Destination Information
Buckhannon-Upshur High School
British police arrest six teenagers
Recently police in London arrested six teenagers for beating a 43 year-old polish man to death. The man was hospitalized, but later died in surgery. The teenagers were placed into custody for murder and possible hate crimes, but they were released on bail. However, the teenagers still face pending charges until October 7, 2016.
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The teenagers being released on bail has been deemed a controversial action. Many believe that the malicious nature of the crime testifies that the juveniles should not be eligible for bail. Sarah Cunningham, a student at B-UHS, believes that the teens were let out prematurely, “These teenagers should not have been released on bail, at least not until they were questioned more thoroughly.”
In addition Cunningham then stressed the negative impact that racial hate crimes, such as this, have on neighboring countries, “Racial hate crimes cause tension between two countries, and can make one country or race feel unwelcome or even hated among another race or country.” affects
Maggie Trombley, a ninth grade student, does not believe that the students targeted the man due to his heritage, “I do not believe that this was a hate crime. No, I believe that that the poor man was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
ISIS second in command killed
ISIS second in command, Shakyh Adnani, was reported killed in Syria last week. The report came in through Telegram Channels that were monitored by ISIS followers, but many question the authenticity of the report.
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Fellow student, Thomas Lee is one of many who believe that the report is bogus, “Maybe our government is saying that he’s dead just to calm us down. The fact that ISIS followers had something to do with it tells me he might not actually be dead.”
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Kegan Chidister is leery to believe the report since American troops or an American witness could not confirm Adnani’s death. He also explained ISIS’ declaration to revenge Adnani’s death through the generation raised on ISIS-territory, “They are arming children with more weapons than they already had, and this will increase their army’s status. With this they will probably try to take over Israel and Iraq.”
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There are many opinions on whether or not Adnani is dead or not, and many Americans will not believe anything until more evidence is obtained.
Let Girls Learn
On June 27, 2016 Michelle Obama and her two daughters, Sasha and Malia, went on a two-nation trip to advocate for a reform in girls’ education with the program “Let Girls Learn.” The program strives to improve girls’ education in other countries and improve labor laws.
To improve girls’ education worldwide, The USAID has plans to train policymakers and teachers on preventing violence against women and girls. In addition the program, includes a $20 million project for child nutrition that would fund the food eaten in school and a monthly take-home ration, dependent upon good school attendance. Also, a $6.2 million project to reduce child labor laws is being negotiated to protect girls as well.
"I think it is good thing for other countries to have the same educational opportunities as we do, so we can understand each other better," said Nathaniel Beer, a fellow B-UHS student.
Shayla Courtney agreed that the initiative is necessary, "I think its good for us, because girls are always kind of pushed to the back. We are kind of pushed away from things like reforming our own education; I think this will be a good thing,"
When asked if she thought that this program will have an effect on how girls are treated and educated, Taylor Cunningham said "I hope so… I think so, because hopefully, we will start treating each other differently and we will grow on that."
“I am thrilled that we are making these new investments in adolescent girls’ education and deepening our partnership with the Government of Liberia,” said Mrs. Obama. “These girls are so bright and so eager to learn, and these investments will help them build the knowledge and skills they need to provide for themselves and their families and contribute fully to their communities and their country.”
Sarah Cunningham said in response to Mrs. Obama’s decision to continue the program, “I think she will carry on with this program because she is strong, respected, and pretty up there in society. I think enough people will get behind her, and she will be able to continue this work."
Whether or not this program will come into effect and change how girls’ education is treated, one thing is for sure, it is certainly gaining support, and hopefully we will hear more about how this program is progressing in the near future.
Red Ribbon Week
At Buckhannon-Upshur High School the week of October 24-28, 2016, has been designated this years ‘Red Ribbon Week’. Red Ribbon Week is a campaign held all over the Unites States to raise awareness for drug, alcohol, and tobacco usage and abuse.
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“Red Ribbon week is a week to spread the word about drugs and alcohol and what they can do to you and the people you love and care about,” Maggie Trombley explained, “People don’t understand the impact drugs can have on the person taking the drugs, the people around them, and their environment.”
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Red Ribbon week helps encourage students to stay away from drugs by using frilly dress up days, so their brain relates saying no to drugs and alcohol with a positive activity.
Effects of social media on racism
Social media is important because almost everybody has it, which means what it says impacts many people. There are many controversial things being posted and brought up using social media, and one of those things is its effect on racism. Some people are seemingly oblivious to the fact that racism still exists or that social media may have an effect on it.
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“I think social media spreads untrue stories about racism and gives people the ability to rally up a lot of tension and unspoken hate about it, because people will tell stories about something racist and it gets plastered over all fronts of social media. I think it eventually gets so distorted and the truth gets lost,” said Lexi Powell.
Using the media, people can hide behind a screen and post untruths without anyone knowing who they are. Would racism would be as big a problem if we didn’t have social media? I posed this question to fellow students and got some different responses.
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“I think that even without social media, racism would still be just as big of problem because people would still find ways to spread the untruths just to rile people up,” said an anonymous student.
“Racism would definitely not be as big a problem if we didn’t have social media because people would not be able to say things that are not true on the social media front,” commented Rayven Sipe.
What do you think? Is social media contributing to racism?
Is humanity getting more violent?
We can all agree that the past year was not the best, not even close. There were terror attacks, suicide bombings, and riots. These acts make some people wonder, Is humanity getting more violent? While this is a valid concern, I do not believe humanity is getting more violent. In fact, I think humanity is more peaceful than before. Many would disagree, but the way I see it, the world is not nearly as violent of a place as it was fifty or sixty years ago. I am not the only one who thinks this; Harvard social scientist Steven Pinker agrees. He says in his book The better angels of our nature: Why violence has declined, “We may be living in the most peaceful era of our species.”
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Pinker also says, “Homicide, war, genocide, and terrorism rates have been steadily decreasing across the world.”
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“I think that humanity is getting better there don’t seem to be as many violent murders or shootings as there used to be, which has to be a sign that we, as a species are getting better,” said an anonymous B-UHS student. “While today we still deal with a racial divide, it is not nearly as bad as it has been in the past. This factor alone makes humanity less violent. If you go back and look at the history of America, to when racism was a huge problem, it was dealt with through violent protests, riots, boycotts, and battles. Today, in general, things are dealt with much more peacefully, and while there are still wars, riots, and murders, it’s not nearly as bad.”
Some would argue that with all the recent terror attacks, humanity is getting more violent, but you cannot say that humanity as a whole is more violent based on the actions of groups of people or the events of one year. Even though deaths by homicide and warfare have slightly increased in the past few years, they are still just a fraction of what they were in the 1960’s, 70’s, and 80’s. In fact, since 2000, the average military conflict had killed 90 percent less people each year since 1950.
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“The early ‘60’s was violent with race riots. All those times were more violent than now,” said retired army veteran Charles Day Jr.
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While I understand the point some are trying to make in saying that humanity is getting increasingly more violent, I strongly disagree, and there are more facts to support my claim. I believe those who are inclined to accept that the world is more violent are just sadly misinformed and have not done the proper research to back their claim.