Student Declaration of Independence

Student Declaration of Independence

I.                   Declaration of Student Rights

We, as students of Grosse Pointe South High School, deserve basic rights as young adults. Being in a public school, a student deserves freedom while maintaining discipline. The student should have the right to dress, express, and act the way they want to, as long as it is appropriate for a school environment. The student should be able to make decisions for their own self that benefit them and the school.

Academically, with the vast majority of classes offered, the student should be able to take whichever classes they want, as long as it goes along with their ability level. The student has to complete certain academic requirements, but the electives are their choice, it all depends on their interests and expression. If the student chooses to take seven academic classes, it is their right. If the student chooses to take the bare minimum of academic classes and the rest classes of their choice, it is their right.

With extracurriculars, the student has the right to participate in whichever pertains to them. From orchestra to choir to sports to clubs, there is about everything offered to interest a student. No administration should have the right to stop these activities; the students have the right to keep them ongoing for as long as they choose.

Being in high school, open campus should be an automatic right for the student. For lunch especially, it allows the students to choose wherever they want to go that interests them. When it comes to attendance, the student should be allowed to take full advantage of the open campus while respecting the attendance policy. As long as approved by the parent, the student should always have the right to leave if sick, injured, or for other reasons. Going along with attendance, the student should always have the right to have the weekends off, holiday breaks off, and occasional regular school days off. Constantly having homework and work to do is not always to the student’s interest, so these breaks are necessary.

When it comes to teachers and counselors, the student should always have the right to communicate with them, whether it be for help or other reasons. Teachers should always be willing to accept the student for their personality and behavior, and to create a good relationship with each one of them. Students have the right to talk to them and counselors, to figure out what is best for them, for help, whatever it best for them.

A student of Grosse Pointe South should have many rights, being a public school. The student should have the right to express themselves academically, through sports and activities, and whatever other ways they choose. School should be a place to benefit the student, give them rights is the best way of showing it.

II.                10 Complaints

I.        Start time- The start time is just too early. It is easier to get up when it is lighter out. The extra half hour that we could add to the start time would increase the attendance in school. It would increase the attendance because the students would most likely get up on time and not skip their first hour. This would boost the grades of the students in the school.

II.      No free period like other schools- Other schools, like Ligget, have a free period when you can do what ever you want. We should also have designated rooms where students can take naps, like in China at some work places. This free period would recharge students’ brains, and work harder. This period could not only be for taking naps, but you can catch up on work, or go get food. Students will not sleep as much in class because they know they have a nap coming up.

III.    Homework on weekends- Homework on weekends is rarely done. Rather than wasting the assignment, we should be given the homework during the week. The undone or half-way done assignments bring down students grades. There is no point to assigning work that will not get done, because without doing the homework, students will not understand the topic. Without understanding the topic, students will not do will on the test that teachers will subsequently give.

IV.    No snow days- Snow days are rarely had here in Grosse Pointe. Even if the entire state and surrounding states are not in school, we still have school. It should not matter that we do not have buses; some of us still need to get rides to school. If there is enough snow to close down most schools in the surrounding areas that would mean that it is too cold to walk. Also, it is very hard to drive in those conditions, so students could be late to school because of difficult driving conditions.

V.      Electronic use in classrooms- The electronic policy is pretty strict. Students should be allowed to use their iPods or other devices after they finish a test, or while homework is being done in class. If they are not disrupting the other students, it should not be a big deal. IPods help some people be more focused and get more done faster. If students got their homework done faster in school, then they would have less at home, and it would be more likely to get done, and not be a zero.

VI.    Lunch too short- The time we get for lunch just does not cut if. If a student wants to go across the street to Subway, then they barely have time to eat. By increasing the lunch period by just ten minutes, it would give the students a chance to go somewhere to get food and to enjoy it. It would also give students minds a break, and have a chance to recharge. Being rushed during lunch is not fun, so adding the extra ten minutes would make it more of a relaxing period.

VII.  Attendance policy- Students are not allowed enough absences. Ten absences are not very many for an entire semester. There are sometimes issues with illness, doctors’ appointments, and even custody. It makes it very hard for students to feel like they can stay home and recover from an illness, when they feel they might miss too many days of school. Even just making the days absent to twelve would greatly improve the attendance policy.

VIII.                        Food/Drink policy- Teachers do not want their students leaving class for any reason, so if drinks were allowed in class, it would take away one reason for students to leave. Also, sometimes students do not get a chance to eat breakfast in the morning. So, being allowed to eat in a classroom would be very helpful. As long as the foods or drinks are not mess or distracting there should not be a problem. Eating and drinking can also help some students concentrate, which would lead to higher grades and test scores.

IX.    Tests and Quizzes on Mondays- Having a quiz or test on a Monday makes life more difficult. Some students will forget over the weekend, and some just will not study, because it is the weekend and they do not feel like it. It is very difficult to have a quiz or test on a Monday because the student did not have the review day the day before, they had it three days before. The extra night to prepare if the test was on a Tuesday, would give the students who did study over the weekend a chance at a better grade. Tests and quizzes on Mondays are harder to concentrate on, because it was just the weekend, where students stayed up late, and are now tired.

X.      Unnecessary required credits (computers, art, health, etc.)- Some required credits are just unnecessary. Some students are not very good at computers, or art, and just do not want to know about health. Not doing well in these classes that they have no interest in taking will just bring down their overall grade point average. These classes are sometimes mundane to students, and serve no real purpose. Some students want to take an arts class, or computer class, and they should be able to, but it should not be required that every student do so.

                         

III.             Concluding Statement

The students are the majority of the population at Grosse Pointe South. Therefore it is only fair that the student body make most of the decisions, or at least get a say in the matter. Instead we are forced to go to a school where we don’t agree with half of the rules and policies. We, the student body, are taking a stand. The student body is revolting against the school, the board and Mr. Provenzano. We are told as teenagers that we need at least 8 hours of sleep that is hard to do when school starts at 8:00 A.M. we should be able to come to school at a reasonable hour. We deserve a free period every day, just a single hour a day where we can do homework or anything within reason. The weekend is a time for students to be relieved of stress and take a break, we are swamped with sports, drama, and homework all week, the student body deserves to have no homework over the weekend. The fact that we have one snow day a year is preposterous! It can be below zero degrees and we still must come to school, when schools like L’Anse Cruse have two in a row, we must get more then one snow day. There should be and acceptance of electronics in class rooms, high school students are old enough to be able to use a cell phone in class. Students go to school for approximately eight hours a day, it should not be too much to ask to have a longer lunch. When you are legitimately sick you should not be penalized, you should still be getting credit for taking the class as long as you get the work done. We get to eat once a day, that is it! We are not allowed to eat or drink anything in class, and that is just not fair because teachers can eat what they want when they want it and the students just have suck it up and be hungry. When there are tests and quizzes on Mondays it makes it difficult to get a good grade because you cannot ask questions and no teenage wants to have to worry about studying all weekend. When we are forced to go to school we should be able to pick what classes we take, not be forced to take unimportant classes such as computers. It is the student’s school; therefore the students should make the decisions. We will not cease until our new requirements are met. It is time for the students to take a stand. We will no longer be walked over and bossed around. Our demands must be met or there will be consequences.

Crucible Epilogue

The town is quiet. Dead. Silent. One of the first time it has even been so quiet; no screaming, no yelling, no uproar whatsoever-just a barren town filled with silence. The people approach their lives in a completely different way, and the town has done a complete one-eighty. The society as a whole is more reserved, and the only time everybody gathers at once is at church. The realization has struck the people: they have been living in a town of lies.

            Off in the colonial town of Plymouth,   Abigail Williams is cooking dinner in her new, fairly large house. Surrounding the house is a vast spread of farmland, in which her new husband works every single day. She is brewing some type of soup as her husband, John, walks in.

            “Oh, hello there John! I was not expecting you this early,” she says.

            “Aye, dear, my work is done for the day. I plan to go into town tonight, just to go see some of my old friends,” he replies.

            “Aye, I completely forgot! Would you like some supper before you leave?”

            “No thanks, I better be heading off soon,” he quickly replies.

            “See you later tonight!”

            As John leaves, Abigail soon starts pacing around. With a quick change of mood, she feverishly scribbles something on a piece of parchment. She crumples it up and throws it by the fire, but she does not realize it fell only a couple inches from going in.

            A couple hours later, John walks out of the bar in town. He sees a man that looks lost, so he decides to walk over to help him.

          “Hello there, sir? You look like you are in need of some assistance. Is there anything I could do?” John questions.

            “Aye, please, sir. Do you know of a young woman named Abigail Williams?” he replies.

            “Why yes, she is my wife.”

            “Oh! Well, could you please give this to her? She ought to see it,” the man says while handing John a newspaper.

            John, while riding home, unfolds the paper. On the front reads an article titled “Abigail Williams, The Real Witch?” While scanning the article, he reads a paragraph of it:

            This day marks exactly one year since the termination of the Salem Witch Trials. The hanging has ended, but has the wrath of those involved? Abigail Williams, young woman involved, is now confirmed as one of the starters of the nonsense. Her evil acts of blaming others and making up lies and seeing spirits lead her to flee the town, and she has not been seen since.

            “Why…this cannot be…” John says to himself. “She…what?”

            As John arrives at his house, he quietly looks around. He sees a piece of parchment on the ground, and decides to look at it. In Abigail’s writing it says:

            Perfect. Simply perfect. My plan is almost complete. And John does not suspect a thing. Knowing him, he will never figure out I married him just for the money. I will soon rise to power in this town, and the people of Salem will be mine once I control the land. Then I can get back at Parris, Mary, Hale, the girls, and especially Elizabeth…and then hopefully bring back my beloved John Proctor, the real John I want, with my spiritual powers. I will have it all!

            John is in complete shock. His innocent Abigail, the one he thought would be the love of his life, has a completely different personality. She has been faking her love-the entire time.

            A few minutes later, Abigail hears John pacing around by the fire. She decides to get up and go see him. Through the doorway she sees John walking in circles and back and forth, and her note she wrote to herself is crumpled in his hand.

            “John…what’s going on here?” Abigail says.

            “How about you tell me,” John angrily replies.

            “Well…this is your entire fault!” Abigail screams.

            “What are you talking about?”

            “How could you do this to me! Ah!” Abigail yells.

            “Wha-what did I do?” John stutters, becoming more and more scared.

            “You! You!” Abigail screams, the combination of craziness and anger building up.

            “Abigail, what are you talking about?”

            “I can’t believe you. You…we…were in love, and then that awful Elizabeth comes between us!”

            “Who’s Elizabeth?!”

            Silence fills the room.

            “Abigail?”

            But Abigail has lost it. She hurls herself at John, and in the mess of fury, pushes him almost completely into the fire. She grabs a piece of firewood and continuously beats John more and more into the fire. He is so weak he cannot get up.

            “I hope you burn to death, John Proctor! I will always love you, but I hope you burn.”

            “Who’s…John…Proctor?”John sputters out, as his last words before he dies.

            It has shown that in the mess, Abigail has psychologically mistaken her husband for the dead John Proctor. Her mind is anything but sane.

            A few days later, Abigail arrives in Salem. The town is quiet, like it has been for the past few months. She slams on the doors of the houses, screams like a maniac, and everyone comes out of the church in the commotion.

            “What is going on here?” yells Reverend Parris, walking out of the church.

            “WITCHES! WITCHES I TELL YOU!” Abigail yells.

            Everyone is silent.

            “They’re coming to get us all! Elizabeth Proctor! She is a witch!!”

            Everyone has a blank look on their face. Nobody replies to Abigail. Parris whispers to two men, and then go and grab Abigail by the arms. They put her in a stagecoach, and one of the men rides off on the horse pulling it.

            “You are all condemned I tell you! It is witches controlling this town!” Abigail screams for the coach.

            The horse and buggy rides off into the distance. Everyone of the town laughs, knowing her lies are the most ridiculous thing thought up. As for Abigail, she is disposed of at the Appalachian Mountains, where she hides and is never seen again. The towns of Salem and Plymouth have returned to their silent, peaceful state, never having to experience the wrath of Abigail Williams again.

Crucible Essay

     When it comes to blaming others and the power of lies, anything can happen in a weak society. When the power is in the hands of a weak leader, the power inevitably falls in the hands of those who do not deserve it. Back in the 1690s in the colonial town of Salem, the scariness of the Witch Trials made everyone rethink people's beliefs and the value of religion. Within The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, the details and origins of the witch trials are clearly illustrated. It shows how people of the time forgot common sense and made up anything possible for certain people to die. Many of the characters in the novel make an impact on the novel, but three particular people influence certain events and outcomes.


     As one who could be called most responsible for it all, Abigail Williams is one of the most daring, ridiculous, and evil characters in the novel. Just to get attention from people of the town, she purposely lies and acts in a fake way. Her actions lead to the start of the witch trials in an almost inevitable way, because of her personality. From dancing in the woods suspiciously, to stabbing herself, to blaming spirits, to threatening the lives of others, her mind acts in a completely different way. "...I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I...will shudder you" (Miller 20). Once the witch trials have become a prominent event in the town, Abby gets girls from all over to go along with her act, with the power of threat. She sees the possibility of her popularity, and she eventually will do whatever it takes to have the ultimate power. Power is her motivation, and  power and an evil personality equaled a deadly combination in this case. With her, it started with a disliking to Elizabeth Proctor, and it ended up doing anything and everything to get certain people in the town dead and having a relationship with John Proctor. Abigail completely threw away the concept of kindness and common sense in this situation, and therefore was one of the sole contributors to the wrath of the trials. 


     Without knowing, John Proctor is another responsible for the Salem Witch Trials. Unlike Abigail, he was smart, had common sense, and knew that the events were nonsense. The factor that added him into the trials was his relationship with Abigail. Choosing to have an affair with Abigail led to Abigail wanting Elizabeth out of the picture, Abigail dancing in the woods with the girls, and then all the craziness then leading to the witch trials. Even though he did not want to be a part of it, he was one of the indirect catalysts of it. "...I may think of you softly from time to time" (23). This remark he makes to Abigail after the witch trials have just begun starts a new motivation within Abigail. Instead of rejecting Abigail at this time, his subtle comment adds new hope for her. Though unwanted, John Proctor indirectly and inevitably contributes to the trials in an emocional and heartbreaking way. 


   Despite her seemingly small role in The Crucible, Mary Warren is one of the most powerful when it comes to the witch trials. Switching quickly from Abigail and the other girls' side to John Proctor's shows that she is a follower, and anything but a leader. Willing to do and say whatever so that she does not suffer gives her the routine of swapping point-of-views. As an example, Mary Warren continuously tells the judges the girls are making everything up. But when the girls start screaming and saying they "see Mary's spirit", she easily switches to their beliefs. This quickly switching perspectives demonstrates how many people, especially during this time, would not take the blame for their actions, but would tell lies to save themselves. Her actions are a symbol of the town's overall personality of following those who might not be the best leader, but have the controlling power. 


    As a whole, Abigail Williams, John Proctor, and Mary Warren simultaneously cause, contribute, and affect the Salem Witch Trials. The combination of their actions shape the town into a mess of lies, unnecessary beliefs, and death. Common sense and intelligence were outnumbered by weak leaders who motivated themselves through the idea of power. Started by a power-hungry person and ended with a power-hungry society, the Salem Witch Trials were a scary period of time. Anyone could be judged or blamed for anything, and its responsibility fell to those who had no control. 

Crucible Post 2

Within The Crucible, John Proctor lies and says he believes in witches in order to protect himself. In this society, where lies and fake personalities are dominant, anyone can say anything to defend their reputation.

When it comes to today, I would most likely stand up for my beliefs. If someone is pressured into doing something or forced to be something they're not, it takes the uniqueness out of their personality. People are all different, if everyone was forced to think and be the same, the world would be a whole different place. Everyone should stick to their own beliefs and personality in order to be the person they want to. In a society like colonial Salem, the situation has to be viewed from a completely different perspective. Anyone can be blamed for any crime, since it is lacking in the court procedures and intelligence people have today. When it comes to life and death situations over complete lies, I might lie to protect my life. In any other situation I would do the opposite, but being persecuted for nothing is not worth it. Since the whole situation originated from made-up lies, the people should live and have their rights.

Standing up for one's beliefs and the freedom someone has should always be a part of life. Although the Salem Witch Trials were unfair and people could have stood up for themselves, their choice to protect their lives is respected by me.