60% !! Nearly that many students have mental issues!!

I wonder what the percentage is for the faculty??

New Concerns Arise About Mental Health Of College Students

August 25, 2016 5:46 PM By Dr. Mallika Marshall

Filed Under: Dr. Mallika Marshall, MIT

BOSTON (CBS) – New concerns arise about the mental health of students on college campuses all across the country.

Dr. Gene Beresin, a psychiatrist and Executive Director of The Clay Center for Young Healthy Minds at Massachusetts General Hospital, says 50% to 60% of college students have a psychiatric disorder. 

“What I’m including in that is the use of substances, anxiety, depression, problems with relationships, break-ups, academic problems, learning disabilities, attentional problems,” says Dr. Beresin. “If you add them all up 50% doesn’t seem that high.”

Some undergraduates at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) agree.

“People go through tough times,” says Dane Erickson, a rising junior from Naples, Florida. “It’s really stressful sometimes here at school.”

“I know a couple of friends who had a difficult first semester last year,” explains Maddie Burgoyne, a rising sophomore from Michigan.

Dr. Beresin says the suicide rate in college in astronomical. “A college student kills himself every day,” he says.

Maddie is also concerned about the higher than average suicide rate a MIT. “I think that’s something unique to MIT,” she says, “you can’t blame the institute itself. The type of student that goes here often puts a lot of pressure on themselves.”

Dr. Beresin says the brain doesn’t fully mature until age 26 so college students are put in a difficult situation.

“Living alone, not being prepared to be on your own,” says Dr. Beresin. “Peer pressure. I mean, the ability to kind of freely use alcohol or drugs and make those decisions on your own without supervision.”

And for international students, the challenges are even greater.

“There are a lot of new factors that play when you come to college especially for international students who don’t know the area at all but yeah, it can be overwhelming at times,” explains Andrea Jaba, an MIT freshman from the Philippines.

But Andrea has at least one strategy she learned from upperclassmen to help her keep her sanity.

“You better join a lot of clubs aside from academics so you don’t drown yourself in all that stress,” says Andrea.

And some colleges are being proactive. For the first time, MIT is requiring incoming freshman to complete an online simulation program that will teach them the warning signs of depression, suicide and other psychiatric issues before starting classes.

One day in the life of a student

I was explaining that we really cannot talk about history.  We cannot explain or discuss history because it is, very much, all subjective.  Events are categorically factual, but almost all else is subjective and open to interpretation and opinion.  Therefore, we cannot study it, or rather, should not be able to due to our inability to set aside opinions and bias.

One student stood up and said we could study history, and that he tries very hard to be objective and he didn't believe it would be that difficult.

The issue of Palestinians and Israelis was raised as an example of how difficult it is for people to set aside their opinions and bias when discussing a situation.  The student responded that no, he prided himself on knowing what was happening 'over there' because he was Palestinian and he prided himself on being able to see that there was a difference between the great power of Israel and the rag tag Palestinians who were (not his words but his sentiment) simply wanting to be free of the Israeli oppression.

Later the issue of Libya came up and the aircraft and al qaida seizing the airport and this student stood up again and asked why all Arabs were being lumped together with bombs and terrorism.

Hmmm.  Maybe that was the original point raised, and maybe this is exactly why studying history is difficult.

 

Students will be tracked via chips in IDs

Express-News

 By Francisco Vara-Orta

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Northside Independent School District plans to track students next year on two of its campuses using technology implanted in their student identification cards in a trial that could eventually include all 112 of its schools and all of its nearly 100,000 students.

District officials said the Radio Frequency Identification System (RFID) tags would improve safety by allowing them to locate students — and count them more accurately at the beginning of the school day to help offset cuts in state funding, which is partly based on attendance.

Northside, the largest school district in Bexar County, plans to modify the ID cards next year for all students attending John Jay High School, Anson Jones Middle School and all special education students who ride district buses. That will add up to about 6,290 students.

The school board unanimously approved the program late Tuesday but, in a rarity for Northside trustees, they hotly debated it first, with some questioning it on privacy grounds.

State officials and national school safety experts said the technology was introduced in the past decade but has not been widely adopted. Northside's deputy superintendent of administration, Brian Woods, who will take over as superintendent in July, defended the use of RFID chips at Tuesday's meeting, comparing it to security cameras. He stressed that the program is only a pilot and not permanent.

“We want to harness the power of (the) technology to make schools safer, know where our students are all the time in a school, and increase revenues,” district spokesman Pascual Gonzalez said. “Parents expect that we always know where their children are, and this technology will help us do that.”

Chip readers on campuses and on school buses can detect a student's location but can't track them once they leave school property. Only authorized administrative officials will have access to the information, Gonzalez said.

“This way we can see if a student is at the nurse's office or elsewhere on campus, when they normally are counted for attendance in first period,” he said.

Gonzalez said the district plans to send letters to parents whose students are getting the the RFID-tagged ID cards. He said officials understand that students could leave the card somewhere, throwing off the system. They cost $15 each, and if lost, a student will have to pay for a new one.

Parents interviewed outside Jay and Jones as they picked up their children Thursday were either supportive, skeptical or offended.

Veronica Valdorrinos said she would be OK if the school tracks her daughter, a senior at Jay, as she always fears for her safety. Ricardo and Juanita Roman, who have two daughters there, said they didn't like that Jay was targeted.

Gonzalez said the district picked schools with lower attendance rates and staff willing to pilot the tags.

Some parents said they understood the benefits but had reservations over privacy.

“I would hope teachers can help motivate students to be in their seats instead of the district having to do this,” said Margaret Luna, whose eighth-grade granddaughter at Jones will go to Jay next year. “But I guess this is what happens when you don't have enough money.”

The district plans to spend $525,065 to implement the pilot program and $136,005 per year to run it, but it will more than pay for itself, predicted Steve Bassett, Northside's assistant superintendent for budget and finance. If successful, Northside would get $1.7 million next year from both higher attendance and Medicaid reimbursements for busing special education students, he said.

But the payoff could be a lot bigger if the program goes districtwide, Bassett said.

He said the program was one way the growing district could respond to the Legislature's cuts in state education funding. Northside trimmed its budget last year by $61.4 million.

Two school districts in the Houston area — Spring and Santa Fe ISDs — have used the technology for several years and have reported gains of hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue for improved attendance. Spring ISD spokeswoman Karen Garrison said the district, one-third the size of Northside, hasn't had any parent backlash.

In Tuesday's board debate, trustee M'Lissa M. Chumbley said she worried that parents might feel the technology violated their children's privacy rights. She didn't want administrators tracking teachers' every move if they end up outfitted with the tags, she added.

“I think this is overstepping our bounds and is inappropriate,” Chumbley said. “I'm honestly uncomfortable about this.”

Northside has to walk a tightrope in selling the idea to parents, some of whom could be turned off by the revenue incentive, said Kenneth Trump, president of National School Safety and Security Services, a Cleveland-based consulting firm.

The American Civil Liberties Union fought the use of the technology in 2005 at a rural elementary school in California and helped get the program canceled, said Kirsten Bokenkamp, an ACLU spokeswoman in Texas. She said concerns about the tags include privacy and the risks of identity theft or kidnapping if somebody hacks into the system.

Texas Education Agency spokeswoman DeEtta Culbertson said no state law or policy regulates the use of such devices and the decision is up to local districts.

privacy

Things that irk

'Let me begin by saying' I would like to ....

There is no reason to either state what you will tell me, nor to inform me of what you will imminently make known.  JUST SAY IT.



All in all ...

What exactly does that mean?  Relative to what? 



Back in the day ...

What an odd formation of words and it sounds odder still when someone says it, most especially an 18 year old.  In fact it is almost as bad as when they say ...


We are where we are ... 
As opposed to being somewhere else and not being where we are.


We, as human beings must not forgot ....
And if we are not human beings then we are ... dogs, cats, fish, ghostly apparitions?  The more appropriate phrase would be: We must never forget ....

At the end of the day we should endeavor to ...
Most likely this person wants to sum everything up, but he uses a time reference - what possible connection is there between the end of the day and his point?  Answer:  None.

Currently, at this time ...
What can I write about this.  Currently at some other time or ... Currently right now we ... AMAZING they can tie their shoes.

That said, from day 1, we are where we are because the policies of George W. Bush ....
OMG.  How many meaningless expressions can we wrap into one sentence.  That said?  You are stating a point, not someone else based upon the remainder of the sentence, but again, you do not need to restate ... simply state.  From day 1 - as opposed to day 3 or 5.  And then we are where we are again.

I often read 1-2 paragraphs, put down the essay, lay down and nap for an hour, get up, finish the essay, go out and run, come back, have a nap, shower, eat, and read another essay.  And why not - if I am forced to read nearly incomprehensible meanderings, why can't I do it at my leisure - just like back in the day when I could wrap my head around these ... mistakes.









english

Having Sex: You are more likely to do ok in school. [It's all in how you look at it]

Teen sex not always bad for school performance




By ALICIA CHANG
AP Science Writer
Sun Aug 15, 2010

LOS ANGELES – There's good news for parents who worry that their teenagers' sex lives are affecting their school performance: A provocative new study has found that teens in committed relationships do no better or worse in school than those who don't have sex.

The same isn't true for teens who "hook up." Researchers found that those who have casual flings get lower grades and have more school-related problems compared with those who abstain.

The findings, presented Sunday at a meeting of the American Sociological Association in Atlanta, challenge to some extent assumptions that sexually active teens tend to do poorer in school.

It's not so much whether a teen has sex that determines academic success, the researchers say, but the type of sexual relationship they're engaged in. Teens in serious relationships may find social and emotional support in their sex partners, reducing their anxiety and stress levels in life and in school.

"This should give some comfort to parents who may be concerned that their teenage son or daughter is dating," said sociologist Peggy Giordano of Bowling Green State University, who had no role in the research. Teen sex is "not going to derail their educational trajectories," she said.

Last year, nearly half of high school students reported having sexual intercourse, and 14 percent have had four or more partners, according to a federal survey released this summer.

For the study, University of California, Davis sociologist Bill McCarthy and University of Minnesota sociologist Eric Grodsky analyzed surveys and school transcripts from the largest national follow-up study of teens that began during the 1994-95 academic year. The researchers said not much has changed in terms of when teens first have sex or attitudes toward teen sex in the past decade.

The duo examined how teens' sexual behaviors affected their learning and controlled for factors that might influence their results.

Among the findings:

_Teens in serious relationships did not differ from their abstinent counterparts in terms of their grade-point average, how attached they are to school or college expectations. They were also not more likely to have problems in school, be suspended or absent.

_Compared with virgins, teens who have casual sex had lower GPAs, cared less about school and experienced more problems in school. For example, female teens who have flings had GPAs that were 0.16 points lower than abstinent teens. Male teens who have casual sex had GPAs that were 0.30 points lower than those who do not have sex. Teens who hook up also were at greater risk of being suspended or expelled and had lower odds of expecting to go to college.

_Teens who have sex — whether it's a serious or casual relationship — were at higher risk of being truant and dropping out compared with teens who don't have sex. The researchers said the dropout results should be interpreted with caution because the numbers were small.

"Having sex outside of a romantic relationship may exacerbate the stress youths experience, contributing to problems in school," Grodsky said.

In a statement, the Family Research Council said the study confirms what the group has long advocated about the negative consequences of casual sex.

But the council said it "would not interpret less severe educational impacts on students involved in `committed' sexual relationships as a green light for comprehensive" sex education.

University of Southern California sociologist Julie Albright disagreed. She said it might be time to revamp sex education to "emphasize the importance of relationships and spell out the consequences of casual sex."

The study dispels the notion that all teen sex is bad, said Marie Harvey, professor of public health at Oregon State University.

"The type of relationship really matters. When it comes to sexual behavior, it takes two to tango," said Harvey, adding that safe sex should be practiced to prevent teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.


'Committed relationship' - I wonder, what does that mean to a 9th grader (in some schools, 9th grade makes it into high school)?  What does it mean to a sophmore?  A junior?  Committed?  Hmm, I think i would have said something like - committed means you only have sex with each other. 

Yea.  I see how that works now ... and so at 14, only have sex with the other person, and that is an anchor for them and may assist them in doing fine in life/school.  Yea.  I have always marvelled at how serious 14 year olds are.  How insightful and respectful.  Always thinking about 10 years down the road - family, profession, home ... yep.  Committed.  In fact, I don't think I have ever known any student in high school who was not insightful, respectful, mature, responsible, thoughtful ... no wonder it works out. 

I wonder, if we asked any of those teens who had 4 partners, whether they considered any of them to have occured within a 'committed relationship'.  I couldn't imagine otherwise.  All high school children are so mature and respectful - the guy would naturally tell his girlfriend it was fine she wouldn't have sex with him that night, he was fine with cuddling and would of course listen to her explain all the issues she was having without of course wanting him to do anything about the problems.  Yea, why not - and don't think I care whether kids have sex or not - I don't.  I was and I did reasonably ok so I could care less about the sex part - I do care about the agenda behind the studies.  It is disingenuous and harmful - far worse than the high school kid 'sleeping' with 3 random people they hooked up with that night.








 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
sex

DNA: All For a Good Cause, Don't Worry - Be Happy.

It's fopr a good cause, to help you, to save you, to make you feel like you are part of the community.  Just a little swab.






UC Berkeley Asking Incoming Students For DNA





May 18, 2010


BERKELEY, Calif. -- UC Berkeley is adding something a little different this year in its welcome package -- cotton swabs for a DNA sample.

In the past, incoming freshman and transfer students have received a rather typical welcome book from the College of Letters and Science's "On the Same Page" program, but this year the students will be asked for more.

The students will be asked to voluntarily submit a DNA sample. The cotton swabs will come with two bar code labels. One label will be put on the DNA sample and the other is kept for the students own records.

The confidential process is being overseen by Jasper Rine, a campus professor of Genetics and Development Biology, who says the test results will help students make decisions about their diet and lifestyle.

Once the DNA sample is sent in and tested, it will show the student’s ability to tolerate alcohol, absorb folic acid and metabolize lactose.

The results of the test will be put in a secure online database where students will be able to retrieve their results by using their bar code.

Rine hopes that this will excite students to be more hands-on with their college experience.

"This type of experience is one of the true, unique values of a Berkeley education. We don't just give you books to read,” Mark Schlissel, dean of the division of biological sciences said. “We involve you in cutting edge issues in the humanities, social sciences and natural sciences. You won't see this anywhere else in higher education."

Previously incoming students were advised to read Michael Pollan's "The Omnivore's Dilemma" and Stephen Hawking's "A Briefer History of Time" as behavioral guides.

There will also be a variety of events and lectures at the campus on lifestyle choices for all undergraduate students who choose not to participate in the DNA program.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
dna

God Bless America - Not on my flag

Salinas schoolroom flag flap may be baseless


Superintendent defends his patriotism

By MIKE HORNICK
mhornick@thecalifornian.com
May 12, 2010

Hundreds of  e-mails to the Santa Rita Union School District in Salinas questioning the patriotism of educators over an art project with American flags and symbols "jumped the gun," Mike Brusa, the district's superintendent, said Tuesday.

Many were offensive, he said.

The messages came this week in response to an April 22 incident in which Peggy Saunders, a Gavilan View Middle School teacher, objected to seventh-grader Taryn Hathaway's rendering of the flag under the words "God bless America." Flags have been a nationwide hot topic over the past few weeks, as the waving of Mexican flags in celebration of Cinco de Mayo kept often-fierce concerns about immigration in the public eye.

Saunders was out on sick leave Tuesday and unavailable for comment. The cause and nature of her objection will soon be determined, Brusa said, but the firestorm that broke out after Fox News picked up the story may be baseless.

"If something wrong was done to the student, we'll get to the bottom of that," Brusa said. "But it may have been they were working on the Yellow Ribbon project, which sends care packages to military in war zones. One of the requirements is that there is no writing on the flags. If that's the case, then there's been a huge misunderstanding here and a lot of needless turmoil and grief."

Reasons for prohibiting writing on a flag — on any topic — involve awareness of other cultures and of U.S. soldiers, Brusa said.

"If you have a flag with 'God bless America' over it in the middle of Iraq, or you're sending it to soldiers who aren't Christians, it could be a problem," he said.

Gavilan View Middle School Principal John Gutierrez did not return a call Tuesday afternoon to The Salinas Californian.

The student and her mother, Tracy Hathaway, described the incident Tuesday on The Sean Hannity Show on Fox News.

"She [Saunders] walked up to me and said it was offensive," Taryn Hathaway told Hannity. "I asked why and she just walked away not telling me why." To a student who had drawn a picture of President Barack Obama, Saunders — according to Hathaway — said: "Thank you for supporting our country."

No description was given of other students' art projects.


"All we're looking for is an apology," Tracy Hathaway told The Salinas Californian. "We're not looking for the teacher to be fired."

One of Brusa's e-mails came from someone describing himself as a Vietnam War veteran. It says in part: "You should fire the teacher who has a problem with the U.S. flag. Where is your patriotism? If you don't like the flag, get out of my country."

Brusa replied to the e-mail with a brief message and two photos of his son, Sgt. John Brusa, 23, who has been serving in Afghanistan for the past year with the Army's 82nd Airborne Division. Framed versions of the photos rest on the superintendent's office wall.

"The gentleman apologized," Brusa said.

"This upset me because I don't need to be lectured about patriotism," he said. "We're getting the reaction of people who don't know all the facts. They know a few facts and fire off an e-mail. What's most disturbing is that something as wonderful as the Internet can be used as a virtual mob."

The classroom incident appeared to be resolved, Brusa said, in April in a meeting between the Hathaways, a Gavilan View assistant principal and Saunders. The school heard no more of it, he said, until after May 5 — Cinco de Mayo.

On that day in Morgan Hill, five Live Oak High School students were asked to go home after they wore clothes bearing images of the flag. In a statement, the school district said that while awareness of other cultures is appropriate on Cinco de Mayo, it did not support the high school's action.

The episode drew widespread media attention and — according to Brusa — resurfaced in the Gavilan View classroom incident.

"As soon as the [Morgan Hill] story hit," he said, "the parent thought this was kind of similar and decided to Twitter Fox News, and that's where this all started.

"I want to make sure a great district is not dragged through the mud through what may be a colossal misunderstanding. Do we want to solve this problem or do something else? You allow people to work it out at the lowest level you can and then work your way up. That wasn't done. It was at Gavilan View, then it was on Fox News."



 
 
 
 
 
 
 
flag

The Government knows Best

invisible



I admit I like government less and less as I get older. Government is not the answer to our problems, it is the root cause of most of our problems. We, the people, can solve our problems with out ingenuity and exceptionalism - we can do it. We have done it, we can do it again. Except liberals really do not like exceptionalism - in sports, in industry, in the world - they prefer everything to be the same, equal - all pasty, all quite bland - for then it would be true - there is no exceptionalism.

Everyone has to be equal and if everyone is equal, no one is exceptional. For liberals, exceptionalism cannot exist or inequality exists and for liberals, inequality is truly evil. It is unfortunate that liberals see equality as the reason d'etre rather than opportunity and liberty. In the pursuit of equality one gives up liberty and opportunity for equality requires government enforcement, and enforcement cannot occur without a loss of liberty and the absence of opportunity.


And the point of this is ...

Today I had to tell a parent that I could not provide details on their child's progress in my class. The parent contacted me and asked for information in order that they might prompt the student or motivate the child to do better or ... it all hinged on what I would say. They were rightly concerned - they found a test with a 67% on it. The child claimed they received 100% and it was a mistake. The parent wanted to know the specifics, in an effort to help the child.

I am 'not allowed' to tell the parent anything - according to the school.

The child is 15.

He is taking one class at the college, but is still in high school.

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 U.S.C. § 1232g; 34 CFR Part 99) is a Federal law that protects the privacy of student education records. The law applies to all schools that receive funds under an applicable program of the U.S. Department of Education.

FERPA gives parents certain rights with respect to their children's education records. These rights transfer to the student when he or she reaches the age of 18 or attends a school beyond the high school level. Students to whom the rights have transferred are "eligible students."

Parents or eligible students have the right to inspect and review the student's education records maintained by the school. Schools are not required to provide copies of records unless, for reasons such as great distance, it is impossible for parents or eligible students to review the records. Schools may charge a fee for copies.

Parents or eligible students have the right to request that a school correct records which they believe to be inaccurate or misleading. If the school decides not to amend the record, the parent or eligible student then has the right to a formal hearing. After the hearing, if the school still decides not to
amend the record, the parent or eligible student has the right to place a statement with the record setting forth his or her view about the contested information.

Generally, schools must have written permission from the parent or eligible student in order to release any information from a student's education record. However, FERPA allows schools to disclose those records, without consent, to the following parties or under the following conditions (34 CFR § 99.31):

Schools may disclose, without consent, "directory" information such as a student's name, address, telephone number, date and place of birth, honors and awards, and dates of attendance. However, schools must tell parents and eligible students about directory information and allow parents and eligible students a reasonable amount of time to request that the school not disclose directory
information about them. Schools must notify parents and eligible students annually of their rights under FERPA.

The government does not believe the parent has a right to know. The parent cannot know unless the child provides written authorization providing the parent with the right to know.

The parent cannot discipline the child.

The parent cannot take the door off the child's door frame to their room.

The parent cannot ...

The government knows what is best.

If the parent doesn't know however, they may be sued ... Dillon Klebold's parents were sued by the parents of the children murdered in Littleton Colorado. Why? The parents should have known, should have done something to stop their children.

The government knows what is best.

The student is 15.

It is not enough to say - well, it's too bad but this is to protect ...

The school may divulge without permission - the students birthday, address, telephone number, place of birth, honors and awards, and dates of attendance. Not like that information is not private.

The government knows what is best.









government

Students versus Teachers

German teacher loses battle against pupils' web rankings

Jun 23 2009
Agence France Presse

A German teacher who had sued to shut down a website where pupils rank their instructors according to competence and "coolness" lost her battle in court Tuesday.

The Federal Supreme Court, Germany's top civil tribunal, rejected the claim of the teacher, Astrid Czubayko-Reiss, that her right to privacy was violated by the site, spickmich.de, (loosely translated, checkmeout.de) where she received a mediocre rating from students.

"The right of students to exchange opinions and communicate freely outweighs the right of the teacher suing to determine information available about her," the court in the southwestern city of Karlsruhe said.

The website allows students to turn the tables on teachers by anonymously grading them in categories including "cool and funny", "popular", "motivated", "relaxed" and "teaches well".

Czubayko, a German teacher from the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia, had received an overall grade of 4.3, or a "D". She had also lost her case before lower courts and appealed to the federal tribunal.

The German Teachers' Association criticised the ruling.

"It is inexplicable that the BGH values the personal rights of teachers less than an anonymous assessment of teachers by students on the Internet," Association president Josef Kraus said, referring to the federal court.

Kraus said his organisation hoped the case would be overturned by the country's highest tribunal, the Federal Constitutional Court.






students

Liberalism is a Serious Illness and Academia Contributes to the Disease.

I received the following from a person who pays to attend the educational institution where I am employed. I would call the person a student, but that is in serious doubt given the fact the student is seemingly beyond hope - in writing, respect, and comprehending the simplest of issues.

I have pasted the 2 page paper, in its entirety, including grammatical mistakes. The only details I am omitting - the individuals name, names of the relatives, and a smiley face at the end of the final sentence. I have no comment, none that even begins to address what was written, and certainly no comment that I will post on this page.

Since I do not teach this class and my opinions are usually brushed aside, I decided to put a few my thoughts to paper for my final unit review.

NO, I am not brainwashed by Palestinian media. I am merely an observer of the realities that are not implemented in the sources you present in class. I speak from experience, and it seems to me, that you speak of what you think you know. I have visited Palestine and Israel a total of five times throughout my life [Note: This person turned 18 years of age a month prior]. The most recent time was the summer of 2008. Each year the treatment of my people and injustice worsens.

I have seen the apartheid wall that has been built to confiscate land and destroy communities. I had my camera smashed to pieces at a check-point by and Israeli soldier when he saw me taking a picture of an Israeli tank. I saw an interview with a Holocaust survivor who doesn’t support the illegal occupation of Palestine and was abused because of it. I saw an IDF soldier pointing a gun at an old woman because she stepped over a line. She was waiting in line at the Jordanian / Israeli border. I saw a Jewish-Israeli Journalist being tormented by her fellow Israelis. I met Craig Corrie, the father of Rachel Corrie, a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement in the Occupied Territories, who was killed by a Caterpillar D9 armoured bulldozer operated by the Israel Defense Forces in the Gaza Strip while courageously trying to prevent the demolition of a Palestinian home.

Just this week, my 18 year old cousin Yxxxx and 12 year old cousin Mxxxx, who live in the West Bank, have been severely hurt by the occupation. Israel dumps their nuclear and chemical waste in Palestinian lands especially in the southern parts of the West Bank. Through their drinking water my cousins have been exposed to this waste and are now suffering from severe health problems.

You discuss in your class the issues of suicide bombing. I do not agree with the act, for I don’t believe innocent people should be killed at all, but I understand why people do it. This is an ethnic cleansing you don’t know about.

ONE MORE THING! The assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin on Nov. 4, 1995, by right-wing Israeli extremist network was on account of Rabin accepting the accords and Arafat accepting them as well. Not wanting to budge from their illegal settlements, Israelis killed him. They didn’t like the guy very much. Menachem Begin became the first right-wing Prime Minister just after Rabin’s murder. Hmmm.

BUUUUT of course it is I who is brainwashed by the Palestinian media; and it is you who has been to Palestine and Israel and isn’t brainwashed by American media. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

If we clipped away all the drivel, silliness, foolishness, nonsense, and lies - we wouldn't have much to read. Six words - I do not teach this class.

stupid things