First Place

(Awarded $20 gift certificate to Chipotle and will have work printed in the April 25 print edition of The Mirror)

Hayden Stephens, Indian Trail 7th Grade

Second Place

(Awarded $10 gift certificate to Chipotle)

Brad Schultz, Olathe South 10th Grade

Third Place

(Awarded $5 gift certificate to Chipotle)

Victoria Denham, Indian Trail 9th Grade

By Hayden Stevens

Did you know that teachers might not make as much money as people would think? I have done some research, and I was surprised to find out that teachers with master degrees only get on average $35,000 a year. Even more surprising, teachers that work for 12 years would only get a pay increase of approximately $10,000 dollars over those 12 years.  In my opinion, that is an undersized reward for the many years of college, and outstanding dedication that most teachers put forth. Not only do teachers get short-changed for all the important work they do, but I also feel that teachers, like other civil servants in our society, are feeling the sharp edge of inflation in the economy.

I bet that most students have seen a teacher at least once go out of their way to make sure their students have a good learning experience. Not only are they concerned about our futures, but I feel strongly that most teachers are overworked and underpaid. From past and current personal experiences, I have had teachers that stay after school and take time out of their lives to help me and other students grasp their homework so they can succeed and make better grades.  Another example, some of them may take money from their own pockets to help pay for supplies used in the classrooms, and even to fund field trips. Some of these same teachers may have even had problems making ends meet in their own home.  Between 1993 and 2003, inflation caused a slight adjustment in teacher’s wages by 0.8%, which is not a lot when considering the cost of living in 2008.  Researchers believed that it would take a whopping 14.8% increase in teachers’ pay checks to pay just the necessities of life such as, paying bills, having a house, paying for the price of gas, and for living almost comfortably.

Take a moment to imagine what life would be like without teachers in schools and colleges. In my opinion, it would not take long for life to change for the worse. For instance, in a quick glance kids would no longer be students. Ultimately, this would mean that no one would be busy educating kids and therefore they would be unable to pursue their dreams and succeed in life. I think one long-term result might be an increase of low-wage families that would not survive unless they were on government funding. This could lead to an increase in crime, fewer cures for diseases, and technology might cease to evolve. Another possibility, families might be more concerned about important things like food, clothing, and shelter. I feel this may result in society spending less money on items of entertainment, such as video games, movies, sports, vacations, and televisions. Overall, an uneducated society could turn the Unites States into another third-world country.  A worst-case scenario is that we would be left vulnerable to an invasion by a more evolved country.

All in all, you may think that education is no big deal. Moreover, you may think that teachers do not care about you, but you could not be more wrong.  It is my opinion that teachers are not in it for the money because if they were they would not have chosen teaching.  Also, I feel it is obvious that poor grades will only get you a low-paying job in the future. Furthermore, I feel that when a student runs down a teacher and does not care or show concern about school, it is a great injustice because teaching tomorrow’s society is far more than just a simple math or science class, but the foundation of our existence as a society.

By Brad Schultz

“If guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns,” -anonymous.  If a man really wants a gun, no amount of laws will stop him. America does not need more gun control laws, because the ones in effect now are doing their job: protecting our country. More laws are not needed, but better education is. If additional laws are created, the violence rate will not decrease, and, also, the government does not have the right to take guns away from the people.

The United States does not need more gun control laws; they need better education.  There are many available free hunters’ safety courses.  To drive, people must pass a driving test. In order to own a gun, one should have to become certified by proving they know how to safely handle a gun. Education will decrease the gun violence death percentage.  It is about gun access, not control. Another thing Americans need to realize is the importance of making sure any gun in your home is securely stored and locked. Store a gun in a private, out-of-reach spot, and keep it in a locked box. As a result, there would be quite a few less deaths if parents knew how to properly store their guns, keeping them out of the reach of their young children. When kids are young, they learn ‘stop, look, listen’ and ‘stop, drop, roll,’ but we could also teach them ‘stop, don’t touch, leave the area and tell an adult’ when they find a gun.

Many accidents in homes are caused by carelessness. If kids were taught what to do when finding an unattended gun, they would know not to play with it. Furthermore, hopefully the parents would be more careful about locking up the gun.  Education, not more laws, is the key.

The government does not have the right to make more laws and eventually rid our country of guns. They cannot pass any law that contradicts the Bill of Rights. The 2nd Amendment states that a well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed. The Constitution of the United States of America gives us the right to own guns. No law can take that away. One anti-gun controller feels that taking guns away because I might shoot someone, is like cutting my tongue out because I might yell ‘fire’ in a crowded theater. The government cannot make our society risk-free.  They have to draw a line and trust us to some extent. 

The vast majority of gun owners will never use them in a harmful way to human beings. The government needs to focus not necessarily on the laws, but on the types of people who own guns. A high school debater brought up a good point: A disturbed person is more dangerous than a loaded gun, a gun is predictable, and a disturbed person isn’t. Police can rationalize with a sane person who has a gun, but they cannot control what a mentally unstable person might do. Government officials do not need to worry about how many guns someone has, but rather the people who have guns that should not. The 2nd Amendment grants Americans the right to carry guns, and it shall never be infringed upon.

Additional gun control laws will not lower the rate of violence in the United States.  States that respect the right to carry guns have a 22% lower total violent crime rate, 28% lower murder rate, 38% lower robbery rate, and 17% lower aggravated assault rate. States that have limited gun control have lower crime rates than those with numerous laws. When the people feel they are trusted by their state, they want to uphold their rightful actions.

Some may argue that guns are creating an unsafe environment at school, but in actuality, schools are one of the safest places. One anti-gun controller gives a figurative analogy: A child is more likely to have a heart attack than be involved in a school shooting. The chances of being involved in a school shooting are about 0.00001% because our country has protective laws. We will never be an utopist society, and if our rates are about as low as they can be, we are in good shape. Texas gives its people freedom and look how they have turned out: In 1995, Texas adopted the Right-to-Carry. Since then, the state’s homicide rate has decreased by 34% and is lower than any time in the past 40 years. States with more lenient laws actually have lower violence rates. The creation of new laws will not decrease our violence, but rather increase it.

The government adding new laws will not affect the wrongful gun users.  If they want to obtain a gun, they will find any way possible. There are only negative effects of more laws, such as angering the law-abiding citizens and raising the violence rate. The largest thing that needs to be focused on is education. If humans were taught the correct way to handle/use a gun, there would be no need to restrict guns as much as we have.

BUZZZZZ…I DON”T WANT TO GET UP!

By Victoria Denham

Throughout the U.S., alarms are waking kids up early for school. Students want to be able to sleep in longer, but really if school started later they would just stay up later and get the same amount of sleep. Students complain about always being tired. Teachers complain saying the early hours affect the way their students are learning, but it’s not the time frame that is the problem. The problem is that students are jumping on that game console as soon as they get home from school, so when the time comes to go to bed they still have not done their homework. Students need to take responsibility for their actions and accept the consequences. I believe that schools shouldn’t change their schedules to match the students’ sleep cycles.

Other students or parents might argue against this and say that the early school schedule is causing them or their child to not get enough sleep. That is true, students do have to get up quite early, but if they go to sleep early enough you will not be tired. Even if schools changed their schedules, students would still have lack of sleep because they would just stay up even longer because they won’t have to be to school as early.

The main reason for believing that schools shouldn’t change their schedules to match students’ sleep cycles is because students will just continue to stay up later because they have a later time to go to school They are not taking responsibility for their actions. Students can get enough sleep if they go to bed earlier; even 10 p.m. is a good eight hours of sleep. As soon as they get home they should be starting to work on homework and not put it off till the things they want to do are done. They are spending WAY too much time on what they want to do rather than what they need to do. If the school schedule was changed it would cause extra curricular activities to go later causing students to get home later and get even less sleep.

The other reason why I believe that schools shouldn’t change their schedules to match students’ sleep schedules is because most parents have to be to work at about eight a.m. That would cause transportation hassles for the schools to have to hire more busses, which would take more money from the school, which would mean they wouldn’t have as much money to put towards students’ education. If more kids were riding the bus that just means you have to get up earlier to get to your bus stop, so it would just be easier to keep school schedules the same.

School schedules are perfectly fine they way they are. If they were to change, it would just cause chaos and problems. Eight a.m. is a good time for school to start. It’s not too early. It just means going to bed at a reasonable time. If students spend their time wisely, then the school schedules shouldn’t be a problem. I believe that schools shouldn’t change their schedules to match students’ sleep cycles.