Should There be an Open Campus Policy

Most schools that you watch in movies and on television have what is called open campus.  Open campus is when students are allowed to leave the school grounds during lunch.  Schools in warmer climates do this in real life too, but what about our school system in Norton, Massachusetts.  With our new cafeteria the school is allowing seniors only to eat outside at lunch.  That is probably as far as they will go with letting us have an open campus in my school.  There is always a pro and a con to every statement, but what about the possibility to giving students more freedom in school regarding lunch and the open campus policy.

            The school had decided to only allow seniors to eat outside during their lunch block.  Being an underclassman it does not seem fair to us.  I understand that there is not much space outside to eat with all of the construction, but we still should be allowed to at least have the choice.  Obviously with leaving the school grounds it can create controversy, but it will show a sign of trust and can allow the students to have a time of rest outside of school. Many schools only allow the students that are known to not provoke trouble and do well in school to be able to leave the school grounds.  This can enforce students to try and do better in and outside of school. It can also enable students to get what they can call a lunch.  All you hear about these days is that schools should allow healthy lunches and better portions.  We have the healthy aspect, but the portions of the lunches are way too small for growing teenagers and athletes.  With the open campus policy however, students will be able to go out and get whatever lunch and size of their lunch that they want.  The office can also get a state of rest with the lack of phone calls made to ask for the parents to drop off lunch or to bring money for it.  Students could just go and get what they needed to bring for the afternoon, which means lighter backpack loads and less chance of scoliosis in the growing teenage years. There are many pros to the open campus policy, but what about the cons?

            The open campus policy also shows cons just like any argument.  With the open campus policy it can provoke students to not want to return to class after leaving school.  Even during lunch at school a student feels that they are unable to return to class and do more work until the end of the day.  In other schools nationwide there are reports of car crashes due to having an open campus.  Yes car crashes happen all the time whether or not you cannot stop them from occurring, but with the open campus policy it allows more students on the road at one time and can lead to students being injured or killed.  “Can I have a double-cheeseburger and fries?” a statement that sounds harmless, but to administrators it is deadly.  The health of one student can change based on where the student might eat, such as McDonalds which is close to our school.  Yes there are other places to eat at but so little time to do so, so an average American will go for the quick and easy thing to grab and eat which is sadly fast food.  It can also lead students towards doing illegal things outside of school, and then returning to school on these substances. These cons can lead to the school being a liability and can cause students to get hurt or worse even killed.

            With these pros and cons for having the open campus policy it can show both sides of the argument.  With the pros it can encourage students to do well in school, but can also lead to the use of illegal substances such as drugs and alcohol. If my school was to allow an open campus policy it would be great, but they would need to enforce the requirements on being able to leave school grounds.    Whatever the reasons may be that we are not allowed the freedom of choosing where and what we want to eat, let us prove to you that teenagers can be responsible, cautious and, more importantly, mature adults.

Government Vs. News

  In recent events the U.S. Justice Department secretly obtained two months of phone records of reporters and editors of the AP, which is the main provider of all of the ways people get their news these days all over the world.  They claim to have needed this information for a criminal investigation on a foiled terror plot.  Many would argue with the fact that they are violating the freedom of speech, I feel with the recent events that occurred with the Boston Marathon bombings that if they state that it is for investigating on a terror plot, failed or not, that the government, should be able to go through the records.  I do not agree however with the fact that they took this information secretly.   

Wicked Strong Boston

          The Boston Marathon, a worldwide event in the heart of my city.  This time is supposed to be a time of joy and peace, but tragedy struck at the 117^th Boston Marathon on Monday April fifteenth. Two Chechen brothers decided to make homemade bombs and blow them up to create chaos and do what they allegedly argued to ‘defend’ Islam.  In this moment terror struck the city and reminded us that the world is still not at peace.

          The two brothers, Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev both from Chechnya in Russia were the two bombers behind it all.  The two bombers went in as regular people that looked like they went to watch the Boston Marathon; little did people know that they were executing a terrorist attack.  From my personal stand point, I was supposed to go into the Boston Marathon.  My mother had told me that we were going to be right near where the bomb had gone off on Boylston Street.  We would have gone down there because my mom used to work at the Lennox Hotel, but she said that we should just sleep in and have a chill day.  Luckily she agreed to this or I might have been inside of that chaos.  

          Even though it felt like forever for people watching the news to keep updated about the locating of the bombers.  Luckily we had our men and women in blue who worked hard throughout the grueling hours to capture at least one of the two brothers.  Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was the one of the two bombers to be captured, but not only was he injured by a cop, he shot himself in the neck so he could not talk.  Some people might say he was trying to commit suicide, but if wanted to do so then he would shoot himself in the head not the neck so he could not talk to the FBI.  This just goes to show you how much of an extremist he really is.  Now the one question is should he spend the rest of his life in prison, or get sentenced to the death penalty?             



Troubles in North Korea

        I sat down and interviewed a fellow colleague of mine, Jack Ledbetter, about the current situation with North Korea.  North Korea has been constantly threatening the world with nuclear war, and I was wondering what other people were thinking about the whole situation.  First, I asked what he thought on the whole situation, and he first started with how the whole thing was a scary thought to think of.  Jack also went to saying how that he believes that the only reason that North Korea is angry is because us as a country are telling them to stop production of nuclear warheads.  Then I went to ask him on how if North Korea would use their nuclear missiles as their last breath of survival.  He stated how he does not see a point in using it at all, but if they do decide to do so that it will be a nuclear war.  This brought up the question of what if other countries see this as an opportunity to attack.  His feedback was that yes, the other countries will use North Korea as an excuse to try and attack opposing countries.  This shifted into another question of what you would do if there was nuclear fallout.  He responded with at first he would not know what to do at all, but after some thought he said he would mourn for the people who got hit, and would hope that the missile would not hit near him or his friends and family.  He also stated, “I would definitely be afraid of another attack, or a rebuttal from the United States or other countries.”  I concluded with one question everyone should answer, if you had the chance to talk to the major world leaders what would you say about the situation?  His argument was, “I understand the rivalry between other countries with race and ethnicity, but I do not see the purpose in harming innocent lives between all this hatred.”      

The Season Three Finale of The Walking Dead Leaves Us Thinking

     Last Sunday the season three finale of The Walking Dead aired with what I believe was a great way to end the season. So much has been both answered and left for us to try and find out in the next season. With the death of Andrea, Laurie Holden, and Milton, Dallas Roberts, it brings grief to Michonne, actress Danai Gurira.  Milton went out trying to hold on to save Andrea, even though the governor had stabbed him repeatedly again going against the rule of not letting their people turn. With Andrea however, she went out to what I would call a hero, or as what she said in an interview, “I will never see Andrea as a victim. I see her as a casualty of war.” All Andrea wanted to do was to keep everyone safe, and with Rick, Andrew Lincoln, telling her that everyone was alright it let her finally be at peace.

            The big controversy that everyone has been talking about is if Carl, actor Chandler Riggs, is turning into a young Governor who is played by actor David Morrissey. Many people are saying to just put an eye patch on Carl and you have The Governors mini-me. With The Governor saying his “kill or be killed” speech, it directly reflects on what Carl says later in the episode to Rick about how he didn’t kill the walker that killed Dale, or how Rick didn’t kill The Governor causing Merle to die.  With Carl shooting the kid his age in cold blood as he was surrendering, Carl knew that it is very hard to trust someone in this new world that he is growing up in. Who knows what the next season of The Walking Dead will bring us, cannot wait until October.                                                                                                                                                              

No More February Vacation

     In my school we have February vacation, due to the recent amount of snow days our neighboring town has gotten rid of their February vacation.  With getting rid of February vacation it will stop us from going further into the summer. I can see how seniors will be completely against taking away February vacation since they do not have to make up snow days like everyone else.  The benefit can help us have a longer summer, but I think that the vacations are needed. With having the vacations it feels like they are at the perfect timing and you just need a vacation.

About Myself

My name is Jacob, I am currently a Freshman at Norton High School. I am Doing this blog for my journalism class, and I will be writing about The Walking Dead. I should be updating weekly on the episodes that were shown in that same week, hope to see you weekly.