Editor’s note: Kirtland isn’t in our usual coverage area, but today we’re sharing these thoughtful essays that students wrote to Voice of the People for a class assignment at Kirtland High School.
Too much technology
As a high school student, I have noticed that many of my peers can’t seem to get off their phones. What they don’t seem to know is that technology can affect mental and social health and academic success, leading to problems for children, teens and adults.
In fact, people should use electronics for only about two hours a day, according to British researcher Tassia Oswald at King’s College London. I am sure that nearly everyone exceeds this at work or school alone.
Technology can prevent behaviors that are important to health like spending time outside or getting adequate sleep. Students might use electronics instead of doing homework or get distracted when studying. Not having enough sleep would prevent good performance in school.
“According to uses and gratifications research, we turn to electronic media in the evening to gratify certain needs such as entertainment, distraction, or relaxation,” Liese Exelmans and Jan Van den Bulck wrote in a 2016 study.
People tend to use technology as an escape from life. I think there are better ways to spend our time like reading or doing something else that stimulates the mind.
Many dystopian novels, such as “Fahrenheit 451,” tell the story of similar societies that fell apart because of technology and lack of reading. If we continue to use technology to solve our problems, we will be living in a world where no one can figure anything out themselves.
Some might argue that technology leads to success and good jobs. Many people would still be successful without technology; a good education leads to great places. Technology use is affecting success in school, which is affecting success for the rest of life. We will have less educated people around us and a lack of people fit for certain jobs. We need to make a change and limit our use of technology.
Do we really want to let our society go to waste just because we are spending too much time on our phones and computers?
Haley Bertovic, Kirtland High School
Strong for the future
What is the main thing that people want in this world? Money, fame, love? Some people may want these things. Beyond this, people want to be healthy!
There is a major problem all over the world, but especially in America. This problem is obesity. Around 40% of Americans are considered obese and this percentage keeps climbing, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
This is why kids should lift weights or do resistance training, which could influence youths to be healthy and active, not obese and sluggish. These children are the next generation and should want to look and feel good.
“Not only does resistance training impart increases in strength, coordination, balance, and improved sports performance, it also imbues health benefits from a bone standpoint and elevates self-esteem,” kinesiology expert Stuart M. Phillips wrote in 2008 for the peer-reviewed journal Applied Physiology, Nutrition and Metabolism.
Weight training is beneficial, especially for obese children ages 5 to 17.
“To make overweight and obese youngsters healthier, stronger, more confident (and feeling better in general), resistance exercise may be the fruitful way to go,” Dutch scholar Gill Ten Hoor and other researchers concluded in the journal Psychology & Health in 2016.
The future is closer than many think, and young people should learn the work ethic and consistency that comes with lifting.
Some might say that children’s bodies haven’t fully developed enough or weightlifting could stunt their growth. This is true, but only if they hurt themselves. If kids learn how to train correctly with good form and proper stretching, then they will not get hurt. Eventually, the movements will be second nature, which is when kids can start to add more weights to the lifts.
Kids should be allowed and encouraged to lift weights because it helps them for the future. Whether it is for looks, strength or just for looking forward to something during the day, the weightroom can help.
If you are a parent or grandparent, encourage them to lift weights. It’s up to you to save our future.
Carter Luzar, Kirtland High School
Where’s the library?
Every day when I go to classes, I see that Kirtland High School is an award-winning National Blue Ribbon School.
According to the U.S. Department of Education, Blue Ribbon Schools “demonstrate what is possible to make an enduring, positive difference in students’ lives.”
While Kirtland High School is a great space for learning, it surprises me that we are so renowned without having a school library.
“I don’t believe we can have a community of readers until we have established a community,” wrote Amanda Kordeleski, an Oklahoma school library director, in a 2017 article in the journal Knowledge Quest.
Kirtland High School would become an even better place for students with the inclusion of a fully funded library.
Reading fosters good habits in everyone, especially students.
When youths have access to a large amount of information, they become curious people with a passion for learning. They will be able to learn about their interests, become informed scholars, and have better academic skills like vocabulary and text comprehension.
While I support public funding, some may argue that a library might cost a lot of money. However, there is a very easy workaround.
“In an effort to meet the needs of shared student patrons, school and public libraries look to collaborative ventures, sharing not only resources but also curriculum and programming objectives,” librarians Tonya Potter and Kara Johnson wrote in Knowledge Quest.
To make access easier for high school students, books could be transported between public libraries and the school library to reduce the amount of money spent upfront.
School libraries create a connected group of people in which they are free to learn new information, talk to people with similar ideas, and further their academic careers. All academic communities, specifically Kirtland High School, deserve a substantial, vibrant library space.
Karen Hill, Kirtland High School
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