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current events conversation
Teenage comments in response to our recent writing prompts, and an invitation to join the ongoing conversation.
By The Learning Network
Current Events Conversation has always been a place where we put a spotlight on the great student writing from our writing prompts. But we’d like to take a moment to shout out a few classes that have been weighing in on our Lesson of the Day feature, as well.
This week, students from Locust Grove, Ga., have been writing passionately about whether college athletes should be paid in response to our lesson plan on a new California law. And students from Hoggard High School have been commenting across our lessons, including on this one about a mysterious vaping illness.
Many students from Northbrook, Ill., weighed in on a special edition of our Lesson of the Day about the impeachment inquiry against President Trump. We so liked what they had to say that it inspired us to write a Student Opinion question about the topic so even more students could add their voices to the conversation.
Thank you, all, for your excellent comments!
Now, onto our roundup for the week, which includes student comments about how similar teenagers’ political views are to their parents’, how they take care of themselves when they’re stressed, and what they remember about traveling in planes, trains and cars.
And, a warm welcome the new classes who joined us this week from: Burnt Hills, N.Y.; Danvers, Mass.; Hays, Kan.; Hinsdale Central High School, Illinois; Kauai, Hawaii; and NDSS, British Columbia.
Please note: All student comments have been lightly edited for length, but otherwise appear exactly as they were originally submitted.
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In “Young Black Voters to Their Biden-Supporting Parents: ‘Is This Your King?’” Astead W. Herndon writes about the differences in political opinions across generations of black voters. We wondered if this snapshot reflected the experiences of the students who write into our site.
In our related Student Opinion question, we invited teenagers to discuss the forces that have molded their political leanings. They told us about how their parents, peers and social media have influenced their opinions, as well as other observations about politics in their communities.
“Being raised in a certain mindset makes it difficult to think of things any other way.”
When my family shares what has happened with me, good or bad news, I come to my own political conclusions with only a slight nudge from my family. Though considering this, my views and opinions are the same as theirs. Maybe this is because I trust their thoughts and ideas, shaping them into my own, or maybe it’s because I have grown up in this family with a one-sided view on politics, never hearing the story from someone with opposite opinions than us.
— Reese Sanderson, Julia R. Masterman
My views on politics are mostly similar to my parents’, as I believe most kids’ political opinions are. I think that growing up, since kids aren’t interested in taking advantage of the tools used to form political opinions, such as the news, debates etc., they never form their own opinion. All they hear for years until they are adults is what their parents say.
My views are similar to my parents, as I imagine most kids are. Being raised in a certain mindset makes it difficult to think of things any other way. My family often has dinner table discussions on politics, but we were taught to be able to always see the other persons side as well as our own point of view. I have never really tried to convince someone of my own side because I believe everyone is entitled to their own opinion.
My political opinions are very similar to my parents. I feel like since they are really the only people I talk to about politics, it. makes sense that their beliefs and stances in certain subjects would definitely influence me. We will talk about something and they will state what they think and then I will come up with my own stance based on research I’ve done or things I’ve heard or what I agree with.
“My cultural beliefs, family and social media greatly influence my political opinions.”
Whenever my family talk about politics, I’m always listening to what my parents are saying. I completely agree with their opinion and our political views are the same. Since my family and I are born in a different country, we compare how different our country and America is. But as I get older, I get influenced by social media, and I do researches for myself if I want to know more about that topic. I think people’s opinions and views change so much over time and I wonder if mine would change too if I stay in America longer.
My cultural beliefs, family and social media greatly influence my political opinions. When it comes to my family, our shared experiences and daily exposure allow us to have very similar opinions and beliefs. Even when we may not agree on certain matters (some being as a result to our age gap or so on), we are able to at least discuss the matters with one another and agree to disagree. With regards to my culture beliefs, being a young muslim Yemeni not only greatly affected many of my political opinions but have also shaped who I am today.
— Hager Alsekaf, Julia R. Masterman Highschool
Some people that have influenced me are my parents. They have always played a big role in my political life. They don’t directly tell me who to like or dislike, but I mainly try and follow what they say. Another thing that has influenced me is social media. On youtube, there are people who disagree and agree with the politicians point of view. One of them, Stephen Colbert has influenced my political view through comedy. For example, Mr. Colbert likes to make fun of the current president, and I find it hysterical.
“It was still interesting to see how such kind and compassionate people that I was so close to, could have such different beliefs.”
I discuss politics with adults in my life very often. Actually, this is something that me and my dad are always discussing. We have wildly different views; he agrees with most all right wing views and policies, while I agree with mostly left wing ideals. It is interesting to talk about with him because he is an extremely educated person; he reads the news from all sources and forms opinions of his own, regardless of party, but these opinions are often more republican than anything. I do the same, and yet I often form more democratic/liberal opinions on the same issues, and when these opinions collide it can form some interesting conversations. When talking to him, my own views are often challenged.
— Ava Sauer, Hoggard High School in Wilmington, NC
My grandparents, up until a few years ago, were registered Republicans. That didn’t affect our relationship, but it was still interesting to see how such kind and compassionate people that I was so close to, could have such different beliefs.
— Calliope Beatty, J.R. Masterman
My family and I rarely discuss politics but when we do the arguments get heated. Although for most political topics my family and I have the same view, there are the few we strongly disagree about. For instance, my father will vote for whatever democrat makes it to the end which I think is misinformed but they won’t change their minds. My mother, on the other hand, will vote for Joe Biden or Elizabeth Warren. I share my sisters’ belief the Bernie Sanders is the obvious contender for the seat of office. I agree with many of his policies from his tax proposals on the super-rich to his Medicare for all plan. I like to believe my views on issues are that of my own but I highly doubt that. I think if my family were to have been republicans I probably would consider myself to be one as well.
— Mustafa Elabd, Julia R. Masterman
As I grew older, I became more and more exposed to opinions that were polar opposites of my father’s. I discovered the importance of questions in general. Sometimes I deemed my father’s answers sufficient and of sense, and sometimes I saw that he didn’t have a clear answer or an answer at all. One important lesson that he always preached was to fact check every detail you hear with a number of other sources. I’ve found that to be very important when looking for the truth in today’s politics.
— Olivia Tank, Hoggard High School in Wilmington, NC
“Society has pinned both political parties against one another further prohibiting a peaceful conversation.”
Growing up in my family, I never felt as if I was forced to agree with my parents or family, I was able to explore and make decisions for myself, decisions that I wanted. I also feel as if I was shown both sides of political views on world issues. All of my family is more on the conservative side, and I am too because I find the values to line up with my beliefs more than the left leaning side. Further, my political views almost exactly line up with my parents but it was my own, independent choice.
— Anna Atwood, Bryant High School Arkansas
When an argument put in front of me I usually take a neutral position because I see the positives and the negative on both sides and usually try to create a common consent. Instead of being right or left, I try to find a middle point where can have the best of both worlds. With all of my experiences with debating on topic where there is not one right answer I have tried to find a middle point or some common ground.
— Devin C., The Greene School, RI
I don’t usually engage in political discussions because I don’t feel as informed as I should be. Further, I believe that society has pinned both political parties against one another further prohibiting a peaceful conversation. I feel that we can all learn from one another, but within our growing and changing society, tradition is sometimes too conservative for change causing a growing divide.
“We all see that these people running the world behind the scenes are all clowns.”
My father and I discuss politics whenever we are sitting on the couch watching the news. We discuss who the future president might be, what’s going on in Congress, and wonder why people can’t compromise for the greater good of the people.
— Priya Patel, Hoggard High School in Wilmington, NC
My views on politics are exactly the same as the views of my parents. We all feel that politics is a big joke. For example, we all see that these people running the world behind the scenes are all clowns :). But most importantly we all agree that none of these leaders can bring the change, leadership, and way of life every human was created to live.
My parents prefer to not discuss politics often, unless I bring it up, and when I do bring it up, a lot of adults don’t take me seriously.
“I do feel I can be more influential on the political opinions of my peers.”
I would say that the biggest factor that affects me is my friends. Since we are all in the same grade it is easier to talk to each other about politics. We can easily learn and debate with each other. Overall, I don’t think that politics are fun to talk about when the other person is ill-informed. Since politics can get people riled up, I mostly try to avoid it.
— Akye Nixon-McCray, Hoggard High School in Wilmington, NC
I never tried to attempt to change an adult’s outlook about politics. But, I do feel I can be more influential on the political opinions of my peers. When I try to change their opinion, I acknowledged that arguing is not practical. For me, a more effective way of getting my point across is to show my perspective through a leisure activity that my peer can hopefully enjoy. I found this is a more subtle way of sharing my political aspect. For example, when I tried to convey my political thoughts to a friend, I persuaded my peer to agree to read a book that would convey my perspective better than I could explain. I feel as though this unusual method works better than alternative methods by respecting my peer’s freedom to make their own choice.
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So, in this Student Opinion question, we invited them to read about the things Times employees do to take care of themselves, and then share their own. Here are some of their tips for preserving and improving their mental, physical and emotional health:
Draw
Whenever I get stressed out, I draw. I know, I know, it’s a cliché, but it’s what I do. As a high school student, I generally have a stressful life, what with schoolwork, extracurriculars, and spending time with my family. In order to not go insane, I often need to decompress. To do this, I put on some music, grab a pencil, and get drawing. If I didn’t do this, I’d snap. Drawing allows me to escape from all that chaos and just be.
— Lucas Kruger, Hoggard High School, Wilmington, NC
Get some sleep
With school, sports, and homework finding time to get good sleep during the week is close to impossible. Taking time to simply just lay down and take a nap is by far one of the most important things for me. 2 hours. That’s all the time I need to re energize myself and feel good again.
Now, don’t get me wrong online shopping helps a lot too but there is no immediate energy boost. I reserve time every weekend possible to just take a nap. The amazing feeling of laying down after a long week and just forgetting all your responsibilities is by far one of the best feelings that one can encounter.
— Kali Hatcher, Hoggard High School in Wilmington, NC
Cry
Crying, I realized, can be a good way to relieve excessive emotions. This leads me to understand why some people would need to power cry. I then tried it myself a couple of times and got to experience its power, although I rarely do it anymore since there isn’t that much stress in my life if I prioritize.
— Yuwei Hu (Emily), Hinsdale, IL
Listen to music
My idea of self care is simply listening to music at home everyday after school. Being very introverted, school can be extremely exhausting for me and I often find schoolwork to be overwhelming. Taking time to listen to music everyday and relax really helps me deal with the stress and pressure of school. It gives me a break from thinking about homework, grades, and my peers.
— Eliana Donohue, Hoggard High School in Wilmington, NC
Everyday after school, I head home, and before even thinking about homework, food, or anything else, I blast music. Nothing will make me feel more at ease than playing a Ben Platt song at full volume and screaming out the words.
— Kayla Young, Bryant, Arkansas
Try yoga
When I was in 9th grade, my dad made me go to some religious classes every weekend and they spent an hour every morning doing yoga. I always thought yoga was just something that moms do but I realized a lot over the past few weeks at yoga. It was calming and it let me release the breath I didn’t know I was holding in. I’m a very extroverted person and I really enjoy being around other people but this was a new experience for me. This was a time spent to myself where I could ponder on my thoughts. I never realized the point of it all but when I noticed that this was the moment just for me I started to feel like I can catch my breath.
Spend time with friends and family
I generally practice my self-care by spending time with the people I love. My friends and family that I am surrounded by teaching me that I, as an individual, have so much to offer and that I serve so many purposes in life. This helps me feel loved and needed, which helps me find my own particular ways to take good care of myself.
Let go of toxic friendships
Lately, there have been people I held onto for so long, but they were just bringing me down. I started to notice a pattern of me being too kind, people walking over me, and when I noticed it, not being able to speak up. That’s over for me, to fight stress I started to push away from those who bring me down, not caring about what it looks like.
— Leisy E., The Greene School, RI
Write down your thoughts
The biggest self-care technique that always works is writing. Writing helps me to get out the things that I can not put into words. Writing is my lifesaver, also my passion.
— Amber D., The Greene School, RI
Start a bedtime ritual
…[O]ne of the smallest yet most important ways I practice self care is by doing the same skin care routine every night. It consists of the same face wash, moisturizer, and rose water treatment every night.
Even though this seems like a small thing, it is symbolic of a day coming to a calm end. It heralds the start of a period of rest and self care. It reminds me that even if the day didn’t go as I wanted it to or was “unsuccessful,” there would always be something therapeutic waiting for me at the end. No matter how small, everyone should have a part of their day that lets them take a step back, reflect on themselves in a positive way, and encourage relaxation.
— Ava Sauer, Hoggard High School in Wilmington, NC
Play sports
Soccer helps me release stress in an immediate way and it always gives me a story to tell later on. The games I play against my friends are full of excitement and lift my spirits after a hard work day at school. Even If I don’t score or play too well, the overall fun of the game and time with my friends enriches my spirit. While playing soccer I also know that I get necessary amounts of exercise my body needs.
— Mahdi Alismail, Dammam, Saudi Arabia
Take time to reflect
I don’t consider myself as someone who consciously or continuously practices self-care, but from time to time I like to stay alone think about the things happening around me as an individual, my past and how I could improve, and finally then think about the future and a way to improve it.
Get creative
I have to say my most out of the box way to self care would have to be writing in made up languages, usually important documents or historic accounts from made up countries on different worlds. I’ll take out my older sheets with translation codes and character transcriptions, then write using a quill pen and the correct style, which varies from the basic left to right to vertical and written from right to left.
— Ryan Kees, Bryant High School
Play a game
The other self-care habit and the best one I think, is when I finish all my work, and clean my schedule, to just unwind and play Minecraft for a couple of hours; building structures, and farming crops. I find that to be relaxing, and it helps me keep myself happy.
Take a shower
I don’t always love returning home at 9pm, sitting in a wet swimming suit, stringy hair, droopy eyes, exhausted from the day. I’ll slowly unload my cello, backpack, and swim bags from the car and go inside and go upstairs.
A deep sigh exists my mouth as I get into the shower, and feel the boiling water run against my knotted shoulders. I feel them melt away, my stresses, the knots in my back, all my homework that I still have to do. Down the drain with the soap suds.
For as busy as I am, it would be impossible for me to not have a release and stay sane. After my crazy days, the ability to come home and take a nice, long, hot shower is my method of self care. It allows me to relax, think about things other than school, and just give me my own space to evaluate life. Though it may seem like something little, these showers actually do a lot for me.
— Uma Volety, Hoggard High School in Wilmington, NC
Learn to say “no”
My sophomore year revealed to me my limits. I spread myself extremely thin over numerous subjects both in and out of school, and I paid for it …
The general answer to aiding my stress was to cut out many of the subjects that I took part in. It was painful, but I realized that it had to be done in order to preserve my health. Self-care isn’t always what you do; it can be what you don’t do to improve your well-being.
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In our Picture Prompt, “Travel,” we invited students to tell us about memories inspired by the GIF above. In the mini-memoirs that follow, they tell us about the good — and the bad — of traveling via plane, train and automobile.
Finding myself on long car rides
As a child, I had to take several trips to the University of Michigan Hospital for doctors appointments. Living an hour away the car rides could be dreadful. I use to count the amount of Semi Trucks I would pass on the long highway; there were times the count would pass one-hundred.
In my opinion, the best part of long car rides is listening to music. As you pass through towns the radio stations started to change due to the towers of your hometown becoming out of reach. Experiencing new music impacted my life dramatically; without the long car rides I wouldn’t be the rock fan I am today. My dad and I would turn the radio as loud as it could go when my mom wasn’t in the car.
I will never forget the time spent on those long car rides; it brought me closer to my inner self and taught me the difference of good music to complete trash.
A band trip to Disney World
In 2018 me and my band went to Disney in Florida. It was a long trip, about 24 hours on a packed bus. We drove miles and miles together watching “beauty and the beast” and singing songs. Some of us played on our phones while others would debate about “star wars” in the front with our band director.
You could see the purple mist wrapping around the mountains and sitting atop of the valleys. I stared out my huge windows, eyeing the Kentucky grounds with awe. We slept that night with every mile getting warmer and bright as we reached our destination.
When we finally arrived at Disneyland, my marching band and I performed Thriller. It was absolutely wonderful, we have been practicing so hard to hone our skills and do this one performance. After celebrating we left the land of fun back to the bus and back homewards. The staring out the window, listening to music, and the soft snores make its way all the way home.
— Grace Comet, Hanover-Horton Mi
Family fun on a double-decker train
This reminds me of the time when I took a train all the way from the Jackson Railroad station to Chicago and then from Chicago all the way to Portland, and then to Seattle. At the time, I was 10 years old and this was my first time leaving Michigan without my parents. I left with my aunt, uncle and cousin on a 2 day adventure across the states.
That was one of the most fun trips of my life. The train was double storied, and was very, very long. The Train had a food cart, observation decks, mini stores and just regular seating as well. The trip lasted two weeks and the ride back was just as fun as the first time. I will never forget this time.
— Oscar Comet, Hanover Horton High School
Stranded in Paris
Everything was going smoothly up until boarding the final airplane to South Africa. My family and I had already been traveling for twelve hours and still had eleven more to go when the Paris customer service agent told us that we couldn’t get on the plane. They needed my sister and I’s birth certificates. The next few minutes were a rush of hot words and the blurred faces of people trying to help, but nothing we could say would allow us on that plane. In the end, we were stranded in Paris for a week and it was great.
That’s why my advice for the passengers in the picture is, even if nothing goes your way on your trip, enjoy the moment because it’ll make a great story in the future and you’ll have some wonderful memories.
— Simone Cronier, Hoggard High School in Wilmington, NC
Seeing the city
This image reminds me of the time I traveled to Chicago on train. I started in Homewood, Illinois which was about a forty minute train ride to Chicago. I saw small rivers here and there and factories scattered everywhere. These factories were very large and were always next to the rivers. I also saw air planes flying overhead, about two every five minutes. The hustle and bustle of the congested towns on my way to the city was almost overwhelming.
Seeing the city will always be perfectly mesmerized in my head. The sight of it all gave me butterflies. This memory will always be easy to remember.
Looking out the window
An example of a memory in which my family and I traveled both by plane and by train was when we went to the Grand Canyon. We flew into the Phoenix airport, stayed overnight in a hotel, and took a train from their to the Grand Canyon.
That train ride was one of my best memories from that vacation because I was actually able to laugh and enjoy time with my family. Not only was I able to spend time with my family, but I was able to enjoy the scenic views outside my window. We passed through mountains and deserts before arriving at the Grand Canyon and I tried to absorb all the magnificent terrains.
— Sahil Patel, Hoggard High School in Wilmington, NC
Planes, trains and water taxis, oh, my!
Over the summer, my grandparents flew my whole family over to Italy for 2 weeks to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. We flew directly into Venice from Philadelphia, which was about a 9 hour flight, so you can imagine the excitement and tension were building up pretty quickly.
In Venice there are no cars, so the main way to get around is pretty unique. To get somewhere most people take a water taxi throughout the canal- which allows you to see all the different aspects of Venice while in transit.
After 2 days in Venice we made our way down to Florence, Italy but through a different mode of transport- by train! So, as soon as I saw this picture prompt with people traveling by train, I immediately connected it to my travel experience in Italy. The chairs on the train to Florence are the same as the ones in the picture. Facing each other. Almost forcing us to interact with one another while in transit. Since I was with my cousins as well, we took advantage of our ride and talked with each other while taking in all of the views around us, unlike the two people in this picture facing one another- but rather focused on technology instead.