Food Bans in Schools, Helpful or Harmful?

First Lady, Michelle Obama, launched a campaign to end childhood obesity entitled the Let's Move Campaign.  Four goals of the Let's Move Campaign's goals are, improving school's food quality,making healthy foods affordable and accessible, focusing of physical education and getting parents informed about nutrition and exercise.  Schools now have strict guidelines as to what they are allowed to serve at lunch and what students are allowed to bring in.  The guidelines are very strict, having negative affects and even protests against them.

Nutrition guidelines are designed to create a basis for a healthy meal and diet.  Calorie 

restrictions on school lunches depend on the grade the child is in, for example, 

Elementary schools are limited to 650 calories, middle schools 700 calories and high schools 850 calories.  Calories cannot be over thirty percent from fat and ten percent from saturated fat.  Schools are also required to serve more fruits and vegetables.  Whole wheat is to be served instead of white.  A third of Dietary Reference Intakes for protein, vitamins A and C, calcium, iron and calories must be provided.   Stricter guidelines are not very popular with some people.

Nutritional guidelines seem like they are beneficial but they can have negative affects.  Some kids are left hungry because they are not given enough food or do not eat the food because they do not like it.  Students who play sports after school burn more calories and are hungrier and have less energy to play sports.  Trash in school cafeterias has increased by almost twice as much.  A study showed that students in schools in Lake County, Florida throw away $75,000 worth of produce.  Food being thrown away could have been used for families that are starving.  If most of the food is being thrown away students are actually eating less calories than the requirements suggests.  Negative effects are not worth the trouble of nutritional requirements.

"...putting millions of growing, hungry schoolkids on a restricted diet-from student-athletes to needy kids who may count on the school lunch as "their best, and perhaps only, meal of the day"...seems like dangerous doublespeak" 

-Baylen Linnekin

Students in Kansas created a video complaining about being hungry from school lunches

Students across the country are beginning to protest school lunches.  Many students organized protests refusing to eat the school lunches and are bringing their lunches from home.  Legislatures are also against the nutritional guidelines and have created the 'No Hungry Kids Act'.  This act is meant to repeal the USDA standards for school lunches.  School lunches should be something students want to eat not something they want to protest against.  

“The goal of the school lunch program is supposed to be feeding children, not filling the trash cans with uneaten food.  The USDA’s new school lunch guidelines are a perfect example of what is wrong with government: misguided inputs, tremendous waste, and unaccomplished goals. Thanks to the Nutrition Nannies at the USDA, America’s children are going hungry at school.”

-Tim Huelskamp 

Reforming school lunches are actually less beneficial than some people want to believe.  Students should not be left hungry, as for some students it may be the only meal they have that day.  All that food that is being thrown away, because students are forced to get fruits and vegetables they do not like, is not fair because some people do not have money for food and children are just wasting it.  Student protests should not be happening over school lunches, lunches should be something students enjoy and want to eat.  Childhood obesity is a problem, but it should not be the government's job to tell every child in the United States what they can and cannot eat, parents and doctors can help a child make food choices.  Instead healthy options should be available, but students get  a choice or at least once a week serve a healthy lunch.

Sources

Allen, Michael. "High School Students Plan Cafeteria Boycott to Protest Healthy School Lunches." High School Students Plan Cafeteria Boycott to Protest Healthy School Lunches. Opposing Views, 28 Sept. 2012. Web. 21 Oct. 2012. <http://www.opposingviews.com/i/health/food-and-nutrition/dieting/high-school-students-plan-cafeteria-boycott-protest-healthy>.

Blk5348. "We Are Hungry." YouTube. YouTube, 17 Sept. 2012. Web. 21 Oct. 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IB7NDUSBOo>.

"The Daily Caller." The Daily Caller. The Daily Caller, 22 Sept. 2012. Web. 21 Oct. 2012. <http://dailycaller.com/2012/09/22/nations-children-push-back-against-michelle-obama-backed-school-lunch-regs/>.

Kuczynski-Brown, Alex. "School Lunch Policy Has Florida School Leaders Considering Trash Cameras To Evaluate Effectiveness Of New Rules." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 02 Oct. 2012. Web. 21 Oct. 2012. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/02/florida-school-leaders-mu_n_1930447.html>.

Linnekin, Baylen. "USDA's School Lunch Reforms Earn an "F" from Students." Reason.com. N.p., 22 Sept. 2012. Web. 21 Oct. 2012. <http://reason.com/archives/2012/09/22/usdas-school-lunch-reforms-earning-an-f/1>.

N.d. Photograph. Building a Healthier Chicago. Web. 21 Oct. 2012. <http://www.healthierchicago.org/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC=%7B274C36A8-B136-4039-8318-E279046410A7%7D>.

"Nutritional Requirements." Healthy School Lunches / National School Lunch Program. Healthy School Lunches, n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2012. <http://healthyschoollunches.org/background/nutrition.cfm>.

No More Midterms and Finals!

No More Midterms and Finals!

  

          Every student knows it. That time of year when they have a week full of tests. What are these? These are midterms and finals. These tests are supposed to measure your memory of what you have learned that year. But they do not. All they do is stress students out causing drug usage and cheating. Therefore they should be eliminated. Studies show that other schools that have done this have benefited from this greatly.

Drug Usage

          Midterms and finals cause a lot of students to become stressed. With each counting as ten percent of their final grade, many students become worried. Most students participate in extracurricular activities. So when are they supposed to have time to study for these? Last year, I had a five-hour drama club rehearsal every day that we had midterms, so trying to find time to study was nearly impossible. Because of the lack of time to study, many students have turned to amphetamines to help them focus and stay awake. These were originally used to treat people with attention deficit disorder, but now they are every student’s new study buddy. A junior named Natasha admits that she takes these because ‘when it gets down to this time of semester, I can’t take any risks’”(The Maroon). Drugs are never the answer to solving your problems, but because of finals and midterms many students think that they are.

 

Cheating

          Many students feel pressured to do well on midterms and finals. However, since they do not have enough time to dedicate to studying adequately, students resort to cheating. Cheating is to act dishonestly or unfairly to gain in advantage. This can easily be done before or during an exam. Students often have friends who have the same teachers as them. Therefore, if one takes the midterm or final before the other one, they can just ask each other what is on the test. Also, a lot of students have older siblings who have had that teacher in the past. Therefore, the older sibling can show their midterm or final to the younger one. Unless the curriculum has changed, this is probably the same midterm or final the younger sibling is going to be taking and “how far of a leap is it to share that test with your best girlfriend who might not be lucky enough to have an older sibling?”(Basking Ridge Patch). Also, students can simply look at another students exam while they are taking theirs or quietly converse with other to compare answers. The high expectations placed on students to succeed cause them to resort to these terrible tactics of academic dishonesty.

Results of Eliminating Finals and Midterms

          The Howard County high schools, the Bernards Township and Somerset Hills Regional school districts, and Timberlane Regional High School, have all eliminated midterms and finals. The results of this have been positive, and “teachers applaud the move, saying they...won't lose a week of instruction to midterm exams”(The Baltimore Sun). This would be beneficial to Wilmington High School because we could enhance our amount of learning. The amount of weeks wasted reviewing for midterms and finals, and then taking them, is ridiculous. Instead, if we had quarterly exams, this would “provide teachers with an 'early warning for students who may be struggling'”(The Bernardsville News), we could have more instructional time because “they could be taken in one-hour periods, – adding only 18 minutes to the normal class length – and be done within full school days” (The Bernardsville News), and “having the exams on a quarterly basis would also soften their impact on the final grade” (The Bernardsville News) because they would each count as five percent instead of midterms and finals which count as ten percent. Because of the benefits described above, Wilmington High School should have quarterly exams instead of midterms and finals.

Why Midterms and Finals should be Eliminated

           Midterms and finals should be eliminated. The amount of stress they cause, makes students do things they wouldn't usually do, such as use drugs and cheat. If we had quarterly exams, students would feel less pressure because the amount of information they are being tested on would be less. Also, with quarterly exams, there would be more time available for teachers to educate students. Clearly, midterms and finals are an ineffective way of accessing someones knowledge on a subject, and bring about cheating and drug usage. Therefore, they should be replaced with quarterly exams to more accurately assess someones apprehension, and to lessen the worry of its effect.

"Google Images." Google Images. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2012. <http://www.google.com  

          /imgres?um=1>.

"Timberlane Decides to Drop Midterm, Final Exams » Latest News » EagleTribune.com, North   

          Andover, MA." EagleTribune.com, North Andover, MA. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2012.

         <http://www.eagletribune.com/latestnews/x2014325636/Timberlane-decides-to-drop-midterm-

          final-exams>.

Where's the Time?

Where's the Time?

Between school, sports, and extracurricular activities, students today have no extra time to come home and do various other activities. Too much homework is one activity that is pushing high school students to stay up later just to get there work done. By the end of the school week, students are exhausted and get minimal break before they have to go back and do the same thing the following week. Homework is a necessity to learning in school, students go home and work on problems on their own, self learning, and going back to class with knowledge or questions helpful to the learning environment. However too much homework ends up becoming ineffective to learning the information; this is due to lack of time in their day, to alleviate this problem the homework policy should be changed.

Students need time to go home and relax after a long busy day. They don't need to be piled with homework every night, a balanced between the two is necessary to maintaining a healthy education.  Most students are highly involved in their academics and extracurricular activities today because to get into the colleges that they want, they need a well rounded resume. Wilmington High School suggests that students should have roughly 90 to 180 minutes of homework per night. Although teachers know that they at maximum should only be giving about a half an hour of homework a night, the tendency is to give more. Many teachers, like in math may give more homework that other teacher because they may think other teachers aren't giving any. This adds to at least 180 minutes a day. Let alone when teachers give projects, they don't let up on their day to day homework which just adds more onto a student’s plate.



Students like Bradley Prime a Sophomore at Wilmington High School says "I don't have time for all this homework, playing soccer I go straight from school to the field, and by the time I get home and start my homework its already 6:00; on game days (two games a week) I get home at 6:30 or later. Club meetings will take up another hour from my day, and I’m left with only about two hours before I go to sleep." To finish this homework Students like Bradley have to stay up later than they want just to finish their homework. This leaves the student extremely tired when they wake up in the morning only getting a maximum of maybe eight hours of sleep. "Not getting enough sleep can limit the body to learn, listen, and concentrate during school." In a way the more homework teachers give, the less effective it is because they end up just being tired in school and they don't learn when the teacher is actually teaching the material.

"Increasing homework loads is likely to aggravate tensions... thereby generating more inequality and eroding the quality of overall education," said David Baker a Professor in education and sociology at Penn. State University. To fix the homework policy at schools across the nation, two approaches can be taken. The first is that all departments at school coordinate, making it that the five major courses give homework one set day a week and can give tests and quizzes one set day a week for each. This would limit the overload of homework on one individual day, and keep a fairly consistent schedule easy to deal with. The other option would be that depending on the grade you have in the class the homework would come accordingly. In this way a student may make the most of their time with the classes they need to do better in, rather than spending a lot of their time doing homework for classes where they understand the material. Either one of these options would make homework become once again a positive learning tool that would benefit the students, especially those with little time left in their days.



Students in today’s world are doing multiple extra curricular activities after a long school day that they have little time for homework. With colleges expecting the world from every student that applies, high school students feel like they need to do a little bit of everything. Although schools seem to have a policy in place for the amount of homework daily, it doesn't really work, and teachers end up giving more homework which eventually leads to being less and less effective. Changing the homework policies at school is all it will take to make homework and healthy and helpful part of the school caraculs. As you see too much homework is ineffective to learning the material, but with some change it can be an important part of learning.

Sources:

"Too Much Homework Can Be Counterproductive." Too Much Homework Can Be Counterproductive. N.p., 31 May 2005. Web. 21 Oct. 2012. <http://phys.org/news4333.html>.

"Wilmington Public Schools Online." Wilmington Public Schools Online. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2012. <http://www.wilmington.k12.ma.us/>.

"Teens and Sleep." National Sleep Foundation. National Sleep Foundation, n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2012. <http://www.sleepfoundation.org/article/sleep-topics/teens-and-sleep>.

Images

http://www.cityofmauldin.org/client_resources/departments/recreation/sports.jpg

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http://www.apcrc.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/ist2_8605202-the-solution.jpg

http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/e-bsn/ebusiness-solutions-guide/images/evaluate.png

Sleep, Who Needs It?

Do you know anyone who is always stressed, struggles in remembering things, has trouble concentrating, is always hungry, makes bad decisions, and is extremely moody? They are either on drugs or are sleep deprived. Sleep deprivation is very common in high school students. Some stay up all night cramming for a big exam, while others are just watching TV. The National Sleep Foundation did studies to show that, "Teens need about 9 1/4 hours of sleep each night to function best (for some, 8 1/2 hours is enough). Most teens do not get enough sleep — one study found that only 15% reported sleeping 8 1/2 hours on school nights (National Sleep Foundation)."  In fact, a majority of  high school students get less than 7 hours of sleep every night! Studies show that the amount of sleep students get, affects their grades in school. If a teen stays up studying or doing homework until 1AM, people will probably think, "Wow! What a hard worker. She must do well in school." Well, sadly that isn't always true. When a person doesn't get a lot of sleep, one of the effects that occurs is memory loss. The student could have studied for hours, but while taking the test have a brain fart! They could be so tired that they just can't remember what they spent so much time studying. Sleep deprivation is caused by too much homework and early school start times, but can be stopped by schools starting later or having every Wednesday be a half day.

Most high school bells ring between 7:00am and 7:30am to signal the start of a new school day. This means that students need to wake up around 6:00am or 6:30am to ensure that they will be ready and at school on time. Some (mainly girls) wake up as early as 5:30am to take showers and do their hair and makeup. For a student to get the full nine hours of sleep that they need to be fully alert in class, they would need to go to sleep around 8:30pm, which normally doesn't happen. Most kids have after school activities such as being on a high school sport's team.These kids have practice or a game everyday after school and most don't get home until around 6:00pm. If they have an away game, they could be out until as late as 8:00pm, depending on the distance. That leaves them with half and hour before they should get to bed, but how are they supposed to do all of their homework, study, eat dinner, and take a shower all in 30 minutes? It just can't be done. Even on days when student athletes get home at 6:00pm, they are only left 2 1/2 hours. This might be enough time to do the above actions, but not if the students have a big test the next day because they would need to cram. That would just leave them stressed and in hysterics. This happened to me before and I completely broke down crying because I was so tired, and no matter how much I studied, the information  wasn't clicking; I wasn't able to remember much of it. High schools start too early and the amount of homework students need to finish every night is overwhelming.

 

The solution to this is simple. HIGH SCHOOL CLASSES SHOULD START LATER. If we pushed start times from 7:00 to 8:30, kids would get a whole hour and a half more of sleep. That means that instead of kids getting 5 hours of sleep, they could get 6 1/2, or more. Kids might look at the extra time as an opportunity to do most of their homework at night, but be able to finish in the morning. This would lift the weight of stress off of their shoulders, letting them fall asleep more easily. You may think that if the start time were pushed kids would stay up even later to do their homework. This is unlikely to happen because the students would have less stress on their shoulders, making it so that they get thier homework done in a well planned time schedule. Studies show that in schools with later start times' students have better results grade wise than schools that start earlier. Two schools in the Minneapolis area school district changed their start times to 8:30am and eventually learned that because of this, "there was a significant reduction in school dropout rates, less depression, and students reported earning higher grades" (University of Minnesota). Students tend to still be in "sleep mode" for the first two hours of school, because they should really still be sleeping. By pushing the start times later, students are more likely to be awake and alert, ready for the new day. If bus schedules in a town make pushing the start times impossible, then the town should make every Wednesday a half day. Not a half day that ends early, but one that starts late. The town should start every Wednesdays school day around 11am and end it at the time they would for a normal day. Since, Wednesday is in the middle of the week, it acts as a break for students. By making it a half day, kids get one day in the middle of the week to sleep in. This would allow them to catch up with some of the sleep that they lost during Monday and Tuesday. As for Thursday and Friday, that sleep is made up over the weekend. In order for high school kids to perform to the best of their ability in school, the start time for schools needs to be made later, or every Wednesday needs to be a late starting half day.

 

This graph shows that  most students that get more sleep, also get better grades:

 

Most schools start around 7-7:30am, and really need to start changing their start times. These schools' students could do so much better in school and get more out of their classes if they got enough sleep! The reasons students don't get enough sleep is because schools start too early and they are expected to be able to finish too much homework. Students often get stressed by the amount of homework they have and stay up all night working on it. Then, they need to wake up at 6am, too, so that they won't miss the bus. Students who don't get enough sleep, often turn to drugs and/or alcohol. You don't want that to happen to your kids one day, do you? Therefore, schools should start later or have every Wednesday be a half day so kids can catch up on sleep.

 

By: Abby Chase

 

Sources:

 

Duval, Sylviane. "Most High School Students Are Sleep Deprived." Phys Org. Health Behavior News Service, 5 Jan. 2010. Web. 18 Oct. 2012. http://phys.org/news181935125.html.

 

"Later Start TImes for High School Students." University of Minnesota. N.p., June 2002. Web. 18 Oct. 2012. http://www.cehd.umn.edu/research/highlights/Sleep/.

 

Scheve, Tom. "10 Signs You May Be Sleep Deprived." Discovery Fit & Health. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Oct. 2012. http://health.howstuffworks.com/mental-health/sleep/disorders/10-signs-you-may-be-sleep-deprived10.htm.

 

Sebastian. "An Examination of Time Distributions and Their Impact on Student Exam Effectiveness." Voice of America. N.p., 7 May 2012. Web. 20 Oct. 2012. http://health.howstuffworks.com/mental-health/sleep/disorders/10-signs-you-may-be-sleep-deprived10.htm.

 

"Teens and Sleep." National Sleep Foundation. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2012. http://www.sleepfoundation.org/article/sleep-topics/teens-and-sleep.

 

Young, Scott. "My Story for His Glory." My Story for His Glory. Blogspot, 15 Mar. 2012. Web. 21 Oct. 2012. http://scottyoungpsalm37.blogspot.com/.

MCAS Testing: Is it Necessary?

   
MCAS stands for Massachusetts comprehensive assessment system. The MCAS is a standardized test used in Massachusetts from the third grade to the tenth grade. It tests students in different subjects. It is also a high school graduation requirement. However the MCAS scores do not go under consideration during the college acceptance process. MCAS testing is unnecessary, because it is added stress to high school students, it takes away time that could be used for SAT prep, and can interfere with a student’s ability to get into college, and to succeed in life.

MCAS is a very stressful test for all high school students. The stakes are high, because passing the science, English, and math portions of the MCAS is a high school graduation requirement. During high school students have more than enough stress. What they do in high school will affect their lives forever. To be accepted into college they have to build up their resumes. They are expected to perform in their classes, as well as in sports, join clubs, do community service, and have a social life. That in itself is too much; the added pressure of MCAS is unnecessary. According to Scott Lang, mayor of New Bedford, the dropout rate actually increases, because of students who know that they are not able to pass the MCAS. The test has such high stakes, yet is not really a reflection of the students taking it. It is more of a reflection of the teachers who teach the material. The MCAS is not a test that is studied for, because the students have no way of really knowing what is on it. It is their teachers’ job to make sure they are prepared. However the teacher’s lives are really not affected if their students do poorly. Only the students have to deal with the repercussions of failing, when it really was not their fault. The added stress and harsh consequences of the MCAS tests are not healthy for high school students.

SAT's are tests, in which scores are given to the colleges and universities that students apply to. The entire purpose of high school is to prepare students for college. However time in the classroom is spent on MCAS prep, and has been since students were in the third grade. MCAS scores are not even given to colleges when students apply. SAT prep is a course that costs money and is completely separate from school. Also taking PSAT's costs money. It seems slightly absurd that prep work for a test that is a huge portion of the college acceptance process is not done in school, but prep work for a test that is has nothing to do with the college process is. This is especially absurd when the purpose of the school is to prepare its students for college. More time should be allotted for SAT prep rather than MCAS prep in high school classrooms.



Brendan Willis, with award he won in middle school.

Passing the math, science, and English portions of the MCAS tests are a high school graduation requirement for public schools. However they are not for private and religious schools. Although MCAS scores do not go to colleges, and do not directly affect the acceptance of students, they do indirectly affect this process. Without passing the MCAS a student will not receive a diploma. Without a diploma they will not be able to get into good colleges. According to Scott Lang from The Boston Globe 2,649 students will not receive diplomas, because they failed portions of the MCAS. Those students are also students who met all of the other graduation requirements. Brendan Willis of Marshfield is one of these students. According to Patrick Ronan of the Patriot Ledger, Brendan was accepted into Mitchell College, but will be unable to attend, because he failed the math portion of his MCAS. Brendan suffers from a learning disability, and has repeatedly failed the math portion of the MCAS. The last test he took he received a score of 218, which is two points away from passing. The amount of hardworking high school students who will not receive diplomas because of MCAS scores is deplorable. They are going to have to face a life of disadvantages. Future schools and jobs they apply for are not going to know they were good students who just failed the MCAS. All they will know is that they did not receive a high school diploma. A test like the MCAS should not be able to affect the life of a student the way it does.

MCAS is test that students are accustomed to taking by the time they get to high school. However the stress and harsh consequences of this test are too much for students of their age. They already have enough stress without having the MCAS looming over their heads. Their real concern at this time should be SAT's. The MCAS takes away precious class time, which could be spent prepping for the SAT's. The MCAS is a graduation requirement, so it can affect a student’s ability to get into college and to succeed in life. MCAS testing is unnecessary and can hurt students more than it can help anyone.

Wilmington High Students Need Caffeine!

Wilmington High Students Need Caffeine!

An enormous necessity for people all over the country is caffeine. It comes in all shapes and forms, spanning from sodas such as Coke, to lattes and coffee, to candy. Many adults are able to enjoy a coffee before and during work. However, some of the biggest consumers of coffee nowadays are teenagers, especially high school students. Thanks to the First Lady of the United States, the Wilmington High School (and other schools) prohibits caffeine products because Michelle Obama wants to put a stop to American obesity. Studies show that coffee actually helps teens during school, and gives them more energy which they can use to learn more, especially in the wee hours of the morning.

Michelle Obama is trying to put a stop to American obesity, but does that mean that she’s eating healthy too? USA Today interviewed the First Lady about healthy eating and she admitted, “I love burgers and fries, and I don’t want to live a life where I can never have them again. And if we told families and children that that was the answer, we’d never get there”. She also coughed up that even her family doesn’t eat 100% perfect! Michelle Obama is acting a little bit like a hypocrite when she says this, and taking away caffeine at school isn’t going to solve anything or make anyone healthier because teenagers are just going to go home and drink a coffee or soda anyway.

 

I know for a fact that Wilmington High School students still drink caffeine all the time. Some of them sneak their Dunkin’ Donuts coffees into school in the morning, some chug them before they walk into school, and some just go out after school and by coffee, soda, or energy drinks. Taking away the Gatorade and soda machines in school just infuriates students, and it won’t solve the caffeine problem. Actually if schools left the “caffeine/sugar” vending machines in, they would make a lot more money; probably about $100 per week because almost every athlete at Wilmington High used to buy at least one or two Gatorades a week.

Most Wilmington High School students stay up late almost every night, whether it’s because of studying, homework, sports, etc. These late nights cause students to only get about 7 hours of sleep (maximum) if they go to bed at 11:00pm; however it’s probably less sleep than that. The National Sleep Foundation shows that teens need at least 9 hours of sleep to function properly. If they don’t get this amount of sleep then they are more likely to get into car accidents, they won’t get along with family members or friends, and they won’t perform as well in athletics or in school. Also the NSF says that lack of sleep can lead to eating more unhealthy foods and cause weight gain. So if schools allowed caffeine, then students would be more awake for school and would most likely be able to pay more attention, and learn more. Students wouldn’t be in as many car accidents because they would be more alert from the caffeine, and they would have more energy and perform better in sports.

I’m not saying that it’s healthy to stay up late and drink caffeine in the morning for energy. However, occasionally students will have a few late nights a week from sports or homework, and they will need something in the morning to give them the energy they need to make it through the day.

 

My solution to this problem would be to simply allow caffeine back into the Wilmington High School, and other schools that have the caffeine ban. Like I said earlier, the WHS would be able to make so much profit from having “caffeine/sugar” vending machines. It’s bad enough that the school is serving us healthy lunches that taste gross; students need the dignity of having those machines that they can go to during school. The Los Angeles Times said that 63% of teens drink coffee, sports drinks, and flavored milk. The firm NPD said that more than 37% of people age 18-24 drink caffeine. If we put these machines in then students would have more energy for everyday activities and classes, and they would probably be more successful. With this newly added energy students could also get their homework done faster and get to bed earlier. This way Americans (especially high school students) wouldn’t be as obese because they would get their necessary hours of sleep each night, and as a result, wouldn’t eat as much unhealthy foods. This is a growing problem in the Wilmington High School as well as other schools across the nation, and it needs to be resolved.

Wilmington High needs caffeine machines!

 

        

Teenager sleeping when he has school work to do. Digital image. Clipartguide. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Oct. 2012. <http://www.clipartguide.com/_named_clipart_images/0060-0809-1719-5655_Man_Sleeping_with_a_Book_on_His_Face_clipart_image.jpg>.

 

 

Cevallos, Marissa. "CDC: Teens Still Drink Milk, but One in Four High School Students Drink Soda Every Day." Editorial. Los Angeles Times n.d.: n. pag. Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 17 June 2011. Web. 21 Oct. 2012. http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jun/17/news/la-heb-cdc-soda-high-school-students-20110617

 

N.p. "Teenagers and Coffee Caffeine and Your Teen." Caffeine and Teenagers. Coffee Home Direct, n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2012. <http://www.coffeehomedirect.com/coffee-and-teenagers>.

 

"Nutritionists Salute Obama's Burger." GlobalPost. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2012. <http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/weird-wide-web/michelle-obamas-hamburger-calories-health>.

 

Dunkin Donuts Coffee. N.d. Photograph. Web. 21 Oct. 2012. <http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/features/food/restaurants/blog/HotCoffeeMed_Newlogo_Hi1106%20(2)%20Low.JPG>.

 

Gatorade Logo. N.d. Photograph. Web. 21 Oct. 2012. <http://www.fooddigital.com/sectors/gatorade_logo.jpg>.

 

Obama Family Eating Fast Food. N.d. Photograph. Web. 21 Oct. 2012. <https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimUdWsRFRTMQOcjdCns8nzX798pxVX6zzCcKqY8qkea56sVHNpfN74T2DNke-0kHt193l5310ctctrpBfwTwRuwdLH3SPEwv2jRpqp5yLvgT4qpgbaY_C7dJJhz6TftxNp3nrooPAt11s/s1600/Michelle Obama Hypocrite 08.jpg>.

Sleep More, Achieve More

You know when that time comes around and the back to school shopping begins and the letters are received in the mail about the first day of school times and procedures. For high school students this means no more going to bed at 1:00 in the morning and then sleeping all day after a long night out with the friends. Your parents begin to nag you about going to bed at a "reasonable time" and getting up earlier, as in no more 11:30, for the wakeup call on the first day of school. Even though high school students sleep in the latest, the high school start time is the second earliest. A change needs to be made in the start times of schools in the Wilmington Public School system to allow certain age groups the right amount of sleep.

With a 7:40 a.m. start time at the Wilmington High School, many students find themselves forcing their sleep deprived bodies out of bed at 6:00 in the morning to get ready for school and catch the bus. Then there's the middle school.  A 7:20 a.m. start time allows for a seven maybe eight hour night of sleep for the adolescent students of Wilmington Middle School, an hour or two off of the recommended amount. Meanwhile, the elementary and preschools have almost an hour later start time, or in some cases, even more than an hour! These times are unreasonable because the students of the elementary schools are awake and functioning earlier than those teenagers in high school. With an hour added on to the start of both the middle school and high school, students would be more alert and focused throughout the full six hour school day.

Research from Michael J. Breus, a clinical psychologist from the Board of Sleep Medicine, shows that even 20 fewer minutes of sleep can affect a human's behavior. Poor sleepers and those who stay up late and are up early in the morning encounter learning difficulties throughout the school day, which will continue through the school year. Daytime fatigue, dozing off in class, and an inability to concentrate in school are problems associated with not receiving the nine hours of recommended sleep for a teenager. With the hour delay in the start of the two schools, the students would be getting more sleep and avoiding effects of the 20 fewer minutes of sleep.

The University of Minnesota conducted a study aimed specifically at the later start times for high school students. Kyla Wahlstrom, the creator of the School Start Time Study, researched and found that throughout the teenage years, the brain chemicals for sleepiness are not released until 11:00 p.m. and the brain is in "sleep mode" until 8:00 a.m. This helps support the fact that with a 7:15 a.m. - 7:40 a.m. start, 20% of students sleep during the first two hours of school. The change from a 7:20 a.m. start in the Minneapolis High School to an 8:30 a.m. start proved to be a success indicated by the lower dropout rates, lower levels of depression, and higher grades. The superintendent of Minneapolis Public Schools, Carol Johnson, commented on the outcome of the School Start Time Study, "...and the data has resulted in many other districts in the state and around the country changing start times to better match students' learning rhythms with the school's instructional programs." It is now time that the town of Wilmington, Massachusetts is made aware about the results of the School Start Time Study and changes its own school start times.

Getting the recommended amount of sleep each and every night is an essential and very important part to maintaining proper health. A push-back of the start times of Wilmington High School and Wilmington Middle School, it would allow students to get that much needed extra hour of sleep. The research from both Breus and Wahlstrom shows that without enough sleep, students are more likely to fall asleep during class, lose focus throughout the day, and experience a  general decrease in grade levels. A supporting factor of the one hour later start time is the increase in grades in the Minneapolis High School. With these higher grades, the students of Wilmington will be looking at a brighter future with more experiences available to them. The School Start Time Study needs to be brought to the attention of the Administration of the Wilmington Public Schools district so a beneficial change can be made to the start times of the public schools.

Ankurr77. Short Cut Arrow. 2011. Photograph. TrickyWindow, n.p.

Breus, Michael J. "Fixing Children's Sleeping Problems Could Improve Grades and Behavior." WebMD. WebMD, 02 Sept. 2004. Web. 20 Oct. 2012. <http://www.webmd.com>.

LeMay, Marc. Amway. 2004. Photograph. Amway Insider, n.p.

Smith, Kevin. Your Child's Sleep. 2012. Photograph. Kindermusik, Carmel, Pennsylvania.

Toche. When Students Sleep in Class. 2011. Photograph. SparkLife, n.p.

Vault9. Gross Incompetence Can Be Tolerated for Only So Long. 2009. Photograph. Buffalo, Buffalo, New York.

Wahlstrom, Kyla. "Later Start Times for High School Students." Later Start Times for High School Students. University of Minnesota, June 2002. Web. 20 Oct. 2012. <http://www.cehd.umn.edu>.

Caffeine Ban: Is It Really Helping?

        Are you like most high school students who drink coffee or energy drinks to stay awake and energized during the day? A quick cup of coffee just to give you that extra push to get things done? Now a days many high school students are turning to caffeine as a staple of their diet to make it through the long day ahead. Adults and teachers view this lifestyle as shocking because students should not rely on caffeine to get through the day; there are more bad side effects than good. Caffeine, however; is not as destructive as many people are led to believe and, in moderation, it can be very beneficial to a student's busy schedule.

        A recent study at Pasig Catholic College discovered that 72% of teens who drink coffee found an improvement in their overall behavior at home. Wilmington High School recently banned caffeinated beverages from their school, which outraged many students. This change was prompted by Michelle Obama's recent push to end childhood obesity and make for a healthier America. Michelle Obama founded many health organizations for kids including Lets Move! and MyPlate; as well as pushing to put healthier foods into public school systems. Michelle's argument for the caffeine ban was that caffeine negatively effects students and their ability to learn. This; however, is incorrect. The study at Pasig College discovered that 50% of the students actually saw an improvement in their behavior at school.

         Another argument for the ban of caffeine was that the consumption of caffeinated beverages often resulted in a lack of sleep. Most high school students who drink coffee consume one cup per day, and the majority of these students drink it in the mornings to wake themselves up. With the ban of caffeinated drinks from the school, students are not allowed to get their one cup of coffee in before or during the morning hours of school. This results in students getting coffee after school or later in the day because they may feel they were deprived of it earlier. By consuming the caffeine so much later in the day, the effects of the caffeine are more likely to be presentwhen they go to bed. According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, the effects of caffeine can remain in a person's system anywhere from 8 to 14 hours. If students drink the coffee in the morning hours of the day,  the effects would be worn off by around 10:00 PM. If the students are not allowed to drink it in the morning and get the coffee after school, the effects can last until much later in the day. The caffeine ban may be doing more harm than good.
        The truth is, the helpful effects of caffeine outweigh the negative. Many people focus on how caffeine can harm the body in order to combat against students drinking caffeine. There are a lot more positive long-term effects of drinking caffeine. A researcher at Harvard School of Public Health found that people who drink coffee or consume caffeine regularly have a lower chance of developing Parkinson's disease. Also, caffeine consumed in low quantities are shown to have improved physical and mental performance. Many of the destructive effects only come into play when caffeine is consumed in great amounts. StayHealthy.com states that "The recommendation for most people is to enjoy one or two cups of coffee a day, which will allow you to capitalize on its health benefits without incurring health drawbacks."  So according to this statement, caffeine, in moderation, may be doing more good than what people give credit for. The ban may be taking away the area to gain health benefits, while replacing them with the possibility of worsened sleep habits. Overall, the plan put into action to help the students may actually be doing more harm to them.  

Sources:

• http://yoursleep.aasmnet.org/topic.aspx?id=45
• http://www.steadyhealth.com/articles/Positive_And_Negative_Health_Effects_Of_Caffeine_a801.html
• http://www.slideshare.net/yujinli/effects-of-caffeine-to-high-school-students-of-pasig-catholic-college-sy-20112012

Don't be a Statistic, Say No to the Tobacco Industries

Have you ever turned on the television, flipped a page in a magazine, or drove down the highway and saw a tobacco-related advertisement? The answer is probably yes. The tobacco industries spend over $34 million dollars a day on marketing and advertisement, to get people like you to begin to use tobacco products, such as cigarettes, cigars, snuff, chewing and pipe tobacco. Currently more and more we find that the tobacco industries are trying to advertise to young kids and teens. “We wanted to get into that market, (youth market) and used the promotional items, tee shirts, baseball caps, and one hot item was lighters, knowing full well the people were giving these away to be kids half the time.” (Salesman for RJRenyolds Tobacco Company). The sad part is their advertising works because statistics show that an estimated 6,000 children under the age of 18 will begin smoking each day, and of those 2,000 will continue to smoke. This means that 800,000 teens will become smokers each year.

           

Tobacco companies hide the truth of what is really in their cigarettes. If people knew what they were inhaling into their body I could bet that more than half of them wouldn’t continue to smoke! Not many people know that there are over 4000 chemicals in a cigarette and of those chemicals 69 of them are known to cause cancer. But what’s really in those cigarettes? There is Methoprone which is a chemical used to kill fleas on your pets, there is Acetone which is in nail polish remover, there is Lead which stunts growth and damages your brains, another chemical is Formaldehyde which is used to preserve dead bodies, there is even turpentine which is a paint stripper. Then there is the chemical Nicotine, an addictive drug that increases blood pressure and heart rate. The tobacco industry’s even put other chemicals like Ammonia, which the tobacco companies said was for flavor but scientists studied that it only absorbs more nicotine. My question is why do tobacco companies get to put Nicotine and carcinogenic drugs into a cigarette? My guess is that they know that without nicotine no one would purchase tobacco, since they wouldn’t have the addiction.

 The truth is that they know what they’re doing to people who smoke cigarettes, studies have been recorded that tobacco companies know the nicotine they put into the cigarette is addictive. Someone from Brown and Williamson a popular tobacco company said “Nicotine is addictive. We are, then, in the business of selling nicotine, an addictive drug.” (B&W, 1963). The problem is the tobacco companies don’t want to admit that nicotine is an addictive drug, because they’re afraid that if they do, that the Food and Drug Administration will be able to regulate cigarettes, which would lead to lowering the amount of nicotine or even removing it. But how is it fair for tobacco companies to be allowed to do this. When surveyed out 45,000 Americans who smoke, 70% of them want to quit; the problem is they can't! When Nicotine is inhaled it moves from the lungs, to the bloodstream, to the brain in 10 seconds. Then it triggers chemical reactions which are pleasuring for the smoker but don’t last that long. As the nicotine in the blood begins to drop, the smoker feels agitated and craving of another cigarette, the cycle never stops. Smokers can't stop, and unless the nicotine is removed from the cigarette the struggle to quit will continue. I firsthand had to watch my grandfather go through several years of chemotherapy from the lung cancer he received from smoking. In those times nobody knew the harmful chemicals in cigarettes. But with current technology the Food and Drug Administration should put a stop to this drug being sold.

Everyone knows that cigarettes are addictive, yet the government allows tobacco industry’s to continue advertising and marketing this drug. There needs to be a stop put to this immediately. Tobacco is the most widely-used addictive substance in the world! Are farmers and government afraid that taking away tobacco from being sold will negatively affect the economy? The government knows that without the taxes off of tobacco products they wouldn’t make so much money. The United States government makes over 25 million dollars annually, from the taxes off cigarette products. So now we realize that it’s not only the tobacco industry hiding something but the government doesn’t want to stop tobacco from being sold. The tobacco industry and government need to open their eyes and see that people everywhere are dying from the most preventable death in the world. Honestly though do they care, no. But to humans loosing loved ones, it does matter! Tobacco kills more Americans each year than alcohol, cocaine, crack, heroine, homicide, suicide, car accidents, fire, and AIDs combined. An estimated 6 million people worldwide die from tobacco use annually.  



    

    The tobacco industries try to act innocent and unaware of the wrong they are committing. They tell us that nicotine isn’t an addictive drug, that they don’t want kids to smoke, they even tell us through advertisement that tobacco use is safe and even helps with weight lost. These tobacco industries are lying, they know the truth, they know what they’re doing to you, yet they continue to hide what really goes on. The Government can be blamed too; they uneducate smokers on the risk, unless you count the small general warning that blends into the cigarette box. The long-term effects don’t began right away, it isn’t until a couple years pass that the people who smoked or still smoke are now those who now suffer from strokes, multiple different types of cancer, and other health problems due to tobacco use will ask why. Why is a product allowed to be made and sold that will eventually lead you to your death?  The tobacco industries don’t care about their customers, they don’t care if you become a statistic, all they care about is your money. And the saddest part of it all is throughout the several minutes you read this paper, every ten seconds a person dies from tobacco-related cause. Just count the amount of deaths that just took place, and now think that the tobacco companies were a cause of all those deaths. 

 Citations 
"Behind Closed Doors – What Tobacco Companies Hide From You | Healing Talks." Behind Closed Doors – What Tobacco Companies Hide From You. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2012. <http://www.healingtalks.com/health/alternative-healing/detoxification-health/behind-closed-doors-what-tobacco-companies-hide-from-you/>

"Tobacco Use Kills 6 Million People Annually: Report." US News. U.S.News & World Report, 25 Aug. 2009. Web. 18 Oct. 2012. <http://health.usnews.com/health-news/family-health/heart/articles/2009/08/25/tobacco-use-kills-6-million-people-annually-report>.

"How Much Is the Government Making Off Of Tobacco?" Tax Break: The TurboTax Blog. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2012. <http://blog.turbotax.intuit.com/2010/06/22/how-much-is-the-government-making-off-of-tobacco/>.

"The Secrets They Keep." Cancer Council. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2012. <http://www.cancerqld.org.au/icms_docs/60302_The_secrets_they_keep.pdf>.

"Cigarette Ingredients - Chemicals in Cigarettes." Cigarette Ingredients. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2012. <http://www.tricountycessation.org/tobaccofacts/Cigarette-Ingredients.html>.

"Understanding Nicotine Addiction." About.com Smoking Cessation. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2012. <http://quitsmoking.about.com/od/nicotine/a/nicotineeffects.htm>.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 21 Mar. 2011. Web. 18 Oct. 2012. <http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/tobacco_industry/marketing/index.htm>.

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