Prom Group causing Unnecessary Stress for Girls
Many girls on Facebook have been experiencing major stress and anxiety over Prom due to a Facebook group that was created in January. First of all, Prom is not until April, so why start a group this early? According to Hayley Goell, senior, “In the past, this has been a group meant for posting your dress AFTER buying/ordering it. If you post a dress that you’re simply considering but haven’t purchased, it’s fair game for everyone.” However, people have not been doing that. They have been posting multiple pictures of dresses that they are thinking of purchasing, not pictures of…
Late vs Early Start
Pro-Late Start (Ellen): The one thing that a stressed out student needs is another problem to worry about. However, life has its ways to make everything ten times harder than they should be, so sleep is yet another issue added to the list. One of the many wonders of the world is the reason why school starts at eight in the morning, whereas starting one hour later would benefit students, teachers and other faculty members in many ways. The most obvious benefit would be that we get more sleep. If school starts later, students get to sleep in. Because we…
The Problem of Separating the Art from the Artist
What do Woody Allen, Bill Cosby, Terry Richardson, and R.Kelly all have in common? They are all sexual predators, and admired celebrities. All of these men performed disgusting, sexual acts with women, some underaged, and yet no one seems to care. Why do people continue to support these vile men by watching their movies, going to their shows, and buying their music? For those of you who are unaware of the crimes committed by these men, here’s a brief summary. Woody Allen is a director and actor who has won countless Academy Awards. He is also a pedophile who molested…
Obama Proposes Free Jr College
As technology advances, it tends to edge out low-skills jobs. This means education is more crucial than ever to finding a job with a living wage. According to the White House, jobs requiring at least a two year “Associate” degree are projected to grow at twice the rate of jobs with lower requirements. However, not all good jobs require an expensive four year college and there simply isn’t enough jobs that would make that kind of endeavour worth it for many people. Community college is a great middle ground for some who did poorly in high school but are committed…
Hurt Feelings Price of Free Speech
It is growing clear that free speech and expression have a new and growing enemy. It is not just Islamic extremists, or petty dictators, but a growing movement, a mob, of the easily offended. From the savage attack on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris and the deadly Arab riots over it’s following cover to North Korea’s cyber attack on Sony Pictures, some people seem to think that they have a right not to be offended. They don’t. And that’s at the core of this discussion: people visiting their hurt feelings over the rights of others. This isn’t the…
Be Part of the Solution
(Published in the Feb. 14 edition of the San Mateo Daily Journal) The lives of a happy family, focused on advancing their education and bettering the community, were ripped away in North Carolina this week. Though murder is, unfortunately, nothing new, I still believe the press should be covering this more extensively against a larger backdrop of growing Islamophobia. There seems to be an almost normalization of this in many media outlets, focusing more on the murderer’s “cooperation with authorities” in an attempt to pass it off as a mere parking disagreement or potential mental illness versus a relatively obvious…
Mental Illnesses are not “Cute”
Social media and society have lightened the subject of mental illness, causing young adults to believe that having such disorders would make them “different”. The growing need to stand out in society has pushed some teenagers to the point where they over analyze their everyday emotions and self-diagnose a mental illness. Depression, anxiety, etc., are all real serious mental disorders that people have, however media is romanticizing these topics in shows and novels so that some teenagers would think that it would attract positive attention and pity or sympathy. Some people who claim to have these mental illnesses even get…
Cell Phones Vs. Education
Cell phones are a huge part of a high school student’s life. Many students nowadays have smart phones, where they are able to search the Web and do many things for school on their phones. Schools have been open to students having their phones on campus and using them, whereas some schools don’t even allow students to have phones on campus. Luckily, here at San Mateo High School, we have the BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) policy set in place. What this policy means is that students can bring their phones, tablets, iPads, etc. to school and can use them…
New Youtubers Surfacing
Which types of videos on Youtube are watched the most? Judging from the top Youtubers, the most popular genres are music, entertainment, and gaming. Recently, many new people on Youtube have surfaced, creating content similar to popular Youtubers like Pewdiepie or Zoella. In the comment sections of popular Youtubers, it’s a common sight to see these new Youtubers promoting their channels. The excessive amount of self-promotion was a part of why Pewdiepie, the most-subscribed Youtuber, disabled the comments several months ago. In his video, Pewdiepie described the comment section as being “mainly spam” and “people self-advertising.” However, not all of…