Month: November 2019

Why late arrival is better than early dismissal

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I wake up every day at 7:45 to get ready for school, and the school day for me starts at 8:35. I have a late arrival every day because I had an extra spot in my schedule for it. Because it is my senior I thought why not, I should make things easier on myself for my last year of high school. Last year I would wake up at the latest 6:40 a.m. which isn’t super early compared to the students who have to wake up to take the bus to school. Last year I didn’t have a break in my schedule and the school day felt tedious and repetitive. I would have practice after school, which would make the day even longer.

I have gotten into disagreements with other students on why late arrival is more beneficial than early dismissal. The students who have early dismissal and no after school sports have a stronger case than those who play a sport after school. If I was not involved in after school sports I might have gone with early dismissal, but since I have track and field every day after school, a late start is a much better choice. The people who have early dismissal and sports after school does not have a very good argument. They go home for 8th period, and then come back to school for sports and leave after practice to go back home. It is a massive waste of gas when driving, and there is almost no benefit other than going home and changing there rather than in the locker room. Having a late arrival works better for after school athletes because I do not have to be at the school until 8:35 at the latest. I wake up at 7:30 so I have time to get ready and do some homework that I might not have finished before school. I get to stay up later at night for homework or if I just feel like staying up because I have 50 extra minutes than last year when I had 1st period. It is also proven that teenagers should be getting way more sleep than the school day allows, but late start helps teenagers get more sleep at night.

On the contrary, I understand why people would prefer early dismissal, you can go home and relax way earlier than everyone else. The main argument that I got from many people I talked to about early dismissal is that there is something to look forward to at the end of the day and late start does not have that. To continue with my argument, late start does have something to look forward to. At the very end of the day when I have finished my homework, I usually dread the next day of school, but when I think about the extra sleep that I get in the morning that allows me to stay up later makes me less dreadful. Also, every Wednesday is a late start for the whole school. But when there is no first hour it turns into a double late start. So every Wednesday I get a double late start which means I don’t have to be at school until 9:42. Whereas early dismissal gets shortened for the athletes because the 8th hour is shortened because of the hour is taken away at the beginning of the day on Wednesday. Early dismissal has its benefits, but the late start is overall the best choice of the two.

Book Review

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The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

I don’t know what it is like to live somewhere where slaves are. But in the book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, it really put into perspective how big of an issue slavery was. I have studied slavery and learned about lynching, but I never really thought about how escaped slaves lived and how or if they made it to their final destination. Huck was the main character and his development throughout the novel made it even more thrilling to read. Jim was with Huck for most of the novel, and he resembled slavery. He was a runaway slave and Huck faked his death to escape his abusive father. They both had one thing in common, they were running away from their fear of society throughout the whole novel. The characters that Huck and Jim’s encounter also helped their character development. The encounter that stuck out to me the most was with the Grangerfords family. This family took Huck in and showed Huck a comfortable way of life that he never experienced before because they had money. But many of the members died because they got into a gun battle with another family who they had been feuding with for a long time. After that encounter, I could feel the impact that family had on Huck, he looked up to many of the family members and witnessing their deaths changed him very subtly, he acted the same as he always did, but from reading his mood felt off and different. With these reasons in mind, this book is a great book to read overall.

Mark Twain wrote many other books like The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, which happened before The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Mark Twain’s real name was Samuel Clemens, and during his childhood, he witnesses a lot of violence and death. Some of the actions in the book suggest that Twain had witnessed these things before such as the violence towards slaves. When the was 10 he witnessed a slave die after being stuck with an iron rod. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn book review, the writer addresses the overuse of the N-word, and all of the other slang in the book that could make people believe that it is racist. But in the end, it is up to the reader to determine if it really is meant to express racism or if it is meant o show the journey of an escaped slave and a poor white boy.

I would recommend this book to other students because it is a very interesting book to read. At a certain point in the novel, I felt like I could not put the book down. The tone and voice the author uses to convey Huk and Jim’s characters is very unique, and I haven’t read a book like it before. Some students may find it hard to read because there is a lot of swearing in the book, but I believe that having that language in the novel helped portray where the characters came from and their backgrounds more. It would seem fake if the author did not put this type of language in the book.

Are athletics becoming more important than academics in college?

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To most seniors in high school, looking for a school that has the best football game experience is very important. So when thinking of schools like Alabama, Clemson, Notre Dame, and the University of Texas, their successful football achievements are usually what come to mind first. But what about their academic rigor? Does their highly competitive athletics overshadow their academics and do athletes get pulled in for only athletics, and the academic portion is thrown to the side? In today’s society, collegiate athletics takes higher priority than academics which can hurt the future of education in universities.

Student-athletes are said to have two jobs instead of one. They are a student, and an athlete, both each has their own obstacles and challenges. Students have projects and essays due, along with making sure to make it to a science lab and constant studying for tests and quizzes. Athletes have to be present at all practices for however long they have it for and make it to games and play at their very best because most of them are there for athletic scholarships. With these two jobs combined, it can become very stressful. But bigger schools set out to help their athletes as much as they can, with study tables with teammates, logging how many hours they spend there or at the library as well. Some teams get their own tutors for whatever subject they need them in, or for reading through essays. Athletes get a plethora of tools handed to them to help them become better students. But these tools can be taken advantage of. There have been cases where tutors have been found writing student athletes essays for them because in order to stay on an NCAA D I team, your GPA has to be a minimum of a 2.3. With a GPA requirement that low, are athletes really learning, or are they doing the bare minimum to stay eligible to stay on their team? Furthermore,  the University of Texas has one of the best football programs in the country, but their team average is a GPA of 2.89. Having a good football program doesn’t make a university great, the education the university provides is the most important factor. But universities that have outstanding sports programs are what ultimately pull students in, even if they are not involved with a sport. So students who are looking for academics could feel like they are not as important to the school as student-athletes.

Universities spoil their athletes. They spend millions of dollars on new facilities. Clemson in 2015 reported from the Chicago Tribune that “The people in charge of Clemson University’s athletic department have not settled on a design for the miniature golf course they are building for their football team, but they know it will have just nine holes, not 18. That will leave room for the sand volleyball courts, laser tag, movie theater, bowling lanes, barbershop and other amenities planned in the $55 million complex that South Carolina’s second-largest public university is building exclusively for its football players.” (Chicago Tribune) Student-athletes get major perks for playing on a college team. This is part of what draws athletes in, the big shiny new facilities are what students see on tours of universities before making a decision. Universities spend so much on their athletic facilities and teams, what is left for the non-athlete students? The University of Clemson has its notorious football stadium, but the rest of its campus is bleak. They have their football program that creates the draw to go to their school. Education needs to become the draw for schools because that is what you are going to college for. Education needs to be the reason for going to a school, not the athletic programs provided there. 

The draw for higher education is being overshadowed by athletics. A solution to help education become the main reason for going to university is to reduce the number of athletic scholarships given out per year and allow for more money to be spent on educational facilities. Football stadiums do not need bigger jumbotrons, new educational buildings need to be built, and old ones need to be expanded and updated. Regular students are being tossed to the side to make way for athletes, which should not be the priority of universities.