Current Connection 3.2

Rock and Roll has been around for a long long time. Many people have come and gone that helped shape up this world. People like The Beatles, Elvis, Led Zepplin, and famous rock stars like all of them have affected our culture today, but they were not the only ones. There are also a group of women rockers who also helped define rock music and the components within. In the article "10 women who made rock history" the article talks about females that also helped and gave a huge impact into rock music.

Rock music has always had women that helped shape up and develop the beauty of rock music. "As early as the late '60s, artists like Grace Slick and Janis Joplin were fronting A-list bands, and shortly thereafter the genre began to see its first all-female bands, such as The Runaways, and Fanny." People tend to sometimes ignore or forget the female rock singers, just because they are not male. Both male and female rock stars have changed rock and influenced many things that make our culture today. Rock is not just guys, females can also listen to rock, play rock, and enjoy rock as much as I do.

We are all influenced by someone who we think is above us. We have role models and try our best to be like them. "Some were a major influence on artists of their generation and the next, some were a major influence on the success of the bands with which they worked. And all excelled at creating and performing rock music, as songwriters, instrumentalists and singers." Many rock stars today were influenced by female singers back in the day, believe it or not, female singer did affect and are a huge part of the rock society today.

Males are not the only ones who can become rock stars, everyone can become a rockstar. As long as you have the skills and the right connections, you can be successful. The article states "One of the first women associated with hard rock, Pat Benatar's rise from bank teller to arena rock star" Pat, a very successful rock star, was just a bank teller. Not only was she not a male, but was far away from the music industry and became one of the top most successful rock artist to ever exist. Never let anyone tell you that you can not do something, if your heart and mind are into what you want, you can become what you want. 

As a male, I am very ashame that people can complain or say that women did not have any impact on rock music because they played a big role and have achieved great success. 

Women rockstars have had great success and have influenced many people today to be great. The list goes on and on, and more and more women rockers keep coming in. I believe that you can be what you want to be, do you? 

Current Connection 3.1

Have you ever heard of Amy Lee, Ann Wilson, or Pat Benatar? If not, those are some of the wolds greatest female rock and roll vocalists. Most bands and most people see that rock bands typically have male vocalists and when a female sings, they don't put both of them on the same level. Female vocalists are never given enough credit for what they do, people tend to think that male singers are better. In the article "Corrected: Female musician presence on the rise for Knoxville bands" the article goes deeper into the subject and gets the opinion of female rockers.

In the article, female rockers are trying to prove that female musicians can also rise to the top. "In general, men are socialized to speak out, be loud, express their opinions, and women are socialized that their opinions and feelings aren't always valid or as worthy" In our society females still do not get as much respect as men. As a male, I believe that everyone is equal, no matter what color or sex, we all have our opinions and they are all worthy to listen, but females such as Elizabeth Wright do not always receive the respect they deserve. I believe in equal opportunity for everyone.

Women who speak out or take a stand for what is right are typically looked down upon, in the article, it states that "There are higher stakes for women who take an outspoken, public stance. Whether it's sexist comments online, dismissal of women's experiences or knowledge or patronizing responses, those things happen every day" Being on the internet often and looking through comments on videos, tweets, or anything dealing with social media and a person's opinion can have a negative effect. I have seen guys bully a girl and say sexist comments because they feel that they are not worthy but that is not true. Girls also deserve the respect guys do, especially a girl who is trying to show the world what she can do. Being put down like women do can often hurt one real bad.

The music industry is hard to get into, there are many people who try and try but can not seem to get far into it, especially women, and that is very sad. "I see the music industry as just one aspect of a society that still sexualizes women rather than appreciates our intellect, that silences our voices or belittles our opinions rather than hearing our valid thoughts and experiences, and that denies women access to traditionally male-dominated fields," People need to learn to appreciate the things a person can do no matter who they are. Just because of the sex of one is different, it does not mean they are less than someone. Skills are not affected by the appearance but by the passion someone has for something.

As a musician, I have been in a few bands and the first thing we look for is a female vocalist, not because we do not like male vocalist, but because the idea is not very common. Yes there have been many succesful bands with female singers, but you do not see as often as you see male singers. I give equal opportunities to everyone, and what it comes down to is who is a better singer, not who is a male or a female.


If you can sing, you already are special. Actually, everyone is special, we all have different skills or talents that make us different from others. A person's sex does not affect that, I know many female singers who can sing much better than male singers and male singers who sing better than other female singers. I just think that female singers do not get the respect they deserve, they try their hardest to be something in life and someone always has to bring them down. If we could ignore one's sex, would things be different? Would we treat people better?

Current Connection 2.1

Every decision and action we make can affect a person emotionally, physically, or mentally. There are many times when we speak without thinking and hurt someones feelings. Too many people have taken bullying lightly and think its alright to call a person a name, or hurt them. The negative acts taken towards someone else could be considered bullying and could change someones life. Rachel's Challenge is a program that wants to create peace, make our learning environments safer for everyone, and impact our society in a positive way.

"Each day 160,000 students do not go to school because they are bullied, teased and harassed." This statement shocked me! How could someone be so selfish and ignorant that they bully someone so much, to the point where they don't want to go to school. 160,000 is a big number, especially for students that don't attend school. One of those students who are being picked on and bullied could be our next Steve Jobs or our next president, yet they fear a place where they are supposed to be learning at, not bullied. We must think before we speak, and realize that our words can really tear someone down instead of building them up.

Shortly before her death, Rachel wrote, "I have this theory that if one person can go out of their way to show compassion, then it will start a chain reaction of the same. People will never know how far a little kindness can go."An act of kindness is anything simple, it can be picking someones pencil up, or opening the door for them. Every act can make someone feel a little better after a long day. We don't know what a person is going through or what their home and social life is like, so an act of kindness can show someone that not everyone is the same and that someone cares. When you show someone kindness, and they show someone else, it will indeed start a chain reaction and can dramatically affect the school environment. It would most likely decrease bullying and increase happiness within the students.

"In one survey, 78% of students indicated they would definitely intervene in a bullying incident in their school after seeing Rachel's Challenge." The program has truly impacted schools, and is still going. Rachel one wrote down that she would "touch millions of peoples hearts" and she is doing just that. More than 19 million people have been touched by Rachel's message and continue to spread the word. The more people know, the less bullying there will be, and the more peace and safety will be in the world.

As a student, I see bullying, I have been bullied, and I have bullied others. I regret my actions and words and wish I could take them all back, but once done or said, you can never take it back. After learning about Rachel's challenge, I decided that I would never bully anyone again and that I would do my best to prevent such acts. Showing kindness and respect will be my new goal, and hopefully people will see that anyone can change.

Rachel's Challenge has impacted many people around the United States and even some out of the country. The program is a very well needed program that can change someone or something in the matter of minutes. People make mistakes and hurt others, but they can also change and help the ones who they once hurt. Our decisions today can affect our tomorrow.

Current Connection 1.2

What makes a good school? Some may say the schools size and others the resources; some may think it's the sports and others believe its the location, but I believe what school comes down to is the education. Although we are all required to attend school and are all taught the same lessons, it is hard to find a school that will teach you the proper skills and techniques to prepare you properly for college. Has the United States done a good job with our educational system? I believe not. The article THE STATE OF COLORADO EDUCATION: Recipes for good schools hard to find by Debbie Kelley and Carol McGraw, talks about what makes a good school and whether we, the United States, are doing a good job with our educational system.

In the article Kelley and McGraw state, "There's no simple fix for America's struggling education system."The United States may be strong militarily but are we meeting our expectations educationally? I think not. There are many schools around the United States that have not prepared the students enough for them to succeed and bypass others around the world. There are also many countries around the world who are ahead of us educationally. I support the military, but our education is more important, therefore we need to focus on that.

"It's not the plays, it's the execution that counts." said Rockne in the article. There are teachers who believe that a lesson will teach everyone the same, but in reality, we are all different. We, the students, have different ways of learning. Some of us are visual learners, some can learn by activities, and some can learn by listening but in the end, we are all different and all require different methods of learning and receiving the lesson. I, a student in high school, believe that we must step up our educational methods and prove to them that we can take over the top.

The author concludes that, "The U.S. education system ranks 17th among developed nations, according to a report that education firm Pearson and the Economist Intelligence Unit released in November. It ranked Finland and South Korea as providing the best education systems, followed by Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore." We may be able to brag about being a world leader since 1945, but clearly we are not as advanced educationally. 17th place among all developed nations is not that great. We need to step up our game and show the rest of the world we can lead in every aspect of life.

     
As a high school student, this saddens me. If we were in the same level as Finland or South Korea, I could assume that we, high school students, would be better prepared for the next steps in our lives and we would also have better test scores. If we aren't learning all that we can at the best capacity, then we need to try harder. Teachers and students both need to give it our best and try harder than ever. We can be at the top yet we want to slack off and it shows in the end. We are ranked 17th and that's not very good. I am part of this and I feel like we could do much better. 

     
The United States has not done a bad job with our education, but we can do better. We have the talent and resources to progress through the ranks and be placed in the top 3 nations with the best education, we just need to put a plan together and start removing parts that are affecting us.We can do it, the only thing needed is the motivation. I can see this happening within the next few years, can you?

Current Connection 1.1

     In the article "Pakistani schoolgirl Malala who survived assassination attempt honored for education activism" by the Associated Press, the authors talk a young girl by the name of Malala is rewarded the Children's Peace Prize for her act of courage and her bravery. Malala is a young girl who was nearly killed for standing up for what she believed in and for standing up for her education and the education of many other young girls in the Middle East.

"Malala was 15 years old when she and two of her friends were attacked on their way home from school in Pakistan's northwest Swat Valley." stated the author. Young girls, or women in general, are not allowed to be educated through school in the Middle East. There are young girls who still go to school and put their lives on the edge everyday just to be able to learn from a school. Men around those parts of the world believe that women should not be able to go to school but instead should stay home and take care of the house work and of their families.

The author states,"The 16-year-old said she accepted the prize Friday in the historic Knights' Hall in The Hague "on behalf of all the children all over the world who are trying to go to school." There are many people who do not want to go to school or do not even try when they are there yet there are people who wish they could get an education and even risk their lives trying to obtain one. Everyone who complains and says they hate school needs to walk in the shoes of person who can not get an education and wishes they could.

The author of the article also says, "She survived and now attends school in England after being flown there for treatment." Malala can now happily learn and has impacted the world with her action of bravery and courage. It's unbelievable that a person has to go through all that pain just for education. Everyone deserves the right to education no matter the race or sex of the person. Malala is a strong girl and a very brave one also, Malala and her friends survived the attack and have left a mark on history for the cause of education for women in the Middle East.

Malala was an extremely courageous young girl who stood up for education and what she believed was right, she deserved that award and she also deserves much more, especially the respect and love from people all around the world. I, a student in the United States, am very unappreciative sometimes. After reading this artcile, I relaized how much of an honor going to school and obtainig an education really is.
    
Would you stand up for your freedom of education or would you just sit there and live your life full of ignorance? Only you can decide, Malala decided what she thought was right and stood up for her decisions. If Malala, the young girl who stood up for education, could go through all this pain, then why do we complain about going to school if we have the freedom of going?

Words hurt

      "5 Things Parents Shouldn't Say To Their Kids" is an article that I can relate to because my parents have said some things in my past that I wish I haven't heard. I can remember one that always scared me was the one when my mom used to tell things like  "I'm leaving if you don't hurry" or "I'm going to leave without you." I began to get so scared that I had to be by her side at all times.  Debora Gilboa, a parenting speaker, says, "If you want them to believe what we say is true, we cannot say something that is patently false." My parents used to scare me when they told me they were leaving or that I had to go into what they called "time-out" and stuff like that. I started to realize that it started to not happened so now I don't really get scared when they tell me "We are taking your phone" or when they say "We will be watching you" because I know they won't. 
      My parents always told me to apologize after I did something that wasn't right.  "Young children don't automatically understand why they have to apologize." If a child goes through their childhood apologizing and not even knowing what for, they'll do that all their life about every little thing. I know people that they apologize for every single thing they do, it gets to the point to where it no longer has a meaning to be sorry. I can say I am sorry but I may only say it to be nice and not because I meant it. I think it is important to teach children when it is proper to say sorry and not to make them say sorry for everything they do.  In the end "Words hurt and they can't be taken back, so be careful" says Debbie Pincus" and I fully agree with her. 

http://shine.yahoo.com/team-mom/5-things-parents-shouldnt-kids-171300904.html#!exz4M

BHS SADD

     Recently at Batesville High School our sutdent body has started a SADD Chapter. "Founded as Students Against Driving Drunk in 1981 in Wayland, Massachusetts, SADD has grown to become the nation's leading peer-to-peer youth education and prevention organization with thousands of chapters in middle schools, high schools, and colleges." Students Against Destructive Decisions or SADD is an organization that help people our age make better decisions in our high school years that will help us in our future rather than affect us. Like the website stated, it has grown to be the "nation's leading peer-to-peer youth education and prevention organization.."Some of those decisions could be drinking, drugs, drunk driving and such. SADD has realized that it's not just alcohol that's available to students, but also drugs and other destructive decisions that could really hurt them. "SADD's unique approach involves young people delivering education and prevention messages to their peers through school- and community wide activities and campaigns responsive to the needs of their particular locations." Summer is almost here and for some of us, that means going down to the sandbar and hanging out all day with chances to drink and even smoke.
     "Membership into SADD is a commitment and a voluntary process. Members set the environment for other students to follow here on campus." Most of the members of SADD volunteer in their communities to make it a much safer environment for everyone around this town. Most of the work done is by the students but in order for it to take action, the adviser must agree. In order to get more people into the SADD Club, one most show and be a good influence and must show others all the good things about being part of the club. "Service projects are one of the best ways to constructively engage youth; in fact, the rewards and experiences gained during a service project have the potential to leave a huge impact on not only those in need, but also those serving." Having hands on activities is fun and can attract many people to join and help. The point of the activities is not to be rewarded or recognized but its to show others that you care about the environment and your peers that you will do anything to keep them safe.

http://www.sadd.org/mission.htm