To the Editor:
I’d like to ask the President of the United States how he is planning to deal with the terrorist group, “The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria,” or ISIS for short, without expending American soldiers? I know that our soldiers are currently training forces in Iraq to battle the terrorists, because Iraq is also enemies with ISIS. Even so I know that our soldiers are more experienced and trained, and are far better equipped to fight terrorists, one example of this is the raid on the Al Qaeda which resulted in the death of Osama Bin Ladin. Since we began training the few remaining Iraqi militants, to fight these faceless, nameless, cowards, ISIS has not been eliminated, or driven back for that matter, they run rampant while we watch them terrorize and kill the American and Iraqi people. We are not going to win this war with another country’s soldiers. Iraqi militants trained by our men so they can fight just as efficiently, but without the risk of American soldiers’ lives.ISIS is being dealt with, but it will take time and we are doing it as efficiently as we can.ISIS activity has decreased in frequency since the US became involved. The activity of ISIS has decreased in frequency, but instead they have continued to increased in brutality, nevertheless, ISIS is not to be taken lightly, and must be dealt with!
Ben
Salisbury Middle School
To the Editor:
I would like to ask the President of the United States why we have to take the outrageous PSSA’s every year? We shouldn’t have to take the PSSA’s because we already take regular tests in school. We are only in 7th grade and we waste two weeks of our learning time to take the PSSA’s every year, when we could be learning more topics that we need to know to get out of the 7th grade and to be prepared for 8th grade. For those two weeks we will be all worried about the PSSA’s and be afraid of how hard it is when it doesn't even count towards our school grades; in fact, they don’t count for anything! Then again, the PSSA’s let you know if you are ready and on the same path as the other students to go into the next grade. For the PSSA’s you have to get a Proficient or Advanced to pass, so you would really need to be prepped and ready for the biggest test ever. According to the Pennsylvania Department of Education they say that the PSSA’s, “Prepare us for life”. This states my question for the President of the United States that we should not have to take the PSSA’s and just have regular tests throughout the school year to prepare for life. Who better to prepare us than the teachers-not the state.
Molly
Salisbury Middle School
To the Editor:
If I had one question to ask the president, it would be about why we have to do common core in school. When we do common core, we have to do more work than what is needed! Also, the way the teachers explain the lessons makes it harder to understand, which means it will take more time to learn. I can see why people would think this would work, but I still feel that it is better without it. For instance, we learn harder items, which means we will learn more when we are higher grades, but I’d rather do more complicated topics later than now. Also, it is making students work hard; I know that some students need to work a little harder, but this is pushing it a little too far. You shouldn’t celebrate student success by making everything more difficult.
Georgina
Salisbury Middle School
To the Editor:
I would like to ask the president of the U.S.A. if he personally knows our schools today are safe for children. There have been many kids in school who have brought weapons to school or have given threats to other people and I know we should make schools safe for kids. The records shows that there is a an outrageous amount of school shootings in the U.S.A which is 90. The kids manage to get weapons into school and hurt people and the teachers don’t know. They claim that they have a policy no weapons in school. They somehow still manage to get weapons in because there have been many reports. That’s why I know they should make schools better and safer for kids. I would like to ask the president of the U.S.A. if he personally thinks schools today are safe for children?
Haylie
Salisbury Middle School
To the Editor:
Why does the President issue state testing when it doesn’t help kids education? The Pennsylvania officials think that PSSA testing is more important then a students enlightenment. Teachers worry more about teaching for the test than teaching to expand our education. These tests give stress and anxiety to the students taking them, especially the younger ones. I understand that the tests are meant to see how the schools are doing, but they’re not helping students education at all! The US occupied 18th place in the world for math before the tests and after the tests were initiated the US placed 31st. To make matters worse, kids who have only been in America for a small amount of time and don’t understand the language still have to take the English language test. The President and state officials are concerned about the education of America, but I would like to know if they care more about children's education or the total grade of the nation; these tests have to cease to exist because I demand a meaningful education!
Sien
Salisbury Middle School
To the Editor:
My language arts teacher wanted me to write a letter to you to practice my letter writing skills and argumentative writing skills. I researched my topic of choice and am anxious to hear what you think.
How does it feel to be the first African American president? To some people it might seem like an honor to be the first. One reason why people would think that, is because many children and school students look at you as a role model or leader for their future. They’re tons of Americans today that complain about the choices you’ve made but I look up to you as well. Now granted that it’s a choice of the people to elect a president it looks like more people in America like you more then the other runner for president. However, with that always comes lots of hate. Although you are known as the president and many people look up to you there are many racist people, and people who judge people in general. By this point I hope that you learned to deal with all of the stresses of being a president. Not many people appreciate what you do for us. Many people have been talked about and bullied earlier in their life,but that is what makes citizens so positive and happy now in their life as a American Citizen. If you compare the amount of positive people that applaud you for what you do and compare it to all the people who believe you’ve made bad decisions most people would think you are a good president. They think you make good choices and then the others who don’t think so much of you. Does it frustrate you at all that the citizens of America don’t believe don’t trust their own leader?
Ernesto
Salisbury Middle School
To the Editor:
If I could ask the president a question, it would be why do we have to take PSSAs? First of all, many kids in my school, and probably in all of Pennsylvania, stress about the PSSAs. If we are all worrying about doing well we may have trouble eating or sleeping. If that happens, we may not work up to our full potential on the test. There are many articles on the internet saying how PSSAs make children guinea pigs. For example, the article written by “Yinzercation” states that testing field tests on children is completely unnecessary. I can see why the president wants us to take PSSAs, though. It helps make the other schools teach the curricular they are supposed to and it helps improve a child’s test scores. Even though this is good, it’s still unfair for the children who almost always get a good grade on the PSSAs. I have another question for you; why does the president have to make the curricular harder? Last year was hard enough, and now some of the people who got advanced may get proficient, some of the people who got proficient may get basic, and some of the people who got basic might get below basic! All in all, I know taking PSSAs is a bad idea.
Josie
Salisbury Middle School
To the Editor:
I would like to ask the President of the United States why the cost of college is so expensive? I am a seventh grade student, and I disagree with the prices of college funds. All students who want a good education should go to college; how do you expect we do that when “average college funds are $20 a month?” Saving up money takes time and it is very frustrating to kids and parents when they don’t have the money to go to an unsatisfactory college let alone a good one! I understand that you are raising this much money to pay staff members and to buy supplies, but you should lower the price. The staff members should not get paid more than normal teachers that teach younger kids since they are doing mostly the same teaching as they do. All colleges get ?have a degree and a better job in life! Please take this information in and talk to who is in charge of these college prices!
Madison
Salisbury Middle School
If you were in middle school what classes would you want to have that they do not offer? I believe that they should schools photography and sports medicine. I would like to have these classes because they seem intriguing and interesting to learn. Also, they teach sports medicine in 10th through 12th grade. In this class, you would learn athletic training and also learn parts of the human body, which could be important if you were looking for a career in sports like a physical trainer, coach, or as a professional athlete. Photography is a skill that could be used in many careers. Photography can teach people how to express their feelings threw photos instead of art. This class could teach the students how to be creative. This would also be help the in careers like a professional photographer or artist, or you could learn this if you would like to do photography as one of your hobbies. Critics argue that these classes should not be taught in middle school. The reason they don’t teach these subject in middle school is because people think they should not teach this a such at young age, and also because in art class we learn other skills that do not include photography; in health we only learn parts of the body so they are preparing us for those classes in the future. I still argue about how we should learn these skills, yes it might be at a young age but if we learn them now, they could help us start thinking about our future and our interests. These two classes, photography and sports medicine, would be so intriguing and interesting to learn about would be very useful in our future careers!
Ryann
Salisbury Middle School
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What subjects would you like to get taught in school that aren’t available? As a student, I am forced to take many courses, even some that might not be as important as other topics that are not taught. We should learn more subjects in school that aren’t available to us students because it may help us when we pick a career to learn about or help us personally. A topic that should really be taught is mental health and empathy. Just learning about bullying isn’t really helping students because mental health is not only about bullying.It could be ourselves, our families, anything that has happened that is bringing us down. Mental health should teach us how to handle stress, anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts. It could also help us by supporting us. We should learn about empathy in addition to mental health. Empathy could show us how to help other people and express our feelings to others. Learning about empathy could actually be useful when you are guiding someone in a tough situation because you know what to do and how they might react. A subject that many might be interested in is acting. Acting is a great way to get your feelings across in many ways. Such as, role play. Photography is similar to acting just revealing who you are or what you are sensing in photos. You could admire the real beauty of an item and keep it in a photo album. In a photography class you could learn how to use different cameras and tips for them. You could also learn how cameras are made. Another topic that we should really be learning is civics. Civics are all of our rights and it is important to know them because you could easily do something wrong without knowing. Others may say that if we could have more subjects we would not learn the basics and not pass a certain skill, but I argue that we should be able to experience with subjects so we could know how handle some of life’s tests. Some of us students are confused or do not know what we would like to be when we are older. New subjects would give us the opportunity to blossom as a school and explore the journey of the business world. Learning new topics in our school would be an amazing, welcoming change.
Ashley
Salisbury Middle School
Was there ever a time when you wanted to play an instrument that was not offered at your school? I was hoping to play the violin when I became a fourth grader. I soon found out, however, that they no longer offered string instruments at our school. I was disappointed, and I considered not taking an instrument.
Students should have the opportunity to play instruments that they believe they will enjoy, including string instruments. In fact, the American Psychological Association states that students who play instruments do better in their academics. According to Christopher Johnson, a professor of music and music therapy at the University of Kansas, “Students in elementary schools with superior music education programs scored around twenty-two percent higher in English and twenty percent higher in math scores on standardized tests.” In reviewing profiles of SAT and Achievement test takers, The College Board said, “Students with course work or experience in music performance scored 52 points higher on the verbal portion of the SAT and 37 points higher on the math portion than students with no course work or experience in the arts.” Also, being in an orchestra provides opportunities in college such as scholarships and musical theaters. This data is stronger for students allowed to play their first choice instrument.
Others may say that our school does not need string instruments because we have a band, but I argue that string instruments are just as important as any other instrument. Many students will not play an instrument because their first choice was a string instrument. If we had string instruments, more students would potentially enroll in music. This would result in better achievement test scores throughout the student body. Schools have been striving for better scores on state tests, so why not give the students the string instruments that they want?
Paige
Salisbury Middle School