By Eric Naffaa
Every school should have school-based stores. Student stores offer students essentials such as school supplies, snacks, beverages, tickets and the ability to buy yearbooks. Student stores not only provide essentials, but they also boost students' academic, and life skills through real entrepreneurial experience. Students also get to interact, and spend money wisely.
A school student store helps students learn how to be financially responsible. A student store is also a great way to raise money for the school instead of raising fundraisers and asking for donations. Schools can have student stores and with everything the student store has to offer the school would make more than enough money. Schools need student stores because they provide resources for students such as school materials like pencils, pens, and notebooks. Student stores also provide beverages and snacks for students such as bottled waters, Gatorades, chips, cookies, and granola bars. Student stores are also a good way of distributing school merch or tickets. Schools often have a hard time promoting merch and tickets but having them available in a student store would make it easier for students to buy merch and tickets such as prom tickets/ game tickets and many more. Student stores are a good way of distributing items that benefit both the school and the students in an organized way.
Student stores are also a good way for students to develop academic and real-life skills through interacting with others and calculating on a daily basis. Student stores force lines of kids lining up for their turn which causes them to socialize for example asking if someone's in line, asking for money or providing money, possibly making friends in the line by speaking to each other, and when a certain price is presented to them their forced to do math in their head and calculate exactly how much they have and how much money they need to spend. It’s a basic process but it can become a daily thing which allows teens to get better at calculating financially in their head in a short amount of time.
A school student store not only benefits the students buying, but benefits the school tremendously because students lining up daily to buy things that the student store allows the school to raise money in a way that benefits the students as well. For example, asking students to help pitch in money or raise fundraisers is uninteresting for many students these days. Having a student store allows the school to still collect money from students in exchange for something in return for the student which allows the school to raise money without it looking like they are because students are buying things willingly daily. However, many people argue that starting a student store requires a lot of money and schools that are already asking for donations wouldn’t be able to pay for expenses required for not only building the student store but also supplying it. Which is a true factor, starting a student store does require a lot of money, but schools could continue to raise fundraisers and collect money to save up for a student store and stock it with supplies. Doing this returns all the money the school had for the expenses and more! It is an investment for the school and Instead of hoping students raise money or donate, they could invest in a student store and make three times as much as the school was making before.
School Should Keep an Early Schedule
By Allison Vanegas
Schools using a later start-time schedule bring more hardships than benefits to students and their parents. Students turn out to be more exhausted in school and have to sleep late because of traffic and after school activities being delayed. Family schedules are thrown off as parents try to arrange ways to get their children to school while also needing to head to work in the mornings. Money will be needed to provide younger students with daycare as parents have to leave to go to work before they can drop them off at school. Keeping school starting times the same is better for student time management and family finances.
The schedule change can cause students to feel more exhausted at the end of the day. Students commonly wake up at the same time as their parents when they are getting ready to go to work, which can be early in the morning (George 6). This kind of morning routine would disturb sleep and prevent the student from gaining an extra hour of sleep that later starting times provide. According to a teacher in Rockville, Maryland, her students were more exhausted at the end of the day in their late-start school schedule, making it difficult to keep their attention and teach them (George 8). Transportation for students will take longer because they will be getting out of school around rush hour time (4:00pm), causing students to have less time to do other activities after school by arriving home later.
Many students are in extracurricular activities that start after school. These activities can be very time consuming, so having as much time as possible is beneficial for them. If school started around 7:30 am and ended at 3:00 pm, students can have plenty of time for their activities after school. School, sports, and after-school activities can be time-consuming for students, so having an early start time is best to provide students with time to do their homework and other things that they have to do at home before their bedtime. If school begins at 8:30am and ends at 4:00pm, a lot of daylight is lost. Combined with time-consuming traffic and after-school activities, students will get home late and have to go to sleep later at night. Staying up longer can make children more exhausted at the end of the day and not give them much time for themselves.
The main reason why some people want late start times for schools is because teenagers are usually tired during school because of their biological clock having them sleep late. It has been scientifically proven that teenagers have a different biological clock than adults and kids, causing them to go to sleep and wake up at later times than adults and children. There is no perfect time to help out with this situation because if teens were able to start school later in the day, then younger children would have to go to school earlier or later than teens because their sleep schedule is different than teenagers. This kind of scheduling will be too hectic for parents to keep up with and can cause financial problems for families.
Many families have their schedule already set with school starting at 7:30am. If the time were to change to 8:30 am, then parents would have to change their entire schedule to accommodate their children’s school time. Sometimes families can't change their work schedules, so a different school starting time can cause more problems rather than fix them. In order to fit into a new school schedule, families would have to spend more money. For example, a study has shown that more parents need to leave their children in daycare because they cannot look after them in the mornings, which can cost around $280 to $350 more dollars a month (George 6).
Schools should keep start times early in the morning because it reduces hardships and expenses for families. Students will not have to deal with rush hour traffic, allowing quicker after-school transportation for more time to do after-school activities and chores. Parents will not need to pay for daycare because work and school schedules are more aligned. School starting early will benefit everyone in the long run.
By Paris Jackson
The music industry has made a big impact on society for years. It is used as a form of entertainment and expression. It’s not only art from the artist but it gives off a message to the listeners. As far as expression goes, music is an art that can make any group of people feel what is being said. There’s all kinds of music such as R&B, rap, alternative, neo soul, hip hop, rap, etc.
In the 90’s artists like Tupac, Queen Latifah, Lauryn Hill, Nas, and DMX would rap about real life problems in their time. They would use their platform to associate their music with what was going on around the time. 2pac specifically wrote a song named Changes that was about how things are steadily changing. He relates childhood to how things have turned out to be. Tupac speaks about racism, drugs, gun violence, police brutality. Another perfect example would be Queen Latifah’s song U.N.I.T.Y. . If the title of the song isn’t obvious enough, the meaning of the song is unity. In this song she is representing black woman and how they would put up with domestic violence, disrespect, and sexual assault. She talks about how men were comfortable with touching women's bodies without consent and abusive relationships.
My friend made an argument saying that music intensifies depression and anxiety. I completely disagree with that statement. Music has helped people get through their tough times but they fail to realize that music helps make people feel like they are not alone. It helps them see that others are going through the same thing and it is okay to acknowledge what you are feeling. Music is a representation of emotion and influence, that is why I feel so strongly about its impact.