"I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" - A Book Review

"I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" a wonderful book I have recently read, was written by Maya Angelou, an African-American author. The novel presents the difficulties of the black people in the southern part of the USA , and shows how strength of character and a love of literature can help overcome racism and trauma. I loved reading that book and I found it really fascinating.

The main character, Marguerite Johnson, begins her journey at the age of three, when she and her older brother move to live with their grandmother in Stamps,Arkansas. In Stamps they meet racism for the first time in their lives, when the white children of their town hassle them relentlessly, when a white dentist refuses to treat Maya's rotting tooth, and more.

Marguerite and her older brother Bailey had the most specialand closest relationship she had ever had with anybody. She told him everything about her life, and he was always by her side for everything she needed. For a sixteen year old girl, Marguerite went through a lot in her life, racism, she was sexually abused and raped, she got pregnant and gave birth. Marguerite presents the pain and misery the black people felt in the twentieth century.

To conclude, I sincerely recommend that book, I enjoyed every minute of reading it. The story made me realize the things that black people went through , and I could truly identifie with them. All the things Marguerite went through and the way she handled her life fascinated me and I enjoyed reading and being part of it.



(80)
Daphna

The junk we eat

These days, more and more people buy fast food as a part of their daily routine. Everywhere we go, we can see a variety of fast food chains. These food manufacturers sell us unhealthy food, which eventually causes us many problems and affects our behavior badly. In my opinion, the manufacturers should take responsibility and make healthier food.

Fast food may be delicious and easy to get, but it causes our body a lot of problems. That food does not have any nutritive ingredients, it is full of junk, which destroys our bodies. For example, a few years ago a documentary movie came out that discovered the influence of fast food on the human body. The movie "Super Size Me" follows an American man in a 30-day time period in which he eats only McDonald's food. As a result, the thin 32 year old man gained 11.1 kg, a 13% body mass increase, a cholesterol level of 230, and experienced mood swings, and liver damage. It took him fourteen months to lose the weight gained from his experiment.

Moreover, according to the article "The Disaster between Our Ears" the food we eat affects directly our behavior. For example, eating healthy and nutritious food would make you calmer and relaxed compared to eating unhealthy food, which makes you less concentrated and nervous.

To conclude, I believe that the manufacturers should be responsible and make healthier food for the health of everyone. The manufacturers have to add more healthy and nutritious ingredients to their food, and to reduce the quantity of sugar and fat in the food.

(80)
Daphna

Letter to the editor

9 Bar Ilan street
Holon, Israel

September 24, 2009


The Editor.............................................................................................

13 Elona Faar Street............................................................................
Holon, Israel.........................................................................................

Dear Editor,........................................................................................

Concerning the article, "Nation's Teachers Among The Worst Paid In Developed World", which was published in the Jerusalem Post newspaper, I would like to express my opposition on the terrible situation, of the lake of budget and resources the Education system have. I think that the education system has to go through a serious change, to improve the education for everyone.

The government should provide the Education system a higher budget. It is sad that in our modern society, there are so many pupils with poor scores. The teachers' salary needs to be equal to those who teach in the developed countries, such as Germany, Switzerland and Ireland. A well paid teacher will be more motivated to teach and invest more time and effort to help his students.

In addition, the school's structure does not contribute to the student's achievements. In Israel, there are 33 students in a class room while in other countries there are only 24 students per classroom. This condition causes overcrowded classrooms, which does not allow personal attention to each student. Teachers are trying to teach the pupils the best they can, although they deal with this great problem.

In conclusion, the education is an important issue for all of us. I believe that suitable resources will help to improve our education system. We will produce well educated students, that will enjoy more opportunities to be successful.

Your truly,

Shany Raz

(88)

Daphna

The teenagers of today

Nowadays there is a wide spreading phenomenon of teenagers who caus acts of violence. Almost every day, you read in the newspaper about agroup of teenagers who use any kind of weapon. These youngsters have no sense of what is right or wrong. The value of human life does not have any meaning for these teenagers. I believe that society has to severly punishedanyone who acts so violently.

Killing without any reason seems to be an illness we must cure. Last Friday, a Golani soldier was stabbed to death by a 25 years old man. The suspect knew Uri Iten, the victim. They sat with some friends in a school's yard and suddenly without any apparent reason, the suspect stabbed Uri in the leg. This terrible situation shows the unbearable ease with which people pull out a knife and stab.

This ridicules violence occurs also in the schools on a daily basis. We often hear about students who hit others and injure horribly . Last year, during the break, my friend and I were involved in an act of violence. A girl thought that my friend laughed at her, so she decided to punish her by pushing her on the sidewalk. My friend was badly injured and needed medical care. The girl, who was responsible for this, was sent to an invistugation at the nearest police statuon.

In my opinion, teenagers have to be punished in the worst critical way possible. I think that when a teenager would be aware of the outcome resulted from his actions he will think twice before doing a harmfull thing. In the future, the teenagers will be more considerate and responsible for their actions. Violence of any kind has to be abolished for the sake of future generations.

The article's link: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1114228.html

(72)
Daphna

Problem with our education system

Our education system faces many problems. A resent study ranked Israel in the 29th place out of 32 countries in regards to a teacher's salary. A teacher's income in Israel is among the worst paid in the world. Also, there are too many students in the classrooms .This situation influences at the achievements of the student. It seems to me that the education has to go through a serious change.

The government should provide the Education Ministry a higher budget. It is sad that in our modern society, there are so many pupils with poor scores. The teacher's salary needs to be equal to those who teach in the developed countries, such as Germany, Switzerland and Ireland. A well paid teacher will be more motivated to teach and invest more time and effort to help his students.

In addition, the school's structure does not contribute to the student's achievements. In Israel, there are 33 students in a class room while in other countries there are only 24 students per classroom. This condition causes overcrowded classrooms, which does not provide a personal attention to each student. Teachers are trying to teach the pupils the bust they can, although they deal with this great problem.

In conclusion, the education is an important issue for all of us. I believe that suitable resources will help to improve our education system. We will produce well educated students that will enjoy more opportunities to be successful. v

School Uniform

In almost every school in the world the school uniform is compulsory . students have to wear uniforms. The reason must be that the schools administration wants their students to concentrate on their studies instead of their appearance or the they wear, and instead of trying to impress other students by the clothes they wear.

On the one hand, school uniform is important, and it has some advantage: all the students are equal, no body need to be concerned about what he/she wearing, and there is no discrimination. For example without school uniform same students might feel discriminated because they can't buy trademarks and they can't dress like the other students who can. Moreover school uniform economizes time in the morning because it is a waste of time to choose clothes that are good enough and that impress the other students.

On the other hand, clothes reflects what the students think, believe, love, hate, and etc.
To makes all the students wear the same cloths hurts their uniqueness, it means that everyone is he same and no one is special. For example they are some people who love to wear black clothes, big necklaces, and to paint their hair with different colors, compared with people that love to dress with big clothes, big hats and big shoes. With their clothes people express themselves and it is very important.

In my opinion school uniform is very important and crucial because students can concentrate on their studies instead of their appearance, and everybody is equal with no discrimination, and humiliation.

Bruge McCall

Burge McCall was a short, heavy-set man with a loud voice. Mrs. McCall was a tall, thin woman with black hair that was always parted in the middle and smoothed down. Burge McCall hated his wife, he didn't like the way she looked at him, it made him nervous. Mr. and Mrs. McCall got married from the wrong reasons, they didn’t loved each other and they never got along very well, they had a really bad relationship.

Mr. McCall had a lot of money but he never bought Mrs. McCall nice things, instead he bought nice things to other women. It made Mrs. McCall even madder at him. One day, when they were fighting, he slapped her on the face, and while she wiped her face she called him a "big rat".

One hot day when Burge McCall dropped into Sled Sather's drugstore, Sled told him that his wife had bought a pound of rat poison. When Burge fond out they had never been any rat problem in his house he began to worry. Burge began to treat his wife better, he was generous and nice to her, he took her to the movies and he even bought her an expensive sealskin coat.

At the end, Burge and Mrs. McCall were very happy, they loved each other and he even called her Honey. I really enjoyed reading the story, it was interesting to see how Mr. and Mrs. McCall became a happy and loving couple, instead of the hating couple they were. I think Mrs. McCall was very smart, she succeed to restore her marriage with no force and with no effort.