New Years?

Thursday there is no school because of the Jewish holiday Rosh Hashana- the Jewish new year. I personally observe this holiday and go to temple thursday and friday. For me the holiday is two days not one, and because its two days I end up missing one day of school, this year ill be missing friday. I do appreciate the fact that we get thursday off of school, but to me its still a holiday and getting one day off of school doesnt make sence to me. The holiday is two days. Shouldnt that equal two days of of school? Now I understand that most people at our school do not observe both days, but what about the people that do. Its an improtant day to observe, and for me more important then going to school. Its hard for me to me miss school, but this is one day of the year thats important for me to observe and it doesnt make alot of sence to me that the school basically only "allows" one of the two days for us to observe.

Speech Codes

I was very disturbed by the pictures I saw of the fraternity guys dressing up like KKK members. These frats had a reputation for being inclusion, but they were going against half the people and being extremely disrespectful. It wasn’t a funny joke or a funny Halloween costume. Their Behavior should be banned or punished so they know it’s not okay to act that way. These students dress up as a racial group and disrespected other races. Outsiders could have seen them, and been scared of what those groups of people are known to stand for. It threatens how safe other people feel.

I believe speech codes are necessary to an extent. It’s important for students to understand what an appropriate and inappropriate action is. I choose to look at Indiana universities speech code. According to FIRE they are in the yellow rating for speech codes. I believe it’s very important to be able to say what you believe. It’s important for people to speak out about their opinions and not be worried about getting in trouble. But with that freedom, you need to be respectful. It’s important to be respectful of other people’s beliefs.  One thing I read on FIRE is that Indiana university recently gave a christen group on campus funding. Groups like those should be allowed because whether people like it or not, everyone comes from different religious backgrounds and people should be able to publicly show those. As long as they aren’t forcing religion on others or telling people their views are wrong.

Personally I think the website could be a bit bias. It seems like there is any small speech code in the university they are automatically a yellow rating. There are hardly green ratings. They made it seem like every university has so many problems which I do not believe is true.

9/11

The film we viewed in class about 9/11 was crazy. The people who made the video did not purposely make a video about 9/11. Thats why the footage in the video was absolutely insane and almost hard to watch and believe it was true. They had a plan to make a video about the New York city fire department, and the firefighters. Who would have thought that this is what they would have been the footage they got. on 9/11/11 my dad and I actaully watched the video we watched in class at home. this time at the end of the video it interviewed some of the firefighters thatwere on the video ten years later. One of the firefighters actually died from cancer, which doctors are thinking was caused by the fumes from the towers falling. At the time the firefighters were told that there was no danger in the fumes and it was ok not to wear a mask. now looking back there was a study that showed that people who took in those fumes had a life expectancy of ten years less. It crazy how much those firefighters put on the line and after watching this film I ahve sp much respect for what they did that day

One article I read was about places outside new york and how they were affected by 9/11. Long story short every place in america was greatly affected by the tragedy of that day. Security everywhere has changed, and honestly it makes me feel safer. Its a good feeling knowing that when we go to the airport there isnt a lot to worry about. Airport security is one thing that should have been there more so now that it is its a good thing. Being about 7 at the time, things for me dont feel much different. I dont remember what going to the airport was like, or what things felt like before september 11th. All I can say is I am thankful for the people that risked their lives that day, and now America will do anything to prevent going through that again,

Student Rights

If you were to walk down the halls of Deerfield High School, you might see students wearing drug related clothing or accessories, or you might hear F-bombs being thrown into an average students conversations. At Deerfield, we students get a lot of freedom to express our feelings or opinions, saying that, in my past years here there has never been a situation that could connect to John and Mary Beth Tinkers situation. If you ever heard of the Tinker v. Des Moines case in 1969 you'd know exactly what I am talking about. Those two students decided to wear armbands to protest the Vietnam War., and ended up being suspended for not taking them off. The question is did they have constitutional rights to wear those arm bands freely? Answer: Yes they did. The Supreme Court ruled that the schools policy was unconstitutional.

In my years at Deerfield I have never experienced problems related to free speech similar to that. The question that stands is, could I imagine that happening at Deerfield? Answer: no. Students at Deerfield, whether they believe so or not, have more rights than most schools. The question is, do those students abuse their rights as high school students? Yes there were times throughout my high school career where I thought things were unfair. Some of those times included, not being able to park at school until senior year, or not being able to leave this campus until 3:14 every day, free period or not. Yes at my school there are things I do always enjoy, but the freedom of the students is better than at most schools. Think about having closed hallways, were you have to have a pass in your hand every time you enter the hallway, or study hall instead of a free period, were you had to stay in a quiet room for a hour or more doing nothing but work. What if we had school uniforms, then we would have no freedom to choose what we wore every day.

There are times when teenagers take advantage of all the freedom we do get compared to other school in the area. They are always looking for bigger and better things, and they never stop to smell the coffee. They never stop to appreciate what they have. I am a victim of this also. There are times when I don't appreciate what I have, and I’m not going to lie, before righting this blog I never thought  much about the rights I have as a student, I too, took it for granted.

Students at Deerfield are able to freely express their political views. They are able to wear Obama shirts, or shirts against Obama. Maybe we have this freedom because of the tinker case, but for whatever reason, we do have these freedoms and we shouldn’t take them for granted.

One thing I can think of that is not allowed or that has gotten students in trouble in the past, is wearing clothing that promotes drugs or alcohol abuse. In the Morse v. Frederick case, Frederick did not have the constitutional right to make a sign about drug abuse at a school related event. Here at Deerfield that is probably something that would not be tolerated and should not be tolerated. There are lines that students should not want to or need to cross, and that is one of them. There is no reason to openly make comments like that. It’s important to be respectful of school grounds, so those types of shirts and comments are unnecessary.