Poland- Realistic or Imaginary?

1 Mote Gur
Holon
December 3, 2009

Mrs. Gilat Simon
Kugel High-School Principal's Office
1 Mote Gur street
Holon

Dear Ms.Gilat Simon,

I am writing to you because I wish to complaign(sp.) about the requested price for the trip to Poland. I personally know a significant amout of students that wish to join the trip but can't afford the high costs.

On the one hand, you cliam that the trip to Poland is highly important and is a MUST for every student, but on the other hand, the price you name is way beyond what most students can afford. The trip's duration is 8 days. I think that if I go by myself I will pay much less than the price you name. Because of all that, I am starting to believe that, maybe, the trip isn't organized and planned efficiently enough. I truly believe that if you really want to help you can pull some strings and lower the price significantly.

This trip is an important journey to our nation's history. I believe every student should be given an opportunity to go on this journey. Seeing all those students that can't fulfill this desire to experience, explore and learn because of an unrealistic price, truly makes me upset. I'm sure that if some efforts are made, the price will go down significantly and I'm sorry that nothing is being done about that.


The problem being said and explained, the next step is to arrange a special comittee in the ministry of education that would examine the problem and eventually offer solutions. After that, I truly expect that some changes will be made in order to reach the goal which is- lowering the price.


Thank you for reading this letter.

Truly yours,
Kobi.


Excellent work. You are really improving.
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Daphna

George Stoyonovich is the main charachter in the story "A Summer's Reading". He is a 20 year old unemployed young man that(ww. - who) lives with his father and sister. He dropped out of school at the age of 16 and hadn't(gr.) done much since then.

The fact that he dropped out of school and hasn't been able to progress in life for the last 4 years, shows that he is probably imature, lazy and dependant. He comes from a non-usual(ww.) family, his mother's(is) out of the picture and (his) father doesn't seem to be involved in his life. His sister, on the other hand, helps him and tries to push him to do something with himself. George grew up in a low-class neighborhood, the apartments were small and moldy, the train was right besides them and the general atmoshpehere was somewhat home-like(what do you mean? How is this poor, low class neighborhood home-like?).

As mentioned before, George dropped(out of) high-school early and hadn't(gr.) done much since then. He doesn't have any sort of diploma or work experience. The least thing he can do is reading(gr.) and enriching(gr.) his knowledge, but it seems like he is caught in a routine of doing nothing and finds it very difficult to do something productive. At some points of the story we can see that Mr.C gets very close to george. It seems like Mr.C really manages to get into George's head and even influence him. His sister is also helpful in her own way. The fact that she motivates George by telling him the truth in front of him(phr.) drives him to change his condition(not accurate).

Although I believe that we are the ones responsible for our own future and George is the main one to blame for his condition, I feel compassion for him. When he dropped out, he was only a kid, a teenage boy who didn't know crap(phr.) about life. He didn't get any support at all, not(ww. - neither) from his friends and not(ww.- nor) from his family. His life was(gr.) rough, and he isn't the only one to blame. George, obviously, did many mistakes in his life. The biggest one was that he didn't find a way to progress his life. he didn't get a steady job or basic education and after 4 valuable years he ended up doing nothing. I hope he will end up reading those 100 books, like he promised, and finally get a job, earn some money, try to progress. I certainly believe he'll do just fine.

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Daphna

Please correct your work. The whole point of our work is to learn from mistakes...

Daphna.

The Eyes of the Dragon

"The Eyes of the Dragon" was written by Stephen King and published in 1987. It's a fantasy book that describes a "classic" battle between good and evil. The story takes place whithin a kingdom called "Delain". It's written and told from a perspective of an unnamed story teller. The story is full of struggles and battles, scams and conspiracies and of course, a lot of magic.


There are 5 main characters involved in the story- King Roland, Queen Sasha, Prince Peter, Prince Thomas and the magician and king's advisor, Flagg. Right at the beggining of the story we witness Flagg's evil ambitions, his goal is to take control of the kingdom. He starts with his succesful attept to end queen Sasha's life while she's giving birth to Thomas and contiues with the poisoning of King Roland. The two princes develop into 2 complete different men. Prince Thomas who is intelligent, wise and handsome and Thomas who is chunky and clumsy.


The turning point of the story occures when King Roland is poisioned and Prince Peter (is) framed for the murder. Peter is sent to a tall tower and Prince Thomas, the younger brother, recieves the throne. Due to his very young age, 12, it seems that it is much easier for Flagg to manipulate him and get the kingdom's condition to relapse. Peter finally finds a creative way to escape the prison and take back the throne he deserves. After a long struggle, the two brothers overpower Flagg and he flees. From that event, it seems that the power balance changes; the good seems to overpower the evil.


In my opinion, the book is very well written, although it took me time to get used to the writing because I'm not used to read fantasy stories. The characters are well written and the story manages to keep up at a good pace. One fact (that) did disturb me though, is that the book seems like it was written for children; The "classic" villain that tries to gain power by manipulations and the "classic" hero, that opposes him and tries to eliminate his ambitions. Sadly, I felt the story wasn't sophisticated and intensive enough for me, but it was good and well written anyway.

Much better, Kobi. I enjoyed your review.
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Daphna

Healthy Food

Nutrition has always been an issue for most of us in our daily life. Our eating habits- whether we eat healthy or unhealthy food- are very important to us. But for others maybe not. Recently conducted studies show that there is a connection between the food we eat and our behavior. The question we're facing is whether food manufacturers are responsible for producing healthier food or not. I believe they are.


Let's take a school for example. It is a crowded institution, teenagers eat there every day. Their behavior can easily detiriorate by the smallest veriable. They can get violent and cause damage to the enviroment and themselves, and the food they eat can be a great factor to their behavior. Most of the food we eat today is processed by food manufacturers. That food is fortified with sugar, fat and other unhealthy additives. Therefore, it is possible to say that those food manufacturers have a great responsibility over us and our children, in particular.

Another example is prisons. Prisons tend to be very violent places. Giving the inmates healthier and sugarless food might cause a great improvment to their behavior. Therefore, producing healthier food by the manufacturers for the prisoners can do great and even save lives.

Some people might say that we are the ones responsible for the food we eat. I find that argument weak because a very big precentage of the food available to us is processed by manufacturers. They can't tell us to eat healthier food if there isn't any.

To sum up, I believe that food manufacturers must be held responsible for the food they produce. Those corporates have a big responsibility over our society. If they begin producing healthier food, their sales and profits will go up and make our world a better place. So it's a win-win situation.

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Daphna

10 Mote Gur Street
Holon

September 19, 2009

The Editor
Ha'aretz
P.O Box 28
Holon

Dear Editor,

Concerning the article you wrote about the Iranian and Israeli power balance, I'd like to express my support for Israel. I believe, as an Israeli, that Israel must not put itself under even the smallest existence risk. I can feel that Israel's right to attack Iran is justified and an all-out escalation is very likely to appear.

To begin with, Iran's president, Ahmenigad keeps wishing the destruction of Israel in every speech or interview. Being constantly threatened that way gives Israel legitimecy to strike Iran. I stronly believe that preperations are being made right now and an airstrike is very close, likely to appear between 2010-2011.

Concerning your opinion, I completely agree with most of your assumptions although I disagree with your statement that you think that sanctions will be able to stop Iran from its ultimate goal. Iran is few months away from a nuclear bomb, even the most severe sanctions will not be able to prevent it from getting its hands on a bomb. They have the knowledge, all they need is the time.

Therefore, I believe a strike is the ideal solution, it is likely to appear in a year or so and end Iran's ambitions for nuclear power.

Kobi Tavdish

Iran- nuclear power. How close?

Iran has been developing its nuclear technology since 1996. Nowadays, relying on foreign estimations, Iran is several months away from achieving enough nuclear power for a single bomb.

Israel has been trying for years to delay, sabotage and even prevent Iran's efforts to gain such power. It starts from activating secret undercover Mossad agents and opening straw companies to pressuring the international community to increase its economic embargo on Iran.

So far, it looks like it was all for nothing, Iran is closer than ever to have the capability of launching a nuclear bomb. The last and least favored option by the majority leaders of the west is the military strike on the nuclear facilities. Examining the events that occured not so long ago- the Israeli flag submarine, the "Dolphin", set off to the red sea through the Suez canal along with a powerful Israeli missile boat- can give us clues to estimate that a military strike may be closer than ever.

In this article we can see that Israel's prime minister, Netanyahu, urges the international community to worsen the sanctions on Iran, probably a step of last resort before the last option appears on the table.

I believe that a military strike along with a wide Middle-East escalation is to happen somewhere between 2010 and 2011. Economical and social sanctions don’t seem to appear in the near future and Iran achieving a bomb is unavoidable. A wide military conflict is likely to appear, Israel vs. Iran and its extensions- Hezbollah and Hamas.

The next steps Israel will take shall determine the future of the Middle-East.

Very good.

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http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1114452.html

Middle-East

There is some growing interest now in the Middle East's Israeli-Palestinian conflict since Obama's administration kicked in. Netanyahu's government is trying to do anything to delay or gain some time or even get any leverage on the American pressure being put on him.

In the last few months there have been some intense talks about the conflict and the results of those are the softening in Netanyahu's demands. In this article we can see the results of the American growing pressure over him. He says "Israel is ready to restart talks", meaning he's willing to get back to the negotiation table with the Palestinian "leader" Abu- Mazen.

But that’s not all; one of the most important demands is over the continuation of the building of the settlements beyond the green line. One of Bibi's promises to his voters was that he wouldn't give up to any pressure from any country concerning the settlements and here we can see his softening and willingness to adjust his demands with whatever he sees fit.

I believe he is doing the right thing. Obama is young and ambitious and that’s good but he's also naïve, he knows nothing about the tension and the complexity of the middle-east. He thinks that with his speeches and charming smile he can fix the world but unfortunately, it is a bit more complicated than that.

http://jta.org/news/article/2009/09/13/1007809/netanyahu-israel-ready-to-restart-talks

Good work!

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School Uniform

School uniform has always been a major part of an educational system. During its history is has been subjected to many for and against arguments. Some educators believe it's unnecessary and others that believe that it is a must.

There are a lots of problems that S.U solve; first, it saves a lot of time in the morning. It requires a lot of precious time in the morning for teenagers to decide what to wear. That particular time is very valuable because most of us don’t have even few free minutes in the morning. The School uniform is also cheap, very cheap actually, relatively to normal clothes. Today we live in a society which consumes. We buy everything, we love buying brand clothes and we are affected by our friends. There are some students that can't afford expensive or even average clothing but they can afford the cheap school uniform. It saves a lot of money for the parents, who are struggling enough, probably.

The mentioned advantages can turn into disadvantages very easily. It is said that the school uniform prevents students from expressing themselves, every student has his own "style" and he expresses himself by it. So, taking it from him, his probably one of few ways of expressing himself and making him unique, is pretty cruel. As a student that wears his school uniform daily, I think that it is very ugly and uncomfortable. I like wearing good quality clothes that look good and comfortable to me.

To sum up, there are many advantages and disadvantages regarding the importance of SU.

I believe school uniform is necessary and should be used by every school in the country because of the reasons mentioned above.

The relationship

The 2 main and probably the only characters of the story are Burge McCall himself and his wife.

In my opinion Burge is somehow a humoristic character. He hates his wife. What kind of a husband would hate his wife and yet live with her under the same roof? This is very ironic. The story says that he has been married twice before and unsurprisingly his ex-es ran away from him and got divorced. He was also very cheap with his wife. He didn't agree to buy her any presents or treats, but was very generous with himself and other women. He was stingy, selfish, self-centered, rude, impolite and probably every other negative characteristics you can imagine. Mrs. McCall was very different, she was very calm person, never had much to say, she was that kind of woman the other women always called Mrs. because not many people knew her. She was tagged by the town's people as Mrs. McCall. At the end we can see that she was very smart too, she made plans for the long term and she succeeded. She came from Peppersauce Bottom, just south of Santa Fe rail yards. She came from a poor place and it is said that the reason she married him was to get out of that place.

They had been together for 3 years and 4 months and for a year and 2 months he didn’t like the way she looked at him. He started hating his wife, which is very unnatural for a couple's relationship. She was very quiet; she didn't even answer him when he called her names. It was very odd for him. He was used to women that called him names right back when he called them.

The way Mrs. McCall looked at him made him start hating her after only 2 months of marriage. Until one day, after 2 years of marriage, Burge McCall slapped Mrs. McCall on the face. She rapidly wiped out the place he slapped her and said "McCall you are a big rat. Some day you are going to regret what you have done". Burge was somewhat disappointed with her reaction. She didn't curse him or slapped him back.

One day Burge dropped into the drug store, which was owned by Mrs.Mcalls brother, to get a drink. The druggist there told him that his wife bought rat poison. At first he wasn't nervous but after a while he realized that the rat she was looking for might be him. He became very worried and began to eat and drink outside. He feared she might use the poison on him and kill him. He started behaving nicely to her because he was afraid and from that point their relationship just got better.

I think that their relationship is very funny and ironic. Most of the "just married" couples begin to get sick and tired of each other after some years of marriage. But the McCall's relationship started very badly and just got better with time. It is funny because the one and only thing that turned their relationship upside down was a simple pound of rat poison.

HomeWork- Important or

Homework has always been a big part of a student's life, whether he is in elementary school or college. During our lives we spent tens of thousands of hours in preparing homework. Is it really necessary? Does making homework give us tools for success in our lives, or a better chance in achieving our goals? Personally, I doubt that.

It is our job to ask ourselves if it is really necessary or just a waste of time. I personally believe that homework is mostly unnecessary especially in elementary school and middle school. During that period of studying grades aren't the most important outcome, it is us, who we become,whether we are good, honest, kind or greedy, cocky or whatever. Middle school should work on our values and less on grades. In order to support that claim I am willing to give myself as an example. I am a product of 9 years without preparing any homework and I think I came out just fine for the later stages of my education- High School.

Concerning high school my opinion is different; I think that high school is all about having good grades. Unfortunately, success in high school has the potential to give us a great leverage in our lives and that's exactly why homework is important at this stage of our education because doing homework expands our chances of having better grades.

To sum up, homework is very important and yet a very unnecessary task. In some stages of our lives it is unavoidable and even recommended and in others it is just a waste of time.

Space Exploration- Enriching our knowledge or Wasting our resources?

Space exploration has always been a central and well funded field of the 2 super powers in the world. Nowadays it seems that the United States is far more advanced and efficient in this area than Russia. Hundreds of millions of dollars are being invested in this field for research. Is it really worth it? Do we get anything else in return? Maybe we can invest that amount of money to improve the world's welfare situation. There are some arguments which might help us take better decisions.

Before stating the normal and obvious arguments, I believe that space exploration has been a part of a race.

A race between the 2 great superpowers in the world, this race is called the cold war and space exploration took a significant part in it. Space exploration isn't only about the research and the knowledge of space. Having achievements in it comes with a great feel of honor and prestige. And that is why those 2 superpowers raced between themselves for 4 decades and the winner received the honor and the respect it deserved. Fortunately, Space exploration isn't only about the honor and "fame", it's also about the research of the history and the future of our galaxy and universe. A Big part of the knowledge gained in this field is used to improve our quality of life on Earth. I believe those areas aren't less important than fame and glory.

Travelling to space has its disadvantages too. During the history of space travelling a lot of accidents occurred on the shuttles and 2 of them were fatal- they caused explosions.1 of them exploded after a few seconds of flight and the other while trying to get back to Earth. In the second one we lost our beloved Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon. Space exploration is not only risky but expensive too. Success in this business comes with huge amounts of money paid from us- the tax payers; the question we're facing is if we, as human beings, can tolerate any kind of ignorance with the current undergoing issues such as the economy crysis, global warming etc . Imagine if all the money that was spent on space projects was invested in improving upcoming issues on Earth, such as welfare problems, environment problems, political issues etc. , we could have had much better and healthier lives.

To sum up, I agree that space exploration is very important and we should finance it and push this field to success and achieve knowledge but, there are more important issues on Earth we should put in our top priority list. If necessary, we should put the space projects on hold and concentrate on the upcoming recession.

Peer Pressure

As a teenager in today’s world, I can see that our lives are a constant product of peer pressure and that our minds are often swayed from what may be considered better judgment because of how those around us feel. Peer pressure can come from any and everywhere and in every aspect of your lives. You can be five or ninety-five but yet, we are all victims of peer pressure. I would like to talk about one specific area which includes me and my friends, the adolescents, and express my opinion.

Before expressing my opinion I think I should clarify one thing.Peer pressure isn’t always negative and wrong. In certain parts and periods of our lives we will be exposed to positive and helpful peer pressure and in others to the exact opposite. It is our "job" to select the ones we need or think will be good for us.

During our studies in high school we are constantly exposed to peer pressure, positive and negative. The real question isn't about the specific details of the pressure such as "alocohol", "smoking", "cutting classes" etc. The real question is about US. Whether or not we can select and tag what we believe is good or bad for us.

For exmaple: few days ago a good friend asked me to cut bible class with him and a couple of guys. I answered negatively simply because I liked the subject and there was a test coming few weeks from then. One more example: There was an essay our biology teacher told us to write and needed to be handed very soon. I planned to write the essay on the last evening before it needed to be handed out, but my partner pushed me to do it right then and not to postpone it for the last day.

These are 2 examples of peer pressure. The first one is by all means a negative pressure and the first one is positive. What I'm trying to say is that at one hand we should stay far from pressure which is tagged by us as negative and on the other hand get the closest we can to pressure which we believe is positive. This is the only way I believe we will do the least mistakes and even succeed in our lives.

Letter of Advice

29.1.2009

Dear Mike,

I've recently heard about your problem and I want to tell you that I understand it. I have already been in situations like this before and I have passed through them successfully. If I understood correctly your letter, you were saying that you are unsure about that mountain climbing and your friends are "pushing" you to do this. Right?

I can see that you're facing two dilemmas. The first one, you are unsure about climbing that mountain and the second is about your friends, you feel under pressure, which is completely normal.

First of all I want to address your first problem. Danger is life. There is no proper living without any danger, in my opinion."Conquer your fear and I promise you, you'll conquer DEATH."- as Alexander the great said. I can't imagine myself living without danger...

Even if you get hurt somehow, you should know that you did your best and enjoyed that kind of experience. I mean, you will enjoy it, I can assure you! Mountain climbing is an extreme sport, it gets your adrenaline flowing like a water in a river in your blood stream. If you decide to relinquish it after all, I can tell you that you'll regret it for the rest of your life. This is a once in a lifetime experience you should do only with your friends supporting you.

Now, I'd like to state my opinion about your situation with your friends.I think that you should listen to them, but you must make sure that whatever happens, your judgment won't change in any circumstances. You must stay aware and consciouse of your enviroment and focus on the dilemmas you’re facing.

I can only wish you good luck and advice you to do whatever your instincts tell you to do. If deep inside you feel you should go for it, then go for it. DO NOT hesitate. Be decisive! But, if your instincts tell you to relinquish this unique experience, then unfortunately, I think you should pass that. Anyway, my opinion stays the same, If I were you I would be climbing that mountain already.

I hope I helped you.

Good luck PAL.

My opinion about the current situation in the middle east:

First of all, it isn't a simple problem, its one the most complicated and sensitive situations in the world's history. If I'd say that I have 'the perfect' solution for that problem I'd probably lie. There is no current 'formula' for a solution. In this case, I believe Isreal should work on damage control.

What does it mean? Israel should get its detteration ability back. We must force Hamas to believe that for every missile shot to Sderot or Ashkelon it will get back heavy bombardment to its forces in Gaza, in this way we will get some security.

I support IDF operations in Gaza with no hesitation and futhermore, I believe it should increase the fire and impose more deadly bombardents into those ammunation depots and training camps. This operation is unavoidable but necessary though. I don’t think a ceasefire will be appropriate for now because IDF hasn't accomplished its objectives yet. IDF should maintain its agression till Hamas will be as weak as it was before it took control of Gaza.

To sum up, I support the government decisions and IDF actions in Gaza and if I had a choice I'd put up some uniform and join the fighting in order to support my nation.