Category: Editorials
SGA: Seizing the Means of Seating
Carlos O’Ryan
Online Editor
Hammond High School is soon going to implement a new behavioral policy in late April, assigned seats in the cafeteria during all lunch shifts.
The Student Government Association has been pushing for this policy for quite some time. Their reasoning lies within one of the group’s most beloved ventures, Mix-It-Up Day, where students are encouraged/forced into sitting with new people at lunch, and making new acquaintances. However, the SGA (Student Government Association), previously known as the USSR (United Socialist Student Regime), has not been able to prevent illegal trading of Mix-It-Up Day table colors. To stop this apparent insult to their totalitarian regime from occurring, one of their most respected members came up with a solution. The agency’s supreme leader, known as Tori “Vladimir Putin” Vander Putten proposed that assigned seats at lunch would be the baptism of fire that this school needed to be whipped into shape. “Think about it,” said Putin, fiddling with her gold chain pridefully, “If we make these spoiled capitalist pigs, I mean, my peers, sit in an assigned seat at lunch everyday, then they will want to actually participate in Mix-It-Up Day, they will have no choice but to obey our every command.”
Immigrants Should Be Allowed in This Country, and Here’s Why:
Casandra Arreola and Uma Ribeiro
Staff Writers
Immigration is a topic that people have been debating for centuries. But with the Trump administration in office and making ridiculous policies that even go as far as to hurt children, it is being discussed and debated now more than ever before, and has become an issue of morals rather than one of politics.
Under the zero tolerance policy Trump released back at the start of his term, in which all people entering the United States illegally are prosecuted, innocent children were separated from their families, some younger than two years old.
Though the topic of new people entering the country is largely debated, there should be no debate when it comes to the separation of families and the detaining of innocent children in horrible conditions. It has been proven that family separation causes severe trauma, especially in children, and the fact that they are detained in these horrendous centers rather than being comforted in any way only makes that trauma worse.
Gun Control: Why America Needs to Follow an International Example
Laura Mosier
In-Depth Editor
There have been 51 mass shootings in the United States as of March 4, 2019. In just 63 days, there have been 51 mass shootings. In this same period of time, 2,344 people have been killed by guns. Out of all of the victims of gun violence in 2019, 458 of those injured or killed were under the age of seventeen.
Fifteen days after the deadliest shooting in Australian history, the Port Arthur Massacre, Australia had implemented the National Firearms Agreement. Since then, gun violence has gone down immensely in Australia. The United States continues to have mass shootings that take the lives of so many people, yet nothing has been done to combat this issue.
The 2018 Midterm Elections: Howard County is Heading in in the Right Direction
Anna Tache
Editorials Editor
During the last Midterm Elections, held on Tuesday, November 6, 2018, the nation voted to elect candidates for positions such as Senator, House Representative, Governor, and even County Executive. These elections determined our country’s Congress for the next two years and were crucial to the future of our
nation. I had personally hoped for a Democratic takeover of both the House of Representatives, the Senate, the Maryland State Government, and the Howard County Government, and I was not completely disappointed. Although the Democrats did lose the Senate by a few members, they did take over the House with a 26-person lead over the Republicans. In Maryland, Republican incumbent Larry Hogan won the race for governor; however, Maryland elected a Democrat for Attorney General, as well as majority Democrats for the State Senate and the House of Delegates.
Burned Out Already: Examining How Much Work is Too Much
By: Uma Ribeiro
Staff Writer
Everyone takes pride in working hard – but when does the line cross over from hard work to burning out? Burnout is the result of one overworking themselves into a state of utter mental and physical exhaustion. High school students across the country have exhibited signs of burnout and students at Hammond are no exception.
Freshman Saili Khorjekar tries to
recuperate from a long night of studying. Picture Credit: Uma Ribeiro
School starting times: Why they should change
By: Meadow Borlik
Staff Writer
School starting times have always been a problem for middle and high school students. Most schools start at 7am, leaving students with about one hour at least to be prepared and ready for school. With this starting time, many kids are limited to certain activities that must be done in the morning in order to have a good, healthy day. In order for students to have a successful day at school, there must be a change in school start times.
With the school starting times, kids are left with very little time to be ready and out the door being rushed unless the have gotten eight hours of sleep the night before, which most without students don’t achieve. According to the National Sleep Foundation, only 15% of students say they’ve gotten a full eight hours of sleep, leaving 85% of students with less. Some may argue that students should go to bed earlier if this is such a problem, but with the trouble of getting enough sleep, comes the trouble of being able to finish the homework and classwork students get from there multiple teachers. Not only does the excessive school work guarantee students to miss a good time to go to bed, but it also keeps many students up late at night and leaves them going to bed in the am. Continue reading
Are Video Games Getting Too Hard?
By: Ethan Daucher
Staff Writer
It seems as if in recent years the gaming industry has shifted its turns to games that are difficult and hard to play. For example Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and the most recent one to come out, Cuphead are among many recent immersions of these new “ultra hard” games. A big question arises and that is whether or not having an extremely difficult game is a good design choice. The more difficult a game becomes, the more exclusionary this game becomes, keeping a handful of people from playing the game and enjoying the content and gameplay it has to offer.
