Everyday, decisions are being made for schools without the students’ representation. While a bunch of adults make decisions on our school, we, the students, are suppose to stand on the sidelines and concede to whatever decision the adults make. We want to represent ourselves and we are willing to fight for what we think is right. We needed representation on the school board and on the city council. The adults needed to hear the opinions we have as students, instead of basing it off their own judgment. It’s too late now though and we want to form our own source of representation. We, the students of the Grosse Pointe Public School System, believe we deserve the power to make the decisions made about our school.
While the adults may say we have representation by having student councils or student associations, we only receive partial representation. It’s one thing to be able to pick out decorations for a party, but another matter entirely to decide on matters that really affect our school. We, the students, want that ability to decide on the issues that truly could affect us, the school or even our education. We want our own school board that will be the one and only group of students that will make the decisions on our school. We can no longer have a bunch of adults, who are not in or graduates of our school, being the deciders on these matters. We, as a student body, needed to be the final deciders on everything. The students are the ones that know what happen inside and outside of the school. We are the ones that get the blunt of the blow whenever the deciders on the city council or school board make decisions about our school. They don’t really know what happens in the everyday lives of the students, so they shouldn’t be the deciders of our future. Issues that affect all schools, such as snow days, need the students to be the deciders. We don’t want the adults saying what happens because they are not the one’s walking to school in the freezing cold or even driving to it on the icy roads. Then when it comes to each individual school, we need to be the deciders on issues, such as the classes we have and class sizes, because these issues could affect our education as students. The adults aren’t there in our classrooms with us or know what classes we need. They don’t need to be deciding these matters for us. So we, the students, believe it is a basic right for the students to be the only representatives on these issues.
We, the students of the Grosse Pointe Public School System, deserve this basic right as students of the schools. We are willing to do whatever it takes for us to get what we think is right. We want our own representation and we will no longer wait to act upon this. The adults will no longer be the superiors, for we are stepping up and fighting back. We are our own deciders. We are our own source of representation. We are the Grosse Pointe Public School System.
<!--[if !supportLists]-->I. <!--[endif]-->The district has given us an early start in school, and an early start to the school day as well. Save Monday, the school day starts earlier than is acceptable to students. 8:00 a.m. provides little time to be sufficiently prepared for yet another school day in the morning. After rising out of bed, deprived of sleep by large amounts of homework from all seven classes, students have to make their groggy way to school and wake themselves up by first hour. Students need to have more time in the morning to be adequately prepared for the school day.
<!--[if !supportLists]-->II. <!--[endif]-->The district has provided us with dances as an opportunity to unwind. However, we students are locked into these dances as if they were jail sentences. Some students can only stay at the dance until ten, but are locked down until 10:30. Whether it's a large event the following day or just overly protective parents, most students have a reason. Should students need to leave a dance early, they should be allowed to.
<!--[if !supportLists]-->III. <!--[endif]-->Late homework in inevitable. It simply cannot be avoided: students will turn things in late. Steep penalties for late homework are being issued by teachers who seem to have little to no respect for students. After all, the concept of filial piety says that we should respect our elders, and our elders should respect us too. If students cannot complete their homework, they should not be penalized. Students should be given two days free of penalty to complete homework and turn it in late.
<!--[if !supportLists]-->IV. <!--[endif]-->Buses are a service that most other schools in the Detroit area have, and that we lack. Taking a look at a simple comparison, the amount of snow days between Grosse Pointe South and another school in another district show a landslide in favor of any other school in any other district. A simple way to make students happier is to increase the amount of time off, in the increments of a short but great snow day, sprinkled over the school year. The way to increase the amount of snow days is to add buses to the district. Thus, the way to the student’s hearts' is through a system of buses.
<!--[if !supportLists]-->V. <!--[endif]-->The lunchtime should be longer. It’s too short, barely have enough time to eat, socialize, being back in time for class without rushing in at the last moment. The lines in the school lunchroom are too long. They don’t have enough people working the lunch counter. It takes them four to five minutes to serve one person when there is at least twenty or thirty people waiting for food and by the time that the last person is served they only have about four or five minutes to eat. If they are in that long line waiting for food then they won’t have time to socialize with their friends and talking to teachers about extra help and catching up on the thing that they missed. Some kids like to go out for lunch, but they know that if they do then they will have to rush back to the school; they will have to get a carry out and eat the food on their way back to the school.
<!--[if !supportLists]-->VI. <!--[endif]-->Extra credit should be allowed in every class at all times. Students need extra to improve their grades. If a student isn’t a strong test taker they will need to have extra credit to boost up their grade. If an assignment is missed or failed by a student they can use extra credit to make up some points. Extra credit is a lifesaver to some students. Students also use it as a pull up. There could be a limit to how mush extra credit a student is given. So they don’t depend on extra credit too much really needs it then the teacher should provide. Extra credit is not a fall back for students, but only something to give you a little push.
<!--[if !supportLists]-->VII. <!--[endif]-->The class school schedule should be changed. There should be three classes in the morning and three in the afternoon. With this schedule the students will be less reluctant to go to school. With all of the information that is given to a student in one of our regular school day they will forget half of it before they leave to go home. If the day is changed to our way then the students will have enough time to process all of the information that they are given. More students’ homework will be done. The more time the students will have time to do it and study for tests and quizzes.
<!--[if !supportLists]-->VIII. <!--[endif]-->The rule of having no cellular devices in class has always been and issue. Students are constantly getting their phones apprehended by administrators for the simplest things as checking the time. It is one thing to get the phone taken away for texting a peer during a test or quiz to cheat but it is definitely another to be texting a parent asking for schedule changes or if they dropped something off in the office. Students do not want to use the school provided phones located in classrooms unless it is an emergency. It is much simpler and less disruptive to send a quick message to a parent or guardian instead of disrupting an entire class to make a phone call.
<!--[if !supportLists]-->IX. <!--[endif]--> Facebook is a social Internet site that is used by almost every student today. The fact that it is blocked in school is inconvenient to all students. The website keeps students connected with one another. Students can frequently check in with each other between classes to catch up on a homework assignment or compare study guides to do better on quizzes or tests. Facebook is not a bad thing like the administration seems to think. It will actually improve on student’s capability to communicate with each other and make our school a joined community.
<!--[if !supportLists]-->X. <!--[endif]--> The bathrooms in Grosse Pointe South high school are horrendous. There is graffiti in almost every stall. There is always a shortage of toilet paper and soap. The actual toilets are disgusting and unsanitary. It is not healthy for students to be associating with such filth. Regular cleaning and sanitary enforcements should be looked into. Not only will this give our school a better image but it will keep students from getting sick.
We as the outnumbering student body have agreed on ever matter included within the document, signifying our strength in number and ambition to receive basic and deserved rights. If we are not to receive such fundamental rights then actions against such unjust authority must and will be initiated within the next 30 days. We can no longer live under the wrongful dictatorship of Mr. Provenzano and the administration. Such tyranny has forced a separation between hierocracy and the people. We will no longer be subject to such oppression. We declare ourselves free of unwarranted and arbitrary rules and restrictions made and enforced by the school district. We now represent a new and free nation- of students. We will be taking our education elsewhere leaving the unjust Grosse Pointe South school district. Under this new administration we will be able to arrive at school at a decent hour of the morning, which will be around 9:00 A.M opposed the ruthless 8:00. We the students will receive an equal and fair representation involving school decisions unlike the strict and oppressing system of the old administration, which ultimately lead to such separation.
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