4 Ha'avoda Street
Holon
December 3, 2009

Mrs. Gilat Simon
Principal
Kugel high school,
1 Moti Gur street
Holon

Dear Madam,
Every year, your students are given the opportunity to be a part of an extremely significant and educational journey to Poland. I am writing because I wish to complain about the exaggerated price of the trip, which prevents a lot of students from attending this life changing journey.

This trip is known for its great relevance and importance to every teenager in Israel. Therefore, it is unfair that a large group of students, who cannot afford to go on that trip, has to cope with the unbearable feeling of missing that important journey. They hear about the trip's significant influence on their friends, knowing they cannot experience it themselves.

Moreover, it is against the democratic values that some of us are not able to go through this important journey just because of their financial state. Educating everyone equally is one of the main objectives of our country, and this journey is definitely one of the most important forms of education our school system is able to provide. Thus, I strongly believe the price should be lowered, since it is such a shame that it is preventing this valuable experience from those of us who cannot afford it.

In conclusion, I believe that the Journey to Poland is a Journey that has a great importance in our education, and therefore, should not be exclusive for those of us who have the means to pay for it. Such an activity should be at least partially funded by the Government, so that the price can be lowered. I hope you will do your best making this influential journey accessible for every student who wishes to take part in it.

I look forward to a prompt reply.

Yours truly,

Amir Zloter

Excellent, as always.

100

Daphna

George's Summer

George Stoyonovich is the main character of the story "A Summer's Reading". He is an unemployed drop out, who is struggling throughout the story in order to change his ways and bring himself to improve his life. I found George to be an interesting character and the process he goes through to be fairly important.

George is a twenty year old guy who lives in a lousy New-York neighborhood.Being a drop out,he finds it very difficult to find a job. He usually spends his time reading cheap magazines or wandering about the streets. His mother died when he was very young, and his father does not support him much. His sister, Sophie, tries to be supportive and be there for him, when she is not too busy financing the family on her own.

George has a very problematic personality. He is lazy, immature and very impatient, becoming sick and tired of everything he does very quickly. In spite of his difficult nature, he brings himself to change by the end of the story, and starts to educate himself, thanks to his neighbor, Mr. Cattanzara. Mr. C is a very important figure in George’s life, being the only one who shows interest in him. Thanks to him, positive rumors are spread around the neighborhood, making George much more confidant, and that eventually brings him to change.

At the beginning of the story, I did not see George as a character I could appreciate. I have always despised lazy people who didn’t work hard enough to achieve their goals. However,I started to like George as the story developed and by the end of it I learned to understand and identify with him. Therefore, this character is very important to me, and the ending of the story, where George does bring himself to change,has left me with a smile of contentment.

Excellent analysis.
(100)
Daphna

Peter Pan

"Peter Pan" is a fantasy book, written by J.M.Barry. Although it was written back in 1911, its thrilling and unique story has managed to remain well known and respected up until this day. The book is considered to be a children's book, but its message can relate to adults and youngsters alike. I found the book to be very inspiring, because of its important message, and the interesting issues it deals with.

The book centers around a teen-aged girl named Wendy, who leads a very joyful life, full of imagination and games, with her two younger brothers. One day, Wendy's father decides that Wendy has to grow up and stop living her immature life. It is then that a boy who hasn't grown up, Peter Pan, appears and takes Wendy and her brothers to a magical land named "Wonderland", in which one cannot grow old.

The book narrates the thrilling adventures of Peter, Wendy and her brothers in Wonderland. Those adventures help Wendy learn, along with the reader, how important it is to grow up and face responsibility. She learns how to value the adult world- an important message that everyone should learn.

I enjoyed every minute of reading the book. J.M.Barrie writes in a humorous way, making the reading extremely light and enjoyable, and the book's unique story and characters make it difficult to stop. Therefore, I dearly recommend the book for every person of any age.

Great!
(100)
Daphna

Unhealthy Food Products

Alice Brown, a nutritionist, claims that the way we eat influences our behavior and our mental health. According to her, the more we eat unhealthy food, such as white bread and sweet desserts, the more we become violent and impatient. The question is, whether or not food manufactures should be held responsible for the unhealthy food they produce.

I do not think that the manufactures should be held responsible for producing unhealthy food, because it is unreasonable to prevent them from producing it. Unhealthy food is purchased by an enormous amount of consumers, and preventing manufactures from selling it is sure to cause a great damage to their profits and harm the world's economy.

Moreover, people have the right to choose what they eat. I believe that the people, who choose to eat unhealthy food, are more to blame than the manufactures that produce it. Nowadays, there is a very wide variety of food products, and there should not be anything to stop consumers from purchasing the healthier brands. Therefore, if they choose to eat the less healthy food, it is the consumers’ choice, and they should be the ones to take responsibility for the consequences.

To conclude, I believe that blaming the food manufactures for the damage their unhealthy food causes is unfair, when the consumers are the ones who choose to buy it. I think that the consumers should be more health-conscious, and wise enough to choose their food properly.

100
Daphna

4 Ha'avoda Street
Holon

17 September,2009

Haaretz Newspaper
27 Eilat Street
Tel Aviv, Israel.

Dear Editor,

Concerning the article "The Ideology is Dead, Long Live The Deal!", published on April 14, reporting that the members of kibbutz Shefayim have voted to privatize the kibbutz, I would like to state that I strongly oppose that action. I see this as a rude abandonment of ideals.

That is because by privatizing the Kibbutz, the children that were raised in there and educated by the principles and values of a collective settlement get a mixed message. On the one hand, they have been educated to certain values of a kibbutz, and on the other hand, those values are being breached by the kibbutz itself. This might cause the children to become very insecure about their own beliefs in the future.

Moreover, when a kibbutz, a facility in which the values and ideals are so basic and important, decides to abandon it’s ideals for financial benefits, it says a lot about nowadays’ society. In the past, people were ready to die for their ideals, but nowadays, it seems like ideology does not mean much. I think that this phenomenon of abandoning ideologies that easily is very sad. It causes our life(lives) to be much less meaningful.

I, personally, do not approve of the socialistic ideology on which the Kibbutzim are based on. I do, however, approve of sticking to one’s ideals. Therefore, I believe that breaching kibbutz Shfayim’s ideology is wrong and hope that other strong ideals won’t be breached as well.

Yours truly,

Amir Zloter.

Excellent.

(100)

Daphna

The ideology is dead.

This essay is based on this article:
http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1078128.html

The news site of the "Haaretz" newspaper reported that members of one of the largest and richest kibbutzim in Israel, kibbutz Shefayim, have voted to privatize the kibbutz. This means that the Kibbutz will no longer be conducted according to the communal ideology. That action opposes to the ideology that the kibbutzim are based on. The kibbutzim are communal settlements, and the privatization is contrary to their essence.

I oppose that action. I see this as a rude abandonment of ideals. That is because by doing so, the children that were raised in the kibbutz and educated by the principles and values of a collective settlement get a mixed message. On the one hand, they have been educated to certain values of a kibbutz, and on the other hand, those values are being breached by the kibbutz itself. This might cause the children to become very insecure about their own beliefs in the future.

Moreover, when a kibbutz, a facility in which the values and ideals are so basic and important, decides to abandon it’s ideals for financial benefits, it says a lot about nowadays’ society. In the past, people were ready to die for their ideals, but nowadays, it seems like ideology does not mean much. I think that this phenomenon of abandoning ideologies that easily is very sad. It causes our life to be much less meaningful.

I, personally, do not approve of the socialistic ideology on which the Kibbutzim are based on. I do, however, approve of sticking to one’s ideals. Therefore, I believe that breaching kibbutz Shfayim’s ideology is wrong and hope that other strong ideals won’t be breached as well.

Well written!

Gilad Shalit

This essay is based on this article: (published in 25/6/09)
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3736846,00.html

Aviva Shalit, the mother of Gilad Shalit, the abducted solider, writes an open letter to the people of Israel. The letter was published on the news site "Ynet", marking three whole years of his capture. In this letter, Aviva refers to the “quiet demeanor” of her and her husband, around the subject of bringing their son back home. She criticizes the fact that not enough is being done to bring Gilad home, because she and Noam, Gilad’s father, do not create enough sensation around it.

In my opinion, Aviva and Noam should stop acting “quietly”. I believe that they should put more pressure on the government to act for Gilad’s return. I believe that not enough is being done for Gilad. It has already been three whole years since he was captured and the effort to bring him back hasn’t produced anything. I believe that if Aviva and Noam pressure the Israeli leadership more, it would help to haste the process. Moreover, I think that they should get more of the USA’s attention, and make them support the Israeli effort of bringing Gilad home .

It might seem like creating a huge public sensation around Gilad Shalit will cause Hamas to learn that kidnapping Israeli soldiers really “pays off”. They might think that by kidnapping, they can get a lot of their people, imprisoned in Israel, released. However, I believe that Gilad’s abduction has already created enough sensation, and that by putting more pressure on the government, Aviva and Noam would not cause Hamas’ demands to get worst, but only the government to act for his release.

To sum up, I believe that in order to put an end to the Shalit family’s suffering and longing to see their son’s face again, they have to pressure the Israeli and the American governments much more.

Excellent!

Hate Groups on Facebooks

Facebook, a very common site, originally created in order to provide a forum for people who want to communicate with each other over the net, has recently become a forum for hate groups. I strongly oppose this phenomenon, and believe that it should be stopped.

While some of us might see hate groups on Facebooks as a harmless joke, I believe that it is an awful use of technology that should be taken very seriously. That is because hate groups might hurt teenagers very deeply, and they might even be worse than real life social harassments. The reason is that on the net, information gets spread very quickly and to a very large audience. Therefore, once a hate group is opened against a teenager, he might become extremely helpless- he wouldn’t be able to stop it.

Moreover, this phenomenon might serve a very bad example. When posted on the net, a huge amount of people can learn from those hate groups how to humiliate their friends, and by that, expand this very negative phenomenon, and make much more teens suffer from it.

The ministry of education has chosen to deal with this problem by explaining teens about the rights and wrongs of Internet use, instead of actively punishing those who participate in those hate groups. I believe that their attitude is wrong. In my opinion, dealing with hate groups cannot be done with lectures alone, since nowadays, teens tend to not really pay attention to such preaching lectures. I believe that the treatment for this affair should be by direct punishments and not only by lectures and explanations.

In conclusion, I think that a dismissive attitude towards hate groups on Facebooks is terribly wrong, and that the ministry of education should be responsible for handling this awful affair. I think that this matter should be taken care of with the same severity as real life violence- direct punishments.

Very interesting and very well put. (95)
Daphna

School Uniforms

In almost every school students are obligated to wear a uniform. A lot of students find this requirement a very annoying one, while others find it very appropriate.

On the one hand, those who argue for school uniforms, claim that they contribute to eliminate the social differences between the students. Thanks to a uniform outfit, students do not have to be judged by the way they dress and their ability to afford fashionable appearances. Moreover, school uniforms help to save student’s time in the mornings. Students do not need to waste time on choosing what to wear when they are obligated to wear a permanent uniform.

On the other hand, most students feel that by being compelled to wear a certain uniform, their freedom of expression is harmed, since dressing the way you choose is a very important way of self-expression. Moreover, school uniforms depress each student’s individuality and create a very tense, military-like atmosphere at school. When everyone wears the same clothes, it creates an atmosphere of a lifeless place, much less appealing for the students to go to.

To conclude, there are opinions both for and against obligatory school uniforms. I, personally, do not see any outrageous negative influence caused by this obligation, and as long as it helps students with socio-economic difficulties feel more conformable going to school, I think it is a positive thing.

Excellent.
(100)
Daphna.

Mr. and Mrs. McCall

Mr. McCall is not a very appealing man with weird habits and an unpleasant mood. He is considered a lousy husband in his town,because of him being very stingy with his wife, and violently cruel with her. He is quite a childish man, seeking for his wife’s attention by fighting with her.

Mrs. McCall is a tall, thin woman. She is silent, remains cool and passive in spite of her husband’s cruel behavior. We can also tell that she isn’t that friendly with the townspeople, since they call her only by her last name. It is said in their town that the two married not out of love, but out of Mrs. McCall’s desire to leave her pitiable hometown.

At the beginning of the story the relationship between the two is horrible. Mr. McCall behaves thoughtlessly towards his wife by calling her names and even using violence against her. His wife, however, stays cool and silent and only gives him a guilt stimulating glance that makes him feel awkward. At this stage, it seems that they really share no love, and only make each other miserable.

The turning point in the story is where Mrs. McCall manipulatively makes her husband think that she is going to poison him as a revenge for his awful way of treating her. From that point, Mr. McCall begins to treat her nicely: he becomes more generous with her, more caring and less parasitic. For example, he takes her to the movies and to picnics and buys her generous gifts such as an expensive sealskin coat.

In my opinion, although Mrs. McCall has managed to make her husband treat her nicely, their marriage is still an awful mistake. I believe that marriage shouldn’t be out of such practical interests, such as getting away from a poor hometown, and that one should marry the one he loves.

Excellent, as always. (100)
Daphna.

Homework's necessity

Homework has always been a great example of a learning component that students cannot stand. Most students find homework an irritating task that kills their free time, while they don’t have a choice but to do it. Some students might compare it to slavery, as Ben Berrafato does, when he protests against it with such determination. However, I am not sure that students such as Ben truly understand the very logical objective that lies behind homework.

I believe that homework is necessary. I agree that it is quite absurd that students go to school every day in order to be taught there when they have to learn so much at home, but there is a reasonable objective behind this. Students gain knowledge at school, but the only way for the new knowledge to be assimilated is by practice. For example, a student may learn new material in math at school, but as long as he doesn’t try to deal with it on his own while practicing some exercises at home, he will never be able to solve those exercises in a test.

This kind of practice has to be done at home, because in the conditions of a classroom, such as the noise and the help of friends, one cannot really concentrate and practice his own ability to deal with the taught material.

I believe that as long as the given homework is in the right moderation, and is a reasonable practice for the material taught in class, it is a very essential component of learning. I don’t see it as slavery, since slavery is when your rights are being breached for the benefits of another person. When giving homework, school doesn’t benefit, and when given homework, the students’ rights aren’t being breached at all.


Very well put. You even succeeded in convincing me that homework is necessary.....
(100)
Daphna

Space exploration.

The mystery of outer space has always fascinated humanity. Nowadays, scientists from all over the world spend a lot of time and effort in order to explore this mystery. However, we still have other issues to concern about .This raises the question of whether we should keep developing space exploration, or concentrate on solving much more urgent matters first.

On the one hand, humans are very curious creatures, and Outer space is such an unknown, mysterious thing which might be containing breathtaking wonders. We might be very disappointed by letting such wonders remain unknown. Moreover, space exploration improves the quality of our life. For example: the GPS ,The Global Positioning System, that is commonly used today for navigation in private cars, was first invented for the use of space exploration.

On the other hand, space exploration is a very expensive business. Every little step in this field costs ridicules amounts of money, that could be invested in more urgent matters, such as the fight against terror or poverty. In addition, space exploration can be very dangerous. We can hear about a lot of cases in which young astronauts lost their lives tragically, while trying to explore space.

To conclude, space exploration is an important attempt to provide an answer for our growing curiosity, and I believe that even though it might be dangerous and too expensive, we should not let that fact kill our thrill of discovery. However, I do think that we should first concentrate on our more urgent issues, before investing so much effort into space exploration.

This is an excellent piece of work! (100)
Daphna.

Peer pressure

Peer pressure is a common phenomenon. Almost every one of us, teenagers and adults alike, are faced with complicated dilemmas, of whether or not to act as our peers do. Sometimes people choose to go blindly after the way their peers act, without even considering their own opinion or perspective. I believe that giving in to peer pressure like that is wrong.

Nowadays, we can hear about a lot of cases in which peer pressure influences people negatively. For example, we frequently hear about teenagers who are being dragged into using drags or drinking alcohol by their peers, and later regret it for the rest of their lives. The way I see it, if teenagers decide for themselves and don’t let others decide for them, they will prevent a lot of regretful actions.

Sometimes, peer pressure can be positive. For example, a lot of people start exercising and being concern about their health because of peer pressure. However, I still think that the fact that they do that just because others do, and not learn to think for themselves and distinguish between right and wrong is sad and problematic.

All in all, I believe that people should do what they think is right, and not let themselves be dragged by their peers into doing something they wouldn’t choose to do.

Very interesting and very well written, as always.(95)
Daphna.

A letter of advice

26/1/09
Dear Janet,

Your dilemma of whether or not to let your friends copy from you in tests is quite a serious one. You are torn between your friendship with them, and between your own grades, which can be affected negatively by the nervousness of letting someone copy from you while you are being tested.

In my opinion, you should talk about this matter with your friends. You should tell them that you can't keep letting them copy from you, and explain to them that they have to work hard on their own in order to succeed. That way, you will make sure that you will be able to be tested peacefully, without worrying about being bothered by your friends' requests to copy from you.

The problem that this solution might cause is that it might hurt your friends and make them angry. I believe that you shouldn't let that fact bother you, because eventually you will be helping them a lot more by making them work hard for themselves rather than by letting them copy your answers. By that method, you actually prepare them for the future, where they will have no choice but to work very hard on their own.

I hope I could help you with your dilemma, and that your friends will be able to realize that you are actually helping them when you refuse to let them copy from you.

Good luck,

Amir.

Excellent work, as usual. I enjoyed that.(100)
Daphna.

The War in Gaza

I am an Israeli student who studies at Kugel High School, Holon. I would like to state my opinion about the war against the Hamas in Gaza.

I support Israel’s decision to attack Hamas in an attempt to stop the missiles they launch towards Israel. I believe that the situation in the attacked areas in Israel is unbearable and has to be stopped. Even though I would normally prefer methods of peace and negotiation to solve such matters, I am fully aware of the fact that this time, we have tried all we could to put an end to the terror by those methods, but did not succeed. Therefore, we have nothing left to do but put an end to this chaos by force.

To sum up, I believe that the war against the Hamas is essential. I find it the only way left for Israel to fulfill it’s duty to protect it’s citizens.