Editorial
Welcome to our editorial--where your opinion matters! We will post articles here from the community and also surveys for the community, staff, and our student body.
Discrimination
What did you learn today? Homophobia. Homophobia at this school makes me irate, to the point where you can see steam coming out of my ears. Why must you be so against someone finding love? Why is it your business who and what I love? You have no reason to hate others for their love other than the fact a book tells you to. As a non-religious, pansexual, woman, I am tired of hearing where I’m supposed to go when I die just for my love life. It's obvious that there is homophobia running in the halls, even some teachers/the board (which I will not put names in) will put their sense into. Why must someone need permission to take a date to the prom? I witnessed myself a couple being denied to go to homecoming because one was biologically a woman but they transitioned. Even if they were a woman, why can't two girls go to prom/homecoming with each other? Its called: Discrimination.
Enough Food to Go Around?
written by: Erika Gray (Junior)
We are a species at large; as of 2016, there are 7.442 billion people on the planet. As a large group, we seem to have multiple problems on our hands, one of which being the amount of food our planet can hold.
Here in America, the land of the free, we have been taking the time to give food to others. My question is: Should we be giving away food when we still have multiple people and children on the streets, hungry? Some of these people are not even on the streets, but simply at home trying to decide if they should pay for electric or have dinner that night. Many of those starving children are suffering the fate of not having any money or food, afraid to ask for nothing more than dinner that night in fear of the answer being no.
I understand the importance of helping others, but how can you help others, if you cannot even help yourself? To help others before yourself will lead to self-destruction. This is not to say that I believe we should stop helping others, only that we should help ourselves as a community first. We are not the only ones helping those that need it out there, and we should not be taking the full weight of this issue on our shoulders.
High School Shot Clock
written by: Coleman Gibson (Junior)
The topic that I’m really interested in is putting a shot clock in high school basketball. My personal opinion is that i think we should put one in our games. I believe this mainly because I think if we did, the games would be more competitive and would help get players, who are going to play in college, ready for the future.
Having a shot clock would affect the games in such a big way. By having a shot clock, players would be on a time limit on when they can score, and also on the defensive end, make them try and force a shot clock violation. People say that having a shot clock in high school basketball will take away the strategy in the coach’s way to make them slow down the pass and run an offense, but I truly think this would give the coach a challenge. Also, it would make the games more exciting as well as making the players push the ball more.
Smoking Age Should Be Raised
written by: Shelden Richardson (Junior)
In my opinion, I believe that the smoking age should be raised to 21. I think this is because it’s addictive just like a drug; also, 18 is the time most kids graduate and figure out what they are going to do in life and smoking would be a bad way to start.
If this law were to be passed not so many people would be able to become addicted and spend all their money towards that because it will get expensive and could possibly lead to worse things. 18 is a young age to start smoking, and it will cause a lot of health problems, as stated “tobacco remains the number one cause of preventable death and disease in this country, with nearly 500,000 premature deaths a year due to tobacco use.” raising the smoking is preventing a lot of deaths that can be prevented early; although 18 and 21 is a big difference, it will help with health issues dramatically.
Why Every Girl Can Relate To Taylor Swift’s “Fifteen”
By: Morgan Whitley (Freshman)
You may love Taylor Swift or you may hate her, but you’ve more than likely heard at least one of her songs, whether it was popular like ‘Shake It Off’ or an older, less popular song like ‘Back To December’. However, no matter if you love or hate her, all Jr. High and High School girls can relate to her song ‘Fifteen’.
The song is about a girl who is in high school. It goes through different scenarios, including your first day of high school, your first date, heartbreak and the list continues. The song starts out by saying “It’s your freshman year and you’re gonna be here for the next four years, in this town. Hoping one of those senior boys will wink at you in say ‘You know I haven’t seen you around before’. Just by listening to the first lyric, every girl can already relate. On the first day of your freshman year, you’re nervous, you want to noticed by the quarterback of the football team and be the popular girl, while that isn’t realistic, it’s something that every girl dreams of or fantasizes about.
While the first verse is relatable, the chorus is where everything really hits home. The main chorus says, “‘Cause when you’re fifteen, somebody tells you they love you, you’re gonna believe them, and when you’re fifteen, your first kiss makes your head spin around. But in life you’ll do things, greater than dating the boy on the football team, but I didn’t know it at fifteen”. The chorus is especially relatable for every girl for the simple fact, that when you’re older, you realize that dating the quarterback or being the most popular isn’t the most important. Which is the main point that the song states.
I personally believe that the song has a great message to young/teenage girls. It’s a song that all girls can relate to and will get some kind of message out of. Whether that message is that being popular isn’t everything or to just take a deep breath and everything will turn out okay. This is a song for everyone and no matter what, you will definitely receive a message from it.