In the article “Teen at the wheel: A Tribune Update; should 16-year-olds drive?” they discuss about whether or not 16 years old is the right time to drive.

    The article includes several of details and quotes. It’s a question that could reverberate across the country, whenever a new teen driver is turning a key in an ignition. Is 16 the right age to get your driver’s license?  Researchers for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety say the answer is no, and they point to statistics to back up the position that raising the driving age makes sense and would save lives. The insurance institute had pressed the question for years. A combination of factors contributes to make teenagers poor drivers.

   I think that 16 is a good age to start driving. I think they should have to take a 3 test. I think they should a written test, and test on the computer, and a test driving. I think they should take those entire tests just to be sure that the person is ready to drive.

   I am 15 and I have had this experience already. I was driving on the rode practicing so that I would be ready for when that time really comes for me to take the test and drive in the car.

   This article helped me think more deeply about this topic. I now see that driving is serious because if there’s a mistake then someone can really get hurt.

   I have no more questions to be asked but I do have a comment. When the day comes to take the test be careful, pay attention, and do your best.

   In the article "Marijuana law just creates sriminals--CNN.com", they talk about people being arrested for the possession of marijuana.
    The article includes amny details and quotes that suooprt this. More than 50,000 pewople in 2011 were arrested in New York City for possessing small amounts of marijuana. The majority of whom were black and Latino--at a coniderable judical and finacial cost. New York City spends about $75 million every year on arresting people for recreational marijuana possession. A majority of these arrest happen only in certain neighborhoods. Indeed, compounding the injustice is the fact that 85% of the people arresred are black and Latino. Yet studies consistently show that younger and affluent whites use marijuana in equal if not greater numbers. The dcamage to police and community relations cannot be overstated. We should stop needlessly criminalizing tens of thousands of yourng people for doing the same thing.
     I think that they have a reasonable reason for why they arrest people for doing what they do. I think they should take the marijuana off the streets. It would be better because less things would be happening.
   This article reminded me of another article I was reading. They both were about getting rid of marijuana and the consiquences.
   This article made me think about all the things that do happen. Marijuana should just be banned period.
   I want to know how they made out with getting rid of marijuana.

       In the article "Attention Disorder or Not, Pills to Help in School", Dr. Michael Anderson focuses on how children struggle in school and what can be done to cure that. Michael hears about children struggling in school, he usually gives them something to cure it which is the pill: Adderall.

      The pills boost the focus and impulse control in children worth attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Even though A.D.H.D is the diagnosis DR. Anderson makes, he calls the disorder “made up” and “an excuse” to prescribe the pills to treat what he considers the children’s true problem --- poor academic performances in inadequate schools. “I don’t have a whole lot of choice,” said Dr. Anderson, a pediatrician. Dr. Anderson is one of the most outspoken proponents of an idea that is gaining interest among some physicians. They are providing stimulants to struggling students in schools with low money --- not to treat A.D.H.D., necessarily, but to boost their academic performance.

     I think that this is a good idea to a certain extent. The children getting the pills are young so when they get older they are going to yearn for the pills and they may not necessarily need them anymore. It’s almost like their hooked on these pills and they don’t need to be. I understand that Dr. Anderson gives these pills to them to keep them so that they have better academic performances but, it’s hurting them and making it better at the same time.  Some experts see little harm in a responsible physician using A.D.H.D. medications to help a struggling student but others, even among the many like Dr. Rappaport who praise the use of stimulants as treatment for classic A.D.H.D --- fear that doctors are exposing children to unnecessary risks. Some effects of this drug has included growth suppression, increased blood pressure and, in rate cases, psychotic episodes.

      This article makes me wonder about the amount of children that took the pills and now have problems. I feel bad for them because I feel as though it wasn’t necessarily their fault.  

     In the article “Pot perceptions”, they talk about when Kim Harris, a Harvard Medical School substance abuse researcher, visits high school classes to talk about marijuana and other drugs. She does not hang up a “Just Say No” banner or talk about how a drug charge can stain a student’s criminal record she goes into detail and really breaks it down.

     The article includes many quotes and details about what’s going on and more. They were thinking about passing a law for marijuana to be legal. A quote from the text is “I think we’re going to be sacrificing the mental health of our young people if we pass this law,” said Dr. John Knight, director of the Boston Children’s Hospital Center for Adolescent Substance Abuse Research.  With that being said recent studies have found that marijuana use may cause or worsen mental health problems in long-term and regular users. This could be a problem.

      I think marijuana shouldn’t be legal. It would cause too many problems. Everyone would be high all the time. Smoking marijuana messes with your brain/brain cells. Marijuana acts on the cannabinoid receptors, thought to be a kind of regulatory system for the brain that plays a role in memory and learning, among other things and smoking will hurt all of that. Before I read the article I wasn’t so sure about me liking the article but after reading the article I liked it and it interested me a lot.

       This article reminded me of another news article that I read a while ago. The article was about legalizing Marijuana. Both articles are questioning the idea of legalizing the drug.

      This article helped me think more deeply about the article. I now know and feel stronger about this topic.

  In the article "Texting May Be Taking A Toll", by Katie Hafner, she discusses the problems with unlimited texting and how its affecting them today.
   Psycgologist say that texting is leading to anxiety, failing grades, stress, its causing sleep issues, its causing children to be really dependent on their parents, and its causing more and more children to text in class. As for peace and quite, she said, "if something next to you is vibrating every couple of minutes, it makes it very difficult to be in that state of mind." "If your being flooded by constant communication, the pressure to answer immediately is quite high," she said. "So if you're in the middle of a thought, forget it."
   Another thing in the article about this texting is that texting can perninetly or temporaarly mess up yout thumbs. The cause of this is the typing. You mainly use your thumbs when you text and thats the problem. An example from the text is,"Texting may also be taking a toll on teenagers' thumbs." The professor of envorimental and occupational helth sciences at the University of Washington, said it was too early to tell whether this kind of stress is damaging or not.
   I think that this is beginning to become a slight problem. A lot of people are texting now more and more. New technology is being made so everything is just increasing. Hopefully things will get better and all of the things that are so high will get down to be low. 
    I still wonder why the texting rate is so high and when will this get better. Something needs to be done and done as soon as possible before the problem gets worst!

         In the article "Studies Find More Students Cheating," the author Richard Perez-Pena talk about how cheating had been uncovered over the last year. The cheating has been happening at the nation's most competitive schools.
         In the atricle, it includes various quotes and details from the professors. In fact, professor Donald L. McCabe said,"There have always been struggling students who cheat to survive." "But more and more, there are students at the top who cheat to succeed."
         So with that beig said, not just people who are struggling cheat. People who are at the top of the list are cheating too. I think that them cheating is not just their fault, its part of the professors fault too because they should be more aware. In this article they blame the parents and teachers. I dont think thats its just their fault. Its the students faults too because they are the ones thats cheating and they know better than that. It is somewhat the teachers faults because they should be watching and mor aware of whats going on.
         I can relate a little bit. At my old school there were some students who did cheat. I did all of my work, most of the time and sometimes the students would cheat off of me and use my work. I felt like that was wrong because I did all the work and their justusing it. They are getting credit for my work and thats unfair.
         Now that Idont go to that school anymore, I woulder how it is now. Do they still cheat? Do they still use other peoples work and turn it in like its thiers and like they did it? Hmm.. I wonder.

Hey Its Jade :)