1993-1994 Harry Singer Foundation National Essay Contest

Doesn't Anyone Care About The Children?

Teacher: Ed McCall

Meadow Bridge High School, Meadow Bridge, West Virginia

   1st Carrie Patterson  2nd Chad Hart 3rd Jeanette Redden

"Ten percent of the children visiting the Boston City Hospital last year had witnessed a shooting or stabbing by the age of six."
Shannon Harrah, Meadow Bridge High, Meadow Bridge, West Virginia

 "Some record studios are banning rap music from their stations because they think it causes the younger generations to be more aggressive. When rapper Snoop Doggy Dogg was asked if his music was too violent for kids he said: 'Whether I make the record or not, someone is being shot right now in gang violence. Are you going to blame me, because I make a record about it?' Another question asked, 'Does rap music cause violence?' Snoop Doggy Dogg commented with:'That's a lie. Before rap came out there was violence; when I was nine years old, one of my 'home boys' got shot on some gang violence, and wasn't no rap music being played then. So you tell me the music we make now made him die?...' "
Mario Walker, Meadow Bridge High School, Meadow Bridge, West Virginia

 "Too often, a student will get into trouble [with] little consequence."
Dustin Gwinn, Meadow Bridge High School, Meadow Bridge, West Virginia

"A group of California guys, known as the Spur Posse, view sex with girls as a contest. For every girl they sleep with, they obtain a point. A mother of one Spur Posse member offered the explanation that it was all just a 'testosterone thing.' Parents should not condone or excuse this kind of disgusting behavior. By justifying her son's behavior, she [the mother] is part of the problem; not the solution."
Carrie Patterson, Meadow Bridge High School, Meadow Bridge, West Virginia

 "Security and the power of the administration must be upgraded. An improvement must also be made in the area of teacher-student relation- ships. Feldman's survey says ninety-five percent of the violence committed by students was directed at their teachers."
Dustin Gwinn, Meadow Bridge High School, Meadow Bridge, West Virginia

 "Often, high school administrators are reluctant to mix teenage mothers with the rest of the student population. [They] can be unsympathetic toward a student who can't make it to school on time because she was up until 5:00 a.m. with a crying baby. Other students can be judgmental,too, as though only sluts or dumb girls have babies."
Jaime Morris, Meadow Bridge High School, Meadow Bridge, West Virginia

 "It is our responsibility as individuals to teach morals, to have morals, and to live by the morals that we have."
Crystal Reed, Meadow Bridge, West Virginia

 "Education Secretary Richard Riley has sent Congress two bills that would help educators in their Get Tough crusade. The first: the safe schools act that cleared it's first congressional hurdle last month, will provide one hundred and seventy million dollars to school systems trying to beef up security. The second will launch long term funding beginning in 1995."
Shannon Harrah, Meadow Bridge High School, Meadow Bridge, West Virginia

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