Opinion

The whole country of America has to deal with the issue that is gun violence. South Carolina is no exception. The impact of gun violence in South Carolina is an increasingly important issue for the state to focus on. Gun violence only leads to death, injury, trauma, grieving, and chaos in communities. According to the EFSGV, around 1,012 people died in South Carolina due to gun violence, and 45% of these deaths are ruled as homicides. Everystat.org claims that an average of 2,358 people are injured in South Carolina from gun violence. 

Gun violence is an ever-growing concern in the country, and an important issue that has sprung up in South Carolina. The state of South Carolina has the 6th highest gun violence rate in America. The cost of gun violence is no joke. The average cost South Carolina spends on gun violence is 14 billion dollars, which comes out of the resident's pockets. This makes it hard for the state to spend money on increasing the state's well being, such as education, infrastructure, etc. Not only does gun violence pose a threat to your wealth, but also you, your friends, and your family. If we fail to acknowledge the importance gun violence has in South Carolina, it will only lead to more deaths, injury, and money spent. If we share the importance of gun violence, we can create more laws to protect the innocent and make the state an overall safer place to live. 

Decline in test scores 

In recent years test scores have gone down. They are not as high as they used to be, as high as 20.3 on the act. But now it has dropped down below 20. The last time this happened was 31 years ago in 1993. This data shows there is a decline in test scores. But how does this affect college and readiness?

College and readiness 

This decline in test scores proves that they don't get as good grades as they were a couple of years ago. This affects college readiness because according to South Carolina career and readiness, Students Feel Good About Their College Readiness. These Charts Tell a Different Story, and Is ‘Gen P’ Ready for College?

college is proportionately harder than high school. So the decline of test scores in high school students shows that they are not ready for college.

Students think they are college ready

In a survey it showed that 85% of high school students claimed that they were ready for college. Colleges have had a 30 year low in grades. This shows that these high school students' claims were wrong. Most high school students are not ready for college. So how can we change this?

How can high school students be college ready?

While there is a 30 year low in test scores in college shows that high school students are not college ready. But we can change this. Virtual school has been big because of the global pandemic. A lot of students are virtual because of the global pandemic. This virtual school has made test scores and overall grades go down ever since the global pandemic where virtual school became a thing. Instead of a qualified teacher teaching the students virtual kids a lot more to teach their own self. This has shown an overall decline in test scores and grades because of virtual school. 

Solution 

The solution to get rid of this decline in test scores, grades, and false hope of college readiness is to get rid of virtual school. Virtual school started in around 2020 which is where test scores and grades started to decline. This shows me that virtual school is only hurting students not helping them which means the best solution is to get rid of virtual school entirely. This is not a biased statement because this is backed up by evidence and stats.

How to be college ready 

The way to be college ready is to understand the differences between college and high school and come to an expert. In colleges the teachers do not care as much about how you are doing in their class. In college there are professors who teach a lot of students while high school has much smaller classes. Where the teacher can individually help students. While in college this is just not the case. These key differences are reasons why you need to be college ready.

High school to college transition in south carolina 

In the state of south carolina colleges are generally bigger than high schools. As well as having gaps in your schedule instead of your schedule always being covered in classes. A lot of South Carolina high school students want to jump start their career But they have to have an adaptable approach to education.

Things high schoolers transitioning to college should be aware about

Things that high school students transitioning to colleges should be aware of are bigger classes, bigger school, and spread out classes. They should also know that classes are harder and you need to try harder because the professors care less about the students' success. You also need to know what you want to be when you grow up because you have to major in classes.

How can I be a successful college student

The biggest recommendation for high school students is to take honors and AP classes in high school so you have all the credits you need so you can focus on your major and not side classes.

How to combat declining test scores and harder classes

You can combat declining test scores and harder classes by Getting credits, ditching virtual school, and study. Without having all of your credits you cannot focus on your major and take classes you necessarily don't really want to take. By taking all the credits you need you can focus on your major and not be in the majority of students that are test scores.

Why virtual school is harmful to student growth

Virtual school can be harmful to students. Virtual school became bigger after The 2020 covid pandemic. Virtual school puts the heavy lifting on the students, not the teachers. In virtual schools students more than in school have to teach themselves which affects growth.

Overview

In conclusion test scores have been declining for the first time in 31 years which is dangerous for college and readiness. Ever since the covid pandemic test scores have gone lower that is around the time when virtual school got popular. A lot of high school students think they are high school ready but statistics say that they are falling behind. Test scores have gone down so virtual school is the cause for this which is why virtual school should be destroyed. It is hurting college and readiness which is very important to students because it is a big step in life. This is why virtual school and anything affecting student growth should be banned for the sake of college and readiness. 

Social media influencers have risen to prominence on the internet since the early 2010s. Youtubers, Instagram models, and TikTok influencers are all figures that any social media user is bound to come across at some point. They are called influencers because they attempt to persuade their audience to buy the things they buy, do the things they do, and go the places they go. Most of the time, these influencers are sponsored by certain brands and make profit off of their followers buying the brand’s products. While it is everyone’s individual responsibility to manage their own spending, influencers mainly target the internet’s youngest and most impressionable users who do not yet have the same financial wisdom and skepticism that adults might have. 

A new trend, however, is attempting to counteract influencer’s attempts to get their audience to empty their pockets. De-influencing is exactly what it sounds like; instead of convincing people to buy something, a de-influencer tells their audience why they probably shouldn’t buy it. 

The first time I came across a de-influencing video, it was on the topic of products by the brand Glossier. This makeup brand has built a strong cult following over the years and has grown in popularity recently because it is now being sold in Sephora, a beauty store found in most malls around the country. Its large following is also thanks to many influencers who have endorsed their products. Die-hard fans of Glossier buy everything that the brand puts out, even if they don’t necessarily think the product would work for them. 

For example, the de-influencer in this video, Michelle Skidelsky (@michelleskidelsky on TikTok) showed off her collection of Glossier blushes in another video and admitted that she knew that none of the colors would work for her skintone when she bought them. She also has every flavor of lip-balm that the brand has made. 

Skidelsky had this to say about it: “If you still wanna buy them, do not buy all of them. I have pretty much every single flavor, and for what? This is de-influencing. You do not need 10 lip balms.” 

When showing other things that she was influenced to buy, Skidelsky also held up some Glossier-branded hoodies. 

“I bought them as soon as they came out, right away…they were like 70, 80 bucks a pop and I was buying these in high school when I had like $100 to my name. Because I had to have them, I had to own them,” Skidelsky said. 

While she alone made the decision to spend her money this way, there is no doubt that social media’s influencing culture drove her as an impressionable teenager to blow all her cash on things she didn’t need because they were from a certain brand. 

Another popular brand to be de-influenced is Drunk Elephant, a skin-care brand. Their expensive products have been featured in countless online videos and now seem to have found an audience with very young girls. Many of the girls buying these products are pre-pubescent and do not yet have the skin issues that the products are meant to fix. 

One woman attempting to de-influence the brand, @Iamblakeley on TikTok, said, “My nieces try to tell me Drunk Elephant is great, and I’m like, if you’re taking skincare advice from someone who has no idea what a wrinkle is, you should probably reevaluate your choices.” 

These young girls also do not make their own money yet, so these spending sprees are coming from their parent’s paychecks. It is true that it is the parent’s responsibility to research the products that they buy for their children. However, if little girls were not seeing videos pushing these products as a standard of beauty, wealth, and status, they would not feel the need to beg their parents for expensive anti-aging and acne products that don’t do anything for their young skin. 

Overall, I don’t think that all influencers are malicious in their attempts to promote products. In fact, they themselves have all been influenced to start trying to build a platform and earn money this way. If all I had to do to make a living was record videos trying out different makeup and skincare, I would probably do it and I think a lot of people would too. However, I think that the trend of de-influencing is a net positive in the culture of social media. It urges people to be more conscious of what they are buying and encourages them to do more research on products before pulling the trigger.

Social media has created a culture of impulse purchasing and overconsumption, which has in turn caused those who cannot afford to keep up with it to feel inferior. Hopefully, de-influencing will continue to spread and make a change in how we view shopping. 

Teenagers love to play video games in their free time, there is nothing better than playing with all of your friends that one game that you love. But not everyone loves the same games. Some like shooters, others like sports games, and others like adventure games. But no matter the genre or the type of game, you will always have fun with your friends. 

Some students here in our school play video games after school and here is what they have to say about it. 

Juan Duenas, a junior at Wade Hampton High, said “playing at night with the boys is one of the best moments during the day. We like to play shooter games like Valorant and Fortnite. But we also love playing 2k23 which is one of my favorite sports games. Sometimes time flies by and I don't realize that we have been playing for hours and hours. This is for sure something I will miss when I become an adult and have more responsibilities. But I will always try to make time for a little bit of gaming.”

When you are getting older and older and you get close to graduating high school it feels like the things you would do when you were younger are never going to be the same, like playing video games and hanging out with your friends. But it's always good to be balanced and even if you are an adult or getting close to being one, take time for yourself and do the things you like. Don't lock yourself out of being able to have fun and do things that you enjoy. 

Games like Valorant and Fortnite have been really popular lately since there have been new updates and people start to play them again. But games like 2K23 and FIFA 23 have also been really popular because every year there is always a new version of the game and they add new players and with an even higher overall. If you like gaming, it is one of the best times to play. Technology is advancing and games are getting better with time. 

Another student here at Wade Hampton, Nathalie, a senior, said ¨Some people don't believe me when I tell them I play video games. They believe that gaming is mostly for guys but I feel like I am that one exception. My favorite games are definitely Valorant and Minecraft. They are the most fun, time goes by really fast when I'm playing them with my friends. I play on PC or my gaming laptop, so I have a bigger variety of games compared to some of the console players. Sometimes i can spend hours playing and I wouldn't even notice it.

Enjoying your time with friends is the most important part of gaming, most people nowaday play on pc since the gaming community has gotten bigger and streaming has been one of the best side hustles for people. Games continue to get better and companies continue to create new games to entertain even more people 

Digital Footprint is any activity or data that is left behind from a person online. This is a way to track what people have done and what activity they have left on any sort of online platform. This is also a way to interact with people in a professional manner, create relationships with one another, and be able to share things people do in their lives. Despite the benefits of what good things Digital Footprint can have, there are downsides.

There are some cases where there are people who personally don’t like the fact that the information they share or leave behind is being tracked without their consent. “Sometimes, I am bothered by the tracking of my activities. Some of that has to do with consent. If I know that I am being tracked, it acts as a deterrent. Sometimes the tracking helps as when I am researching something and relevant ideas come up, based upon my past researches. This is something everyone should be conscientious of, because tracking can be used for nefarious deeds.” said James Willey, A Digital Art Instructor of Wade Hampton High School.

There is one dangerous downside where Digital Footprint can become a place full of threats and can be taken advantaged. “Yes, if someone gathered enough of your personal information by following your digital footprint then they could commit identity fraud or other criminal activities.  If one of these issues happened it would take time and possibly money for a person to clear up and may even cost them their job.” said Mary Elizabeth Sherry, Business Ed teacher at Wade Hampton.

Not many people have paid any attention to Digital Footprint because it doesn’t concern them and it hasn’t caused any major problems. But they should be aware of what Digital Footprint is capable of and how it can possibly make a difference on the internet and through other online platforms.

As many of you may know, schools have half days at the end of the year. They are used for students to get last-minute work in and for teachers to wrap up grading papers and submit them. You may not know this fact, but teachers still have to stay a full school day while the students get out at noon. 

Half days start at the normal time, 8:45, and students get out at noon. Having these two blocks to get the work that needs to be done could very possibly be what makes you pass that year of school. Most students just come to be present on half days because it is required, although, it's strictly for finishing what needs to be completed. 

Kris Cozad, Math Teacher, said, “I strive for effective use of time- so using a half day for students to complete (2) blocks of testing and then going home is a great idea for effective use of time and student engagement levels. However, utilizing a half day without a purpose just to have the attendance count is a waste of time. The underlying theme is giving a purpose to the time allocated.”

Many teachers normally don't have criteria that needs to be met on a half day. Teachers sometimes have their students help pack up their classrooms, clean up and get ready to say their goodbyes. 

Reese Milz, 11th grade student, said, “I do like coming for half days sometimes just to say goodbye to the teachers and to talk to people. But other than that I think they should only be for people making up work.”

Having the goodbyes on these days is a good way to finish out the school year. These days are especially good for seniors because students have the time to ask their counselors anything in regard to students attending college.  

Trevor Sanders, 12th grade student, said, “I like having half days at the end of the year because it gives me time to take care of things for college and not be super stressed all the time. I think having half days in the past has helped me have better grades since I strictly have that time to get work done that is missing.”

Students and teachers both dread coming to school on half days. Many think that it is a waste of time if students have no missing work but it can be a big help for others. 

Virginia D’Alessandro, Math Teacher, said, “It would be nice if we could use these days as review days so students without missing work/content knowledge wouldn't have to come to school.”

Knowing students and teachers have to wake up and get to school at 8:45 and only have to attend school until noon on half days, leads many people to think if we should even have half days. If Greenville County Schools make students and teachers be present a specific amount of days, why even have the half days?

A recent policy issued by our school administration is about something most students loved to do. Listen to music. The policy says that students are not to have headphones in at school unless they are in the cafeteria during lunch, or before or after school.

Many students have voiced being irritated with this policy, but it has been revealed that there could be some positives to this. Without headphones, students can be aware of their surroundings and hear what is happening around them.

“Personally I think it was something that needed to happen. I think that because of the problems that people were having with getting distracted and also the time that we have between classes, is a short amount of time. And I think in the hallway it just needs to be about getting to your class and not ‘what are you doing’ ‘what are you listening to’,” Kathryn Carlson, junior at WHHS, said.

After the bell rings, students only get 5 minutes to get to the next class and do what they need to do until they’re tardy. Headphones had become a distraction to students trying to make it to where they needed to be. Often students would have headphones in both ears when the rule was that they were allowed only one. Teachers would have to call out these students which just wasted time for the teacher and the student. Usually they wouldn’t even be able to hear the teachers, which causes even more issues.

Carlos Grant, Wade Hampton's principal, said, “We have had many instances where students did not hear warning signals, bump into people which has caused physical confrontations, and have not heard staff directions while transitioning.”

When in a setting with a lot of people, one needs to be aware of their surroundings. Having two headphones with the music even a little too loud could mean not hearing a fire alarm or lock down announcement.

“After witnessing situations where students did not hear Lock down drills, it became clear to me that we needed to address this. This means that I am willing for students to be upset with me if it also means that they will be safe.”Grant said.

The policy was not put into place to be against the students and upset them. It was becoming unsafe and students’ safety is the most important thing. Overall, it could have become a very dangerous thing with students not hearing what's happening around them. But safety isn’t the only good thing that’s come out of this situation. 

Leila Tyler, a teacher at Wade Hampton, said, ”I feel that the kids are now communicating with each other rather than being isolated to their headphones.” 

Since the policy was set into place students have been socializing more in the hallways. This helps students be more social and have more time to talk with their peers. Sitting in class all day is tiring and people need time to talk with others and socialize since there isn’t much time for that in most classrooms. The hallways provide a break to be able to do that.

What do students think about this new headphone policy? What do teachers think about this new headphone policy? Why was this policy even made? Most students disagree with this new rule because it can be a “stupid rule”. 

Headphones don't affect the safety of anyone, you don't harm anyone when you are just wearing your headphones in the hallway.  Imagine you are having a rough morning or a rough day in general and you don't want to talk to anyone, so you decide that listening to music on the way to class is a good idea so you can just block everyone out, but with the new rule you can't even do that. You are forced to interact with others. 

It's not fair for the students that were following the one headphone rule to just automatically be banned from not having headphones at all. Instead the administration should have handled the situation better and just be more strict on having only one headphone. 

Senior Vasilios Diakomihalis said “it's an “ok” rule but the thought of having no headphones in the hallway is stupid, if we only had one headphone in and they actually enforced the one headphone rule better this wouldn't be happening right now.” 

I completely agree with Vasilios, being more strict with freedom was the right answer, not just taking stuff away but actually controlling it. For example some things that could have been done is that if a student is wearing two headphones you can just hand them detention or a referral. That way students wouldn't wear two headphones and they would know that if they did there would be consequences. Kids learn by getting in trouble not by getting stuff taken. 

Vasilios also said “Some changes that can be done are actually enforcing the rules better and not just taking away privileges because teachers don't enforce the rules well enough.” 

Administration needs to enforce every policy better and not just make up new things to try and change the rules. 

Some teachers think it's nice that they added this new rule, they think that it's good that they added it, that way students can pay attention in the hallways. 

Mr Cozad said “students won't have distractions, it makes people more situationally aware and it would make it easier for people to have conversations and be aware of people talking to them.”  

I completely agree with that, but don't you think wearing one headphone would also be a solution? You would only have one on, so through your other ear you can hear conversations and hear if there's any kind of danger around you. Everything would be working perfectly fine if the teachers and administration would actually enforce the rules and have punishments or consequences for having headphones. 

Honestly I believe that the real issue here is administrators, if they want to have a safer school environment they need to work harder on enforcing those laws and actually teaching kids to obey and not just things in school you won't use on a regular basis. Teach kids how to follow laws and how to stay out of trouble, not just take things away because they can't follow a rule. 

I talked to Nathalie, a sophomore, and Juan, a Junior here at Wade Hampton. They both agreed on the same thing. Nathalie said “having one headphone was the perfect balance, i feel like administration should go back to that one headphone policy and actually enforce it better” 

Juan also said “I don't understand why wearing headphones is so bad, you are not harming anyone, you are just trying to do your own thing and get to class, we need to go back to the one headphone policy. People should have freedom to at least listen to music. It feels like we are just trapped in this school.” 

I completely agree with both of them having headphones in does not harm anyone and just having so many rules that aren't even necessary just make you feel like you are trapped. School should be a place that kids love, not a place they hate.