Recently I was given a detention for leaving campus during the academic day. I was not going to do any illegal, frowned upon, or mischievous things, I left campus simply because I had free period and a friend of mine forgot his cleats for lacrosse so we left campus to go to his house and get his cleats. I feel that this rule regarding seniors leaving campus is unfair and needs to be changed. The idea of a senior getting a detention simply because they had to go home to grab something they forgot, or because they wanted to take a quick drive to Dunkin Donuts and grab some breakfast, in my eyes is preposterous. As seniors I feel we have earned the right to leave campus as we please, as long as we are not doing anything destructive. We should be able to take the three minute drive to Dunkin Donuts and buy a coffee without worrying about getting a detention. Many seniors are responsible students, eighteen years of age, who have spent almost four years working extremely hard to expand their minds and become smarter wiser individuals and I feel that this hard work has earned us the right to leave campus without punishment. It’s not like I am asking for an extensive amount of freedom, I just want to, as a senior, have some privileges, the most important being the allowance for seniors to leave campus during the academic day. As long as seniors are not missing classes and behaving inappropriately I see no harm in allowing us to leave during extra help to get a coffee or leave during lunch to go to Regatta and buy some subs. On a different note, this rule is unfair because it negates the fact that we all forget things. We all forget things and I feel that just because someone forgets something does not mean that they should be punished for simply going home and retrieving this forgotten item. Now I understand the other side of this argument, if seniors are allowed to leave campus during the academic day they are going to behave poorly, miss classes, and do a number of other things that are looked down upon. But here is my argument, why just because one student behaves poorly do all other students have to be punished. For those students who take advantage of the rule by missing classes or leaving campus for other bad reasons take their privilege away and for the students who follow the rules and just go to Dunkin Donuts to grab a coffee or for students who forget their cleats and have to go home to get them, allow them the privilege to do so, it is only fair, as seniors I feel we have earned the privilege.

The game of lacrosse is full of creativity, teamwork, and flow.  The game of baseball is full of out of shape, overpaid, loners.  People say baseball has gained its popularity because it has been around for over a century.  “America’s pastime” as it is referred to. On the other hand, lacrosse is the oldest sport in the world.   The Native Americans wandering the Americas playing lacrosse long before Christopher Columbus discovered the west, and certainly before the first pitch was thrown.

Lacrosse was created to give Native American tribes conditioning and strength for war.  They would play on fields miles long to raise their level of endurance.  They used rocks to shoot into the net and used sticks mad of oak to defend their goals.  Baseball was created to give lazy people something to do.  It is something that they can say they are doing while they are actually doing nothing.  I think the kid sitting at home playing on his Xbox gets a better workout than the right fielder on a baseball field.

The personalities of lacrosse players are second to none.  Certainly not second to baseball players.  A lacrosse player has been now referred to as a “Lax Bro.”  There have even been YouTube videos inspired by this personality.  The personality is full of “bro-like” qualities.  Baseball players have never heard of the quote, “You gotta look good to play good.”  Baseball players have no style:

One, their ¾ shirts.  To me it looks like they can’t make up their mind if they are hot or cold.

Two, sunglasses on top of the hat.  They think it looks good to have the shades on the brim of the hat.  Meanwhile, the player supposedly full if swag with his ¾ shirt and his sunglasses on his hat can’t catch the routine fly ball because the sun is in his eyes.  You would think he would have enough common sense to put the sunglasses on his eyes while he is in the field but nope, gotta be full of swag at all times.  How is that working out for the outfielder that loses the fly ball in the sun and then looks like a complete idiot?

Three, Phiten necklaces.  Most baseball players where these necklaces because they are suppose to reduce pain because of the titanium band inside of the necklace.  How does that work for Ken Griffey Jr. who seems to pull his hamstring every game after he gets off the 60-day disabled list?  David Ortiz was on the D.L. forever because of, what was it, an in-grown toenail?  Give me a break.  I’m sorry but some necklaces work and some don’t, and Phiten necklaces certainly don’t.

Speaking of Big Slopi or Big Papi, whatever the slob is referred to.  Here is an idol of a lot of baseball players.  Big Slopi hits .238 with 28 home runs and is suppose to be a power hitter?  For $13,000,000 I should be getting a lot more than the Mendoza line.  Here is a player who, at minimum gets 4 at-bats a game and returns to the dugout.  Usually he gets one hit and runs to first base and gets thrown out because he is to slow to carry his own feet.  Here is the famous DH.  The designated hitter.  You get a few at-bats and call it a day.  What a life $13,000,000 to sit on the bench and watch a baseball game.

Speaking of more slobs in baseball, the great Babe Ruth.  The fat slob would eat hotdogs during the game, as if he didn’t eat enough out of the ballpark.  David Wells was listed at 248 lbs. while he pitched for the Red Sox.  248?  There are linemen in the NFL that weigh less than that.  This enforces the point that baseball players are out of shape people with no swag.

To go watch a professional baseball game you have to mortgage your home to afford nosebleed seats.  The infamous hotdog at a baseball game is $9.50.  Your beer is an even $13.00.  You can enjoy your $22.50 snack sitting next to another out of shape baseball fan while you hold your binoculars to watch the pitches.  At a professional lacrosse game you can enjoy the game with good, cheap food and comfortable seats as you watch a great sport.

Lacrosse and baseball are two different sports with two different personalities.  Baseball players choose to follow Big Slopi and the Babe while lax bros follow the way of people like Brantford Whinstonworth and Floseidon.  To me, you’re a lax bro or a pansy*.

To see more fat baseball players go to the link here.

“Quantity is immaterial- it should be until the student is on firm ground with the material. That’s hard to do when you have a class of 20 students however- if the class was made up of a few students the teacher could set up separate assignments for each student.” Barbara Gould said. Most students would have to agree to disagree. For example, a student at Worcester Academy named Danielle Fournier who is a junior, said, “ I can see where Ms. Gould is coming from but in some aspects I would have to disagree because teachers give so much homework!” Homework is a huge part of the school system especially here at Worcester Academy. Worcester Academy takes homework seriously, if you happen to not turn in a homework assignment or it may be late, your class grade is affected greatly. To a student that is the worst of it. Furthermore, when a student works incredibly hard to keep an A average, but when it comes to homework time, this student has to deal with students activities, outside sports and Worcester Academy athletics and does not have the great time management skills to get it done. Now, this busy student works incredibly hard for the all round class yet gets may be a B-/B+ because of homework? That is just unfair. Evan Hendra who is a senior at Worcester Academy says, “I have a difficult time trying to finish homework after I get home from school at 6:30. I get home at 6:30 because of cross-country. By the time I finish, it is immediately time for me to go to bed and yet I still manage to get like, five hours of sleep.” Five hours of sleep per night?! That is not nearly enough to last through the school day when there are quizzes, tests, and lectures and after schools activities too. Some teachers might not recognize that students have lives or extra curricular activities outside of school. That just adds to the chaos, this is where students need to learn time management. This is very hard for many students. What students do not understand is the purpose of homework. Barbara Gould says,“Potentially it’s a way to help solidify a concept or skill. It also provides an opportunity to think about the application of a skill or concept to real-world situations. Ex: what types of materials are in the foods you ate for lunch-carbs, lipids, protein etc. Evan Hendra would have to disagree, “Most of the stuff, I’ve learned does not help me in real-world situations.” It’s a combination of learning the skill, though it may be “useless” and learning concepts for the purpose of real-world situations. Learning a skill such as, calculus is “useless” for now. But to few students, you may need that concept later in life. For most students though, they will never need that concept or may never use it again. So, if homework is to get a firm understanding of the topic, and the teacher uses class time appropriately, why give students hours and hours of homework to learn a concept they may never use? Why might teachers be inflexible with homework? Students may never understand this. Mr. Baker answers this question; “Teachers might be inflexible because the homework might be the basis of discussion for the next class and because the teachers believe there is value in doing the homework. If there are course expectations students must meet them. The completion of homework demonstrates a student’s commitment to the class. It helps the teachers assess the students‘ understanding.” The concept of homework is pretty controversial; students have busy lives especially in this day of age. It is hard to keep up. Time management skills should be taught first then we can bring on the homework!