So Much Unfairness in Things

The story So Much Unfairness of Things is a story about a 14-year old boy who cheats on a Latin exam and ends up getting caught. The lead character, P.S or Phil, attends an all boy boarding school called Virginia Preparatory School (V.P.S). All the boys in his family had attended V.P.S and had all succeeded in academics and extra-curricular activities during their years there. P.S felt pressured by his father the entire two years he had been at V.P.S. He failed the Latin exam every time he had taken it. Before he took the test for the third time, he had said how much he studied and how he was going to “kill” the test. He sat down to take the test and realized how much he did not know. He started to freak out and answer the questions he knew the answers for. He began to add up the points he knew he would for sure receive and realized he needed to translate one more question to pass the test. He then had an epiphany and realized that the passage that he was supposed to translate from Latin to English was inside his desk. He began to wonder if he should cheat and slyly slip the paper out of the desk and copy the answer. He decided to do so and cheat. He felt guilty about it afterwards and began to worry if someone had seen him. He went to the bathroom to smoke a joint and he started to freak out about it. He was then called into the Headmaster’s office. His friend Jumbo who sat next to him during the Latin exam had seen him cheat and reported him to the headmaster. He was expelled. P.S’s relationship with his dad was like an agreement in a way. He called his dad “ sir” and he constantly felt like he was disappointing him. When his dad actually opened up to his son, they ended up bonding and P.S was so worried about how his father was going to react to him being expelled. Yet, his dad wasn’t angry with him, he understood his son. I think it was good that P.S got expelled from school. I mean he shouldn’t have cheated, but when he got expelled, he and his father had a “moment” and they realized how distant they had gotten from each other. I think every teenager goes through a time when they feel like all they do is disappoint their parents. It is a part of growing up, because at one time their parents are going to be disappointed in them. If your parents never were disappointed in you, then you must have been living the life they wanted for you and not your own. Every parent has a dream for their own child and they honestly might just want their kid to follow their dreams and be happy. But, no matter what you have an ideal image for what you want your child to be. I think this because well I don’t have children, but I have 4 parents and I’ve gone through feeling like a disappointment to them. I’m not going to lie; I have cheated on tests. It’s not that I’m lazy; I just might not understand the subject and feel like I have no other options. I can’t say I have felt guilty for it either, but I know its wrong and it’s a bad thing to do. You are not only cheating on a test, your cheating yourself, thinking you just can’t pass it. That’s what P.S did; he didn’t have faith that he could pass the test. He knew he was going to fail it. Maybe if he hadn’t given himself the short straw, he would have passed the test. To relate to the title, how is there unfairness in cheating? You’re the one who is being unfair to yourself.

Facebook Privacy and Athletes

The Internet has made many things easier for students, parents, and basically everyone. But along with the positive things that the Internet has brought along, it has also brought upon many difficulties for high school and college students. The Internet is a dangerous place where everything and anything can be found. You can create any type of website and put anything you want on it. Facebook was created a few years back, and its popularity is continuing to draw in more students and even older adults. If you were to go into a high school and ask the students if they had a Facebook, the majority would raise their hands. Facebook has created something like a utopia for teenagers on the Internet. You can say what you want and be whomever you want on Facebook. A recent problem going around is that teens have been misusing the advantages that Facebook gives you. This has been causing athletic coaches to monitor the athletes Facebook commenting and pictures.

I honestly think that is violating the athlete’s privacy. This just doesn’t make sense to me. If a student was to comment a friend venting about a teacher, then I mean obviously they are going to say things that they don’t mean. What the coaches don’t realize is that students also vent to their friends over the phone. They will call their friend and say all the over-dramatic things and then it will be over, they will have forgotten about the issue by the next day. Yet, I don’t hear about the teachers or coaches monitoring phone calls, both ways your equally guilty of saying derogatory things. I mean there’s an extent to where the “venting” comments turn into threats. If a student posts something that doesn’t even sound threatening, but is offensive to the teacher, then the teacher shouldn’t do anything. Teachers probably vent to their “special someone “ all the time about their students, whether their student is a pain or just never pays attention. It isn’t fair if the teacher or coaches can monitor the student’s sites, if the student doesn’t reserve the right to do so with the teachers. Most teachers do not have Facebook, but most derogatory words are through word of mouth. There have been many incidents told on the News about students holding in their aggression and going crazy. They brought guns to school and killed teachers and other students. Yet there are also stories of teachers killing students. . It’s a mutual action.

What goes on outside of the school boundaries shouldn’t be taken care of at school. On the other hand, if the issue or argument gets to a more serious level and is affecting the student’s academic performance, the teacher should get involved. Something I just recently learned was that if you post anything on the Internet, it is public. Even if you delete, it still remains in the Internet system. I will agree, Facebook has made it easier for teenagers to call each other names. Most of the rude things we say to one another on Facebook, we wouldn’t say to the other persons face. It is easier to say the things you feel on the Internet because you just type it out and press “send”. You don’t have to worry about the fear or intimidation of the other person. I would have to say I am on both sides of the argument. I think that students reserve the right to privacy. If the student is posting provocative pictures or derogatory comments and other students or athletes find it bothersome and then tell the coach. The coach should be able to take action and reprimand them. Obviously, there are many different ways of seeing the argument and I’m sure a teacher’s view of this subject would be quite different than a students. This is a difficult issue to discuss because you go can go in so many directions with it. It is hard to stay on one side of the argument because on both sides there’s always another problem.