Declaration of Student Rights

Declaration of Student Rights

Every student is entitled to a certain set of rights.  These basic rights are the outline for what a free public education should be, and how it should be managed.  Each student should be treated with respect, by their peers and by the staff.  This ensures that they hold their right to feel comfortable at school.  A student has the right to feel safe in their learning environment.  At no time should they feel threatened, or concerned for their well-being.  It is the responsibility of the school system to support that right to safety.  Concerning academics, every student has the right to equal opportunities.  It is a student’s right to have a variety of classes offered to ensure the success for every student of every academic ability.  No student should be feel discriminated against because of their capabilities.  If a student feels that any of their rights are being violated, they should be able to express their feelings on the situation.  As students, we believe that these rights are the structure for a strong and just educational system.

1. Our lunches are only 35 minutes long. A small portion of time compared to how long our classes are. It doesn’t give us enough time to eat a balanced lunch. We as students need longer lunches so we have enough time to eat and have a little time to finish school related duties. If a student has a full schedule during and after school, it limits when they can go and talk to their teachers or counselors. Our lunch time starts directly after class ends and does not count the amount of time that it takes to go to our lockers. 
2. When the weather gets severe, we are still forced to go to school. The students are required to be at school regardless of the weather. Sometimes their teachers aren’t even present. We are a walking district so it puts us at a greater risk as we travel to school. The schools that surround us get plenty of snow days but we are not given the same opportunity.
3. The school dictates how we should dress, but it limits our free expression. In the warmer seasons, it is uncomfortable to wear proper clothes pertaining to the dress code. It is ironic that some sports have uniforms that violate the dress code but they wear them in spirit anyway. Our dress code is not taken very seriously to some, and it is unfair to the students that have stricter teachers who watch what they wear. 
4. Students are given 7 minutes after each class to get to their classes. For some, it can be difficult to manage this. Some students have to walk from one end of the building to another. Managing how to do this along with stopping at their lockers to trade book can be a tricky task. Furthermore, with the quantity of students walking in the hallways, the crowds move slowly. Navigating through the hallways is a challenge of its own. 
5. School rules declare that a student may only have 10 unexcused absences in each class in order to still have credit. If a student takes more than 6 minutes to arrive in class, they are marked absence for that class hour. Even if that student is there for the remainder of the class, they receive no credit. It can be difficult for parents to plan vacations too, because sometimes the tickets available are the most expensive of them all.
6. Our school looks upon sports with high respect, and teaches that sports are valuable for the continuation of our knowledge throughout the future. The current fee for each sport per season if $150. This price is an unreasonably amount when a student may play more than 1 sport per year. Equipment and transportation enough is excessive in the way that it is valued. Having to pay the large fee per season as well as the equipment is an unreasonable action from our school. We, as students deserve to have a less expensive fee to play a sport throughout the seasons. 
7. Clinics are not available for the students here. If someone feels sick or gets hurt, they are forced to wait in the office. They receive n treatment or medication until one of their parents comes to pick them up. This could take a while because of the parent’s responsibilities. It is unsafe and unhealthy for our school not to have a clinic. 
8. Some of the buildings in our school are not supplied with adequate air conditioning. The school can get extremely hot at the beginning and end of the year. There is no air conditioning in the main building so hot temperatures cannot be cooled down. The heat keeps teachers and students uncomfortable. It makes it difficult to work as it if hard to focus in the warmth.  The lack of air conditioning in the main building is detrimental to the student’s education. 
9. The Grosse Pointe Public School District is labeled as a walking district. Therefore, every day, either we must walk to school, ride our bikes, or arrange for a ride with our parents or friends. This is common problem because Michigan is a state with severe weather, causing harsh winters and freak storms. On the days where most bus transported schools have the days off, like for snow days, we not given the same opportunities, even with the dangers of the weather severity. Days where the bitter air dips below 0, is where a line should be drawn. School should not be session during days where the snow and ice cause an inability to walk or drive, without a precautious danger. Without having buses, our fellow walking peers are put into more danger than they would have, if our school provided buses. We, as students, need this way of transportation for a safer, easier way of attending school everyday. 
10. We, as students, should be looked upon equally. We should deserve the same opportunities as our peers, regardless of their age or grade. As grow, we are given the decisions of driving to school, and the S-Lot of school is reserved for the seniors only.  It is a great, safe parking lot, whereas the other parking places may need to be paid by hour and may be unsafe towards the cars occupying the area.  We should be allowed, as an entire school, to have a first come, first serve basis on the parking spots in the S-Lot, not just giving them away to the Seniors.  We, as students, deserve the equal treatment whether we are Freshman, or Seniors.

We, as the students in the Grosse Pointe Public School District, unanimously declare that each and every student should be relieved the erratic rules that govern our schools.  It is prominent that the complaints we have are appropriate. They make our educational experience transition smoothly.  Allowing the lunch hour to be relatively longer, a higher amount of snow days and better public transportation, equal treatment to all the classes, a comfortable working environment, and many other requests are extremely reasonable and go towards making the learning environment of our school so much more agreeable to our everyday lives.  Organized together, we as students release our demands to the dictation of our school district.  United, all schools under one power are faced with these problems everyday and seek the rectitude for a safe, improved environment.  Not addressing these requests will lead to the petitioning and violation of our student rights.  As students, we deserve the proper abilities to be granted a way to learn in a safe environment with these agreeable requirements.

Crucible Epilogue

Reverend Hale looked about him, as if he were being watched, but then returned to the almost empty glass before him.  Those contents of the mug are indeed what holds him together nowadays, after all that had happened those few months before.  He left the poor, torn town of Salem after his tyrant had been wreaked upon the civilians.  Now, living in Boston, retired from his job of chasing away horrid spirits, he spent his days wallowing in what had happened, brokenhearted by the lives he must have ruined.  Another glass, another drink.

It was all my fault, Hale thought to himself.  He took a deep swig of the whiskey.  

Most people wouldn’t be able to recognize him by his dark, shadowed eyes, or his deep frown growing ever more grotesque by the day.  His hair hung in snarls around his frail face, and his expression remained blank.  The little pub he was seated in had been a bustle of noise hours ago, but now the loneliness of the rest of the fellow drinkers was ominous.  What have I done??   He thought of John Proctor, of Elizabeth, of Rebecca Nurse, Giles Correy, and many more who have died before him, at his hand.  Abigail, the devil herself.  Another glass, another drink.

Finished, he paid his dues and struggled to get himself out of his seat, and staggered towards the door.  The bitter fall air hung over Boston, warning of the harsh winter to come.  His feet fell heavy on the ground, and looking straight forward, he could not think about the past; what he had let happen in Salem.  Darkness fell hours before, and the few and sparse candles lit in the windows of the dirt road street were the only means of navigating at this late hour.  

A piercing scream echoed in the bitter air, and everything went cold.  Fear struck through Hale.  At the edge of the forest, just beyond the street, the howling cry continued.  Dashing towards this sound, he saw a little girl, no older than a teenager, lying on the ground.  She wept and cradled her arm.

“Miss, are you all right?” Hale asked as he knelt down next to the young girl.

The girl screamed out in pain.  She let her arm fall, allowing Hale to see, and he found that she was bleeding from a carving in her flesh.  His heart skipped a beat, and he realized that she had been attacked.  He scooped her up into his arms, and rushed her down the street towards the local doctor.  

Dr. Renolds is a crabby man, two times the age of Hale, and grunted as he saw him standing on his doorstep, but allowed the two of them to enter.  “You found her like this?” Dr. Renolds asked, and Hale nodded, out of breath and bewildered.  “It is not too deep of a wound, but possible infection may occur.  This girl, my God, is Emily Blackard!  Emily, do you remember what had happened?”

She shook her head sadly, and winced as Dr. Renolds poured some ailant on her arm.  “I-I remember the walk home.  It was cold and I ran as fast I could to my parents, and then I remember some kind of chanting, sounds to be reckoned with, in my head, and everything else is a blank.”

“Chanting?” Hale spoke up, worried.

“Yes, a chanting in my head.  It was no voice I remember, you hear.  I could not tell you who it might be, but it was an older woman.  I don’t know what it said, but I remember my arms turned cold and got goosebumps just at the sound!  It was no Ten Commandments, you hear.  It was something more.”

The wound was bandaged, Hale never got the chance to see it.  “Dr. Renolds, I need to look at Emily’s arm.  This may be important.  I am a Reverend, and this may be the possible work of the Devil.”

“Reverend Hale, I can’t allow you to-”

“I know what this sounds like, but I swear to you, this does not sound like some attack on the street.  The chanting...the wound...it may all lead to one thing!  We mustn’t waste any more time!”

Removing the bandage, he examined the mark.  There was what he had feared, three long marks running down the length of her arm.  The marks of the Devil.

“Now Emily, you say you heard a chanting...where were you when you heard it?”

“I was right outside that old bookstore, you know.  The one with all the dust and the children go saying it’s haunted.  I looked inside the window and I think that’s where it all started.”

Reverend Hale jumped from the place next to Emily and dashed out the door.  In the night air, he could feel chills running down his spine.  Salem, happening all over again.  But it seems like this time, it may not all be a game.  Maybe this time, he could save someone, anyone, from being deceived.  

The old bookstore has been around for ages, as Hale had been informed.  Not many inhabitants actually enter, but the business still thrives because of the sales of the Bible inside.  Many people are afraid of entering, having their soul tainted by the darkness within, but the few that do have very little to say towards that fact.  Sometimes, people love telling stories to each other, hoping the other will be just as frightened as they were.

As Hale walked towards the door of the shop, he heard a woman singing softly to herself.  He strained his ears to hear the words, but could not.  He followed the sound, towards the back of the shop, where a candle was lit in the back room.  There sat a young woman, with long brown hair hanging down her back.  She was turned away so he could not see her face.  

“Hello?” Hale called out, barely above a whisper.

The woman kept singing to herself, but she gently turned around with a huge grin lighting up her face.  Her eyes were dark and brooding, and she looked like the exact form of evil that had brought him to this godforsaken city, to find refuge.  

“Reverend Hale, it’s been a long time,” the woman spoke, and her voice could never be forgotten in Hale’s mind.

“Abigail!  Why are you here?” he asked, his heart racing.

She got up from her chair and looked down and what she had been holding.  A knife, speckled with blood, and she smiled to herself, as if pleased with this treasure she had found.  “I loved him, and he died, because of your trials!  Your the reason why he is dead and not that old, godforsaken woman!” she shrieked.

“You were the one who accused the innocent.  You are a murderer, Abigail, and not me!  You should be rotting in a prison, or hanged by the ropes that took the life of so many people that should have been able to trust you!  You are a jealous whore, hiding in this shop, injuring children out of your witchery game!  You are a witch, at the hand of the Devil, sinning as you live.  Rot in Hell, Abigail, and never touch a child again by your evil.  That little girl could die because of your games,”  Hale bellowed, and began to edge his way out of the shop.

Abigail’s face twisted in anger.  She raced towards him, and something hard hit his head, and everything went black.

~~~

There were whispers in the room, some weeping, and others coughing.  Hale’s eyes fluttered open, and a cold bit him, as he shivered uncontrollably.  His vision blurred, he looked about him, a pain in his arm unbearable.  There were a couple of beds beside his own in this room, a makeshift hospital, the ill and the visitors in a sweep of emotion.  Hale was utterly alone, lying on this bed.  All he could think about was Abigail, and what had happened after she struck him.  

Dr. Renolds came over with a damp handkerchief.  He dabbed at Hale’s forehead, and began whispering things like, “finally” and “we were getting worried”.  Hale’s breathing was labored and he found it hard to remain conscious.

“His fever is getting worse, and the infection is growing.  It does not look too promising,” Dr. Renolds explained to a person who arrived behind him.  Hale looked up, and found it was Elizabeth Proctor, the woman from Salem who had been accused of being a witch falsely.  Elizabeth looked down at him, and a tear slid down her face.

“Elizabeth...” Hale whispered.

“Hello Reverend.  I am sorry to see you like this, but what had happened was truly remarkable.  When you and Abigail were yelling that one night, fellow citizens heard you from within the store!  They found her strike your head, Reverend, and she is now sitting in prison as we speak!  She will be tried soon for the conspiracy of murder, and the crimes she committed in Salem, Reverend!  You saved my husband’s soul!  You found her, and I am sorry she had to strike you like this, and her knife cut into your arm.  They sent for me, because they knew you knew me.  I am so proud of you for standing up for everyone in Salem, all those innocent people.  God will bless you as you have acted rightfully.”  She kissed his forehead and departed.

Hale smiled.  A peace filtered through his whole body.  Abigail was now paying for the crimes she had committed, and he could now let himself depend on his own help for giving him happiness, not the whiskey.  That was the last glass.  The last drink.  He shut his eyes and drifted off...where the world was smiling to him.  John Proctor, Rebecca Nurse, Giles Correy, and all the other innocent people were allowing another accused innocent, in another manner, into their hearts.  

Reverend Hale then died peacefully, where the pain in his arm was no longer there, ebbing at his consciousness, and where he could now be free from the guilt he felt after all that had past, and he knew that he had finally caught the Devil that had been haunting Massachusetts; Abigail was now guilty.  

Crucible Essay

            Salem was a town stricken by lies and those who deceive, demons on their own loose in society.  As a person living in the town, no one was safe from scorn or prejudice, of being called a conspirator of the devil, and being persecuted as witches.  This turmoil was started by Abigail, a young girl seeking love from a man in all the wrong places.  Abigail’s vengeance on the town starts the fall of all truths, remaining the comprehension that no one is longer safe in a town where religion was the way of all life.  John Proctor, a man of power and respect within Salem, is unable to stop the turn of all conflicts soon enough, out of his stubbornness to be viewed as a sinless person.  Elizabeth Proctor, John Proctor’s spouse, also is faced with many choices that could have helped or changed the course of fate throughout the small, absentminded town of Salem.  Salem, a Puritan colony where those who lived wanted to be spared by God’s revenge, would do anything to rid their town of any sign or work of the devil, even if it means being frightened into a turn of events that remains uncontrollable by those who begin it.  The witch persecutions could have been prevented, if not had been for Abigail, John Proctor, as well as Elizabeth Proctor. 

            Abigail is an eighteen year old girl, niece of the minister, Parris, and a true psychopath deep down.  After the affair with John Proctor, she is obsessed and determined to make John her love.  Through this craziness, she tries to rid herself of John’s wife, only to be caught dancing in the woods performing ritualistic charms.  Thus, the witch accusations spiral out of control, because religion is so strict in the town.  “And God gave me strength to call them liars, and God made men to listen to me, and by God I will scrub the world clean for the love of Him!  Oh, John, I will make you such a wife when the world is white again” (Miller, 150)!  These words were spoken by Abigail, showing that she has control over the Church and all decisions leading from it.  The power stood in her hands, and she used it ill and maliciously and for that, the witch hunt went on and killed many innocent people. 

            John Proctor, a married and religious man, definitely had made a few mistakes in his past.  His affair with Abigail caused her to be driven towards the idea and want of power to give her whatever she wanted.  John Proctor is a powerful figure throughout this tale, and could have prevented the many deaths that soon followed.  “I am only wondering how I may prove what she told me, Elizabeth.  If the girl’s a saint now, I think it is not easy to prove she’s fraud, and the town gone so silly.  She told it to me in a room alone—I have no proof for it” (53).  This was said by John towards Elizabeth, explaining how Abigail had told him it had all been a fraud earlier in the story.  This news could have been brought into view beforehand and could have saved many people from persecution and punishment for something that had not existed.  John’s leadership persona would have helped people believe him, before the trials and before more had occurred to halt this outrageous plot from ever working. 

            Elizabeth Proctor had been a soft person who had been put through extreme scorn throughout the whole novel.  Her husband cheats on her, Abigail is out for her head, she is persecuted as a witch, as well as her husband, and he is sentenced to hang.  These chain of events show the reader that she is strong enough to hold the fort down and to help her family remain morally right in the eyes of God.  She had the chance to tell the judges the truth, that her husband had slept with her, and it would have helped ruin Abigail’s credibility.  However, she decided to remain silent and deal with the truth by lying to them, keeping their names clear and away from prejudice within the town.  This is a turning point decision, that could have changed the fates for her husband, and many fellow friends and neighbors that had died due to being persecuted as a follower of Satan.  Putting her own desires aside, she gave her husband her forgiveness, so he could die guilt-free and forgive himself, and God may spare him for his actions.  Elizabeth’s decision to lie could have turned the play around and stopped all deaths from occurring, but her decision was wise and rightfully just. 

            Death by death, hanging by hanging, the town was supposedly cleared from all signs of the
Devil.  Those who could have done something about these deaths did not, and allowed this to keep occurring.  The people who died had truly been martyrs, because if they confessed they could have lived, but would not lie and go back on their religion, and died peacefully religious.  Abigail, a crazy and jealous girl deceived the town into thinking innocent people had been working with the devil, when in reality, her actions were far from just.  John Proctor, a man of many followers, remained stubborn until the end, trying his hardest to help stop the persecutions, but if the past mistakes had been changed, maybe his efforts would have paid off.  However, Elizabeth was given many chances to help tell people and convince them of Abigail’s craziness, but would risk anything, even death, to save her husband from judgement by the other villagers who looked up to him.  These people had the chances to work against the evils brought to Salem through lies, not witchcraft, but when given the opportunities, their own morals and wants prevented them from acting upon the actions against innocent people. 

"Sinners" Follow Up Post

The true fear that the people felt was electrified through Jonathon Edwards' sermon.  The reactions today would have been different, because society has changed so drastically since then.  Today, God is viewed as an accepting and loving person, who does not judge harshly and will save anyone who asks for forgiveness of their sins.  This belief conflicts with the terrifying sermon that effected so many lives during the Puritan times.  In today's society, the punishments that are described are believed by the Church, but not to such a degree that we are all condemned for everything we have done wrong throughout life.  There is now a wider range of beliefs throughout the world, which would have definitely had an effect on the reaction of this sermon, and would not have been taken too seriously.  Today, life is more advanced where we have more of an understanding of the world around us, and is not related to religion in everything we do.  Life is where science is growing, multitudes of languages are spoken, different ways of life learned, and different cultures flare brightly throughout the world.  These differences make a more understanding and wider ranged area, where religion does not play such a huge role in society in present times.

Crucible Post 2

Crucible Post 2

In Act 2 of "The Crucible", the inhabitants of Salem are thrown through peril of power changes and accusations of witches.  Those accused by the young girls are sent to court and tried for witchery and conversing with the devil, and have to prove to the judges that they are not a witch.  Those who do not confess to being a witch are sent to hang, while those who lie and say they are witches are saved.  These lies show how opposite the world is now, that they had to lie and say they committed a crime to actually save themselves from death.  These choices on lying though are brought up in day to day life, where a person may lie about themselves to be just like anybody else and to be accepted by society.

Self image is a key role played in todays society.  Movie stars, singers, and other famous people show the perfect image of society, and many people change themselves to look like them.  This acceptance from everyone plays into day to day life, from dressing a certain way to acting a certain way.  Personally, lying about myself and what I believe in would not be the most appealing thing to do, but in necessary situations, I would be willing to lie about myself to fit in and not be judged.  This is only to protect myself from ridicule or other harming matters.  Risking your own personal identity is very downgrading of yourself, but in situations of life or death, or success and failure, I would take the chance to lie.  I wish I would have to strength to accept myself fully, and be confident enough to stand up for everything I believe in, but in todays society, that is a very difficult task to accomplish.