Should we get homework? by Michael Cantin

Have you ever gone to bed at 11:00 pm because you have to hand in your homework the next day. If yes, I know how you feel. Students shouldn't have homework. On average teenagers have 1:30-2 hour per night of homework. So if a teenager gets back home at maybe 4:30 they do there homework till 6-6:30, then they eat for about 30 min at this point it's already 7 pm then they can relax. But if they have hockey that night that changes everything. They get home do their homework till 6:30 then have hockey that 7 so they eat while doing there homework, then finally get home at maybe 8:30-9pm, then they have to shower them so they maybe have 45 minutes to relax. But if they didn't have homework to do they would have 2 hours and 45 minutes to relax. In this blog I will talk about 3 reasons not to have homework. They might have after school activates. 2, They might be tired. 3, It doesn't help.

              (They might have after school activates.) I don't know about you but I like playing baseball or hockey after school, and when I play, it's to play for a long time, maybe between 1-2 hours. But after I've gotten to high school, I've noticed that I don't have as much time to go to the park to play hockey because of homework. For example, if I have to do a project I'll start after dinner and then I'll look at the time and its already 8:30 which is too late to play hockey or baseball. Now I know what your going to say "do it when you get home." I like to take a break from school and watch TV, go on Facebook. Also people who play in a real hockey or soccer or baseball team and can't and don't want to let there team down.

             

              (People are tired.) I don't know about you, but after a long day of school I'm tired. When you get back from school, all you want to do is relax and get into bed before 10 pm, but if you get lots of homework during that day you might not have time to get into bed before 10.  Now I know what your saying do it when you get home. Well you might start when you get home, but if you have lots of homework or maybe a project you might have to wait for your partner so you can do it with him or her on Skype. Then do it, then get into bed without having the time to relax and have fun with you downtime. This just says you might not always have the energy to finish your homework.

                (Its not helpful.) You know when your mom asks you to make your bed and you really don't want to so you do it, but not well. Well, here's something about homework. If you don't want to do it and you do it really fast, just so your done, do you really get something out of that homework? That's what I thought. So what's the point of giving it. Now, you might say the teacher will ask them to do it well and it might help with some but it won't help with everyone. So we shouldn't have homework.

              To conclude people might have after school activities or are really tired and it just doesn't help. Should we have homework or not? 

   

Should We Be Afraid of Math? By Charlie Duquet

People think math is just a normal class that won't be worth a lot in their future life.. But actually it is very important! We students shouldn't think mathematics is a simple class that is not worth it! Math needs to be passed over 60 % to graduate from high school, to have a great job as a career in your future life, and even thought its complicated and hard, you can have ideas to make math fun for you.

Firstly, to have a successful future you absolutely need to pass your math classes from secondary 1-5 to have your high school diploma. It's like every other classes like, science, English, French.. Etc. If you pass your high school, which includes math, you have a huge chance of being successful in life. Math is one of the most important classes to be accepted in a good college. Every high school students have a fear to not pass certain classes, but math in particular can scare you a lot because it gives you pressure on yourself about you need to have.

Secondly, one of the greatest reasons why we should be afraid of math is that math can clearly determine your career and what kind of life you will have in the future. When you arrive in college, they take a look at your high school grades from secondary 3 to 5. Depending on what kind of career you want to have. If you want to become a doctor, for example, and you we're in low math, there is little chance that you can become a doctor. To be a doctor, administrations will expect you to have high math and science, physiques, chemistry.. Ect. Did you ever realize that math is part of all careers? We need math EVERYWHERE, and that's why we should be afraid of math because math will follow you where ever you go, so that's why you should try your best to be successful in life and never let math break your future life or career.

Lastly, for people that are afraid of math, there are many ways to make math fun for you. Here will be 5 tips to help you love math. 1- Have a positive mindset: Set your mind that math is fun and beneficial. 2- Dedicate some time to learning math: Make sure to study math about an hour per day. 3- Become familiar to the vocabulary: Being familiar to the vocabulary will give you chances of understanding better the class and work. 4- Have reference books: Books will provide you different explanations that will help you when you are studying. 5-  Practice and practice more: Invent yourself several math questions that will help you understand and love math. In this way, you make develop good feelings about math.

To conclude, yes, you should be afraid of math. It determines your future life and career. Having good grades in math should be your biggest goal in high school which will bring you to have a good college and a good job later on. The 5 tips provide ways of helping you love math and not being afraid to fail the class. Hoping these are good examples that will help you succeed, you can use them in other situations/classes.


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Is ''Generation Y'' More Self-Centered Than Earlier Generations? By: Samantha Dion

    Is ''Generation Y'' More Self-Centered Then Earlier Generations?


      Did you ever notice that teenagers these days, also known as "Generation Y" are more selfish and self-centered than previous generations? People say that, these days, teenagers are more confident then before. A lot of college students love themselves even more than ever before. Most of today's young artists are more self-centered too .

       Today, people consider teenagers as being more confident, selfish, arrogant and have a negative attitude.(Remember that not all teenagers are like this, but most of them are). Some teenagers do a lot of risk taking things like using a lot of drugs and alcohol than before. which is bad for their health. Most teens are
 really ambitious, but they are less hard workers then in the previous generations due to the fact that they are lazy. These kinds of behaviors are even found in songs made by young artists. Now days singers use more often the words ' I ' and 'we' then 'us' and 'we'. The songs are mostly about one person, the singer. Based on http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2013/Teens-Social-Media-And-Privacy/Main-Report/Part-1.aspx, in 2012, over 81% of teenagers used social networks. The numbers just keep increasing and teenagers can be influenced more easily. Also Being a teenagers these days is harder due to all the online bullying which can make teens a lot more on guard when anyone tells them a simple joke or critic.


      Lastly, late adolescents and college students have a higher self esteem then before. Which may result as being arrogant. It is seen in a lot of teens. Students crave the attention, they would do anything to get it. They will also use anything to get more of it. According to http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/raising-resilient-children-and-teens/201107/teens-need-know-positive-behavior-is-normal-and-exp, this crave for attention may be due to the fact that some teens have parents who don't give them enough, and they try to get it from somewhere else. The way a parent raises their children may affects them highly while being a kid, a teenager and as parents. It is also more easy to get more attention with social media.

   To conclude, a lot of teenagers today are being more arrogant and risk taking then before. Social media's and songs are more selfish and self-centered then before. Teenagers use too many different social medias, that it is more easy for them to get influenced by someone or something. Also, college students have a greater self-esteem then they use too. They want more and more attention and get a lot with media. They are born in a generation where electronics are everywhere and used for mostly everything people do.




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Should we be afraid of math? By Lydia Racine.

Should we be afraid of math? I think not. Why? i'll explain my point of view.

Mathematics is an important subject that you need to succeed for many jobs like doctors, veterinarians, engineers, achitects, and i'm passing some! Yes, Math is an important subject to have a good job in your future. But if you work hard and put your mind to it, you'll see, math is an easy subject.

Mathematical problems is an issue for many students in High School. Many students doesn't want to perform or are just discrouaged on all they do. This discouragement decreases all their performances in school especially in math. Discouragement could be found in; To much homework, family problems or just saying: I don't want to or i'm not able too, even if they aren't trying.

First, it's okay to recognize the "fear" of math. A recent study actually found that students did better when they wrote about their fears before taking a challenging math test. What could help you before doing a test would be to write about all your worries. It would boost your performance in the classroom says Rebeka Zook, a professional math tutor.

Finally, you should make math a part of your everyday life and make it simple. We all know it's a boring subject but if you want to perform, you should always do your homework. If you have math on a Monday and the homework is due for Wednesday, you could do part of it monday night and the rest tuesday night. Or, Just take more math activities in class and do some problems out the school to understand and practice your chapter everyday. This will make it an everyday life!

In conclusion, If you are still afraid of math, well try to listen carefully and put you more into it. It is still important even if you say that you won't need it in your futur. Yes you need it to have your High School Diploma. No matter what you do, or what you think math will always be in your futur life/career.

Should elementary schools continue to teach cursive writing ?-Jacob Simard

     Just like me, many students were forced to learn how to read and write in cursive writing, but is this really beneficial for our future? One of the many reasons why cursive writing is not useful for our future is because soon the electronics will be everywhere and we will only use electronic devices to write things. Also many people has bad hand writing in the first place. So why make them write in cursive writing which is already hard to understand even though it is well written. Meanwhile kids could be learning even more useful things in class that would really affect their future. Cursive writing should not be teached anymore.
   
    The main reason why cursive writing should not be taught anymore in elementary schools is because we are living in a world where we are constantly evolving. Electronic devices are taking on over the world and soon we will all be using electronic devices to work. Schools will start using electronic devices for students to work on, even companies will be using these for their employees. Besides writing on a electronic device is twice as fast as hand writing so students and employers will do twice the work they usually did. As you can see their are only good things about using electronic devices. It will make the world a better place.
   
     Secondly, half the people I know has absolutely messy writing that we can barely understand so why make them write in an even more complicated writing style. Cursive writing today is almost never used in the exception of your signature. Also I cannot even imagine teachers trying to read bad hand writing, why give them more trouble with bad cursive handwriting. All the odds are against cursive writing.

     Learning kids to write cursive writing is just a complete waste of time and effort. Just like me they will not remember anything of what they learned because they were focused on more important things in school. Also  the students could of learned way more important things that were actually important for them later on in life but instead we make them learn cursive writing that will do nothing good for them because they will all be using electronic devices to write as they get older.

     To conclude, cursive writing is  totally useless, soon everybody will use electronic devices to write, print writing is way easier to understand even with messy handwriting and we could use the time of learning cursive writing into a more educational use. Stop teaching cursive writing.

Illegible cursive writing turned in? Just drop it! By, Laurie Rheaume

    Many students today look at their messy and illegible cursive writing and sigh, feeling discouraged and like giving up, students like me. Why waste time teaching boring and hard cursive to children? They could learn other things instead that is more up to date in this twenty-first century world. A number of schools scratch out cursive from their material every year. Unfortunantley, it is still taught in many schools. Teachers should simply stop boring students by teaching cursive that they will likely never use. They could have more fun learning other things than attached letters.

    Cursive writing is already a challenge that many average seven to nine year olds have to go through, but it is even a bigger challenge for messy writers, that includes myself. I personally remember in elementary school when I had to do extra cursive practice other than free time, the many times the teacher took me to another table and held my small hand and did cursive letters with me. Or of course when I could not do a certain letter and was so upset that I could not do nice letters like the teacher did, I cried. One teacher even said " I can't believe a sweet little girl could write like that" while squinting at my letters. Cursive may seem easy to some, but for many it is a hard challenge to meet.

    The school year is packed with material to learn and understand. Cursive will take lots of time to teach, not to mention comprehend and be comfortable writing it. Cursive writing should be put aside and leave room to perfect other skills students need to improve. For example, math, many students struggle with this subject. Scratching out cursive writing could leave time to help students understand other things in school that students might need to spend extra time on.

     We are now at the twenty-first century, technology is rapidly getting better, faster and more used. Typing is something that is used by pretty much everyone today. Students should learn how to type properly, instead of learning boring attached letters that they will likely never use. Researchers stated, in the article Cursive vs. Writing in Elementary Schools, "Cursive is not required for academic success, children can get by in the real world without cursive." This proves that kids don't have to learn cursive nowadays to get by. Anne Trubeck, an author once said, "Touch typing is an example if cognitive automaticity, the ability to do things without conscious, attention or awareness. Automaticity takes a burden off our working memory, allowing us more space for high-order thinking." Anne Trubeck, obviously promotes the keyboard use and states why it is better. Students should stop learning things that are slowly going into extinction and start to learn things more adapted to this rapid technological advancing world.

    To conclude, cursive writing should be pushed aside and let room for better things. Cursive writing is simply an unecessary challenge that many students suffer through everyday. Students could be better in certain topics that they struggle in, if cursive disappeared from the school material. Typing will take over cursive in not long, why not put it aside right away and adapt ourselves to this changing world we live in.

Is Modern Society Ruining Childhood? By Jillian Newcombe

The inability to socialize properly, violence and obesity... Is that what modern society has done to childhood? Is the society of the 21st century ruining childhood? Yes, childhood has changed drastically since our parents were kids to now. However I don't entirely agree with society ruining childhood. Yes, it isn't what it used to be but it's not ruined. It has been scientifically proven that modern society and past times can cause violence, obesity and the lack of ability to socialize. I have chosen those three topics to write about because they are three main issues among youth today. 

First of all, violence. Children and teens have become more violent simply because of the television shows and movie that parents allow their kids to watch. Children and youth can be easily influenced therefore, they can receive violent images and thoughts in their brains which can cause them to act out and become more violent than they ever were. This does not occur within every single youth around the world but there is a great percentage of youth who have become violent because of television shows and movies.

Secondly, obesity. Childhood obesity is caused by a few things. For instance, parents don't encourage their youth to exercise and play sports as often. Therefore, the youth will sit in front of the television and eat simply because they are bored. They have no motivation to be active, keep in shape and eat healthy. Eventually the youth will start to notice this weight gain and the three most common things for them to do about it for example, would be to take up sports, exercise and be more active or continue eating and doing nothing and just not care about the weight gain or lastly, become anorexic or bulimic which could cause them to become ill and trigger even more issues. I am certain there are other things to do but, I would say, those are the most common. On this topic I would also like to add that youth have become more and more insecure because of the pressure from peers to fit in.

Lastly, the lack of ability to socialize. Youth now, seem to have little interest in much other than their electronic devices. Many seem to be spending their time on all kinds of different apps, for example, Instagram, Tumblr, Twitter and Facebook. A parent might say trying to communicate with their youth is like talking to a wall because they seem not be responsive or maybe just grunt, groan and mumble. Most only want to communicate with their friends. For some youth, these apps have become much more of an addiction. There is less and less of face to face conversations because why call or meet when you could just simply send a text message? Face to face conversations are becoming more awkward because so much is said over text that it seems there is nothing to be said in person.

To recap, I have written about were violence, obesity and the social skills of children and youth in modern society. My final questions to you are: What's your opinion? Is modern society in fact ruining childhood? 

In the Form of Gadgets. By Amanda Casolino

        With the rise of technological advances in our current modern culture comes great advantages. However, with these advances come problems. Children do not go outdoors anymore, they start increasingly suffering from mental and behavioral problems and, scientists start discovering disorders in kids' behaviors.

        Today, we live in an age where our lives and everything that is important to us comes in the form of gadgets. I remember when I was in primary school, I used to listen to my music on my MP3 player and my friends and I used to find it so cool. And now, kids have their own cell phones and always want the newest one because or else, they don't feel "cool" enough. Now, because of technology, children don't go out anymore. They don't know what it is to play and run around freely, to get dirty, to let their imagination run wild and to laugh with each other. According to Richard Louv, in 2005, in his book Last Child In The Woods, he discovered that technological advancements combined with social networking and viral marketing, has led to an outbreak in something called Nature Deficit Disorder. This is the result of behavioral problems in children that do not spend enough time outside.

        In conclusion, technology is being underestimated. People need to start realizing that technology isn't that great after all and that modern culture isn't just affecting children but adults too. Technology is now and technology is the future but have we really all just become slaves to the machines we currently use and abuse?

                                                                                                                

Does Homework Really Help You Learn? By: Clara-Jane R

     Having 2 hours of homework after a long day at school helps you learn? This is false. Giving students piles of homework does not help them learn. Students have an average of two hours of homework a night after being at school for around six hours. Firstly, students are tired after a day at school and they do not get the help they need. Finally, they are only trying to be done with it as fast as possible.

     To begin with, after a long day at school and in the bus, a student's priority is not to do more school work. Most students are tired when coming home from school, have after school sports or other activities to do. After six hours of having done school work, a student should come back home to do another two hours of homework? Think about it, a lot of students think only the time spent at school is long, at home they will not be concentrated to do more work when there is no one looking over their shoulder to see if they are doing their work. A student should have the right to relax at home. At school is a time to work hard but home should be a time to unwind to prepare for the next school day. After all, most students finish by doing their homework at school the next day.

     In addition, at home, students do not get the help they need. At school, if a student needs help all they need to do is ask their teacher who is not very far away. At home, not all parents have the time, or know what to do with their child's homework, as much as they want to help, they often times cannot. This means, when getting stuck on a question, a student works on it for a long time and sometimes abandons without really knowing what to do. This does not help a student learn anything and it just makes it longer when stuck on a question. A better idea would be to take the time in class to answer all questions with a teacher who is paid to help you learn and go further in life. Meaning, at home, a student is not really learning anything.

     Finally, no student wants to be doing homework at eight at night, meaning they are only trying to finish it as fast as possible. When a student see's a pile of homework on their desk the first thing that pops into their mind is not to take their time and do it all well, it is that they just want to get it over with. With all the work done during the day, a student will want to be done and go to bed as soon as possible. Without any help the student will do what he or she thinks is the answer and move on.  This basically means it will not help them improved their grades if they are not really paying attention to what they are writing.  According to Annie Murphy Paul, homework is not making the grade. Quantity is more important than quality these days, which should be the other way around.

     In conclusion, what do all these arguments mean? Giving students piles of homework is useless. They are tired after a day at school, students do not get the help and support they need at home and when they have homework, they are only trying to finish it as soon as possible. Does this sound like a good way to learn and something that will be helpful later on in life?

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How Has Traveling Affected You? By Shayna Quessy

     Traveling has affected me in such way that it is now a part of me. How has traveling affected you? Traveling can affect you in good or bad ways by good or bad events. It made me want to travel more, helped and made me want to learn about other cultures and finally made me understand what life was all about.

    Traveling is a part of me. The first time I took the plane I was only a baby. Some time later when I could remember taking the plane and going to France, I was fascinated. Thinking that we live in a big city, a big town but it actually is so small ,for we live in such a big world. When I was young, I wanted to travel the whole world and see all that life could offer. Since then I dream of traveling, of going all over the world. The effects of taking the plane and going to France was huge; it made me want to travel and made me see the world in a whole different way. People sometimes ask you where would you want to go the most in the whole world? Well ,I, for one would have trouble answering that question, there are so many places you could go. This the way that travelling has affected me, the fact that I would have trouble choosing when you could go so many places.

   We are all different, different cultures, faith, traditions and such. Traveling has made me aware of the cultures in the world, the different traditions or the different kind of food. It has helped me learn that we all have our differences and that we aren't all that different at the same time. When I travel, I look forward to meeting new people or learning new things about the way of life for other people all around the world. Traveling has taught me that we all deserve the same rights no matter where we come from, it has inspired me to learn more about the cultures all around the world.

   Life, whats the point of life if we live to die and die to live? Well life is about taking chances, living your life to the fullest with many different experiences. We want to be free to run around wild and happy and to get the best memories ever.  Traveling is one thing i'll look back on when i'll be older. I'll look back when i'm older and wonder why I never went there, there or there. That's what traveling has taught me, it has taught me that the things you are most afraid to do are usually the most worthwile. I used to be scared to take the plane on my own, but now I know that I can live my experiences of my own and they will be the ones I will remember & cherish the most.

In conclusion, traveling can teach you many things only if you let it. Traveling can affect you in good or bad ways ,but I can only see the good ways it has affected me. Traveling has affected me by the way that I now want to travel more, that I now
 want to learn about different cultures and has helped me see what life was truley about.

Are Video Games Good Or Bad, Or Even Both? By Joshua Royer

   In modern day society video games are very present in children's lives. Parents say that video games are bad and they say "Back in my day we didn't have video games", but that doesn't mean we should condemn them. Some studies prove that video games can be beneficial for a child growing up, but on the other hand excessive gaming for hours non-stop can bring consequences.

   Gaming can be good because they can enhance your skills.  Video games like Call Of Duty and Halo can improve on people's strategy and concentration skills. Concentration is important in everyday life. For example at school it is essential to be able to concentrate on your work. Strategy is also helpful, in games you sometimes have to stop and think about how to proceed. Just like at school, video games can help with your problem solving. Also games like these let you socialize which is important in everyday life. No one can go without socializing, if someone doesn't socialize that person can go under depression. So if your stuck at home with no friends you can log onto your console and play with your friend from home. There aren't only violent games on the market, there are also games meant for learning.

   Parents say that video games are too violent now a days, well they are wrong. Game producers made some games especially to learn. For example the game Lapin Malin. When I was a young child I would play that game very often and by experience I tell you that game was very educational for that age group. You could learn math, shapes, rhymes, spelling and many other things while being entertained. Also I recomend that game to any child of about 8 and younger to play it. So if you look carefully there aren`t only violent games. Some are educational and some are for strategy and memory. So check the rating of the game, is it for everyone? Or is it for mature adults? Thats the bright side of gaming, did I mention some of the concequences?
   Gaming has its disadvantages and that is why people are arguing video games are bad. One of these disadvantages is that video games are very adictive and because of that adults and children play for huge amounts of time on these without realising the danger. The biggest danger is your vision can be altered for life. Staring at a little screen for several hours straight can ruin your sight and/or make you wear glasses for the rest of your life. That is why you must play responsibly. One or two hours a day can`t hurt. If you play responsibly then there should be no danger.
   In conclusion, video games can be good for us if played responsibly. Adults might still say video games are bad, but now you know the truth. Gaming can improve your mental skills, some games are meant to educate and remember play responsibly or suffer the concequences.

Should Elementary Schools Continue to Teach Cursive Writing? By Aurélie V

   

    Who here is annoyed to be obliged to read someone else's text whose handwriting is pretty bad? Many of you must have answered this question by a yes and that is surely why everyone should still learn cursive writing in elementary school. All teachers in elementary school should continue to teach cursive writing or at least have the basic on how to read it. I think that it is really important for everyone. Many people still write with cursive letters. Scientist made some surveys and discovered one thing, many children from our generation do not know how to write or read cursive. First of all, their is more risk of forgery if we do not sign in cursive, secondly, older people, like teachers, still use cursive and last but not least it is neater and used to be taught in almost every grade.

     First of all, by not writing in cursive there is more risk of forgery. Who would want someone to use their name to sign any documents, bank accounts or even use their identity for anything? I think no one would want to live with that and this is why elementary schools have to learn children how to write in cursive. It could prevent many things that no one wants to be part of. Cursive writing is used in daily life and it is way harder for someone to imitate someone's signature if it is written in cursive because each person has their own way of writing in cursive, printed writing mostly look the same. If children got to learn cursive it could help make our society better and harder for people to use someone else name.

     Secondly, many people that are older now just write in cursive, besides many teachers and parents still write using cursive. Children have to learn to at least read cursive because how embarassing would it be if you could not read what your teacher wrote on your paper ? Let's say it could be a bit awkward. But this already happened, for example, in the article Do You Write In Cursive? by Shannon Doyne in The New York Times, Alex Heck, a twenty-two years old girl admitted that a short time after her grandmother died she had left her journal to be read but Alex said that she barely remembered how to read or even write cursives. People have to be able to understand cursive. It is used since the beginning of writing so why would we stop it in the 21th Century? 

     

     Thirdly, cursive writing is way neater and used to be learned in every school from grade three to grade six and sometimes even in grade eight. If everyone would write in cursive it would be easier for everyone to understand what each other wrote on paper. It would also look more neater and always look the same since there is not many different ways to make a cursive letter. Besides almost everyone could understand each other if we still used cursive everyday.

    In conclusion, cursive writing is used on daily basis. I think cursive writing should still be learned in school. People use them against forgery, teachers used them in school and it looks totally neater when it is written on a sheet of paper. Cursives are never too old to be written and no one should forget how useful it could be later on. 

   

                                             Aurélie V

Family...What is the Deal? By: Kaitlin Power

    From the day we are born, we have a family. People that give us unconditional love, but do these people change throughout our lives? Some days you feel like never talking to your family again, maybe they get annoying and you say you hate them, but let's face facts; without our family, we wouldn't go anywhere in life. Experts are saying that the definition of a family is changing, and that is true. So what is a family? 

    A family, can be anyone that supports you through your rough times. A family does not have to be a typical; mom, dad, and biological kids. Throughout the years and various situations, it has changed a lot. A family is no longer just a biological family, it could be who ever you love, whoever understands you the most and who is always there for you. Throughout the years, there has been a decline in marriage rate, which means that women or men are raising children by them selves. Women have a new found courage that takes away the need of having another support to raise a child. Also,  families also can be raised by same gender parents or by an adoptive parent. You are the one deciding who your family is, this should not be influenced by today's society.

 
     In conclusion, who is your family? Do they have an importance that no one can replace? They are whoever you love, how ever a family identifies Itself. A family is no longer; mom, dad, and biological children. It is whoever you love. Maybe your family is your group of friends, because they are there for you more than your biological family is. But just remember, that families are the friends that you can't get rid of.

  

Is Homework Worth It? By Thomas Canning

 In most, if not all schools, students are assigned homework. And you probably already know that the students don't like homework. Question is, is it actually worth it? In my opinion, I think that homework can be useless. Especially after a 6 hour school day. Teachers. Imagine this: you get home from school, the most horrid school day in a while. You're tired. You're exhausted. And you just want to go to bed. But you can't. You have hours of work to do. That's how students feel.

According to UVAToday, studies show that homework has little or no effect, but can also help to standardize grades. In my opinion, homework is a pain in the butt. But I also think that it can help us to memorize important elements that could show up in an exam or test. More statistics show that only 50% of parents think that homework is worthwhile. It might seem like a lot, but that means that the other half disagree with homework being worthwhile.

How ever, I do think that bringing technology to homework can make it more interesting for the student to work on. Take our school for an example. In the past three years that I've been here, we've been using more and more technology in our classes. Our school has done a very good job to introduce technology to students with online programs to remind them about upcoming events or homework to hand in.  

In conclusion, I think homework isn't really useful unless studying for an upcoming test or exam. Although I think that homework can sometimes be useless, I think there's a way for teachers to make it interesting. They just need to figure it out.

Modern Culture, Ruining Or Enhancing Childhood? By David Tweddell

     From the new technology, cellphones, television, computers, children use it, there is no doubt about it, they live with these. Children are passing way too much time on these devices. How would they be if they passed only one day without it?

     Adolescence lives depend on their electronic device, when entering high school, almost everybody has a cell phone or an iPod. A recent study from Kraiser Family Foundation demonstrates that children spend more time on their electronic device then they spend at school. Adolescents even use it when they are at school when they are at school! When they are at home, they use into talk with their friends, when they are with their friends, they can't let it go. They where born and raised using it, therefore, if you ask them to let it go, it might be difficult for them. They have never seen life without it, they are dependent of those. A day without it would be a challenge that could not be done, the truth is, if you take away their electronic device, most people will tell you they are bored and most likely ask it back. 

     Modern technology is in fact ruining childhood. Take a book, go play outside, these activites were common not even 10 years ago. As new technology arrived, it was a new world for the children, they don't want to do these activities, the games they play on their iPod is plenty of entertainement. If children were more outside and reading books, maybe their childhood wouldn't be ruined by modern technology.

Does Your Homework Help You Learn? By Frédérique Plante

We spend hours a day sitting in a class just taking all that new information in. Yet, we spend even more time at home completing work from the same topic from that day's class. Homework, is it helpful or useless? Well I think it isn't always necessary. Studies have shown that homework doesn't help the students' grades. Regardless homework seem to be so important.

I can shamelessly say that I don't always do my homework. I sometimes am so exhausted that instead of spending my whole evening doing homework, I like to have a little break. Homework isn't needed in every class. 4 periods a day, the work can add up. We don't have enough time to complete it all. There is life outside of school, friends, family, work, and sometimes we just don't have the time. Math homework is very important in my opinion. It's basically practice and for you to actually understand. In some other classes, I think it's completely irrelevant. Sometimes we have up to 10 pages to complete. It's too much. But, if its class work that isn't done because you we're fooling around or you were too slow, now that's fine to me. It's the student's responsibility to complete their work and follow along. Some teachers do grade their students homework and marks are taken away if not completed. 

The education system varies from every part of the globe. I say, if its required, do it. At the end, it will help you in the long run. We all have our different opinions on the subject. You might like better to hang with friends instead of doing homework, but you'll get penalized. In my opinion homework isn't always necessary, but is important in math class and if its work not completed, it's fine. Do you do your homework?  

PEOPLE ARE DYING WAKE UP! Camille Tremblay

      DYING! DISASTER! HELP! POOR PEOPLE! WAKE UP! People need our help. People are dying, some people are living in a disaster, while some others are poor, some people are praying to God for our help. What do you need more to wake up and realize that on Earth people are struggling to stay alive? Do all this need to happend to you before you get up and try to change the world or to help people in need?

       We are suppose to be a united world and help each other. Why is this not happening? You guys don't want to help others because they don't have your last name or again you don't know them but hey you guys that just sit there and say the world needs to change or people are dying stop saying it and start doing what you say! Think of it people if you guys are in danger and you know that people know your in danger you would want them to help you so why aren't you doing it for them? The colours the religion the countries isn't a good excuse not to help them we all have hearts at the end. There's a 13 year old girl named Malala Yousafzai in Pakistan that was shot by the Taliban because she stood up for education for women. She influence a lot of people by standing up. There's a lot of singers that make songs about our world and how it should be. It's their way to say their opinion to the world. You need to find your way for helping people. If everyone would give food, cloths or would do a good move for other people that are struggling to stay alive maybe one day we would be a united world like we are suppose to be! Don't count on others to help others count on you and only you! 

      Are you waiting for all this to happen to you before doing something about our world? Think about it if in your country there would be people getting killed, injustice, poverity, unfairness, and haters! You would definately want people to stand up for you and to help you go through hard moments. You would think about all the people sitting on their sofa and watching TV and you would just pray and pray for one person to tell the world that on our planet there is people that need our help well I will make your dream come true right now! I hope after reading my blog you will close your TV and start thinking on how you can help the world. This is our future people so think about your decisions!

        I hope my blog changed your minds and I hope I made you realize how people need badly our help. We are all humans we NEED to help other humans, race, colours, religion, cultures, and languages, isn't a problem we all have so we should help the people in need. 

Does Homework Actually Help You Learn? By: Andy LeBrun

      Have you ever thought that maybe homework is not beneficial? New research suggests that a lot of homework is pointless. In a 2008 survey, 1/3 of parents rated that the quality of their children's homework as fair or poor. Kids get stressed because of the amount of homework they have. So why give homework?

      The amount of homework is a lot less important than its quality. Teachers should assign homework to the students that have difficulty understanding what they are learning. By giving homework, it gives the students more stress and anxiety. Teachers should meet the students one by one to see who actually understands and who doesn't.

      A lot of homework is said to be pointless busy work. Some of the homeworks can be only twenty minutes but some can take up to one hour. An hour of homework is a lot for kids and teenagers. That one hour of homework may not even make you understand more. Sometimes, students have big exams and have to study for it but don't have the time because we have other homework to do that is due the next day.

      

      Some parents think that homework is beneficial and of course it is but sometimes homework does not help us at all. Some students can not sleep at night because they are stressed of their homework. Students don't have the desire to do it. Homework should be a fun and educational advantage.

   





 In conclusion, new research says that homework is pointless busy work and that the quantity is students homework is a lot less important than its quality. Students should have homework when they don't understand or want to learn more.

What do you think? - By Catherine Picard

Google Images

 Is cheerleading a sport or is it just girls dancing around in skirts while encouraging a football team?Cheerleading is seen by two point of view. Some people say it is artistic, but others say it is a sport. 

 It is a sport. Cheerleading, just like other sports, requires strategy, physical training and, determination.

It requires a lot of practice, a lot of physical and psychological endurance, determination and, many more skills just like football, soccer, gymnastic, and other sports.

             
To conclude, cheerleading is not just any sport! According to the web site sportsarchivesblog.com  it is more dangerous than any other high school and college sport. It requires a lot of athletic skills and coordination. In fact, injuries are on the rise. If you are still not convince that cheerleading is a sport,  look at these pictures and try to reproduce them. 

Google Images

Not that easy right? 

Does Homework Help You Learn? By Tristan Sanschagrin

        Homework: a way to help people learn more of something they already learn that day at school. But does it really help? I think homework should not be given since when you arrive home from school your most likely tired and over flood with the things you've learned that day. The site factualfacts.com shows that we endure 7 hour of work at school including the time spend travelling and plus 3 hours at night, at that time your brain is tired of all the things you learn, It's boring and it may create stress.

      At night, when a lets say 12 years old kid arrives at his home he is tired and over flood with work, but then he finds out that he has Math and English homework and doesn't feel like doing it. Researchers shows that homework can bring lower grades because we a evaluated on our homework and kids tend not to do it when their tired. Further more, we are evaluated by teachers all day long in class and out of school we are told that we could do whatever we want when were out,but lets say we finish school at 3, we take the bus for 30-60 minutes we arrive home it's 4pm then we are told to do our homework that most likely will take our time until 7pm. Then we have to shower and help doing some task at home,then we need to go sleep to have a good day of work when we worked all night.

     I'll take an example on my personal life,presently I am in grade nine and in math we are working on algebraic notations. We have about 6 course of math on a cycle of 10. If we work for about 70 minutes at school on math then we are told to do 4 pages of work when we lets say completed 5 in 70 minutes the estimated time worked on math that day is about one hour and ten minutes. Now i'm not complaining about the time spend on math each course but when i arrive home to work another hour on math it gets boring since its almost as if I had two course of math per day. Let's be clear together, i'm pretty sure math isn't your favorite subject either.

      In most classes their are always students that understands more the work they have to do and some that doesn't get it as quickly. In most cases that student needs help, but when they get home either their parents are working or they don't understand it either. So it creates a lot of stress when they need to deal with a homework that will be check the day after when they don't understand. Plus, since those student aren't as fast they can't afford having a homework incomplete but what's the goal of having a homework if your not going to finish it.

In conclusion, homework is a very disturbing way of helping kids or young adults to learn more about their course since according to "factualfacts.com" we have about 3 hours of homework per night and those 3 hours might create stress or get boring and when we arrive home we are overflow with homework so the brain is tired of all the work that day. So what do you think, should we abolish homework.

Is Cheerleading A Sport? By: Jennifer S

           What do you think, is cheerleading a sport to you? When you think about it there is many reasons, positive or negative about cheerleading. I read that some people around us doesn't know if yes or no cheerleading is a sport. 

For me cheerleading is a mix of dance and gymnastics. It's also connect to trust and team work all together. With these 4 elements for me its a great cheerleading team.  With the team, we have fun, we laugh and help each other when needed. But not all is about team work there is also trust, a really important one. You have to trust the person that is lifting you. In cheerleading you do a choreography like dance, you do jumps etc... In other words cheerleading is a work out. 

In cheerleading you may do competitions and some can be around the world, Australia, Canada, China, Colombia, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, New Zealand and the United Kingdom etc..Like in other sports like dance and figure skating they do competitions. 

There is movies about cheerleading, and of what I heard there is some boardcasts of cheerleading competition by ESPN international and the world wide release of the 2000 film Bring It On.

So now do you think cheerleading is a sport?

  

Is a Ton of Homework an Aid or Just a Burden? By: Christian Thibault

Piles of homework night after night after night but we don't want to do it but we still do because we are told that it helps us learn and does all these miraculous things but does a pile of homework truly help you learn?  I believe that the large quantities of homework students across the world do is pointless and time should be put into making shorter, higher quality homework. First of all, it increases parent-teen bonding. Second of all, it reduces family stress and lastly it frees-up time for life-changing activites.

First of all, high levels of homework can damage parent-child relationships because the school demands begin to feel like parental demands. Parents care for their childs education and oversee that homework is done. Though with the extreme amount of homework that is given to us daily, most of us either don't have time or don't want to do it. So the average reaction of a parent would be to warn their child. But if this becomes a habit, parents will start to nag their children and this will create a bad bond between a parent and the child because no child and I can confirm that, likes to be nagged.

  “I used to bond with my child while taking a walk in the woods, but now she has too much homework and other school activities: there’s no time.” This is what a mother said at a parent workshop. In a day, there are 24 hours, on average, 8 of those hours are devoted to sleeping. So there are 16 hours left. Eating, drinking and school together then take off 10 hours. So we are left with 6 hours and in 6 hours, a student has no time to go on a 30-60 minute stroll. Dr. Ned Hallowell explains that a better and stronger connection with parents and siblings helps reduce stress and leads to a happy adult life.

            Lastly, homework stops us from doing activites that could change our lives. I being a very athletic person have a constant trouble with making time for my homework. When people come back from a physical activity or even an activity that has nothing to do with athletics per say glee club. No one and I mean no one is looking forward to do tons of homework let alone homework on its own. So if there is shorter and higher quality homework students might not look forward to it but its a guarantee that it won't mind them as much.

            Regardless of what people think, I still believe that the large quantities of homework students across the world do is pointless and time should be put into making shorter, higher quality homework. If we had more family time, better bonds with parents and more free time for activites, people would be way more satisfied with their teenage years. Think about it, the future is now, everything we do now effects our future. So do you want a good future or a bad future?

           

All images taken from Google

Information found on: http://www.christineduvivier.com/2011/02/3-reasons-to-reduce-homework/

Save Us the Torture of Homework By: Francis Plamondon

  Homework doesn't help us learn, nowadays teachers use it as torture or punishment and not for learning. The students lose time doing homework that they could be using for playing outside or doing what they feel like doing. When you lie underneath piles of homework every night eventually you lose complete interest and get bored of homework.

  For example when we have what teachers calls a bad class which is usually a certain group of people fooling around and ruining it for everyone, they give us extra homework, to so that we can learn since most of the time it has absolutely nothing to do with the topic we are discussing, but as punishment. It is rare in today's society that a teacher gives homework for the benefit of the students.

  Teachers give us about 5-10 mins of homework that helps us but after we get about another 10-15 mins of homework that helps us in no way except to lose time. Time that students could be passing outside with friends taking fresh air after a hard days work or time to do what they feel like doing. Students always complain because they have no time to do what they want because first they get homework but there parents also give them chores and etc so they have no time to do what they want.

    With all the homework teachers give us in every course we have students lose interest in there home work but not only the homework some completely lose interest in school. By giving too much homework teachers make students lose interest in homework and school and if that happens students grades are likely to be considerably lowered, all this because of homework.

   In conclusion homework doesn't help us at all, a considerable amount of homework per course every day leads to lower grades by loss of interest in school, students have no time for themselves, and homework nowadays is used as a certain form of psychological torture. 

Chicago vs Bruins by Gabriel Pearson

I think it's important that people cheer for their town and their team because we need support and I think it was really fun what they did. I really liked that most of the Chicago people came to this event and it was fun to see how people like their teams and sport.