I was playing a game on my computer when my mom walked in. She was carrying a paper with a concerned look on her face. She had my midterm report card. It was filled with some A's, but mostly C's and D's. So I sat there wondering, "Does your midterm report card really reflect what your final grade is going to be?" I don't think it does, for many reasons. My midterms have displayed similar things to this, but I always scrape away with an A in the end. There's many things that you can do to bring your grade up. There's make-up work, because most people aren't in school every single day it is in session. They might be at a dance competition, or in an assembly, or on a club field trip. There's also extra credit that most of the teachers I have don't offer until towards the end of the term. Sometimes looking at the midterms will make people realize that mistakes have been made in Powerschool(the grades program). I truly don't believe that your midterm grades reflect your final ones, unless you are a total slacker. If you are, then I guess that is what you deserve.

Lately, I've been wondering what has happened to Mountain View athletics. We used to be the best in the state in almost every sport. What has happened? We only won one game in football and one in basketball. I think it partly has to do with letting go Coach Houle. Why did we let go the best cross-country coach in the nation? He brought fame to Mountain View, and we just shoved it in his face. I think it also has to do with the coaching staff. I know I'm trodding on dangerous ground here, but I think it's true, from what I've heard. You do have to wonder why Coach Meek is resigning. I think it's because he's lost all hope. I think that's what he did during the season. When a coach doesn't care or loses hope, the players will also. They won't have anyone to lean onto. I don't think it's the players. I think we still have the same amount of talent we had in our glory years, we just don't have the coaches to use it. For those that follow the BYU football team, the same thing happened. Gary Crowton just didn't know how to use the talent thta was present on the team. I don't give blame to the basketball coach. If I'm correct, it is his first year being a head coach. I don't think anyone knows exactly why Mountain View athletics is dying, but one thing is for sure, something needs to be done about it.

With the upcoming UBSCT test, I find myself in a predicament. I take a early morning college class from 6:45 am to 7:50 am. My first period teacher is Mr. Clark, who also teaches at BYU. Because of the UBSCT and change in schedule, he's making me and dozens of other students come at 6:30 in the morning to class. I thought, Shouldn't there be some law against this? It's requiring a student to go to something, which he/she will be penalized if absent, when school isn't in session. It's not even for a band class. I think it's totally wrong. Not only are we having class at 6:45, we're taking a test also. Everyone knows that taking a test in the wee hours of the morning can affect how you perfom on the test. I think that there has to be a District rule against this. Someone should take some action against it, because I think it's wrong.

How the Pettigrinch stole Christmas

I’ve noticed over my school career that many teachers like to give extra homework over breaks and such. I’ve always wondered why this is the case. Do they enjoy in torturing us to the point of insanity or stressing us out to the point of being almost suicidal? We see breaks as being days off of school, not days where we don’t have to go to school, but we have so much homework that we might as well have had to go to school. I don’t think teachers realize that we have 7 other teachers that will be giving just as much or more homework for the break. One teacher in particular was my 10th grade English teacher, Mrs. Pettigrew. I nicknamed her Mrs. Pettigrinch, because everyone, including myself, seriously thought her heart was two sizes too small. She gave us so much homework that we almost became suicidal. She liked to give us more homework over breaks. I don’t think some teachers realize that we need to have some rest from the stress that school brings into our lives. It’s very unhealthy. The reason administration gives breaks is not to give teachers an excuse to assign more homework but to allow students some breathing time. It’s so ridiculous that I almost believe there should be limits placed on the amount of homework a teacher can give, or maybe no homework over the breaks.