Lack of Air Conditioners

For a school that gets money from the city and gets money from fundraisers and other events, we have a sever lack of AC's. There are probably only around 20 working C's in the school, with over half of them being located in the offices and dean's rooms. Students have to deal with sweltering classrooms and are trying to learn, without any AC's to help the cause. It is very hard to concentrate in a hot classroom, and I bet grades would be better in a less hot and oppressive environment. If the schools used a little more money to provide many classrooms with AC, it would help bring up the morale of students during the very hot months of the year.

Strike a bad pose

It's that time of year again, when girls wear dresses and think it's time for a photo shoot. These girls forget how to act. They take up the hallways, the staircases, the doorways, and just about everywhere else in school they can take a picture with "good lighting." Nobody cares about how you look in your dress. Most of you don't even look good in them. there is plenty of space outside the school to do this, and not make other people late for class and crowd the hallways. So please take this PSA and end this stupidity.

Midwood Football

In this school, there is a large emphasis on the football team. They get different schedules, more resources, and more time in the gym than other teams. This is unfair because there are a bunch of teams in the school that deserve recognition. This isn't the NCAA where certain sports teams get privileges based on the revenue they produce. This is high school sports where all teams should be treated fairly, especially a team that has under-performed over the past few years. Students become upset when there is such a difference in how they're treated compared to other students in the school. This should be changed to make sure that the school runs as smoothly as possible.

Lack of college counselors

     I think that it is absurd that there is only two counselors for almost 1000 students. It takes months to get an appointment and when you do it is only for 45 minutes. They rush you through and you barely have time to get any of your questions and concerns. It concerns me because I still don't have an appointment myself. by the time I can get an appointment, it will already be time to give my applications in. This is the unfortunate fact for many students here at Midwood.

No Extra Credit

May and June are the two months of the year where students need extra help for their final grades. Factors such as nice weather, longer days, and the end of the school year cause students to procrastinate and slack off. To counter these issues, students often need extra credit to boost their grades up before the final grades get put in. One problem with this is that many teachers do not offer extra credit. This leaves students in a space where they have no possible way to get their grades up, which is an even bigger problem for juniors who need to send their grades to colleges. I know that giving extra credit is additional and unneeded work for teachers, but it is not that much that they shouldn't be offering any at all. Students would appreciate certain teachers a lot more if they gave extra credit to help students boost their grades.

Auditorium Seats

The school auditorium should be a welcoming place for students and visitors to watch performances that are put on but the appearance of the auditorium makes it less pleasing to sit for long periods of time. The seats in the auditorium are broken, ripped apart and uncomfortable. Some rows are missing seats and some are falling apart, some don't even have covers and you end up sitting on the shedding foam from the seats that ends up everywhere. The cloth covered foam also creates a living space for bed bugs and other disgusting bacteria and bugs. They need to be renovated for safety purposes and convenience.

Phones in classrooms

Most students bring cell phones with them to school. This leaves the school to  set some rules on it while other ones don't allow it altogether. There are problems that occur with having students have cell phones with them in school but there are advantages to it as well. Students are not allowed to have phones in class because it could be disruptive for the peers and the teacher. It is also rude to take out your phone while the there is a lesson being taught. However, some teachers take it to the extreme and look at phones as such a negative, that is understandable with students taking advantage. Phones are  used in school to cheat on tests and quizzes, by taking a picture of the test and sending it to your friend. There are positives to having a cell phone in school and one being kids are able to communicate with their parents and let them know what is going on. For example there could be an emergency and the student needs to contact their parent. Most phones today come with a camera and that is beneficial for assignments involving photo projects. It is also helpful when a student needs to search some information up. There are upsides and downsides with having a cell phone in class, teachers should take into consideration the positives too when they set up their rules on cell phones being used.

Tests and Work during AP week

AP week is a stressful week especially for those taking multiple tests but along with that, students still have their regular everyday school work to do as well. Piles of work during that week can have a student too stressed. It also takes away from studying for the AP tests. During the few days the exams are being held, teachers should delay giving tests and give a little less homework. Although it can slow down the curriculum, it is important that those taking AP exams do well on them. Non- AP classes are just as important as APs but is unreasonable to have students studying for AP tests and then come back to take multiple tests and do hours of homework.

Too Much Work

Towards the end of the school year, teachers seem to pile on work for no apparent reason. Especially in the case of the juniors, this extra work causes a lot of unnecessary stress. Juniors need to focus on SAT's, ACT's, finals, and AP exams, all while teachers are throwing work at them that isn't needed. Most of this work is added because teachers need to put in grades to have something to show for a semester in their class, but giving a majority of the work in the end of the year isn't good because it is a time where students have the most pressure to perform. A smart alternative to giving a lot of work in the end of the year would be to distribute the workload as evenly possible over the semester, or to modify the end of the year work to make it less taxing on already stressed students. However teachers decide to fix this problem, they should do it quickly because they are hurting students.

No Eating in the Library

Many times throughout the week, kids in the library are told to leave because they are eating. This is unfair because kids should be able to eat a quick snack if they get hungry. I understand that there is a lunchroom for a reason but the lunchroom is hot, smelly, and gets very loud at times. If kid is quietly doing their work in the library, they should be able to eat a little snack, but not a full on lunch. The librarians enforce  this rule as if their life depends on it and they force kids to leave the library for something as little as eating a granola bar or apple slices. I would like to see this rule changed because everyone would be much happier if they did not have to hide eating their food or get kicked out for a minor infraction.

No Wifi

Students in Midwood are constantly using their phones during the day whether it's to text their friends in between classes, for entertainment during a free period or to do homework or search something up. Since the wifi is blocked from student access, using their phones can increase data and creates a costly bill. If there was a free accessible wifi for just students, it would reduce the issue especially since students spend most of their day at school. Although students aren't supposed to be using their phones during class, sometimes they are allowed to use them during free periods and when permitted by teachers so it would be useful to have a wifi for those times.

dinosaur computers

Here at Midwood, we are stuck in the Stone Age. We use computers that are extremely outdated that are the equivalent to using a typewriter in my opinion. Most other schools have macs, specifically schools with bad reputations and with students that under perform. Why do they get rewarded for producing a sub par product? I don't understand why this is. It is time for something to be done about this. I say that we petition to the board of ed to get new computers and technology in our schools. With this new equipment, I can guarantee that  student will do better in classes, and have better attendance since they will have something to look forward to by coming to class.

Too early

Starting school at 7 a.m. everyday can take a toll on many students. Many of the students live far from the school and have to wake up as early as 4:30 A.M to make it to school on time. Getting enough hours of sleep is important for the growing body and students are not getting enough making it hard to function in school for 8 hours. Waking up in the morning when it is still dark to make sure you get ready, have breakfast, which many students don't have time for, and make it to school on time. Many students also have to rely on public transportation to get to school, so they have to plan out their timing accordingly to make it on time.Also, hours of homework after school has students staying up late hours to finish it. By the end of the week, students are exhausted.

Annoying people at schedule meetings

     Every semester we have to go meet our guidance counselors to discuss our programs for the next term. Without fail, there is always someone that has to waste everyone's time at these meetings. Most of the time, you have to miss class for these meetings. If everyone cooperates they take about 15 minutes and you can get back to class. But there is always one person who asks for 6 aps and makes a guidance counselors day. They then have to argue with the student and get it across to them that they are not going to be able to handle that many aps, better yet, that they will not get into that many aps. Now once that person leaves, we have to hear the counselor rant about kids who are a pain. So, as you can see, some kids are just ridiculous at these program meetings and need to waste peoples time elsewhere.

Bad Schedules

         Many times in students' Midwood careers, they are faced with poorly created schedules. There have been many instances where schedules start too early, start too late, contain two lunches, contain two gyms, or a combination of all of those problems. This is a major inconvenience for kids because it throws the whole flow of their day off. It is unfair for kids to be placed in classes they don't belong in or make the kids stay in school for longer than they need to be in. On top of these issues, it is almost impossible for kids to get their schedules changed after it is messed up. So many kids have these crazy schedules and when they go to get it fixed, there's a major backup and it takes a very long time for the changes to finally be put into place. This is an unfortunate problem that if it were fixed would make people's lives a lot easier.

Dumb boards

The smart boards in the school never seem to work. Whether it is the actually board, the computer, the projector, or the speakers, there is always a problem. Throughout my time in Midwood, I have heard almost all my teachers rant about smart boards. This is really annoying. Instead of spending time on doing something meaningful, we have to hear their nonsense. One time, the entire smart board crashed in my classroom. My teacher was using her personal computer because the computer attached to it was already not working. This lead to her computer crashing too. She absolutely flipped out. We wasted the entire period hearing her talk about how nothing works in this school when we had a test the next day and were supposed to do a review. This infuriated me. So as you can see, we need to do something about these so called "smart" boards.

Hygiene Care

As the warmer weather approaches, personal and hygienic care should be a students priority in Midwood. Midwood is an overcrowded school so as you walk from class to class in the hallway you are bound to smell different odors, and for the most part it's not pleasant. Students should be advised to shower, use deodorant, brush their teeth and wash their clothing. This would make a day at Midwood more pleasant during the warmer months. Practicing good hygiene is important because it helps with self confidence and self care.

The Midwood Oven

     This school is without a doubt one of the hottest buildings in the entire city. In the first month of school, the school is almost unbearable due to the hot temperatures and lack of air conditioners. The building is overcrowded and the heat from the students make the school feel even worse. The winter is just as bad because the school blasts the heat and it feels like we are inside of an oven. The dry heat from the radiator gives people headaches and makes it hard to concentrate. Spring is the worst season because the school still keeps the heat on and combine that with the rising temperatures, the heat inside of the building is oppressive. Students would be happier to come to school and much more willing to learn if this problem was changed and the schools temperatures were regulated better.

AP Info Sessions

I have an issue with the way that AP classes give out their information to students who are looking to join the classes. They are always done in very short time periods and the rooms become very overcrowded. It is difficult to listen to the information being presented because kids are always talking and not giving their full attention to the teachers who are describing the courseload.  I know this sounds like a problem with the kids who are applying for the classes but I think it would make more sense for teachers to give out websites where kids go online during their spare time and research the AP for themselves. This will weed out the kids who actually want to take the AP versus kids who just go to the meetings to hang out with their friends or get out of class. Putting the information online will also cause kids to stay in class and not miss time to go listen to the teachers talk about the AP's when they can just find the information at home. If the teachers decide to go this route to promote their AP's I feel like it would help with the process greatly.

Math grading policy

I have a problem with how the math department has set up their grading policy. Tests are worth 80% of our grade. So basically, if you get a bad grade on one test, you're screwed for the whole semester. Then you have to get very good grades on the rest of your tests to try and salvage the year. Also, homework is only worth 10%'of our grade. That isn't fair since most teachers give a ridiculous amount of homework. This needs to fixed asap.

Overcrowding in the hallways

Due to Midwood accepting a large amount of kids, the overcrowding in the hallways has increased. There are people bumping and pushing each other making it harder to get to class. People stop in the middle of the hallway to talk to their friends causing traffic. There is five minutes to get to class and coming from the third floor annex to the opposite side of the building takes more time sometimes. It's disruptive and inconsiderate to other classmates that have to get to class. Once in a while a fight breaks out, people stop and stare. They end up not going to class because they don't want to miss it. The Midwood officers regulate the hallways, however it's not as useful as it should be.

Boys Bathrooms

This entire year the boys bathrooms in this school have been closed for extended periods of times during they day. This is a problem because in a school that has over 1,000 male students, the bathrooms need to be open at all times.Our school has four boys bathrooms, two in the main building and two in the annex, and a good amount of none of those bathrooms are open. Also, the bathrooms are consistently closed in between periods, which seems like the best time for students to use the bathroom because if they use it in between periods they won't have to use the bathroom during class and miss schoolwork. When the bathrooms are open, they aren't clean and there are never any paper towels for hand drying or soap for hand washing. The overall cleanliness and the fact that they are rarely open make going to the bathroom a very unpleasant experience.

Lunchroom Food

Throughout the day, students in school get hungry and are looking for a quick meal in the lunchroom but usually get their appetite ruined by the food options provided. The food served sometimes looks inedible and smells weird. Variety is limited as well so students eat pizza with milk which doesn't sound like an appealing combination to most. Some students in this school depend on school lunch to feed them and the unappealing food can make them not want to eat it anymore which isn't a healthy choice. The food served isn't nutritious most of the time and we are unaware of how long it has been stored.