Thinkings on the Past and Future

2008 was a building ground for 2009. I took my SATs, applied for colleges, and started my senior year of high school. Of course, there were lots of crisis and achievements within that time, but school dominated my life in 2008.

By far the low point of 2008 was my mother’s tumor and surgery. It brought on unknowns and possibilities that I had never had to deal with before. In the end, it also worked itself out and my family is back to the same point it was before.

2009 is going to bring a lot of changes to my life. I’m going to decide what college I want to attend, move away from home, and go through my first semester at colleges. While 2008 was filled with the anticipation of all of this, so far this New Year I’ve been feeling a bit anxious about everything that is changing.

For the most part, I’ve chosen to write about school and such, because everything else in my life is always changing. I know that it’s part of high school, but it seems like I have new friends and people involved in my life each week. The one personal goal for me for 2009 is to stop gossiping so much. I have cut back a lot but I find myself judging others and paying attention to all the rumors that seem to float around. Note to anyone who is planning on coming to Technology High: Rumors fly faster than you have ever experienced before. Everyone will know who you’re dating and so on, in an hour. No joke, give it an hour and seniors will know the darkest secret of the freshmen they have never met. My one resolution is to cut myself out of that picture.

I know that it sounds corny and lame, but I also want to start actually being true to myself. I have put up hundreds of personalities in the past, so I think I’m actually going to try to stay the same person no matter who I’m talking to. I know that it probably won’t happen, but I’d like to try to be an optimist.

The Book to Tell You How Messed Up You Are

The American Psychiatric Association is currently working on releasing the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. This book is created by panels of psychiatrists and will have many different effects on not only the medical field, but the patients as well. This edition will have consequences for insurance reimbursement, research, and ultimately determines what is considered a mental disorder.

In this particular edition there are many controversial issues arising. Is compulsive shopping really considered a disorder that can be treated? Do children that suffer from sensory problems just need extra attention? What exactly is gender identity crisis? Is binge eating a disorder? There are so many problems that are weighed in on and their book will ultimately decide the fate of the particular ailment.

I think it’s so awful that this book is playing such a crucial role on the world of psychiatry. I understand the purpose of having disorders defined, but it also determines how the world perceives each disorder. If their research is outdated or too controversial, it can have a horrible effect on the world. This book has also faced a lot of criticism over its time. It originally defined homosexuality as a disease that needed to be treated. In the 1970’s it was removed, but it still had a lasting effect on how the world views homosexuality.

This is something that I think we really need to stop. Not only does it have an effect on how the world views each disorder, it also views how the insurance companies do. One example is with those that consider themselves transgender. Because this book defines it as a disorder, many insurance companies will cover the costs of surgeries and procedures to help them. If the disorder is revoked from the book, it will cause the number of insurance companies that cover surgeries to go down to almost none. If a particular disease is listed but not really true, it could cost the insurance companies millions. If they don’t list it, it could cause devastation to those suffering.

Psychiatry is a field that is always very delicate. The patients involved are not only physically sick, but are in a different state of mind. Unlike a physical disease though, there could be many ways for different disorders to be perceived. If a book such as this is created, we need to be certain that we are including everything with ultimate approval from everyone.

New look on dating for High School Seniors

Attention to all: Dating in high school has officially died. There are officially more seniors that say they never date then say that they date frequently. This doesn't mean that everyone is having more sex. According to the Center for Disease Control, the number of teens having sex or sex with strangers is on the down.

Now, our culture has changed from dating as the social norm, to having hooking up as the new trend. I completely understand where this is coming from too. I think that we all have experienced that relationship, where you find a physical connection first, then worry about the emotional thing. It's easier. You don't have the pressures of the gossip, school, or emotional connection.

I know that it's not the way you want to live your life... blah, blah, blah. But for high school, its easier to worry about an emotional connection later. I mean we have to face it, teenage guys and girls have to very different ideas of what a perfect relationship should be. I think that by people not dating in high school, it almost fixes that differences. It causes both parties to meet someone in the middle. The guys don't have to worry about every last detail, but the girl also tends to be less stiff, if she is on a informal date.

Personally, I think it is the way to go. But then again, that's just me.

The Forgotten School

I must admit that I really hate the Cotati-Rohnert Park Unified School District. They have little funding, and they are now spending a portion of that on advertising the school that they haven't put money into in a long time. Because the school district has lost so much enrollment they decided that it was completely necessary to spend money that is suppose to be on education, for newspaper ads and billboards telling parents to send their kids the the gang infested Rancho Cotate High School.

I am a high school student at Technology High. I am part of this school district, yet you will never hear the school board mention us in an article. I don't even know why they won't! My school is located on Sonoma State Campus, I get to take college classes, and technology is involved in EVERY class I take. We are the reason that the test scores are high, but do you see them telling the media about us? No, of course not, that would be LOGICAL. The STAR testing scores in our school are among the highest in the state, because we are able to learn from teachers that are intelligent and actually want to come to work everyday. We are able to learn from projects, instead of learning from a book and taking a test after.

They justify their spending by saying that they will get the money completely back by enrolling three new students. While this may be true, that money could be used in so many other ways. Even if they want to just advertise Rancho Cotate, they could use that thirteen thousand dollars they have as a budget for advertising, to start a new program there that would actually attract new students. All of the local high schools have something that makes them different, whether its an art program, college prep, international program, they all have SOMETHING that makes them different. Rancho doesn't have these things. They don't have a program that is recognized as part of their school.

So, in closing, I ask why the district chooses to forge the school that brings up the test scores, puts a new spin on learning, and established a connection with the university in the area?

Drug Testing in Schools? TOO FAR

I was scanning for possible blog entries and came across a very disturbing article. It seems that drug testing is becoming more popular in public high schools. Currently, most schools are adopting a system that tests students that they suspect of drug use. This is disturbing with itself, but what I found really upsetting was the fact that schools are now trying to adopt a system where any student came be tested randomly. In schools, they are making it mandatory that if you sign up for a club, sport, or even parking pass you are also agreeing to be part of a randomly tested group of kids that is picked from weekly.

I have no idea how this can possibly be allowed in schools. The school has absolutely no right to test me, merely because my name was randomly selected that week. It’s a violation of the fourth amendment. End of discussion. I just don't see how students have risen up against this system yet. It's obvious to me, that a coup would be staged if Tech High ever tried to adopt this system.

I am all for making sure that a student body is clean, but they aren't even testing for the most used drug. In high schools today, the most commonly used drug is alcohol. These tests that they are trying to conduct only test for marijuana, methamphetamines, and cocaine. If you want to actually make the test useful, why aren’t you testing for something that might actually do some good? Honestly, most public school systems don’t know how to make smart decisions.

On top of it being completely wrong, this is also costing the districts a large sum of money. Why not spend the money on something useful? Maybe start an art program or create a new project that will keep the kids focused on something besides drugs? I mean, that idea only makes sense…

Free Dr. Pepper!

In March Dr. Pepper promised a free soda to every American if Guns N' Roses released "Chinese Democracy" by the end of 2008. The album goes on sale Sunday, which means that free Dr. Pepper will be available beginning Sunday at 12:01 a.m.

You can get your free coupon for a free 20-ounce soda on the Dr. Pepper's Web site. They'll be honored until February 28.

"We never thought this day would come," Tony Jacobs, Dr Pepper's vice president of marketing, said in a statement. "But now that it's here, all we can say is: The Dr Pepper's on us."

Breaking the Obsession with "Twilight"

I am going to take a break from the top issues, and write about something that I am starting to notice in my own school. It seems as if the Twilight books are going to take over! I swear, I have seen that book in every single one of the freshmen girls’ hands. I admit that I read the book too, but the number of copies floating around the school is ridiculous.

I am an avid reader myself and therefore love to see a fellow classmate enjoying a good book. The only problem is this seems to be the only book that teenage girls will read! I have seen multiple book reports sitting on Mrs. Brown’s desk revolving around this vampire love story. The thing that kills me about the situation is that the girls aren’t reading anything else. They think that this is the only book that they will find that interests them. I know because my class went through the same problem. When the book first started gaining popularity, every single girl in our class read the book. They all talked about it and all wanted to find “their Edward” which, I’m sorry to say, probably won’t happen.

I think that what our school needs is a list of the twenty-five best books that teenage girls will enjoy. I don’t want just the “Gossip Girls Series” or the “Twilight Series”. I want to make a list of amazing books that will serve some sort of purpose in each person’s life.

I am going to call the list “The 20 books you must read before you’re 20.” I invite anyone to join in and add some books of their own. Later on, I’ll create description for each book, but for right now, I just want to get the titles out there.

So… drum roll please…

The 20 Books You Must Read Before You’re 20
1. “Elsewhere” by Gabrielle Zevin
2. “The Pact” by Jodi Picoult
3. “Looking for Alaska” by John Green
4. “The Princess Diaries” by Meg Cabot
5. “I Never Promised You a Rose Garden” by Joanne Greenberg
6. “My Sister’s Keeper” by Jodi Picoult
7. “The Book Thief” by Markus Zusak
8. “The Princess Bride” by William Goldman
9. “Go Ask Alice” by Anonymous
10. “Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger
11. “An Abundance of Katherines” by John Green
12. “Ender’s Game” by Orson Scott Card
13. “1984” by George Orwell
14. “Eat, Pray, Love” by Elizabeth Gilbert
15. “Running with Scissors” by Augustan Burrows
16. “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” by Douglas Adams
17. “Vamped” by David Sosnowski
18. “The Giver” by Lois Lowry
19. “Stargirl” by Jerry Spinelli
20. “Ella Enchanted” by Gail Carson Levine