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outloud
April 2013
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jansenhess sports editor Think about it. Think about how much we’ve progressed since we were born. Think about yourself as a sixth grader compared to sixth graders today. Because I sure didn’t say, “I don’t have a dirty mind, I have a sexy imagination,” as an 11 year old. When I heard this come out of my sister’s friend’s mouth, I was in shock. She’s a baby. She’s so innocent. Eleven year olds shouldn’t know this stuff. I blame technology, honestly. When I was their age, I didn’t have a cell phone, and my TV had parental controls that restricted TV past 11 p.m. and anything with an over PG rating. Now, kids have nicer cell phones and belong to more social networking sites than I do. Their innocence is being
destroyed by the overexposure to all these adult-like things. When I was their age, my friends had to plan out their hugs with their boyfriend of that particular week. Now the sixth grade couples can’t keep their hands off of each other. Most kids these days have a smartphone, an iPad or some sort of tablet. All these devices have the ability to access the Internet or support social networking sites. These open a whole gateway to a more mature life that middle schoolers really don’t need to be experiencing just quite yet. It makes me scared for what’s going to become of their lives by the time they’re in high school. A sixth grader I know has already told me about all the different types of vodka and other alcohol he’s consumed. Not to mention the weed he’s smoked. The only type of weed I knew of at that age was a dandelion. In all honesty, adults are the ones doing the exposing, whether they know it or not. The adults are the one’s who pay for the device and the phone bill. They’re allowing their kids to grow up too fast. And it’s only going to get worse as technology progresses. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying technology is bad in the hands of kids. I’m saying they’re abusing their power by trying to act grown up. News flash, kiddos: all us high schoolers wish we could
Avoiding the mundane leads [V OHWWPULZZ M\SÄSSPUN SPML
kellycordingley editor-in-chief We all worry. We worry about being good enough, being all we want to be, being ourselves — whoever that is. Eventually we’ll all leave Blue Valley for good and go on to do something more — maybe less — but usually more. We’ve grown up being told if we try hard enough, we can do anything we want to do. But there are so many options and so many obstacles. I want to travel and be cultured and work somewhere I love and make good money and fall in love and have a family. But, Christ, there’s not enough time in life it seems. Granted, I’ve put this pressure on myself, as many of us have, but I want to do so much. I want to help people, and I want to learn. I don’t want to look back and wish I’d done more, worked more, experienced more, lived more. We don’t want to live mundane lives — maybe we don’t want to make the same mistakes our parents or siblings made.
We don’t want to be stuck in this rut of waking up, rushing to work, working in some office for eight hours, grabbing dinner on the way home, sleeping and repeating that for 40-some years. That sounds horrible, and yet so many people have that life. They seem happy. But what if we look back on that life we had with that person we met in college and that job that was good enough and wonder if we did everything we should have. If we settled. If we would be happier had we taken time off. If, if, if. I want to be on the fast track to success and making money — yet, as a journalist, I doubt six digits are in the salary future for me. I don’t want to be stuck, but I want to be stuck to the right thing. To the right job, to the right person, to the right state. I haven’t quite figured out how to avoid getting stuck to what, in years, I may wish was different, but I know we all have to try. After college, we can’t settle. We can’t assume we can’t do anything more than what we’ve done. We can’t be satisfied with what we’ve seen generations before us do. If we do, we’re stuck. And if we look back on life and feel we’ve been stuck and dragged down by what we thought we couldn’t do, we might not have the time to change it.
have our childhood back. Don’t waste it. Parents: don’t let your kids grow up too fast. Monitor their technology and protect them because it’s a cruel world out there. They may throw a tantrum and scream at you, saying you’re ruining their lives. They’re middle schoolers. They’ll wake up in the morning and will be perfectly fine. But you shouldn’t be fine with your 11 year old acting like a 16 year old. But apparently Victoria’s Secret thinks it’s perfectly OK for them to act like 18 year olds. With their new teen line, Bright Young Things, Victoria’s Secret seems to be targeting the middle school-aged kids. Seriously? What 12 year old absolutely has to have a bright pink thong with the words “Call Me” or “Wild” printed across the front? I’ll answer that for you. None. No middle schooler needs their innocence destroyed before they even reach high school. Instead of sitting inside on their iPads taking selfies, they should be outside enjoying their childhood while they still have it. Because once it’s gone, they can never get it back.
Parents must give children leeway, recognition for best effort
rileymiller staff writer Parents. They may not ask for a lot, but you know they expect a lot. They want you to get all A’s, but B’s are OK, too. Getting a C is average, but god forbid you get a C. Some of your friends may get D’s and F’s, but your parents don’t care about those friends. Failure is not an option. Your parents care about you — unless of course your friends are doing something right, then they’re allowed to compare them to you. It makes complete sense, right? You know your parents would be happy if you were a star athlete, so you practice every single day to improve. You know your parents would be happier if you had the same work-ethic some of your friends have, so you start to work harder at getting your homework done. You know your parents will be happiest if you get all A’s, so you try to get all A’s. Although they may not be pushing
you to do these things, the pressure is still there. The initiative to wake up extra early to get to weights in the morning is still there. The staying up all night to study for a test is still there. The obsessive grade-checking every day is still there. It’s all still there. We live in a world where the only things that really seem to matter are grades and scores, but our parents don’t really seem to notice how hard we work for them. But when you do something wrong, even if it’s the littlest thing, that’s when they notice. There’s always a lack of recognition for your hard work. Not to mention, it’s still expected that you’re in a good mood when you get home from school. I’m not asking for a trophy. I’m just asking for a little understanding — maybe a little bit of leeway when I make a tiny mistake or when I want to lay in bed for the duration of a Saturday and not do anything. Trust me, sometimes I’m really happy to have my parents push me and tell me what to do because I don’t want to grow up to be a lazy bum. I would just like a break every once in a while. Your best is all you are capable of, and if that means making B-team, having a few missing assignments or not having ideal grades . . . well, your parents are just going to have to accept that.