Dear Prosper High School,

Let me start off by introducing myself. I am Alex Wells a grade 12 student that currently attends our beautiful Prosper High School. It has caught my attention that there has been a huge controversy on the topic of having a four-day school week. Many students have been presenting this argument and I personally have reached out to tell you about the concerns of the high school as well as to know your opinion on this topic. Whether you will accept or reject this proposal. 

After examining various perspectives on this topic one statistics graph really stood out to me. The Prosper school budget is pretty high at the moment, especially when it is compared to a 4 day week. There is quite a difference for all three categories. If the school has more money left instead of spending more on transportation, operations and maintenance they have extra money left to make the school better. With that money they can help benefit the school in many ways. They can get new laptops so that students can have the best experience when working on class activities online, make the art program even better, these kind of things will encourage more student involvement. Plus having one less day can maybe motivate students to join extracurricular activities. 

Looking at the website fastpoll.com I came to a realization that parents seriously do not want to have a 4 day school week, this is due to the significant difference between the parents who say no compared to yes. But if we look down the poll website we see that 82% of teachers are in favour of a 4 day week. If we look at the next statistic it shows a close decision of students between yes and no. For the students that have voted there is a 2 percent difference between yes and no. Meaning this is a huge deal for kids. But for the parents, they are not the ones in school, it is the staff and students, it does not make too much sense for parents to have a say in this topic because they are not the ones teaching or studying inside the building. For teachers one less day can give them more time to mark and get refreshed to teach the following week to the best of their abilities. But for students it is also helpful because as @hoops79 said, it is a hard cycle to repeat day in and day out, so that cushion of having 3 days off really can help a student achieve better due to the reduction of the load from school.  Because as academic journal states, “sleep deprivation can also affect emotions and academic performance”.

One last thing I would like to touch on is the amount of content we are learning. Of course if we take one day out of the week that means one less day of learning a topic which can really affect the whole unit system. But what has been proposed is a new schedule. Regularly we have 65 minute periods but with the revised schedule breaks are shorter, lunch is also shorter and classes are 18 minutes longer. If we calculate class time increase we can do 18 multiplied by the 5 blocks. That means everyday we learn 90 minutes more which means content can still be covered. So class time should not be a problem.

First of all I would like to say that I appreciate the time you took out of your day to read my letter. I hope that after analyzing all the different perspectives and reasons on the four-day week we come to a consensus. Once again thank you very much. If you have any questions or concerns please don’t hesitate to contact me. My email is alexwells@hotmail.com or my phone number 403-123-4567.

Sincerely, Alex Wells.

Throughout the course of our lifetime we get thrown into situations that leave a lasting impression on us whether they are positive or negative. For example if we have a negative experience about something that memory alters our present and future changing our lives forever. As well as having a bad influence on you. It leaves a lasting impact and sticks with you. It is like having a heart, it is with you forever until your time’s up to life on the earth. In the movie “A River Runs Through It” the director is depicting the idea that an individual’s life can be altered by a particular experience through the character Paul who was a very feisty and outgoing guy but really had no control over his anger.  When we are overtaken by a particular scenario from the past is it better to remember the wonderful past or leave it. Is it a fun memory for the ages or is it like a burden that stays with you and changes the way you act?

 Sometimes we can not apprehend what is going to happen in the future. Especially when it is a complete life changer. In this excerpt “from Rock and Roll Jihad” the author is portraying the main idea through the main character Salman Ahmed. He is just new to the country of America and is still trying to adapt to the culture. What better way to do that than go to a concert. Once the band started playing Salman felt alive he felt in the moment and absorbed all that energy. The concert was one of the best experiences of his life and making the arrival to America that much better. This very concert shaped Salman’s life forever. He fell in love with the music so much that he wanted to pursue a career in that industry and make that his life. I wanted to play music for the rest of my life”. This is saying that maybe some things are meant to be and you are put into situations that will shape your life. This is significant because it shows us how little things can really make a man’s life and in this case Salman Ahmed just went to a concert for fun, little did he know that he was going to like it so much that he decided to pursue a career. This shows us how certain life experiences can be altered by a particular experience. 

Not every experience in your life will be a good one to remember and some you want to forget but you really can not. In the film “A River Runs Through It” the author is showing us how Paul’s bad actions from when he was younger were the same habits that got him put into the ground. When Paul was a child he always used to misbehave and pick fights with people regardless of the size of the other person. But no one stopped him and those same experiences made him the naughty person he was and eventually led to his death. Paul once again got into a scuffle with other men and they did not want to hear it. Paul’s stupid actions got him beaten to death. If he had stayed quiet and analyzed the situation realizing that enough is enough maybe he would have been alive. This shows us how Paul from a young age was just the same rowdy kid and that those experiences shaped him to be the individual he was in the future. 

A time I can relate to this idea presented is when I travelled to India with my family a few years ago. We were supposed to go for 3 weeks to India. We planned on meeting with family since they have never seen me in real life(only through pictures). But I did not like the idea of going somewhere that is very hot and has no internet. Being away from social media was going to be a huge bum and I know wouldn’t fit in with the people from my village there as it was my first time going. I caved in and went to India. All I have to say is the best experience ever. Taking a break from social media and going back to my families home was awesome. I met new people and we shared the same interests in sports, we had an air conditioner so the warm air was not much of a problem. This is significant because this shows how some experiences can really shape you future. Me going to India resulted in me into becoming a nicer person. Donating to the people in need made me a better individual. Now I always try something first before denying it due to the wonderful experience I had with India. 

 When we are put into situations is it better to keep it with you or forget about it? Salman Ahmed decided to change his life due to a positive experience. Paul died due to having a negative experience. And for myself going to India was a positive experience. I believe we should not forget about the past and keep it with us in the future. Lettig things go is hard, but it will help your future if you fix them.

We all are born differently and we all have different ways of expressing and portraying ourselves in society. Those aspects shape who we are as a person, such as what we believe in or something we love. These different things make our identity and who we are recognized as and what we are. In the photograph the idea being represented is what ideas and impressions does the photograph suggest to you?

After analyzing the picture given something that stands out to me the most are the tattoos the female individual has all over her body. There are many kids around herself  and a famous cartoon character Hello Kitty. The expression of joy and happiness on her face shows how she feels about her and the way she is expressing herself. This gives me the impression of being whoever you want and not being worried about what society thinks about you. The picture is black and white which means it was taken quite some time ago. To me the idea I have is that she is happy with who she is and the kids can symbolize her love for children and the cartoon character as a love for animated shows. Her smile tells us the whole story behind this picture, she is clearly showing off all her tattoos because that represents who she is as a person. No one cares that she is a lady and it is odd to have so many children over her body, it shows how she is not judged by her identity. This is significant because it shows in that day and age that no one is afraid of judgment and people can freely express themselves without having to worry if someone else does not like it. Your identity is who you are as a person and no one can change it whether they like it or not. 

I have a very important relation to this topic. When I was a younger child around 12 years old I used to tie a turban. I had long hair and that represented my religion, because one of the most important parts of being a sikh was having long hair. Anyways, I used to go play basketball at my nearby recreational centre and went swimming there. It was a very diverse place but oddly enough I was the only turbaned guy amongst my friends. They used to tell me how they thought I was a girl at first and was weird for “wearing a turban” I was very devastated that the people around me thought of me like that, but deep down I knew that this was the representation of my religion and that no matter what I would not cut my hair. But the rude remarks kept on going and hurtful comments were made, this really started  to affect me because I was judged of my identity. I was a proud sikh and I loved being one. But when the remarks were made I started overthinking. For example, one thought came to me and it went like this, “I could cut my hair but people would still know I am a sikh because I wore a religious bracelet”. But the thoughts of my grandparents disappointment kept on eating me. But I was proud of my identity and after awhile I started ignoring those comments and was happy with who I was, I slowly started distancing those people and became even more happier with myself. So in the end I was happy with who I was and would not care of people thought I was a girl or that it looked odd. No. I am a proud sikh and no one can judge me.

We all have different ways of expressing ourselves, we should know that the only person who can judge us is ourselves and slowly people need to start to realize that you become more happy about yourself when  you ignore what people think. No one can shape you to be what they want it is all up to us to determine what we want to be and how we want to live our lives. That was the idea represented to me in this photograph.