Photo/Bonnie Adams
Hudson – Students in Kate Tobiasson’s class seventh grade English Language Arts class at the Quinn Middle School recently completed a unit on persuasive writing. As such the students chose topics of interest to them and wrote a letter to the editor on that topic.
More money should be spent on education
To the Editor:
The government doesn’t spend enough money on education. America holds many prisoners and unsuccessful people. Children are the future and without a good education for them all, our society will fall. More money paid to teachers will benefit students greatly.
I believe the government should spend more on education because with more money, teachers could be paid for longer hours, and students could work in a better environment with better tools. A good life all starts from education; it is the ladder to success. Things like the school to prison pipeline are reduced with better funded educations. Investing in children pays exponential dividends.
There is a great deal of proof that this is the greatest investment our community could make. With increased funding in a school, graduation rates increased, as does happiness and lifelong success. If teachers were paid for longer hours, students could have a longer school days, with no homework and evidence says it would make students happier and healthier, because homework just causes stress. People may think enough money is already spent on education, but less than 5 percent of the government’s money is spent on education. With more money spent on education, schools will also be safer and tragedies that happen will be reduced.
Increasing funding on education will make Hudson a better place. Every child like me deserves a fair chance to be successful.
Sincerely, Katie O’Malley
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Quinn needs sports teams
To the Editor:
Quinn Middle School needs sports teams to become an inclusive school. To get families to choose Hudson we need sports so that the choice is a better offer than some other schools nearby. Some kids go to schools like AMSA (Advanced Math Science Academy) sometimes for the education program and sometimes for the sports teams because their own town doesn’t have school teams.
Some parents would want their kids to play sports because it can help in the future health. The school teams can help support and bring culture and excitement. Schools should allow teams, some are that the life skills they gain help them so far through their life. We want and need QMS to have sports teams because parents and kids will choose our school over others and that will lead to us becoming a more inclusive school.
Sports teams at QMS will help develop leadership, trust, bonds, friendships, teamwork. Qualifying scores to participate in teams would encourage kids to interact and try more in their classes. Hudson should allow sports teams because it can help kids when they develop into an adult. Schools exclude important life skills by not including sports. Sports can help kids get into colleges and jobs. It is pristine for QMS sports teams.
Sincerely, Samuel Spencer
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School curriculum should include a life skills class
Dear People of Hudson,
I urge you to look at our school curriculum and make room in our day for a life skills class. If children were taught how to cook, grow food, change a tire, basic home repair and ownership we would be more prepared for life after school making us self-sufficient adults.
I know some of you are thinking we need more core class time, but we are already adding a number of new electives at Quinn Middle School. Why study bioengineering instead of learning to cook a meal? We need to be taught life skills to make us responsible and save money throughout are lives.
If we made room for a life skills class, we would be more active, go outside learn about the environment see what crops grow in our soil and cook the food we grow. Kids are licensed at 16 but don’t know how to change a tire. By teaching students just these simple task, we would be self-sufficient, save money and be safer.
I urge you, put a life skills class into our curriculum, help us be self-sufficient, contributing adults to society.
Sincerely, Liam Weagle
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Safety drills should be taken seriously
Dear Editor,
A.L.I.C.E. is the name of the safety drill schools are practicing. These are important and need to be respected by all. I am a 7th grader at Hudson’s Quinn Middle School. Recently, while practicing the evacuation procedure, I was sad to see some students not taking it seriously.
Some may not be taking the drills seriously due to being in denial that something like this could happen. I feel that it is parents and teachers duty to inform students that such an event could occur in Hudson. When we do the drills they need to take it seriously.
The A.L.I.C.E drills are an important subject, and need be treated as such. In order for this to happen, students must understand that shootings could occur at any moment. If they are not prepared, they are putting lives in danger. This is very serious because school shootings are sadly common. Already in 2018, there have been 20 school shootings where people have gotten killed or injured, leaving students afraid it will happen at their school.
The A.L.I.C.E drills need to be respected by all people in schools. You can make a difference by talking to anybody in the school community. That when there is an armed intruder in a school, students must listen to the teacher, and take the information from the drills and put it into action.
A Student Wanting Change,
Kelsey Lundberg
Dress codes should be fair to girls as well as boys
To Hudson School Committee,
Dress codes in schools should be more fair as they are based on gender and body stereotypes. I am a seventh grader at Quinn Middle School and from what I’ve seen, more developed female students are often singled out.
Dress codes are put in place at schools to reduce distractions. This labels women’s bodies as distractions, especially more developed ones, which is unacceptable. This sexualizes the female body and makes them feel like the way they dress is more important than their education with the possibility that they could be pulled out of class.
People who carry their weight in one area look completely different than someone who carries it elsewhere. Students should not be punished for what they can’t control. Dress codes make girls feel like their body and perception is out of their control. Women should be able to wear what they feel confident in without the fear that someone will look at them the way they didn’t intend to be viewed.
Think about all of the children in your life who may be affected by these issues in schools. Students should be taught that they are not distractions to their peers, but equal to them no matter their gender or body type.
Sincerely,
Bryana Miranda
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LGBTQI needs to feel empowered
Dear Editor:
One main problem at Quinn Middle School is that students in the LGBTQI (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer or Questioning, and Intersex) community need to feel empowered to have a voice in schools. Students that consider themselves part of the LGBTQI community at Quinn Middle should be better supported because, as of right now, there is not a comfortable place for them to openly talk about problems.
The students apart of the LGBTQI community have feelings want to be heard. In order for these students to feel embraced, they need to be able to identify in a safe place. Instead of having people focus on the students’ gender or sexually, people should create a welcoming environment. Quinn Middle School can make a welcoming environment by making a club for this high risk group.
Additionally, Quinn Middle school needs health classes that talk more about the LGBTQI community. In schools verbal, and sexual, abuse needs to be stopped. Although like many middle schools in Massachusetts, Quinn Middle School has guidance counselors, those aren’t enough. Bullying can’t be stopped if the complaints are not heard. By opening up the LGBTQI community to students when they are younger, we could stop bullying for those who identify as part of the LGBTQI community. Students part of this community should know that their peers are here to help them.
To unshackle the voices, we need to create a club to support the marginalized and silenced members of our school.
Sincerely,
Madeline Scafidi
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Help reduce stress to help kids deal with depression and anxiety
To School Teachers,
Mental illnesses are getting more common, but not just in adults. In fact, a new study showed that 50 percent of school age children show symptoms of depression, and 80 percent show symptoms of anxiety, and the diagnoses are rising.
Why is mental illness in kids going up? The answer: overworking and over stress.
Throughout the country, the work is piling up on kids. Children have full schedules, which include all day learning and other activities. All of these activities carry pressure to do good, and gives kids so much stress that they develop anxiety. They don’t have time to play.
Playing is a very critical thing as a kid, or even teen, to participate in. Play teaches important coping skills, but when it’s stripped away, so are the coping skills. It is because of this that they can’t cope with stresses.
Many people think the reason is that children are using more social media, but that is a little part of it. In a study, it’s shown that the main reason children have so much anxiety is because of the stresses of school.
This problem strips them of their childhood, and replaces it with depression. We need to take action to lower stress. We could do this by giving less homework, showing kids it’s good to fail, and letting kids take longer breaks at school.
So, please, for the sake of our students, let kids be kids, not learning robots.
A Concerned Student,
Krista Avila
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PANDAS should be recognized as medical condition
To the Editor,
It is time that PANDAS (Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorder Associated with Strep) should be recognized as a medical condition. A telltale sign of PANDAS is a sudden onset of OCD/severe anxiety symptoms due to swelling in the brain. Although the symptoms resemble that of mental disorders, the inflammation is caused by the immune system.
Most pediatricians are unwilling to learn about these disorders, because it is a clinical diagnosis, so they assume the symptoms mean the child has OCD. However, recent studies have proven that PANDAS does exist as an autoimmune disorder, and can be treated by antibiotics.
In my experience, when a loved one displays signs of PANDAS, the entire family struggles along with the child. It can be difficult to find a doctor that understands PANDAS. Because of the struggle for doctors to become up-to-date, it is crucial for doctors to understand PANDAS and how the disorder can be cured so they can advocate for children. The proper treatment for PANDAS is an antibiotic, because it rids the child’s body of strep throat. Instead of struggling for life, a medication can help a child recover.
Today, kids all over the world struggle with PANDAS, and aren’t receiving proper treatment from their pediatrician because the diagnosis is misunderstood. It is imperative for parents, teachers and doctors alike to recognize PANDAS when they see it, and also be aware of a successful way to treat.
Sincerely,
Elyse Frechette
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Grammar is important skill
Dear Editor,
Without grammar, language crumbles. I’ve seen far too many mistakes while reviewing my peers’ essays to overlook this issue. Grammar isn’t taught in Hudson Public Schools, and it needs to be.
John Green, a best-selling author, passionately explains that grammar exists for a English to make sense. Grammar matters. It’s there to universalize language for everyone. For me, to glimpse an out-of-place apostrophe or a blatantly absent comma is infuriating. These errors happen in students’ work because they lack instruction in fundamentals. Administrators should do their job and ensure that teachers instruct the standards. Grammar is, in fact, a Common Core standard, yet it becomes ignored in Hudson. A myriad of my peers have decided grammar isn’t important, yet ignorance is not bliss. Students cannot learn at all if they are not learning what makes language universally comprehensible. Why does grammar appear in rubrics if it isn’t instructed? We’re disregarding the heart of communication, and it’s an issue.
Grammar should be taught in schools, and yet we cannot seem to find room to, and after all this neglection, who’s willing to listen? Grammar’s relevance has dissipated significantly; to prevail, it must be instructed.
Acquire methods to learn, care about, and comprehend grammar. Speak impeccably, with a command of language mechanics. People will take you seriously. Demonstrate your positive reputation as a writer by expressing yourself using correct grammar. Show that you care, and endeavor to practice proper grammar.
Hoping for a More Educated Tomorrow,
Mirielle Zalewski
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More support needed for kids in foster care
Dear Readers:
Children in foster care are neglected and abused. People often don’t pay much attention to holes in the system until a child has died. Does a child have to suffer before the government can realize that there is a problem? The children in these horrifying systems must have a voice. There must be justice.
I believe that children are our future, sadly while living in foster care, children can develop many false conceptions of the world during their youth, Although, some people believe that our money might be better spent elsewhere, and we should focus our attention to the adults of our communities, these kids need help now.
As adults have already set their habits and determined their futures.
After spending their childhoods enduring the trials of foster care, many of spend their adulthood in horrible situations, like poverty, teen pregnancy and prison. One child enters foster care every two minutes in the United States of America, and there are currently about 450,000 children admitted in foster care just in the US. These kids need help. Their voices remain silenced.
Children’s traumatic experiences in the foster care system often go unmonitored by the government. Please do not let more children suffer because the government does not have enough courage and dignity to face the problem head on. We must do everything in our power to protect our children.
Hopeful for change,
Jessica MacDonald
