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On December 1st President Obama released his plan for the war in Afghanistan; to send 34,000 more troops to supplement our current troop level of 68,000 troops. He outlined his goals, to dismantle Al-Qaeda, to protect Pakistan, and to fight corruption in the Afghani government and the drug trade. While his plan had lofty goals, his plan will fail to lead to a more secure Afghanistan and thus a safer world because it will not address the Afghani opium trade, the recruitment of local police and military forces, and more pressing problems in Pakistan.
As you enter your senior year and are starting to prepare for college (or you are a junior and starting to prepare early) you have to request your transcript. Your transcript is basically all the classes you’ve taken and the grades you’ve received in those classes. Here at White Bear Lake we have a GPA system based on 4 point scale: A is a 4.0, A- is 3.667, B+ is 3.333, and B is 3 and so on. Yet some students will notice a 5.0 or 4.166 on their transcript this is because grades are weighted. Your grades are weighted because of the classes you took, such as AP or CIS classes. The honors classes are not weighted even though they could be tougher classes. Also PSEO classes aren’t weighted because you are taking them at the colleges and you go by their GPA system. The AP and CIS classes are weighted to help the people looking through transcripts recognize you took a harder class. So when you are requesting your transcript, you can either get the non-weighted one or a weighted one and a non-weighted one together. Some colleges un-weight grades anyway, but it isn’t a waste of paper to get your weighted transcript.
Yes, unfortunately, homework is necessary. It does help keep the information reviewed in class stick in your head. School work also helps prepare you for future work and eduacation; it teaches you to be responsible. However, there is such a thing as too much homework.
When you have so much work to do after school that you spend the whole night working, that is too much homework. It is actually proven that too much homework can be harmful to students and their families. An article featured on Helium.com states that too much homework affects students and families negatively. As there is little time to do anything but work, kids do not get enough time to relax, therefore leaving them stressed. Parents experience the same sort of stress.
Additionally, too much homework weakens a student's desire to become a member of an intellectual after school activity, such as math team, debate, and mock trial. Many argue (completley in the right) "I already have way too much homework to deal with! Why would I want to add anything else to my impossible schedule?!" Unfortunately, many students in the White Bear schools feel this way.
Even though homework is somewhat necessary, there is such a thing as too much homework. The best way to sort out such a problem is to talk to your teachers about it. Hopefully, some good will result.
Does anybody else agree with me that Tina Fey's impressions of Sarah Palin are downright scary because they're so dead-on? I'm a twin (obviously, for those who know me), and I can't even do that good of an impression of my sister. How does Tina Fey do it? She sounds exactly like Palin, and manages to copy her mannerisms and speech patterns down to perfection. I mean, she and Palin could be those creepy kind of twins always portrayed in horror movies that sound and act identically. The only difference between the two is that Tina Fey has a smaller face, and is slightly skinnier than Sarah Palin. Even though some would disagree, Palin never actually answers questions, unless she actually knows the answer for herself. The way Tina Fey captures that limited glimpse of political ignorance is absolutely astonishing. Even Tina's air of over-confidence and slight arrogance is exactly the same as Sarah Palin's.