What Has Happened to this Country?
Click on this picture to watch John Green discuss the novel.
A high school just outside of Buffalo, New York recently(more like a 4 years ago) wanted to include Looking for Alaska, in the 11th grade high school curriculum. Because of a few controversial topics in the novel the school board agreed to include it with simply the signature of a parent on a permission slip. If the parent did not wish for the student to read the book, the child would read a different book in its place. Some parents--none of whom were parents of an 11th grader--took this situation a little out of hand and said that it is pornographic and will cause immoral thoughts and actions in children. This is definitely not the case as John Green, the author of the novel, did not have this intention, but rather to discourage sexual activity at such a young age. The scene was inserted in the novel to show the awkwardness of the two characters and was there for more of contrast to the next scene than to encourage sex. Thus proving the story of these parents untrue. Kids in 11th grade are most likely mature enough to read this novel and not go around sleeping with people. Teens who read Animal Farm are not going to go to pig farms and kill all the pigs because they are going to take over the human race. After reading The Great Gatsby, kids are not going to go to extravagant parties to get drunk. Simply put, this novel DOES NOT encourage teens to engage in intimate sexual activity. They are mature enough to analyze a novel critically and not take these morals to heart. The fact that this is a discouragement to todays society is disappointing considering that it is simply a novel and is meant for enjoyment purposes and not to send bad messages to kids. The people are supposed to be mature enough to not take one scene in a book literally--hence the term "young adult" in "young adult novel." It is also disappointing that parents care about whether the book is appropriate to read and not whether or not the child is understanding enough to not take the scene word for word. What is even more frustrating is that parents are worried about reading a book with an awkward scene and not worried about what kind of music they are listening to. Parents are overly protective of their children and do not allow them to experience the real world. Some parents use their rights to control their children a little more excessively than they should be, which causes children to be completely oblivious to the real world. Once they step out into the real world to live on their own, they are often shocked at all the things they did not know. People should not be restricted on what they are told simply because their parents do not fully understand something.
*Looking for Alaska is now a part of the 11th grade curriculum at Depew High School*
*Looking for Alaska is now a part of the 11th grade curriculum at Depew High School*
'MURICA!
Well as you could probably infer from the title, I'm most likely going to discuss the America--well more specifically, the American Dream. Good job. You're smart. People come to America to live the "American dream." They want to earn money for their family and live a good life. But once they get here, they realize it isn't as flowery as they expected. They end up slaving their days working for a boss who does not care about your supposed 8-hour shift. It's just a cycle of earning money so that they can have a good job so that they can have a good house so that they can provide for their family so that their children can have a good life and so on and so forth. People often are caught up in providing for their family that they end up spending less time with family. The fact that everything in this world revolves around money distractes Americans from living life to the fullest. And when people decide to live their life, they get drunk and go around saying "YOLO" (You only live once), thinking that simply saying that phrase justifies all of their misguided actions. The fact that Americans get concerned about the little things these days instead of the bigger picture detracts people from living their life. People seem to have a very narrow-mindedness to life, causing them to have a tough job being happy, which causes the rest of the family to be unhappy, causing mass depression and stress. People then proceed to ask the question, "Why does my life suck?" However, the true answer to this is because he/she is not living his dream and being happy. This world is always about being better than everyone else and not being the best you can personally be. This is how the American Dream gets altered during the past years.