Dear Chamblee Community,
        We would love if our teachers were missing school to go on strike personally. Striking to protect their pay, and no school for a couple of days would be absolutely great! Unfortunately, the teachers in Chicago went on strike for their salaries being cut based on student tests. There are students that skip class, disrupt class, and ones who don't have the eagerness to learn which is why the teacher's salaries shouldn't be based on test scores, but there is also the argument of if the teacher is actually teaching or not.
        There are good and there are bad teachers. Teachers can be loving, involved, and caring. But some can be unfair and egotistical. A good teacher should make her students excited to come to school each day. A good teacher should respect her students, make them feel comfortable in the classroom, and be consistent. They will not snap back if a student asks a question. If they do, the student tends to not ask more questions. Then that causes them to fade out. This would consist of a bad teacher. When the bad teachers are evaluated in their classrooms it always seems as though they tell the students to act on their best behavior and pay attention more diligently than usual. We had an experience with this once.  Our teacher told us the principal was coming in so we needed to be on our best behavior and that teacher actually made us take notes off the board for the first time ever.  But, in reality those components should always be present in a student's learning environment, disregarding whomever is present in the classroom that particular evaluation day. These bad teachers should be punished for their wrong doing salary wise. 
          Some may say, teachers have to be teaching if the students are getting the answers correct. Although, they don't know that some teachers,the bad ones of course, may cram in work before the standardized tests or maybe even cheat so that their salaries don't get changed. Outside factors in communities, class disruptions, and student eagerness to learn effects children's test scores, but most importantly its on if the teachers are eager to be a good or a bad teacher.

         
         


                                                                                  Sincerely, 
                                                                                                  Malaika English and Meghan Hall
                                                                                                    10th grader

   Let's say you're some other regular miner in South Africa. You work hard everyday and are underestimated. Your living conditions are horrible and you want better for yourself. You feel that you deserve more so what would you want? Money.  You'll try to get it whatever it takes and no matter how hard . But is it really worth dying for? Thirty-four miners lives were taken for what reason?
    Memorial services were prepared for forty-four victims who died after workers at one of the biggest platinum mines in South Africa started a strike wanting a financial raise. Thirty-four of the victims were miners and were shot in killed by police who claim acted in self-defense. The other ten victims killed include two policemen that were killed earlier in the madness of the strike.  Also, the president didn't seem very involving knowing that he didn't send condolences, attend the memorial, or release any comment on the sudden violence that jeopardized many lives. Al Jazeera's Haru Mutasa said that "President Zuma wasn't at this memorial service. That has disappointed a lot of people, made some people very angry. They feel sidelined by their president, they feel sidelined by their government," she added. I felt that was very selfish and shady of him to do.
    After a week, people are still grieving and mourning for family and significant others that were killed in the mine carnage. The president also has yet to comment on the issue and has left many angered citizens waiting. What is your opinion of the situation?