,three areas of our brain get activated. The fusiform gyrus,the  inferior frontal gyrus and the posterior pariental cortex.  These may be weird names, but they play an big role in the development of our brain and can help us remenber certain things. Cursive writing doesn't help us  at school only, but also in everyday situations. One of my friends, who is enrolled in an archeology program, was once studying for an important history test, and she needed to read The Declaration of Independence, which was written all over in cursive writting. Since she didn't know how to read cursive, she didn't do well on her test. See ? Elementary schools should continue to teach cursive writing because, later on, if you don't know how to read or write in cursive, it can create problems.

As technology improves, less people write in cursive due to the fact that with  new technologies, it is easier and less complicated to write, because now, we can type. Elementary schools should still continue to teach cursive writing because it is an important skill that everyone should have. This form of writing helps develop our brain, can help us at school, at home and allows us to create unique signatures. We should not let time steal away this amazing art.

Is It Helping Us Or Hurting Us? By Mike C

It's 3:10 and should be over. But is it really? Homework still needs to be done. Many people have their own differnt opinions on homework. And I'm going to give you mine. Does homework really help you learn or is it just a waste of our time? These are some reasons why I think homework is a waste of time and doesn't help you learn. It can be stressful, and school days are already long enough. 

Have you ever come home from a long day at school and have so much homework that you don't know where to start? Do you try to do what you can? Or, do you ended up not doing it? This has definitely happened to me! Homework is meant, to help students learn, but in the end, it can stresses kids/teens out. One main effect is too much stress gets you to sleeping problems. Which, we all know that if you don't have a good nights sleep you're not going to learn as well as you could of. I find that if homework starts giving students stress problems it is not going to help them. So we shouldn't have homework. 

I don't know if its only me but when I get home I'm glad to be home. I'm tired and the last thing I want to think about is more schoolwork. The average teen goes to school for 6-7 hours a day; basically from 9am-3pm with lunch breaks and breaks between classes. So when you get home you don't  want to do 1 hour and 30 minutes of extra schoolwork. You just want to relax watch some TV, play video games. So we have to think to ourselves if we can't teach it students all they need to know and practice in 6-7 hours days do we need to know all this information. Some students play sports after school, and just don't have time to do homework. Now I know school comes before fun but we also need to move and be active. We can't spend all day sitting in a class and expect us to do more work at home for 1 hour and 30 minutes. 

Evidently, we shouldn't have homework because it stresses kids\ teens out. School days are already long enough! Homework does not help students learn. So what do you think? Should we have homework or should teachers stop giving students it? Just please give us a break!