Comments |
05/24/2010
Jen
St. James High, Montgomery, AL
We have a great school lunch program. The majority of our foods are healthy. Of course, you can always find something that isn't healthy. Several years ago, students and our parents looked at the school lunches and offered suggestions to the lunch people of healthier options. We basically did what you suggest here. I think if you offer good foods and have sports as an option in your school, kids will be healthier.
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05/24/2010
Anna
St. James High, Montgomery, AL
I think this is a good plan. Students can make a difference. All they have to do is group together and figure out a plan.
I think our school could conserve more energy. We have healthy meals and sports(Go Trojans!!!!), but I see lots of energy wasted. This would make a good school project for my government class.
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04/16/2010
Rachel
ENMS, East Northport, NY
Even if the tax goes through, it will only stop a certain amount of people. And after that, we'll find other sugary drinks, like juice or energy beverages, to drink instead of no-calorie, no-carb soda. It's just stupid, because then you're not only forcing kids to drink more sugar, but making parents to pay more for persistent children.
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04/14/2010
Francisco
Nimitz HIgh School, Irving,TX
In our school its not that the lunch is non healthy well maybe a little its that its gross people don't like it and sometimes don't eat it. I don't think people are getting obese because of school lunches in our school its that people buy their lunch from the other special lunch line where they sell chips, sodas, basically junk food and also normal food like chicken, burgers, pizza but way non healthy. That's why people are getting obese because of those kinds of food and also outside fast food that they bring to lunch that gets people obese, not because of school lunches. It just depends on the school and what kind of food they provide. To make my school healthier we need to inform the people what the food contains basically show all the nutritional facts and substituted you can eat.
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04/09/2010
Coral
Tenafly High School, Tenafly, Nj
One issue I want to bring up is that I do think the cafeteria in our school serves "healthy food". We have a salad bar, we have a selection of whole wheat breads, and soups with vegetable. I don't think that is where the problem is, I think the problem starts with the snacks that our school sells. Our school does not sell any healthy snacks, even fast food places do! Subway sells apple slices and yogurt. McDonald's also offers apple slices and some healthy snacks. Food places with such a low standard give healthy snacks, how is it that schools don't? Schools should sell apple slices, or maybe those fruits that are stored in those little plastic containers. For example, those peach fruit cups you can buy in the super market. Even though, the meals at school are not necessarily unhealthy, when a student sees the snacks, that's where they will go. One more point I want bring up is that when you buy lunch from school, usually we are given the option of having a fruit, but on one of our sandwich lines, you can't get a fruit, or a soup. The school should offer fruit with the sandwich. I think if the school changes the snacks they sell it will make a big difference and make the school healthier and better.
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04/09/2010
Danny
Tenafly HIgh School, Tenafly, NJ
Sleep and breakfast are arguably major contributing factors to someone’s health. I'd say most kids in my school get less than 8 hours of sleep from experience and even a survey done in my statistics class of sleeping hours in THS. In the Midwest, some schools have already begun starting schools an hour later. Results include higher attendance. One can assume that students are more awake for classes and eat breakfast before school more often. I personally am often late for first period or don’t eat breakfast or both, and early in the day I am tired and hungry. I think one hour later opening of our school to 8:55 would include many benefits and would be feasible seeing how ending school at 4:04 would still leave plenty of time after school.
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04/09/2010
Maddy
Tenafly High School, Tenafly, New Jersey
I think that making the school healthier would improve the obesity issue in America. America's obesity issue isn't the only reason to give the school healthier food. something to consider about the food is the presentation. When a student goes into the cafeteria, and sees how the food looks, they are instantly grossed out by the glob of "mush" placed on their plates. For a way to improve the students making healthier choices, without being grossed out by the food offered, would be bringing in food from local burger joints, sandwich shops, bagel places, etc. That way, the students know exactly what they are eating, and exactly where it came from. They will be more likely to eat the food, yet make the healthier choice, when they want to eat the food.
Another thing you could do to improve the school would be to have multiple class choices within one subject. I recently met with my friend from Amherst, Massachusetts, and she was telling me about her Holocaust class, her Fashion Design class, and her many different sceince classes like anatomy and physiology. Having a larger class selection will broaden the students' range of interest. They will also find themselevs more confident when it comes time to decide a major in college because they will have taken enough classes in high school to know what they would like to learn more in depth about. Those are just a few ways to improve a school, and by reaching out to the president of your grade, or even the principle of the school, these tasks can easily be accomplished.
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04/09/2010
Hila
Tenafly High School, Tenafly, NJ
One issue that needs to be brought up to the attention of the school district is the idea of getting an Emergency and Fist Aid course into the learning curriculum. Emergency and First Aid is something that every person should know. It’s something that never hurts you to learn it only helps you. What will happen if the students are just together one night and someone starts to choke? What will happen if the ambulance can’t come fast enough to the save the student’s life and all that was needed to be done is some CPR or something. Emergency and First Aid is something that most people need. If a student is Emergency and First Aid certified they can get paid more in summer jobs that they work in. They can also get more babysitting jobs because what parents would want a none Emergency and First Aid certified person watching over they young ones. What happens if a person is babysitting someone and the children get a bloody nose, or fall and break a bone? Every parent would feel safer if they have a certified Emergency and First Aid person watching over their children. If an Emergency and First Aid course was brought into the school curriculum students will be ready for any emergency that gets in their way and wouldn’t need to worry about anything if they every get into an emergency situation.
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04/09/2010
Nathan
Tenafly High School, Tenafly/NJ
The school that I attend is very demanding. This demand, however, usually results in a lot of success in college. Our school does a great job of preparing students for college and for papers and tests. However, one thing that is lacking is a mandatory skills class. Often times, students go to college from our high school without mandatory personal and life skills. These skills include things like, proficiency in microsoft office, word and excel. How to make a website, how to market. Students also lack a sense of person finance or risk associated with being an entrepreneur. This is why I am proposing a 2 year mandatory skills course. This course would only be to help out students in their junior and senior year and would be taught by different teachers who have different fields of expertise. Not only would this course be helpful in the short-term but also in the long run when students have careers and families. Our school would be providing skills that would last much longer than just things like taking notes. This would also be great for students right out of college who are applying for jobs. For example, most business want to know if there employees and applicants are proficient with microsoft word, powerpoint and excel. These are reasons why our school should insitute a mandatory skills programs.
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04/09/2010
Matt
Tenafly high school, tenafly
I think our school lunches are decently healthy, at least healthier than most schools. If you believe that the food isn't healthier they also offer salads as well, ceral, milk and other healthy alternatives. Therefore, there isn't too much to fix. However, I believe what our school needs to improve is the fact that it doesn't allow teachers to control the temperature of their own rooms. Teachers have to go to a higher authority and complain about hte temperature of the room. I don't see the reason behind somebody controling the temperature of a room that doesn't even know the temperature of the room in which they are controlling. Teachers should beable to control the temperature of their own rooms so students aren't too hot, or too cold and can therefore concentrate on their work better and there is a less chance of them getting sick as well.
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04/09/2010
Tyler
Tenafly High School, Tenafly, NJ
I think that the student's workload should vary according to their knowledge of the subject. If a math student has mastered a lesson completely and has proven that they have understood the topic, why should they be given the same amount of homework as a student that is not as advanced? Harris Cooper, a Duke Professor decided to further analyze this subject. Cooper’s analysis showed that high school students that spend more than 2 hours a day on homework average lower scores on standardized tests. I am not trying to say that homework makes students do worse on these tests, but it shows that if a student is given an excessive amount of homework, it may affect their scores on tests like the SATs or ACTs.
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04/09/2010
Gabe
Tenafly High School, Tenafly, NJ
Unhealthy food is a big issue at many high schools today. Improving the quality of the food is a good way to improve the overall quality of a school. The entire issue of “is a school’s food healthy food?”, however, can be debated differently. Most schools, including Tenafly High School, do in fact offer healthy foods. What a student chooses to eat may not in fact be healthy, but the responsibility of the school is solely to provide the option of healthy food for the student. One thing I believe can, however, be changed at my school is a student’s ability to participate in determining the school’s future. At my school there are many programs to allow students to participate in the overall functioning of the school. What about the regular student who doesn’t want to join such a program, but may want to join in the occasional discussion regarding the school. As soundout.org, and even this very article say, student involvement is very important. In conclusion, students in my school should be allowed to more easily participate in meetings and discussions regarding the school.
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04/09/2010
Gabe
Tenafly High School, Tenafly, NJ
Unhealthy food is a big issue at many high schools today. Improving the quality of the food is a good way to improve the overall quality of a school. The entire issue of “is a school’s food healthy food?”, however, can be debated differently. Most schools, including Tenafly High School, do in fact offer healthy foods. What a student chooses to eat may not in fact be healthy, but the responsibility of the school is solely to provide the option of healthy food for the student. One thing I believe can, however, be changed at my school is a student’s ability to participate in determining the school’s future. At my school there are many programs to allow students to participate in the overall functioning of the school. What about the regular student who doesn’t want to join such a program, but may want to join in the occasional discussion regarding the school. As soundout.org, and even this very article say, student involvement is very important. In conclusion, students in my school should be allowed to more easily participate in meetings and discussions regarding the school.
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04/09/2010
Jennifer
Tenafly High School, Tenafly, NJ
The article states that schools should serve healthier food because the majority of students eat at least one meal, but that isn't really a strong reason. Of course it is better to eat healthy food, but we cannot say that the cafeteria food makes us unhealthier. Since we do not have strong evidence that school lunch makes us feel sick, we shouldn't state how unhealthy we think the food makes us, but state the benefits of eating healthy food. For example, instead of simply complaining how detrimental a certain meal could be, but state how a certain meal could help our bodies and our focus in class. An example meal that we could use is the deli. The deli is healthier than the food that they serve, which we cannot choose like we can make our own sandwiches in the deli. An attempt to help students eat healthy food is increasing the deli section in the school. Some people may enjoy the served food instead of deli, and it would be unfair to simply get rid of the served food and replace it with deli. Since we cannot prove that the school food is unhealthy, I think it is more efficient to suggest food that is proven to physically help us and try to make them serve the healthy food.
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04/09/2010
Rupal
Tenafly High School, Tenafly, NJ
In my school plenty of my peers complain about the cafeteria food. I think it’s a students right to complain about the food but also a students responsibility to act upon their grievances. During a meeting of Principals Cabinet which is a group of selected students, we worked towards creating a better menu for the cafeteria food. We edited the menu to make it more healthy using vegetables, and veggie Fridays. Although editing the cafeteria menu was a small step towards making the school a better place, we made sure to continue our attempts. In the current economy every individual is affected in different ways, students are no exceptions. My high school lost all of its state funding and therefore is feeling the repercussions such as cuts of teachers, clubs and even making certain programs pay-to-play. In order to let our students know about what is going on, as a school we have held forums and informational meetings so that students know exactly what is going on and how they will be affected. No matter how negatively we are being affected by the lack of funding, we are going to make the best of what our school is.
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04/09/2010
Jonathan
Tenafly High School, Tenafly
Eventhough students may be allowed to bring their own lunch, or go out and eat something else other than the school's food, most students will simply stick with the school's lunch. These healthy lines might be more expensive than the original ones, which might drive more students away. So either the school has to make the ehalthy food line mandatory, or find a cheap source for nice-quality foods. Sometimes, it's hard for people to voice their opinion. Maybe the board should have something like an anonymous suggestion box so people can freely list their complaints and solutions. With some guidelines or a post telling what subjects are at issues, students can easily reach those who can bring on the change. Or maybe during homeroom, teachers can do a poll to submit what the majority of the class thinks, which can be evaluated with other submissions of classes. People would freely give their ideas and opinions this way. Same thing with the types of food for lunches, or the methods the school could use to get them.
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04/09/2010
Elizabeth
Tenafly High School, Tenafly
Never have I eaten in the school cafeteria; it screams salmonella and obesity. But that does not mean it always has to be like so. To step up and make a change, it is important for us, as students, to work as a team (with the assistance of a teacher), and move our way up. First, we should propose the idea of healthier food to a member of the school’s principal’s cabinet. This idea will then be passed on the principal. Using a gradual step method like so would behoove the process of trying to change aspects of one’s school. Personally, I think that not only would our school be healthier if we had healthier options in the cafeteria but also if we had a first aid class. First aid helps save lives, so why wouldn’t one want to know it? It is crucial for students and faculty alike to understand how to react in a moment of tragedy, shock, and desperation. If our school had a first aid class, students would be better educated on how to aid a situation. With the knowledge of first aid, students are able to save a person in a time of desperation and tragedy. It is unclear to me why our school does not have a first aid class. Knowing first aid also makes people more marketable. If one ever becomes a camp counselor, it is necessary for them to know first aid. Additionally, in some occupations, if one knows first aid, they are paid more. Thus, knowing first aid benefits students both work wise and knowledge wise.
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04/09/2010
Kevin
Tenafly High School, Tenafly, NJ
There are many contributing factors that makes a school healthy. School Lunch could be an example, as the article has presented. But i believe that the biggest problem in tenafly high school is the amount of stress one student has to deal with. Stress, according to the website "WebMD" stress has a direct correlation to school. Some examples of school and stress are the tragic shootings that take place in schools like Virginia Tech. All these events could be prevented if schools did not give kids that much stress. What the school could do about this was if, the school had a more strict policy on tests. What I mean by that is if the school could limit the amount of tests one student could have on one day. On some days, i would have 5 tests in one day! And on other days i would have none. If the test were more spread apart, i could have more time to study and possibly do better on all my tests in general. Although i know this is a real policy in my school, i believe that it is not enforced to the fullest extent. If this change was the actually happen, the general education of America would increase indefinitely, making the United States of America a much more educated nation.
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04/09/2010
Ivan A.
Tenafly High School, Tenafly, NJ
I think that in order to improve our school we need a better scheduled day. What i mean buy this is the way the lunch periods are scheduled. I for example have lunch period 4 which starts at about 10:30. It's rediculous to eat lunch so early and this lunch that im eating at 10:30 is supposed to last me until 3:04 when school ends. I don't beleive that eating this early and then waiting until three in the afternoon can be healthy at all. In the end i find im only eating breakfast at 10:30 and completely skipping lunch which is a necessary meal. I feel rearranging the times will not only make our school healthier but better too.
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04/09/2010
Linda Z.
Tenafly High School, Tenafly, NJ
In Tenafly High School, I do not think that the quality of our school food is the problem. There are many healthy options ranging from a salad bar to even a separate deli bar that offers healthier choices on toppings for your sandwiches. Even the beverages served in our school are on the healthier side. However, I do feel as though the lunch period times are too early or late. The first lunch period is way too early for a student to be served lunch, most of my classmates who have lunch at that period say they often just skip breakfast and eat breakfast then. Studies shown on knackonline.org say that children who eat on a more regular basis demonstrated less hyperactivity, less anxiety, and there is less depression. By the time school is over, they are starving again and their attention is lacking. The problem with the first lunch period is that the lunch ladies just start preparing the food so there is less of a variety of food to choose from, however a better quality. The last lunch period is way too late for a student to be eating lunch. By then, most of the students are starving and eager to get out of class just to have a bite of food. This only worsens the individual student’s focus. So, I believe that some lunch periods should be cut and there should only be offered 2 lunch periods. With 2 lunch periods, there will only be a 45 minute difference between lunches, instead of 2 hour differences. This well help a student’s concentration and performance in school.
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04/09/2010
Rod
Tenafly High School, Tenafly, NJ
Everyone these days is talking about keeping the planet healthy and using "green" energy, and I think the best place to start would be at schools. Our town does have some money to spare, and instead of buying 30 new power hungry iMacs maybe next year we can invest in solar panels for the roof of the High School. This would be an expensive investment, but one that would save money in energy costs in the long run. However, its not really just about saving money, because we may not save enough to cover the initial cost for several years; what it's really about is saving the Earth, and even if we have to spend a few thousand dollars on solar panels instead of new plasma TVs in every classroom, who is to say that the latter is more important? If the argument is that solar panels have no educational value, one could be applied to it: a tech class could assist in the installation, or a science class could submit term projects on the green effect of the new addition. I hate to think that our planet is dying, and yet the Tenafly Board of Education does nothing.
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04/09/2010
Ayelet
Tenafly High School, Tenafly, NJ
Something that would definitely improve high school is changing the starting time for school to a later time. Most schools begin at around 7:30-8:00 am, leaving many teenagers with only a few hours of sleep. In order to get a good seven hours, one must go to sleep at around 11 or 12, and often students are not done with their responsibilities by that time. With the overload of work from school, and trying to balance extracurricular activities, family, and also social life, many teenagers' days are packed and do not allow them to go to sleep early enough for them too get a sufficient amount of sleep. According to Cornell University psychologist James B. Maas,"Almost all teen-agers, as they reach puberty, become walking zombies because they are getting far too little sleep". Maas claims that there is no point to educating teens in such early hours because their sleep deprivation and their drive to sleep replaces any chance for alertness or understanding. Furthermore, as stated by Siri Carpenter of the American Psychological Association, sleep deprivation causes behavioral and disciplinary problems in schools, sleepiness in class and poor concentration. Changing the starting time in schools to around 9 or 10 am would give students more time to sleep, and improve many aspects of their school day including the efficiency of their learning.
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04/09/2010
Stefie
Tenafly High School, Tenafly, NJ
In Tenafly High School, the students complain about how the lunch in school is terrible and instead, they waste more money and go eat somewhere outside of school. If the citizens of Tenafly are paying taxes for the school lunches then we should expect that the lunches some quality and that the students would want to eat it. Sometimes, the students do not want to leave school to get their lunch but they have no choice because they hate the food that is served. Everyone is tired of the frozen pizza bagel, expiring milk, the suspicious burgers, and the cold churros. Even USAtoday reported that fast food chains and supermarkets check their meats ten times more often than the USDA tests made for school lunches (“Fast-food standards for meat top those for school lunches”). If the unhealthy fast food restaurants pay more attention to the quality of their meat more than a school, then there is a problem. Salmonella and other food-borne illnesses could be spread through the school meat. I suggest that the schools pay more attention to the types of lunches they are selling us and use the tax payers’ money for good school lunches that are properly tested.
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04/09/2010
Ayelet
Tenafly High School, Tenafly, NJ
Something that would definitely improve high school is changing the starting time for school to a later time. Most schools begin at around 7:30-8:00 am, leaving many teenagers with only a few hours of sleep. In order to get a good seven hours, one must go to sleep at around 11 or 12, and often students are not done with their responsibilities by that time. With the overload of work from school, and trying to balance extracurricular activities, family, and also social life, many teenagers' days are packed and do not allow them to go to sleep early enough for them too get a sufficient amount of sleep. According to Cornell University psychologist James B. Maas,"Almost all teen-agers, as they reach puberty, become walking zombies because they are getting far too little sleep". Maas claims that there is no point to educating teens in such early hours because their sleep deprivation and their drive to sleep replaces any chance for alertness or understanding. Furthermore, as stated by Siri Carpenter of the American Psychological Association, sleep deprivation causes behavioral and disciplinary problems in schools, sleepiness in class and poor concentration. Changing the starting time in schools to around 9 or 10 am would give students more time to sleep, and improve many aspects of their school day including the efficiency of their learning.
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04/09/2010
Rod
Tenafly High School, Tenafly, NJ
Everyone these days is talking about keeping the planet healthy and using "green" energy, and I think the best place to start would be at schools. Our town does have some money to spare, and instead of buying 30 new power hungry iMacs maybe next year we can invest in solar panels for the roof of the High School. This would be an expensive investment, but one that would save money in energy costs in the long run. However, its not really just about saving money, because we may not save enough to cover the initial cost for several years; what it's really about is saving the Earth, and even if we have to spend a few thousand dollars on solar panels instead of new plasma TVs in every classroom, who is to say that the latter is more important? If the argument is that solar panels have no educational value, one could be applied to it: a tech class could assist in the installation, or a science class could submit term projects on the green effect of the new addition. I hate to think that our planet is dying, and yet the Tenafly Board of Education does nothing.
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04/09/2010
Robert
Tenafly High School, Tneafly, NJ
According the the National Sleep Foundation, sleep is "vital to your well-being." Sleep allows us to function at our highest level. The more we get, the better we function; however, teenagers tend to have irregular sleeping patterns due to their chaotic schedules. Teenagers go to school very early in the morning. This could be seen as a great or bad thing. If one has a sufficient amount of sleep, one can function at a healthy level. After a good night's sleep, one can function very well in the morning because the brain is "fresh." We can think very clearly and react very quickly with the right amount of sleep. However, teenagers usually do not have that much sleep due to extra curriculars, homework, and school. A typical high schooler's day goes as such:
Wake up around 7 AM, go to school, go to an extracurricular or a sport, then come home around 6 or 7 PM. After being out of the house for 12 hours, a student usually feels fairly tired. After dinner, one usually starts his or her homework around 8 or 9 PM. After finishing the homework, one goes to sleep past midnight. "Teens need about 9 1/4 hours of sleep each night to function best (for some, 8 1/2 hours is enough)." Obviously this hectic schedule does not permit even 7 hours of sleep. I feel this is not healthy or fair for the teenager. It is not healthy for obvious reasons, and is not fair because it does not allow teenagers to perform at their best. This can definitely effect their school grades. My arguement is that school should start later in the day. A few hours more of sleep could do wonders for high schoolers.
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04/09/2010
Ashley
Tenafly High School, NJ
According to Dr. Claude Chauchard, the founder of La Clinique De Paris International, eating breakfast at 7 a.m., lunch at noon, afternoon snack between 4 to 6 p.m., and dinner at 8 p.m is the most idealistic schedule. However, there are four lunch periods in our school and students who have period 4 lunch is too much off the standard lunch time. 10:30 is too early for lunch time. Students with period 4 lunch therefore tend to get hungry during the rest of the day at school. To avoid this problem, I think we should reduce the number of lunch periods and make the cafeteria bigger or use the space more wisely so that it can fit more people in.
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04/09/2010
Robert
Tenafly High School, Tneafly, NJ
According the the National Sleep Foundation, sleep is "vital to your well-being." Sleep allows us to function at our highest level. The more we get, the better we function; however, teenagers tend to have irregular sleeping patterns due to their chaotic schedules. Teenagers go to school very early in the morning. This could be seen as a great or bad thing. If one has a sufficient amount of sleep, one can function at a healthy level. After a good night's sleep, one can function very well in the morning because the brain is "fresh." We can think very clearly and react very quickly with the right amount of sleep. However, teenagers usually do not have that much sleep due to extra curriculars, homework, and school. A typical high schooler's day goes as such:
Wake up around 7 AM, go to school, go to an extracurricular or a sport, then come home around 6 or 7 PM. After being out of the house for 12 hours, a student usually feels fairly tired. After dinner, one usually starts his or her homework around 8 or 9 PM. After finishing the homework, one goes to sleep past midnight. "Teens need about 9 1/4 hours of sleep each night to function best (for some, 8 1/2 hours is enough)." Obviously this hectic schedule does not permit even 7 hours of sleep. I feel this is not healthy or fair for the teenager. It is not healthy for obvious reasons, and is not fair because it does not allow teenagers to perform at their best. This can definitely effect their school grades. My arguement is that school should start later in the day. A few hours more of sleep could do wonders for high schoolers.
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04/09/2010
Ashley
Tenafly High School, NJ
According to Dr. Claude Chauchard, the founder of La Clinique De Paris International, eating breakfast at 7 a.m., lunch at noon, afternoon snack between 4 to 6 p.m., and dinner at 8 p.m is the most idealistic schedule. However, there are four lunch periods in our school and students who have period 4 lunch is too much off the standard lunch time. 10:30 is too early for lunch time. Students with period 4 lunch therefore tend to get hungry during the rest of the day at school. To avoid this problem, I think we should reduce the number of lunch periods and make the cafeteria bigger or use the space more wisely so that it can fit more people in.
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04/09/2010
Jenny
Tenafly High School, Tenafly, NJ
Our school has a 3-minute passing time policy between every class, but it is not so enforced because there is no bell that indicates the start of a period. Some teachers don't mind their students coming into class later than 3 minutes. as long as it is not severely late such as coming in 20 minutes into the period. Only few teachers actually do look at the clock and count 3 minutes. Moreover, the 3-minute passing time between every class is too short. Going from the new science wing to the history department area takes way longer than 3 minutes especially with the student traffic near the library. Sometimes, the students want to stop by their lockers to drop their books because their backpacks are getting too heavy, or they might want to ask their teachers some questions they couldn't ask during class time or have a talk with them after class. Some teachers can be nicer and write late passes, but some teachers don't. To make this issue better, I suggest that there be a 5-minute passing time instead of 3. Even better, they should set up the school bell system to ring at the beginning of every class in addition to what we have now that is at the end of every class.
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04/09/2010
Alissa
Tenafly High School, Tenafly, NJ
Of all the changes that could be made to a school, a greater push toward receiving help on subjects would be necessary. At one school I attended, some of my teachers made it an obligation of their assignments to go seek help at least once on anything they don't understand. A student is bound to have a question on SOMETHING, and it is the teacher's job to invite questions as much as possible. A student should be given credit to go and receive help on an assignment. That pushes the student to acheive, and, in the end, work harder to succeed. After all, even the most "elementary tutoring helps struggling students"
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04/09/2010
Jenny
Tenafly High School, Tenafly, NJ
Our school has a 3-minute passing time policy between every class, but it is not so enforced because there is no bell that indicates the start of a period. Some teachers don't mind their students coming into class later than 3 minutes. as long as it is not severely late such as coming in 20 minutes into the period. Only few teachers actually do look at the clock and count 3 minutes. Moreover, the 3-minute passing time between every class is too short. Going from the new science wing to the history department area takes way longer than 3 minutes especially with the student traffic near the library. Sometimes, the students want to stop by their lockers to drop their books because their backpacks are getting too heavy, or they might want to ask their teachers some questions they couldn't ask during class time or have a talk with them after class. Some teachers can be nicer and write late passes, but some teachers don't. To make this issue better, I suggest that there be a 5-minute passing time instead of 3. Even better, they should set up the school bell system to ring at the beginning of every class in addition to what we have now that is at the end of every class.
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04/09/2010
Alexander
Tenafly High School, Tenafly, NJ
Vacations for high school students should be distributed more evenly. Instead of having a week of winter break and two and a half months of summer break, each break should last for around a month and a half. Intellectually challenged students could then divide their work burden into smaller more manageable. Those who want to challenge themselves further could have two internships instead of one. Separating the vacation evenly allows students to relieve more stress, in addition to giving them the time to reorganize themselves better.
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04/09/2010
Lindsay
Tenafly, Nj
I read an article on Yahoo! Sometime a few months ago stating that fast food is often healthier than school food because the school has a lower budget, and fast food places like McDonalds buy higher quality foods (like meat) because of the competition. I think that while schools may not be able to buy more expensive foods they can at least try to buy foods that are healthy. In our school we have salad bars, but not every student eats salads. Instead of just vegetables, how about adding fruit? Fruit is not only healthy but it is sweet and may be able to satisfy sugar cravings that students have through out the day.
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04/09/2010
William
Tenafly High School, Tenafly, NJ
So, in other words, yes, I am saying that the food does not taste good, but I do have the option of eating something else.
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04/09/2010
Jonathan
Tenafly High School, Tenafly NJ
In THS the food is not the problem, it is the quantity of food. I am not saying that everybody eats alot in THS but there are alot of athletes in my building and the amount of lunch that they give us is not enough. Yes, I could go buy another lunch or more food but I feel like we get the same amount of food as when we where in middle school. Back then we pretty much had 10-15 minutes at the table to eat and talk, now we have 45. You can get pasta and 2 meatballs, or a small sandwich with 4 onion rings. How about a hand full of onion rings, a sandwich that is not mostly bread, 4 meatballs. But hey it is just food, the true issue at hand is the tax cut or Cristie's actions on eliminating NJ's debit. I know that I am only a high school student and i do not pay taxes, but I am sure i do not speak alone when i say that makinga big cut on education is the right thing. A small cut would be "no biggie" but the cut Cristie made was unethical, my district got cut 30 teachers and i here that is nothing, NOTHING! Are you joking with me? Then they cut solely based on "ten-year" i know that it is the only "fair" way to cut people but honestly if were making it becuase we are forced to based on financial means, "ten year" would NOT be the correct course of action. i beleive that the school should ask its student before they go ahead and start knocking people out. No, they did not do that and they just went ahead and basically got rid of the majority of the relatively new teachers and cut programs for next year. They cut CSI which a place anybody can go for help, LET ME SAY THAT AGAIN, THEY GOT RID OF THE SCHOOLS HELP ROOM, HAVE FUN NEXT YEAR! Is this really what it is coming down to, honestly. They cut my advisor, he is a great man, becuase of him i finally after 2 years got the schedule and classes i wanted, he was making a big change in the building but no too bad for him, he was new so bye bye for him. i can think of some poeple that just sit in their office all day and just call people down to tell them that they have detention. FOR REAL MY FELLOW STUDENTS, yes the person does a little something something here and thereq but were complaing about wasting money and that still person still has a job. I am pretty sure we have all seen that commercial with the 2 husbands with their heads up their "you know whats" that is what i think the board looks like. A bunch of guys with their heads up the butts walking into eachother and signing off on the cuts becuase since their heads are where they are, they do not know what the hell they are doing. this cut is trying to create a solution for now, people are forgetting a huge thing called the FUTURE. i heard the Crisite cut language out of elementry school and a couple other things. THAT USED TO BE A LAW, THEY HAD TP TEACH A LANGUAGE. Now that is all gone, the people that we chose to help us in times of need are doing the oppiste. we complain about this and that, people always, ALWYAS want a snap solution. WAKE UP, it is not going to happen, stop being idiots. it is going to happen slowly with time, and by screwing over the future generation, howe do you plan on continuing?
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04/09/2010
Eric
Tenafly High School, Tenafly/New Jersey
Classrooms should incorporate mobile chairs, yoga balls, feet massagers etc: anything that pertains to the relaxation and movement of our body. In our current society, many schools have the traditional four legged desk followed by a four legged chair in a classroom. Although this has been used since the beginning of the early school days, it is time for a drastic change. Few schools have taken this step and integrate these tools that allow students to relax and move their body into there schools. However, what’s the most important reason is, is it worth it. And yes it is; studies have shown that by moving your body, you’re allowing the blood movement flow to certain body parts in a faster rate. This will thus lead to more rapid blood flow to your brain, and scientifically allows one’s brain to operate at a “higher” level. Statistical studies/experiments have also been recorded in Universities where students learned in a classroom that included the features of mobile chairs, yoga balls for each student; the placebo in the experiment was students that just learned in an ordinary classroom. The results led to the confirmation that students do better in an environment that involves usage of the body. In addition, certain schools make students have gym in the early periods of the day (periods 1-3) to pump up their blood and therefore start off the day “fresh.”
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04/08/2010
Amber
Northeast High School, Phila, PA
Honestly its up to the staff of the school to change the food in the cafeteria. If they made salads or got healthier burgers or wraps then I think more people would eat in school and they wouldn't feel so tired or sick once they reach their next class. I think its important for students in school to eat healthy so they stay focused and alert in school. But with the food that they serve most students either dont eat or feel sick if they have eaten. So either way its a lose-lose situation. But even if the students speak out, most of the school staff doesnt care for our opinions on the "little things".
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04/08/2010
David H.
prophetstown High School, prophetstown,Illinios
i think we should get another windmill at our school to make electricity easier
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