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Teaching ideas based on New York Times content.
Overview | How can writing change people’s worldview? How can it influence public opinion? How can it lead to meaningful action?
The persuasive essay is a quintessential high school writing assignment. With the Common Core standards, it seems to have taken on a new urgency in many school districts and classrooms. But students should know that evidence-based persuasive writing is more than just an academic exercise — it is very much alive in the real world. Perhaps one of the best and most widely recognized examples of persuasive writing in action is the classic newspaper editorial, three to four of which The New York Times publishes every day.
In this lesson, we offer suggestions on how to guide students through the writing process when writing editorials — from brainstorming a topic to publishing their work — and all the steps in between. This lesson can be used in conjunction with our Student Contest on editorial writing, or with any argumentative writing project you do with students.
Materials | Computers with Internet access. Optional copies of one or more of these three handouts: Debatable Issues (PDF), Problem-Solution Organizer (PDF), and the rubric for our Student Editorial Contest (PDF).
Step 1 | Brainstorming: What Do You Care About?
Finding the right topic is essential. Students should pick something that a) they genuinely care about; b) other people would want to read about; c) they can make an argument about; and d) they can find evidence about to support their claim.
You might get students started brainstorming ideas by having them journal about or discuss with partners questions like:
Students can then share their ideas and, as a whole class, compile a list on the board or on a class blog or wiki.
To open the class to even more ideas, you might then invite students look through our list of 200 Student Opinion questions that invite argument. Not only can this list help students pick a topic, but each question links to a relevant New York Times article, which may be very helpful when students begin to look for evidence.
A Note on Collaboration: The editorial writing process at The New York Times is done collaboratively. That means, a team of writers works together from choosing a topic through researching it and drafting the writing. Teachers may want to give students opportunities to collaborate on their editorials as well, whether for only one step of the project, such as research, or from beginning to end.
Step 2 | Modeling: What Is An Editorial?
To help students envision what they will be writing, it is worth spending time discussing what an editorial is and looking at some examples.
Ask students: What is an editorial? Have you ever read any? Where would you find one? What do you think is the purpose of an editorial?
We selected three recent examples from the Times editorial page that students can look over as models, though you or your students may pick others from the thousands in the Opinion archives:
Have students choose an editorial to read on their own or as a whole class. As they read, have them note:
Students may want make annotations or use highlighters as they read, then discuss their findings as a class.
Note: You may want students to look at the rubric you will be using to grade their editorials before they start the research and writing process. Here is our the rubric (PDF) that we are using for our Student Contest.
Step 3 | Researching: What Do the Experts Say?
Once students have selected a topic, they should begin their research by gathering background information. That might mean reading newspaper articles, consulting an encyclopedia, finding reliable websites or reaching out to an expert to make sure they have enough context about why their topic is important to write a strong persuasive essay.
As they do their research, students can take notes using index cards or in a notebook, or they can use our Debatable Issues (PDF) handout. Alternatively, if students plan to offer a solution to a problem in their editorial, they may want to use our Problem-Solution Organizer (PDF).
For more detail about the nitty-gritty of the research process, the Online Writing Lab at Purdue University provides a guide to conducting research that can be helpful with areas such as evaluating source reliability and doing Internet searches.
Students can find articles in The Times by using the search feature. For our contest, we ask that students have at least one Times and one non-Times source for their evidence, although of course we hope most will read far beyond that requirement as they learn about the topic.
Students might be grouped by common interests to work together during the research portion of this process, then write individual editorials, or they might do the entire assignment in partners or as a group.
The New York Times’s editorial page editor Andrew Rosenthal provides seven tips for writing an effective editorial.
By Jason Spingarn-Koff on Publish Date February 5, 2014.
Steps 4 and 5 | Outlining and Drafting; Revising and Editing: How Do You Write an Editorial?
Andrew Rosenthal, the editorial page editor at The Times, explains in this brief video that a good editorial consists of “a clear position that is strongly and persuasively argued.” He then goes on to recommend seven pointers for students.
1. Know your bottom line. “You have to know what you want to say. You have to have a clear opinion — what we call a bottom line.”
2. Be concise. “You need to get to the point of your editorial quickly. You have to state it clearly and you have to be concise.”
3. Give an opinion or solution. “There are basically two kinds of editorials. One expresses an opinion about a situation, like if you want to write about human rights abuses in some part of the world or the country that you’re concerned about. The other kind of editorial proposes a solution to a specific problem. For example, if you want to write about traffic congestion in northern New Jersey, where I live and there’s a lot of traffic, you should have an answer to how to fix the traffic problem.”
4. Do your research. “Everyone is entitled to their opinion, you’re not entitled to your own facts. Go online, make calls if you can, check your information, double-check it. There’s nothing that will undermine your argument faster than a fact you got wrong, that you did not have to get wrong.”
5. Write clearly. “Good writing is important. Make your writing clear and easy to understand. Write as if you’re sending a letter to a well-informed friend who cares about what you think. But don’t use any slang. OMG — no. Use examples whenever you can. It’s better to use an example than just to use a word or an adjective that describes something. If you want to say that the mayor’s pre-K policy is wrong, explain how — don’t say it’s just stupid. In fact, never use the word stupid.”
6. Every writer needs an editor. “After you’ve written your editorial, give it to someone you trust to read and listen to what they say. If they don’t understand it, that means it’s probably not clear.”
7. Be prepared for a reaction. “When you write something and you publish it, be prepared for a reaction. If you write a good editorial, people are going to respond to it. And if you criticize people, they definitely are going to respond. So if someone writes you a letter, write them back. Be prepared to defend your position. Don’t get defensive, just explain why you said what you had to say. And if they question your facts, be ready to show that you were right.”
The Online Writing Lab at Purdue University has a guide to writing argumentative essays that may also be helpful for students as they think about organizing their editorial and developing a logical argument.
Step 6 | Publishing: How Can My Editorial Reach an Audience?
Students will have the chance to publish their editorials as comments on the Learning Network on or before March 17, 2014, as part of our Student Contest. Along with our partner, the Center for News Literacy at Stony Brook University, we will then choose the best to publish in a separate post. But even if your students aren’t writing for our contest, the genre is meant to have an audience. That audience can start with the teacher, but it ideally shouldn’t end there.
Students can read their editorials to the class or in groups. Classmates can have a chance to respond to the author, leading to a discussion or debate. Students can try to publish their editorials in the school newspaper or other local newspapers or online forums. It is only when editorials reach a wider audience that they have the power to make change.
Teachers: How do you teach the persuasive essay? Let us know, below. And if you ever use The New York Times to do it, consider writing in to our Reader Ideas column.
This resource may be used to address the academic standards listed below.
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James Mulhern February 9, 2014 · 9:47 pmWhat a great lesson plan. I like the emphasis on writing as a tool to empower. The Debatable Issues PDF and the other links within this article are excellent resources. Using editorials as models is also important, as students get to see real-world application of argumentative/persuasive writing skills. The succinct list of 7 direct pointers is valuable as well. Thank you.
We are looking at the articles that are linked to the topics on school computers. After reading a few of them, students are prompted to purchase a subscription to the Times to continue looking. Is this contest designed only for schools that have a subcription already? If so, this should be made clear in the lesson plan section. Can a short subscription be purchased?
Amy,
All links to New York Times articles from the Learning Network are free, so even though your students are prompted to buy a subscription, they should still be able to click through to read the article. If students are going from article to article on the rest of NYTimes.com, however, they will be stopped after they have hit the limit of 10 free articles each month. Special subscriptions are available for schools (link: //www.nytimes.com/subscriptions/edu/lp2266.html?campaignId=3JU39), but they are not necessary since we only require one Times article for evidence. One way to find more free articles is to have students search their topic on our blog first, since we’ve likely done more than one post on the subject in the past. Since everything we write links back to The Times and does not “count” toward the 10-article monthly limit, that should give each reader a few more free links. Thank you for asking, and we’re sorry if these work-arounds are a bit awkward, but we hope your students will still participate. — Michael and Katherine
The article that I would like to discuss is titled “How Single Motherhood Hurts Kids”. The title itself is filled with an opinion all its own, which is understandable, but I also have an opinion on this topic as well. The article discusses the topic of transitions that the child may have to go through and the difficulties that they may have to face due to having a single parent. Though all of these are very reasonable accusations and worries, from personal experience and research there is proof that children with a single mother or parent can grow up just as good if not better than a child with both parents in the home.
Divorce and parents separating is and unfathomable thing for a child to go through. So one point i would like to make clear is that I am not making divorce seem like a good thing or a good benefit for the parents or the child, but what I am going to point out is the benefits that can rise out of such a dark transition for a family. “unmarried parents here are more likely to enter into parenthood in ways guaranteed to create turmoil in their children’s lives.”(Hymowitz) Yes divorce is going to cause issues in a childs life, and cause issues that may change their life, but what people do not think about is the person that the child may become because the mother or father chose to get them out of a unhealthy relationship. The child is not doomed for unhappiness because their parents no longer live together.
Another topic that came up in the article was the transitions that will occur in the childs life now that they live with only one parent now. Yes it is inevitable that the single parent in time will look to possibly remarry. But there is no problem with this fact. What people should view this as is showing that there is hope to the child. By the mother or father choosing a better life for both the child and them this will help show the child how to be independent, and help them later in life. “These children are more likely to build upon their own independence in a home where they may not always have one or both parents hovering over them” (Campbell) By this pushing them to be more independent it will help them make choices later on in life.
Of course having both parents at home is ideal but in the case that they are not, it is important for people to know that there are single parents out there that have the best interest for their kids and can offer them just as good of a life as two parents.
We’re about to tackle this contest with some 300 students. I’m wondering how to search the student responses in order to determine whether or not our students uploaded a sample. Is there a way for the teacher to search in order to verify based on the “code” suggested in the instructions?
Hi Shane — I wish I could tell you it was easy to do that, but unfortunately it’s not. Short of having you search for the code on each individual comment page, what we’ve suggested in the past is that teachers make students responsible for reporting the unique URL for each of their comments in order to get credit. So, for instance, this (//learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/02/06/student-contest-write-an-editorial-on-an-issue-that-matters-to-you/#comment-1498619) is the URL for the most recent comment on the contest right now, by someone called R.E. Thank you for participating, and, again, I’m sorry the system isn’t easily searchable. –Katherine
Nothing Is As It Seems
It is undeniable that human beings are eager and desiring individuals who acquire a consuming craving to reveal the unknown. Uncertainty brings fear and anguish into the lives of people, which is not cured until the dilemma present is clarified. Sometimes, this intense ambition to uncover the unknown leads to false culminations and makes the unjustified, justified.
One of modern society’s tremendous deceptions is found in the tragedy that happened at Columbine High School. On April 20th, 1999, fifteen gunshots echoed through the halls of Columbine High School, dreadfully ending the lives of fifteen people. Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris were two high school seniors who obtained a consummate anger toward the world, and proved it in a brutal and cold-blooded way. Many people perceive the Columbine disaster as being the baleful outcome of bullying. This, however, was not the case. According to David Brooks of The New York Times, “Most of these misconceptions have been exposed. The killers were not outcasts.” Klebold and Harris “laughed at petty school shooters, and they sought murder in a grander scale.” Dylan and Eric weren’t bullied, but simply rebellious, enraged, and vengeful.
When this heartbreaking event happened, people all over the country began to attempt to determine the two boy’s reasoning behind this mass massacre that they executed. Since death and the media was involved, it seemed even more vital to make an immediate and reasonable closure. Furthermore, with an ongoing issue with bullying throughout schools in the United States, this catastrophic occurrence appeared to have an accessible blame. Teachers and education systems across the country used this calamity to promote an anti-bullying campaign. ‘Rachel’s Challenge’, which was named after Rachel Scott, the first person killed in Columbine, was advertised in many schools to address the importance of compassion and human kindness. By turning the story of a tragic death at Columbine High School into a mission for change, Rachel’s Challenge is helping create safer learning environments and making a world-wide impact (“Rachel’s Challenge”). Although this movement immensely benefited and continues to benefit relationships between students, bullying was falsely proclaimed as the rationalization behind this movement.
The calamity of the Columbine shooting serves as patent proof that humans’ craving for answers to obscurity ultimately lead to inaccurate acquisitions. Making the unjustified seem justified is a dominant characteristic of human nature. People are in constant strive for resolutions and vindication, because to us, the unknown is unbearable. It is crucial for a cessation to be made only after thorough observation and evaluation of the existent perplexity, for sometimes, nothing is as it seems.
Works Cited
Brooks, David. “The Columbine Killers.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 23 Apr.
2004. Web. 16 Mar. 2014.
“About Rachel’s Challenge.” Rachel’s Challenge. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Mar. 2014.
Enroll yourself in all honors and AP courses. Get A’s in all of your subjects. Get that GPA up. But be well-rounded. Colleges won’t like you if you’re not well-rounded. Do a sport; do a few sports and a few clubs too. Go to those practices and meetings every week. Volunteer at the soup kitchen, and at your church. Every week. But do make sure you get your nine hours of sleep every night. Teenagers are supposed to get nine hours of sleep every night. And if you do it right, colleges will love you. But don’t forget to throw those SAT classes into the mix, because if you have a low SAT score, the colleges won’t accept you. Then, with no college acceptances, your life has been a waste for the past 18 years and you are going to have no job and live in a cardboard box.
These statements constantly echo in the average teenager’s mind. Everything we do sets us up for college… SO, we better not mess up. But is the stress and the pressure really justified? Alfie Kohn states, “…students suffer intellectually as well as psychologically because the pressure to succeed academically leaves little room for exploring ideas…” The high expectations of teens, as Kohn explains it, leave little to no room for teenagers to breathe and think, thus causing an unbearable amount of stress. Alright, point noted. But this stress doesn’t really affect anyone; it’s just one of those myths everyone tells you about high school before you’re finally there…right?
“Almost 40 percent of parents say their high-schooler is experiencing a lot of stress from school, according to a new NPR poll…In most cases, that stress is from academics…Homework was a leading cause of stress, with 24 percent of parents saying it’s an issue. A survey by the American Psychological Association found that nearly half of all teens — 45 percent — said they were stressed by school pressures…” as well, according to Patti Neighmond of NPR. I’m guessing that earlier assumption was wrong, then. Students, as well as their parents, experience stress due to a heavy work load. The problem has been identified. Now where’s the solution?
Do we lower our academic standards as a society in order to help students achieve better grades, or do we let them suffer? Do we shorten the school day so that students have more time to do homework, study, and sleep, or do we keep it the way it is? Do we give less work to ease the stress, or do we stay with the same work load to prepare the students for college? Now, is college really anything like high school? No one really knows, do they?
Jessica Bowman
Mrs. Otto
English II Pre-AP
16 March 2014
Is Dance a sport Or an Art?
Dance – “To move one’s feet or body, or both, rhythmically in a pattern of steps, especially to the accompaniment of music.” Dance is neither defined as a sport or an art. Why do people think that dance does not fall into the sport category and is only an art? The wonderful thing about dance is that it is not a sport or an art. It is both.
Sport – “An athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature”. Art – “The quality, production, expression, or realm, according to aesthetic principles, of what is beautiful, appealing, or of more than ordinary significance.” There is a fine line with any activity between sport and art. An activity requiring a person to be active and on their feet, like basketball for instance, is truly a sport. But, is shooting a ball through a hoop aesthetic and beautiful? Not really. Art is something that a person can be creative and expressive with. I’m not talking about just painting a picture. I’m talking about different ways to express one’s self, whether it be singing, or even playing an instrument. So, where does dance fit in to all of this?
Why is it that when people hear the word sport, they automatically think of football, or soccer, or baseball? Dance is an athletic activity that requires much skill and can be very competitive. For instance, in the Olympics, rhythmic dancers must work diligently in order to be better than anyone else? If competing for an Olympic gold medal isn’t competitive then I don’t know what is. Dance also requires one to be physically fit. A perfect example of this is a drill team. The dancers may make all of those high kicks look easy, but coming from a drill team girl herself, no matter how much you run you will always be out of breath after a kick routine. It takes stamina to be any kind of dancer.
It takes an athlete to dance, but an artist to be a dancer. Dance isn’t just all about running dances over and over again for a competition. It is so much more than that. Dance is a place where you can express your feeling through your movement. It’s a place where you can let all of your stress out and just move. Dance allows one to fully use their creativity and create shapes with their body. You can tell a story through gestures and mobility. You can translate your words through your body.
Dance is both beautiful and powerful. Even though it requires strength and skill, it is also appealing to look at and very enjoyable to watch. Therefore, dance is both and art and a sport.
Work Cited
Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2014.
Jamison, Judith. “The Ecstasy, and Agony, Linking Dance and Sport.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 01 Dec. 2001. Web. 16 Mar. 2014.
“Dance.VS.Sports – Dancers: Artists or Athletes?” Dance.VS.Sports – Dancers: Artists or Athletes? N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2014.
Steven S
Block 2
Mrs. Otto English II Pre-AP
17 March 2014
Should IPhone/IPads be in youth?
In this day in age, technology is at our fingertips, kids and adults having easy access to information. Technology has grown rapidly all over, but mainly in the United States. With this excessive amount of technology, teachers try to use devices such as IPads and using their phones in order to do an activity in class. Especially in the Elementary schools, kids should not be using iPad to learn. This equipment is too expensive to have for children as young as second, third, or fourth grade to be accessing. These young of kids even have iPads for themselves just to play games on them! Instead of playing outside and doing something constructive, they are wasting their time on their iPhone or IPad doing pointless things for their age.
Using them to learn is one thing, but playing mindless games for hours at the age of seven? Plus, kids do not need IPads in schools to learn about the real world, how do you think other people did it? Steve Almond, a writer from the New York Times in his article about technology in youth states “Frankly, I find it more disturbing that a brand-name product is being elevated to the status of mandatory school supply. I also worry that iPads might transform the classroom from a social environment into an educational subway car, each student fixated on his or her personalized educational gadget.” I believe to that when you provide technology to kids that young, they will get distracted and not actually learn. I got my first phone about five years ago and I loved it! But today, when you have third graders with the iPhone 5c, while I didn’t even get a phone until last year and I’m sixteen, it’s just ridiculous. It really isn’t the kids fault; after all, they’re not buying the phone.
The Parents are really the ones to blame in my opinion. It really all depends on the kids, if they are independent or not, but it’s up to the parents really to decide. Liz Perle from The Common Sense Media claims a reminder for parents “When you hand kids phones today, you’re giving them powerful communications and production tools. They can create text, images, and videos that can be widely distributed and uploaded to Web sites. They can broadcast their status and their location. They can download just about everything in the world.” This really puts the pressure on the parents to know when their child is mature to handle these expensive, and possibly dangerous devices.
“An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.” Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, since 1976 has killed 1,099 people as of 2008. 57% of these people were white, 34% were black, and the other 9% were other races, according to Capital punishment is not sending out a good message to the world. It is basically saying depending on who you killed and how many you killed, your right of life is taken from you. Capital punishment is known to be biased towards a race and biased towards the value of the family economically. Capital punishment takes the right of life away unnecessarily.
Truman Capote, author of In Cold Blood, agrees that the capital punishment should not be used. He thinks that because that the main characters, Dick and Perry, killed four wealthy people in cold blood, they don’t have to be killed in cold blood as well.¬¬¬ “… four shotgun blasts that, all told, ended six human lives.” This book shows that this case touched many people because the Clutters were loved by many and because of that the case gave too harsh consequences. This sends a wrong message to the world, it is basically saying if a person is low on the hierarchy then not many people care what happens to them as much as someone who is high on the hierarchy.
Though lots of people executed may have deserved the death penalty in some eyes, a very serious problem in capital punishment is executing an innocent person. If the government convicts the wrong person and that person is executed, then an innocent person has lost their right of life for no reason and can’t be given back. There have been around 10 cases in which there has been strong evidence of innocence, yet these 10 human beings were killed. The government took these people’s rights from them and they cannot give it back.
Capital punishment takes rights from people that they don’t have the right to take away. Capital punishment should be abolished and so far 18 states have come to their senses and realized that the capital punishment is wrong.¬¬ ”Capital punishment is a fundamentally wrong as a cure for crime as charity is wrong as a cure for poverty.”
Capote, Truman. In cold blood: a true account of a multiple murder and its consequences. New York: Random House, 19661965. Print.
Cuomo, Mario. “Death penalty is dead wrong: It’s time to outlaw capital punishment in America – completely.” NY Daily News. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2014.
“Death Penalty Focus.” Death Penalty. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Mar. 2014.
“The Slow Demise of Capital Punishment.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 29 Dec. 2013. Web. 13 Mar. 2014.
Graffiti IS an art in itself
Opinions on what is considered a work of art are vast. Just ask Mark Quinn, the British artist, who created a famous piece of work by taking a mold of his head and dunking it in his own blood. He called this piece “Self”. Oh and Quinn didn’t stop there. “The first blood head was made in 1991 and shown in the Sensation exhibition in Brooklyn. Since then the artist has made a new cast every five years, documenting his own transformation and ultimate deterioration. The three earlier blood heads are all in overseas collections. The Gallery wants to present the latest series in London, as a centerpiece in its contemporary collection and as a way of engaging with issues of representation of the human figure in contemporary culture.”(National Portrait Gallery) So what makes this piece of artwork so intriguing? Well, it depends on the audience. Some people may not consider a blood dipped cast of ones head very artful. The same argument arises when discussing graffiti’s position in the art world.
Art, by definition, is a word for self-expression. It’s a way for a person to communicate with others without having to use voice. Clearly art can be shown in many different forms. Just because graffiti isn’t often hanging in museums with a little red rope surrounding it doesn’t mean that its not valuable. In fact, a rather large piece of the Berlin Wall is in the Newseum in Washington D.C.. The graffiti covered stone is viewed by thousands of people every day. The attraction is not just the stone but the incredible history that is actually documented on it, in the form of graffiti.
The best part about graffiti is that its free! In the New York Times article (Graffiti finds its place in contemporary art) they described a street artist “Haring, chalking his drawling’s in the subway, saw himself as bringing art to the people, according to Lewinsohn, quoting the New York art dealer Tony Shafrazi. “Twenty Million people traveling through the subway got to see his work, “Lewinsohn quoted Shafrazi as saying. “Keith considered that world to be almost a museum of its own kind. “He thought that many of those people didn’t have the means or the knowledge to go museums, so he was bringing the art to them.”(Barbieri) It’s not being made for money, but for the enjoyment of the artist themselves. Just because it is in word form or plastered on the side of a train doesn’t mean its not a form of artwork, it just means its an unpublicized creation made for all’s enjoyment.
Is Graffiti art, yes it is. Like Raymond Salvatore Harmon once said ” Art is an evolutionary act. The shape of art and its role in society is constantly changing. At no point is art static. There are no rules.” So next time you hear the names Jr from France, Jaz form Argentina, or even Gaia from the U.S.A, maybe we should thank them for a more entertaining and artistic walk home.
National Portrait Gallery. “Accessibility.” National Portrait Gallery -. National Portrait Gallery, n.d. Web. 17 Mar. 2014. < //www.npg.org.uk/footer/accessibility.php>.
Raised In Fear
Exploitation and sexual violence against women is a plague terrorizing women as it becomes more acceptable every day. Young women are taught to cover up and be on guard from a young age as it would be their fault for triggering an attack on themselves by being “too exposed” or “too flirtatious.” Everyday sexual violence is glorified in the media and vulgar acts towards women are praised on television and in movies leaving the world in a state that can only be described as a “rape culture.”
Rape culture is teaching young men that it’s okay to dehumanize women and conquer them without consequence. Not only are rape victims becoming more abundant, the victims and their attackers are becoming younger. Most of these young men aren’t creepy outcasts but they are the charming, athletic stars. Just last year two football stars are charged with the rape of a fellow female classmate and found guilty (Oppel). A guilty verdict was the move in the right direction but all too often charges are dropped because no one is fighting for the victim, such as the Montclair case where the prosecution suddenly dropped all charges against the two attackers (Gettleman). This especially dangerous because when there is no consequence the attackers continue raping and assaulting and often become more violent.
Many people will argue more particularly in a younger attacker’s defense that they have their whole life ahead of them and so much potential. The gaping double- standard comes into play as the attackers are defended, but their victims are told by respected adults, friends, peers, even the police that they are at fault for being promiscuous and bringing the attack upon themselves. They are scrutinized, called vile names, and bullied to recant if they do speak out about the despicable acts that were carried out on them.
Even with the abundance of survivors speaking out and thousands participating in walks to stand against sexual violence with the statistics that 1 in 3 women are victims of sexual violence and 600 women in the United States alone are raped every day, a plenty of people still say that “rape culture” against women doesn’t exist. They claim that it is a false feminist outcry, however their ignorance is the reason 40% of rapes aren’t even reported as they put the blame on the victim.
This sexually violent culture needs to be eradicated. Instead of teaching young women to always be on the defense, young men should be taught that conquering and dehumanizing is wrong. No means no under any circumstance needs to be enforced. Once everyone takes a stand and stops trying to cover up the problem by supporting victims and punishing attackers, the world will be safer for everyone. Little girls should never be raised to live in fear of sexual assault.
Gettleman, Jeffrey. “Rape Case Against 2 Montclair Football Players Is Dropped.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 04 Nov. 2004. Web. 17 Mar. 2014.
Horowitz, Alana. “Steubenville Rape Trial Verdict: Trent Mays, Ma’lik Richmond Found Guilty.” The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 17 Mar. 2013. Web. 17 Mar.
Marshall University. “Women’s Center.” Womens Center. Marshall University, 2013. Web. 16 Mar. 2014.
Oppel, Richard A., Jr. “Ohio Teenagers Guilty in Rape That Social Media Brought to Light.”The New York Times. The New York Times, 17 Mar. 2013. Web. 16 Mar. 2014.
Order of the White Feather. “Rape Culture & Statistics.” The Order of the White Feather. Order of the White Feather, 2013. Web. 16 Mar. 2014.
WOAR. “Resources & Information.” Sexual Assault Statistics – Sexual Violence and Rape Statistics. WOAR, 2005. Web. 14 Mar. 2014.
Jenna V. C219 March 17, 2014 · 10:22 amRaised In Fear
Exploitation and sexual violence against women is a plague terrorizing women as it becomes more acceptable every day. Young women are taught to cover up and be on guard from a young age as it would be their fault for triggering an attack on themselves by being “too exposed” or “too flirtatious.” Everyday sexual violence is glorified in the media and vulgar acts towards women are praised on television and in movies leaving the world in a state that can only be described as a “rape culture.”
Rape culture is teaching young men that it’s okay to dehumanize women and conquer them without consequence. Not only are rape victims becoming more abundant, the victims and their attackers are becoming younger. Most of these young men aren’t creepy outcasts but they are the charming, athletic stars. All too often charges are dropped because no one is fighting for the victim, such as the Montclair case where the prosecution suddenly dropped all charges against the two attackers (Gettleman). This especially dangerous because when there is no consequence the attackers continue raping and assaulting and often become more violent.
Many people will argue more particularly in a younger attacker’s defense that they have their whole life ahead of them and so much potential. The gaping double- standard comes into play as the attackers are defended, but their victims are told by respected adults, friends, peers, even the police that they are at fault for being promiscuous and bringing the attack upon themselves. They are scrutinized, called vile names, and bullied to recant if they do speak out about the despicable acts that were carried out on them.
Even with the abundance of survivors speaking out and thousands participating in walks to stand against sexual violence with the statistics that 1 in 3 women are victims of sexual violence and 600 women in the United States alone are raped every day, a plenty of people still say that “rape culture” against women doesn’t exist. They claim that it is a false feminist outcry, however their ignorance is the reason 40% of rapes aren’t even reported as they put the blame on the victim.
This sexually violent culture needs to be eradicated. Instead of teaching young women to always be on the defense, young men should be taught that conquering and dehumanizing is wrong. No means no under any circumstance needs to be enforced. Once everyone takes a stand and stops trying to cover up the problem by supporting victims and punishing attackers, the world will be safer for everyone. Little girls should never be raised to live in fear of sexual assault.
Works Cited
Gettleman, Jeffrey. “Rape Case Against 2 Montclair Football Players Is Dropped.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 04 Nov. 2004. Web. 17 Mar. 2014.
Horowitz, Alana. “Steubenville Rape Trial Verdict: Trent Mays, Ma’lik Richmond Found Guilty.” The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 17 Mar. 2013. Web. 17 Mar.
Marshall University. “Women’s Center.” Womens Center. Marshall University, 2013. Web. 16 Mar. 2014.
Oppel, Richard A., Jr. “Ohio Teenagers Guilty in Rape That Social Media Brought to Light.”The New York Times. The New York Times, 17 Mar. 2013. Web. 16 Mar. 2014.
Order of the White Feather. “Rape Culture & Statistics.” The Order of the White Feather. Order of the White Feather, 2013. Web. 16 Mar. 2014.
WOAR. “Resources & Information.” Sexual Assault Statistics – Sexual Violence and Rape Statistics. WOAR, 2005. Web. 14 Mar. 2014.
Money is something that many people believe is just an object, but an object that should be treated with respect. While others think that money is not only an object but one that should be thrown around and squandered at will. But the real question is;
“Can money buy happiness?”
Technically only you can make yourself happy, money will only occupy you for so long until you realize that it cannot buy you happiness. Students and professors like Carol Hyman at the Berkley College in California have been studying whether money is something that in fact does make people happy. And have concluded that;
“Employees that are primarily motivated by the love (of work) become less happy the more money they make.”
When explained, people tend to be fooled by the things that money can do. Although it can buy you exotic trips, fancy cars, and designer clothes it will never buy the best things in life. You can’t buy laughs, making people feel good, and long hugs. Don’t be fooled by money’s desirable appearance.
The best things in life are free, the second best things in life are expensive. May you never find happiness with money, love of a pet, or share a laugh with a friend. Money can be wicked, barbaric, it can eat your soul away, till all that is left is a relentless wanting, a constant aspiration for more, and when more is not not enough, you become relentless.
“Maybe it is more about expectations, desire and a constant “wanting” than it is about actual income.”
No matter the money that you make, can u really be happy? Happiness should be a feeling we find within ourselves as human beings, not in the amount of money we contain. As katherine Schulten vocalizes, the more money you make, can only make you want more, though the less money you make, the more contained on sanity you are.
Ultimately, money should come as an object, after all, it’s only just paper, thin, green, paper. Obsessions can be developed, but only when money takes you for granted. And if you want to feel rich, just count all the things money can’t buy, the list will be eternal. Merry moments, don’t have price tags on them, they have everlasting smiles attached to them. Although money can do majestic things, money will never take the place of the best things in life.
Maddie K C219 March 17, 2014 · 4:32 pmI Love You, Don’t Hate Me
She should love him, but she loves her. There is nothing wrong with the girl who loves her girly best friend, or the boy who dreams of marrying the guy who sits next to him in algebra. Homophobia is a form of discrimination, like someone being a racist; it’s unnecessary.
People have an idea that homosexuality or being gay is a “mental illness” that can be cured through “therapy and prayer.” “Empirical evidence and professional norms do not support the idea that homosexuality is a form of mental illness or is inherently linked to psychopathology.” Homosexuality isn’t a sickness that can be made better; it is a way of life, part of the genetic makeup of a human being. People saying that having sexual feelings for the same sex is a hint that something isn’t right in the head is disconcerting for the individual that is a homosexual. To say that is wrong, there is no evidence to say that homosexuality is an illness, nor does it make sense.
Religion has no place in a political argument like homosexuality. It is incorrect for someone to say that it is “unholy” to be gay or that “our Lord said it is a sin that will grant you a one way ticket to Hell” because not everyone is religious or has the same religious believes. If someone who is gay doesn’t believe in that a god like figure, then the person arguing that god said it’s unruly just lost the battle because his argument is now invalid. It’s as useless as a Christian going against a Muslim, trying to convert the other because he doesn’t believe what the other says.
The arguing and name-calling is intoxicating. The amount of hate homosexuals get is enough to lead them down the path of suicide, self-hatred, and thinking that they are sick. To discriminate a human based on their love for others is inappropriate. “September 9: Billy Lucas, age 15, of Greensburg, Indiana, hanged himself from the rafters of his family’s barn… September 23: Asher Brown, 13, of Houston, Texas, shot himself in the head.” These boys didn’t know each other, but they were both bullied to the point where they believed that if you’re gay, then life isn’t worth living. If people can look past the color of another’s skin, then they should be able to do the same about another’s sexual orientation. Those kids should be in classes, not caskets.
Being gay is normal. It’s more of a blessing than a sin. Words hurt and they feast on a person until there is nothing left but a hollowed out carcass. Discriminating people on their sexual orientation only kills; it helps no one.
There are around 7,219,307,200 humans alive in the world and that number is growing. Each person in this world is unique and there is no one person who is like another person. But every person on planet Earth has one thing in common. Our parents chose life. Unfortunately, some people decide to abort their child. Essentially, denying the child a life and an opportunity to thrive. All murder is seen as unlawful. So if murder is unlawful, then why is it lawful to end the life of an unborn child? Abortion is a painful and inhumane method of murder that violates the basic right of life that should be extended to all human beings.
It is obvious that some people don’t think that the unborn child is a child. That became clear to the Pro-life Community when our political representatives denied the Unborn Child Awareness Act, which stated mothers who wanted to abort their baby had to first learn about what would be taking place. It also entailed that the mother could then give her child some drugs to lessen the pain, should she choose to continue with the murder. Although babies are beloved outside the womb, an unborn child has less legal protection than commercial livestock. This means that the slaughterhouse have to follow laws stating, “…killing animals is only deemed “humane” if “animals are rendered insensible to pain….” (Pain).
Another argument that is used frequently in debates concerning abortion is ‘the child isn’t a child until birth. It is a zygote and cannot feel the abortion going on.’ Yet in reality, “the zygote is composed of human DNA and other human molecules, so its nature is undeniably human and not some other species.” (Schwarwalder2). This proves that science is on the side of pro-life because it proves that the unborn child is that; a child.
In a perfect world, everyone would know what horror abortion brings to not only the child but also, in some cases, the mother. Childbirth, in many cases, is now safer to the mother because of recent technology that has rapidly reduced the number of deaths during delivery to almost nothing. And to add onto that, a mother who decides to abort her child can get infected, can lose the ability to have child, and will have to always live with the horror of murdering a child.
Abortion is a worldwide issue, and the problem is that everyone knows the term ‘abortion’; but no one knows what abortion really is. That is where we as Pro-life citizens have to start. The problem needs to be put out to the people who are pro-choice. This is where we can start out task of saving lives.
Highschool Killed The Teenager
The monster is crushing. He is excruciating, and his effects are great. He claws at skin as teachers scream “the colleges, they will love this!” He churns stomachs as work piles up, and pounds a steady beat in heads as parents whisper “don’t forget about this.” He reports back to dreams each night, reminding the subconscious mind to hold onto what the conscious brain so wants to let go. But worst of all, the monster is fed by a mandatory aspect of 3.3 million peoples lives (“Fast Facts”). High school.
Coined “the best years of a teenagers life,” high school comes with high expectations and low tolerance. Homework is piled on, because the U.S needs to get better; at math and science and reading and writing, and the only way to tell if you are an adequate member of society, is by passing a standardized test. A test, truley, of your tolerance of stress and ability to memorize facts.
The monster is fueled by standardized tests.
The monster is also fueled by phrases such as “in the real world,” and “this is the easy part.” This monster does not only gauge out insides, but ravages outsides. Hair begins littering the floor, bones stick out, and food loses its appeal. Skin turns white, the final stage of surrendering to the monster. Signs like those are apparent on countless students all over the country, and “a survey by the American Psychological Association found that nearly half of all teens — 45 percent — said they were stressed by school pressures” (Neighmond). But high school continues to feed the monster.
He dines on essays, snacks on applications, and feasts on homework. The monster is even beginning to invade little kids, because elementary and middle school wants to be as much like high school as little brothers and sisters want to be like their siblings. But he thrives in high school students whose heads are stuck in a book, because they care; about college, about grades, friends and family. He cannot live without care.
The monster is crushing. The monster is stress. High schools serves stress as a side every single day, along with other high expectations. Nancy Kalish, of The New York Times, calls parents to action, stating “[w]e all know how badly we react to nonstop stress — why would we expect our children to be any different?” (Kalish). There are ways to save students, to kill the monster, to relax the stress. Shorten days, limit number of AP classes a student can take, lessen the homework load. The monster does not have to be crushing. Instead, the monster should be crushed.
//www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2010/12/12/stress-and-the-high-school-student/it-starts-before-high-school
//www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/12/02/246599742/school-stress-takes-a-toll-on-health-teens-and-parents-say
//nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=372
Thank you so much for hosting this fantastic activity. It was exciting to watch the flurry of activity in my classroom yesterday as students worked to meet the 5:00 deadline.
Now we’re wondering about what is next. Can you let us know the timeline for review and selection? I want to create a follow up lesson where the students review the editorials you selected, especially when they can look at how they responded.
Hi Shane — We were so delighted, and so taken aback, by the response! This contest set a Learning Network record, and we’re still figuring out our timeline for judging. But yes: sometime this week we’ll publish next steps, and put a link here. Thank you for assigning it and your students for participating! –Katherine
Technology does have us become more alone because personally there is a life story about that however to cut it short, I used the computer because I did not have any friends in school and as now my friends may slightly increase, my best friend is still the computer. It is a time waster and I have learned people do not have very interesting life so they do things, both good and bad online. Play video games, research, and other thing people can consider being good or bad.
Now the reason why I say technology can make us more alone is because there is sadness to the computer, because I admit I do use the computer a lot and sadly like it a little too much. However due to recent discover and realization, the computer is numbing and can lack of intelligent ideas and facts that can grow into a myth where people create ideas and theories inside which are not, always true. People are becoming also, less creative because their minds are too lazy to think and daydream about something to do. In short the negatives can be balanced however as I like to say: “people have different ideas of how computer can be good and bad”.
Heya! I know this is sort of off-topic however I needed to ask. Does managing a well-established website such as yours require a lot of work? I am completely new to writing a blog but I do write in my diary on a daily basis. I’d like to start a blog so I can easily share my experience and thoughts online. Please let me know if you have any recommendations or tips for new aspiring bloggers. Appreciate it!
excellent points altogether, you just gained a new reader. What might you recommend about your put up that you made a few days in the past? Any sure?
Eliminate Vaccination Loopholes
“Herd immunity” is critical to a healthy society. Without a sufficiently vaccinated population, our communities could be overwhelmed with preventable viruses like the measles. In 2015, we are facing a measles outbreak due to a lack of immunized people and the contagiousness of this disease. Currently, our “herd immunity” is threatened by low vaccination rates in 17 states. According to the U.S. Surgeon General, there is even a school in California that has a shockingly low immunization rate of 30%. For measles, “herd immunity” means that 90% of the population is immune to the virus. Parents are using the “personal exemption” loophole allowed in 48 states, to opt out of required vaccinations for their children. Parents can easily deny or delay vaccinations based on personal beliefs. This is too easy. States should not allow the personal exemptions regarding vaccinations.
“Personal exemption” laws provide a loophole for parents who are looking for a reason to opt out of vaccinations. Parents opt out for many reasons. Some believe that vaccines are dangerous, can cause serious side effects, or contain harmful ingredients, while others don’t trust safety assurances made by the FDA or the CDC. All scientific studies confirm the safety and effectiveness of the shots. Still others opt to delay some vaccinations so their kids don’t get as many shots in one visit. The risk of getting measles is much worse than a sore shoulder for a day or two. By delaying, the children are off the suggested schedule and therefore some vaccines are less effective. In a period of 20 years, ending in 2014, an estimated 732,000 American children didn’t die due to vaccinations preventing illnesses like the measles.
Another main reason why people opt out of their vaccinations is because they expect everyone else to get vaccinated so they don’t have to. This does not work when more and more people think this and are able to exempt their children from the required vaccinations. For children to be safe from preventable horrible, even deadly diseases, they have to get vaccinated, at the right, scheduled time.
The effectiveness of vaccines has made some people doubt the need for them. By working so well, vaccines have all but extinguished the flame of preventable diseases. Since people now have not had measles affect their life, they don’t know how bad it is, which helps them with the decision to not vaccinate their children. People have to get vaccinated for the sake of the entire community. By allowing “personal exemptions”, states are putting their communities in jeopardy. We need to eliminate vaccination loopholes for the good of everyone.
The Associated Press. “Oregon Considers Banning Most Vaccine Exemptions.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 28 Feb. 2015. Web. 03 Mar. 2015.
Oshinsky, David. “Return of the Vaccine Wars.” Wall Street Journal [Seattle] 21 Feb. 2015: C3. Print.
“Vaccines ProCon.org.” ProConorg Headlines. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Feb. 2015.
Lolita: A Slave for Entertainment
Is it really ok to lock up an animal and use them as a slave to entertainment? At only 4 years old, Lolita was torn away from her family. 80 Orcas were corralled in the largest orca capture ever. Lolita was kidnapped. Ripped away from her family and sold to Seaquarium for only $6,000. The 48 year old Orca whale is currently living sadly in Miami Seaquarium. Lolita should be released from Seaquarium after over 40 years.
Miami Aquarium has become one of the most popular and famous aquariums in the country. Each year they profit millions of dollars off animals. However animal rights activists say Lolita’s 80 x 60ft. wide and 20 feet deep tank is one of the smallest whale enclosures in the world. Their report gives evidence of Lolita’s deplorable living conditions. Of the 160 captive killer whales that have died in captivity, more than 70% didn’t make it beyond 10 years in captivity. The feeling of being locked up, with limited space, and no family is awful. This is exactly how Lolita feels. To pay money to Aquarium to see this is wrong. She has been alone without a companion of her species since 1980 after Hugo, another whale, died after crashing his head repeatedly on the enclosure. “She has no opportunity to socialize or interact with other members of her species, which is excruciating for such a social and intelligent animal,” PETA says. It is unfair to keep a beautiful animal like this held solitary. This proves the sad living conditions for Lolita, who has spent the past 35 years alone in her tank. Orcas are extremely intelligent animals. To be alone like this is much different environment than usual.”They’ll be able to communicate, and begin reforming that bond that was broken 40 years ago,” said Howard Garrett, director of the Orca Network who says the release of Lolita is long overdue. The operation is to release Lolita and return her near the San Juan Island. There, she will be kept in a pen to catch fish naturaly
Seaquarium staff says the plan is unsafe and risky. Curator Robert rose, who works with Lolita says, “This is a non-releasable animal” If freed, “she’s going to die without question.” The staff also say she will end up like Keiko. Keiko was released in 2002 and died the following year after being rejected by wild orcas. Although she will have different knowledge of the ocean, Lolita would return into her home, where her family is waiting. Researchers say that her family is off the coast of Washington and has a call that Lolita still remember. The captivity of Lolita and other orca whale should stop.
REUTERS. “After 44 Years, Miami Orca May Edge Closer to Freedom.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 25 Jan. 2015. Web. 05 Mar. 2015.
“Life Expectancy of Orcas in Captivity.” Life Expectancy of Orcas in Captivity. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Mar. 2015.
We Should Have Background Checks
Kyle Petrie
We should have background checks in all of USA. Did you know that roughly 16,272 murders were committed in the United States during 2008. Of these, about 10,886 or 67% were committed with firearms. Think about how many of these could have been prevented if we had background checks. Many criminals wouldn’t have gotten their hands on guns and many innocent people’s lives could have been saved.
Also, based on survey data from the U.S. Department of Justice, about 5,340,000 violent crimes were committed in the United States during 2008. These include simple and aggravated assaults, robberies, sexual assaults, rapes, and murders. Of these, about 436,000 or 8% were committed by offenders visibly armed with a gun. That’s right, 436,000 violent crimes were committed with people who had guns.
A 1997 survey of more than 18,000 prison inmates found that among those serving time for a violent crime, “30% of State offenders and 35% of Federal offenders carried a firearm when committing the crime. If we had background checks then many of these criminals wouldn’t have been carrying firearms which would have made them probably not do the crime saving lives and keeping them out of jail at the same time.
In the 10-year period from November 30, 1998 to December 31, 2008, about 96 million background checks for gun purchases were processed through the federal background check system. Of these, approximately 681,000 or about 1% were denied. 1% may not seem like a lot but 681,000 denied, that means that 681,000 bad people could have had guns in their possession and it only takes one person to attack a school or shoot a lot of people.
Though some people say criminals would just get guns other ways like the black market, or private unauthorized dealers, just look back at the fact that background checks stopped 681,000 possibly bad, dangerous people or criminals from getting guns.
Background checks are getting more popular, especially in Oregon were private transactions don’t require a check, but sellers have an incentive to do them. If a gun they sell is used in a crime, they can be liable if no check was done. They are protected if a check was done.
We should have background checks for all of the reasons above, it would stop criminals from getting guns, it would protect more citizens, and it would keep more people out of jail.
Who is better; Robinson Cano or President Obama?
John P
Editorial
The President takes out his pen and is about to sign a law just as Robinson Cano hits a home run. What event is more important? Who do you think deserves a bigger salary? Robinson Cano is arguably one of the best second basemen in MLB history but he still shouldn’t make 43 times the money President Obama makes per year.
Being a baseball player, I do have a lot of respect for the amount of work MLB players put in to get to the MLB, but I still believe that they make too much money. “Out of the 912 players in the MLB, the average salary was 3,014,572 dollars.” This is way too much money for a baseball player to make.
Many people say that MLB players put in so much work and they deserve to get all this money but I disagree. I do believe that MLB players do put in a lot of work but I disagree about their salary. People who entertain other people shouldn’t make more money than someone who runs the whole United States.
“Last year baseball players with a .230 to .239 batting average (which is very bad) were paid 937, 756 dollars. This is 4.7 times the salary of the president, 9.4 times the salary of the members of the cabinet and 7.6 times the salary of Chief Justice.” Baseball Players make more than the people who keep America from falling apart! Without the President and Chief Justice we wouldn’t be what make us America and yet we decide to give baseball players a lot more money than these people. Alex Rodriguez signed a contract with the New York Yankees that gave Alex Rodriguez about 29,000,000 dollars for 10 years. Do you think someone should make this much money? Is one baseball players worth so much more than the president?
We need to lower the amount of money MLB players make and increase the Presidents salary. Next time you’re at a baseball game look around at each player who steps onto the field and ask yourself; Are they worth more than the President?
Gray, Matthew. “Should Major League Baseball Players Get Paid This Much Money?” Sports Networker. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Mar. 2015.
Herman, Louis J. “Of Course, Athletes Are Paid Too Much.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 05 Apr. 1991. Web. 05 Mar. 2015
The Heroes of My School
As a student myself, I know that we can always use more friendly faces and open-ears in schools and more understanding and empathetic adults roaming the halls. I know that we can always use more counselors.
Why? Take Leelah’s story, for example.
Leelah Alcorn was 17 when she took her own life. Born with the name Joshua, Leelah was transgender and treated like an outcast in her own home. She was surrounded by deeply religious parents and forced to attend conversion therapy, an attempt to change Leelah’s sexual orientation.
Leelah was bullied. Not by her classmates, not by her teachers, but by her parents, the people sleeping in the room next door. The people who’d promised to love her and accept her and teach her. It may be difficult to recognize this type of bullying when America’s youth has been taught to respect and listen to our elders, but it is terrifyingly real.
According to a study done by the NYU School of Medicine, twenty-four percent of high school students have seriously thought about attempting suicide and 90% of suicidal teenagers believe their families do not understand them. Where do these kids turn to for help? If they don’t feel like they can trust an adult at home or that adult is the problem, what are they supposed to do?
Some may suggest the counselor’s office as a welcoming place for students. They’d be wrong. The national student-to-counselor ratio is 478 to 1. This means the counselors are always busy, and their doors are always shut. It’s not that the counselors don’t want to give students 100% of his or her time and attention, it’s just that they can’t. There’s practically a three month wait list just to talk to one, let alone get a solid solution to someone’s problem. It’s first come, first serve.
School counselors are heroes. They give teens support and care when others do not. We need to hire more counselors so every student can feel safe, happy and healthy at home and at school.
Works Cited
Harris, Elizabeth A. “Where Have All the Counselors Gone?” The New York Times. The New York Times, 29 Dec. 2014. Web. 02 Mar. 2015.
“Suicide Note of Transgender Ohio Teen Inspires Call to Help Others.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 31 Dec. 2014. Web. 04 Mar. 2015.
“Teen Suicides Statistics – Yello Dyno.” Teen Suicides Statistics – Yello Dyno. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Feb. 2015.
“Reasons for Teen Suicide.” Teen Suicide (Teenage Suicide, Teenager Suicide). N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Mar. 2015.
