Increasing Marijuana Use in High School Is Reported

A new federal report shows that the percentage of American high school students who smoke marijuana is slowly rising, while the use of alcohol and almost every other drug is falling.The report raises concerns that the relaxation of restrictions on marijuana, which can now be sold legally in 20 states and the District of Columbia, has been influencing use of the drug among teenagers. Health officials are concerned by the steady increase and point to what they say is a growing body of evidence that adolescent brains, which are still developing, are susceptible to subtle changes caused by marijuana. Experts debate the extent to which heavy marijuana use may cause lasting detriment to the brain. But Dr. Volkow said that one way marijuana might affect cognitive function in adolescents was by disrupting the normal development of white matter through which cells in the brain communicate.According to the latest federal figures, which were part of an annual survey, Monitoring the Future, more than 12 percent of eighth graders and 36 percent of seniors at public and private schools around the country said they had smoked marijuana in the past year. About 60 percent of high school seniors said they did not view regular marijuana use as harmful, up from about 55 percent last year.Studies show that the concentration of THC in marijuana, its psychoactive ingredient, has tripled since the early 1990s, and Dr. Volkow said there was concern that the rising use and increased potency could affect the likelihood of car accidents and could lower school performance. Nowadays marijuana use is more and more common especially in highschool and I'm not surprised that it is increasing due to the amount of news surrounding it lately.

                                            

                                         

'Girl Code' TV Show: Is 'Girl Code' Helping Or Hurting Young Girls?

When I first heard of the MTV show, Girl Code, I didn't think much of it. I was never a huge fan of MTV's programming anyway. After seeing this show blow up in popularity alarmingly fast, especially among middle school and high school aged girls, I decided to gather with my sister's friends in seventh grade and see what it was all about.The show was promoted as "ladies teach us that size isn't everything, self-control is key, and how to stay calm.". What wonderful messages to portray in an entertaining show for young girls! But, that's not really the case.I'm aware that this show is for entertainment purposes and is around to provide us with a few laughs, but taking this show's audience into consideration, Girl Code promotes Mean Girls-style behavior among school-age girls. If we want to decrease bullying and increase safety in our schools, this kind of stuff needs to be addressed.However, the show addresses the "size doesn't matter" issue quite nicely, until I saw a clip of the only plus-sized women in the cast, Nicole Byer, giving us a guide for how "bigger girls" can attract a guy. Telling girls to "watch what they wear,", to wear their make-up a certain way, and to be really sweet and smile a lot. Teaching girls that they need to act a certain way to attract a partner is a pretty dangerous message to be sending. We need to be promoting the concepts of healthy relationships to women, not promoting unhealthy ones.Most importantly, the show promotes girls''s hatred and cattiness towards each other.Promoting this behavior to middle school girls does not help the bullying crisis going on today. In my opinion this show kind of amuses me because the stuff they say is so stereotypical that makes you want to crack up the whole time but I'm not going to lie something's they say are actually true but it all depends on the type of girl etc, so we cannot always believe what they say all the time truthfully even though I doubt that any girl actually doesn't believe what they say.

                   

Academic Pressure

No doubt, school is tough. For some, it's the worry of being able to get enough credits to graduate high school, while for others it's being able to get a 4.0 GPA and get into Stanford. No matter what our goals are, we all struggle with a tremendous amount of stress and pressure. At school there is a range of academic pressure we feel, derived from a need for perfection, worry over grades, parental pressure, competition, sports, or a tough class load.Academic pressure does not begin in college. The nervous breakdowns, panic attacks, burnouts, and depression are also apparent in many younger students. The same situation is not always stressful for all people, and all people do not undergo the same feelings or off-putting thoughts when stressed. External forces also create academic pressure. Many of us fail in the subject of time management and excel at procrastination. The cure requires dedication and commitment. Some students just want to take the easy way out and cheat. They may have jobs after school to support their family or themselves, which carries a higher priority for them than school work. In the same context, many students feel that excelling in sports is a higher priority than school. Others may resort to cheating to make up for their lack of academic motivation or live up to the standards set up by older siblings or parents.There are many healthy ways to deal with academic pressure. If you don’t feel motivated about a subject, arrange a study group. Reward yourself after completing every section. I can speak from experience when it comes to that less-than-helpful sort of competition between my friends and me that, often times, has been the cause of much of my academic stress. For myself, I didn't want to let my parents or myself down by failing, but I also didn't want to fall below the standards of my friends. And when your friends are all in the running for being the class valedictorian, it’s hard! In my opinion it's important to set your own goals and take on your own responsibility. It's good to be proud of other's accomplishments, but it's important to be proud of your own hard work as well. So every once in a while, make sure to give yourself a pat on the back and stop stressing about wanting to be like someone else and just achieve what you can and be proud of your achievements because everyone is different and not everyone can be the best at everything!

                                                               

Children growing weaker as computers replace outdoor activity

As a generation dedicated to online pursuits grows up, 10-year-olds can do fewer sit-ups and are less able to hang from wall bars in a gym. Arm strength has declined in that age group, as has their ability to grip an object firmly.The findings, published in the child health journal Acta Paediatrica, have led to fresh concern about the impact on children's health caused by the shift away from outdoor activities. Academics led by Dr Gavin Sandercock, a children's fitness expert at Essex University, studied how strong a group of 315 Essex 10-year-olds in 2008 were compared with 309 children the same age in 1998. They found that:The number of sit-ups 10-year-olds can do declined by 27.1% between 1998 and 2008 Arm strength fell by 26% and grip strength by 7%While one in 20 children in 1998 could not hold their own weight when hanging from wall bars, one in 10 could not do so in 2008.This is probably due to changes in activity patterns among English 10-year-olds, such as taking part in fewer activities like rope-climbing in PE and tree-climbing for fun," Sandercock said. Typically, these activities boosted children's strength, making them able to lift and hold their own bodyweight.Previous research has already shown that children are becoming more unfit, less active and more sedentary and, in many cases, heavier than before."Climbing trees and ropes used to be standard practice for children, but school authorities and 'health and safety' have contrived to knock the sap out of our children," said Tam Fry of the Child Growth Foundation. In my opinion, the increase of technology with computers, ipads etc have diverged the attention of kids from outside activities that before were very common in that age group. Nowadays, kids are more interested in playing their videos games, or using their Ipad to download and play apps than actually going outside and running around. I can account for that because I myself have a little cousin that is obsessed with watching Dinosaur videos on youtube and that's what she pretty much spends the whole day doing when she is not in school. But how can you blame her? Children are preety much born into this world surrounded by all these forms of technology and computers is just a start. Next thing you know they will be texting and instagramming their pictures. I think that it is a good idea that nowadays Ipads and Kindles now contain a part of the settings where one can control the amount of time our children play games or watch videos because it is easier for children's to concentrate and go do other children activities than sit all day with a computer in front of their face. Even the Wii is also a big concern as well because the constant playing of videos games impact children's concentration level and demeanor in front of others. Honestly what more is there to do than try to restrict them a little bit not completely and teach them that technology is not everything in life just a portion of it.

                      

How can you not know you are pregnant? This show is crazy!

Discovery Health's I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant television show showcases women's stories of pregnancy when they didn't know they were pregnant until the very end of pregnancy - often not until they were actually giving birth. From their site: "I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant reveals the astonishing stories of women who conceive and carry their babies all the way to labor and delivery with no idea that they were ever pregnant. Do they have their periods? Gain any weight? What about morning sickness? How is it physically possible to be up to 36 weeks pregnant and not know it?"I saw the very first episode of I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant quite by accident. I was a bit horrified at the dramatic reenactments of labor for these women. Though I know it had to be quite frightening for them to be in pain and to not have any idea of why or what to do about it. At least when you know you are pregnant, you can be prepared for labor and contractions. I've also had to answer a lot of questions based on the show. In my opinion how can one not know they are pregnant? This show is really dramatized but then again what reality show isn't! I kind of find it funny sometimes how they come up with these unrealistic birth scenes that the majority of the time we all know cannot happen because honestly who gives birth in their bathroom and don't even realize it! I'm not surprised that there are people who actually like this show because supposebly it's "true". I'm not bashing on the show don't get me wrong it is a interesting show but honestly who is going to sit the whole day watching it when we ourselves know it is inaccurate.
                                                         

The Loss of Individualism in Modern Society

Our society today doesn’t like individualism. It begins in childhood. We are pressured by our peers to be ‘cool’ and do the things and wear the clothes that supposedly everyone else is doing and wearing. If you don’t, you invite teasing and bullying.Public schools support this philosophy by such things as mandatory school uniforms. There may be legitimate reasons why a dress code is established, but many schools go overboard and disallow any personal creativity in dress or accessories, like backpacks or book covers. Everything has to look the same.Even the workplace for many shows this attitude. Think of office workers who exist for eight or more hours each day in drab cubicles. Some office policies don’t allow any customization of personal workspaces at all. Depending on the business and the level of professionalism, I can understand it sometimes. But as long as it doesn’t interfere with work getting done, letting an employee decorate their space (in good taste) should be permitted. But in the majority of cases, society frowns on individualism. We are all supposed to like the same styles of music, follow the latest fads, watch the popular shows, see the latest blockbusters. If we don’t, we’re considered weird or uncool, or whatever you want to call it. If you don’t watch ‘American Idol’ or ‘Desperate Housewives’, you’re just not even worth talking to.You may not have given it much thought before, but I challenge you to look around and see the ways that creativity and individualism is stifled in our world today. You just may be shocked.

                                           

Teenage Pregnancy and the Media's Influence on Today's Youth

In today’s society, teen pregnancy has become an issue. If you step foot into a local high school, it wouldn’t be shocking to see a pregnant student. In fact, if you asked a student if they have a friend who is expecting or has already given birth, the answer would most likely be a yes. It seems to be that any form of contraception isn’t a priority for young girls today.As the rate of teenage pregnancy rises, it seems to me that the attitude about it is more relaxed and, sadly, it is seen as desirable. Is teenage pregnancy a trend? Although young girls may learn from seeing the struggles of teenage pregnancy, which may prevent them from becoming pregnant themselves, I believe some young girls are influenced by seeing their peers having children because it seems that it is now more acceptable and glamorized in today’s media.Early in our culture, especially in the 1950s, it was common for teen girls to graduate and marry their high school sweethearts and have children young. Now, in the present day, women are more independent; most attend college after graduating, and some balance raising a family while holding powerful positions in their chosen career. So why would young teens choose to get pregnant when they have the world at their fingertips? It’s almost like taking a step backward. “The three biggest reasons I see behind purposeful teenage pregnancies are to get their guy to stay, to have someone to love them unconditionally, and to create a purpose in their lives.Another media outlet influencing teens is reality television. Reality television has become popular over the past few years, especially the MTV hit 16 and Pregnant. The show follows young expecting mothers and the struggles they face. It’s a pretty real look into how unglamorous it is, not the fairy tale it is often mistaken for. Honestly what more is there to say, this issue has increased worldwide and it is constantly being brought up especially in the US. Maybe the media today should stop "glamorizing" as we speak and start bringing out the real facts maybe then they will think before they act.

Is this what you expected of your next "crib"?