Follow the Leader

Names are often very important to a society so that they can identity differences and define significances. Not only are the names of humans important for these purposes, but also the names of appliances, objects, and places. Without the naming of various objects our world would be dysfunctional and out of order because of the confusion of meanings. The prominent uprising of clothing styles has led to the various methods of naming certain brands of clothing, such as naming them after the artist. One thing that I have found to stand out in high school is the meaning of wearing name brand clothing. Not only is it the shirts and jeans, but also the sunglasses, purses, and shoes that are worn to show wealth and prosperity. Sometimes this can cause controversy in the high school scene.

The real problem with these name brands in high schools is that they often encourage others to conform, a concept that is typically shamed among individualists. I cannot help but notice the various trends that have been spread around Kennedy High School so far this school year. First it is the plaid short shorts, then the tights, Uggs, Coach Purses, and then high rise jeans. These styles didn’t necessarily stay popular for a long period of time, but they definitely impacted how many people dressed. When a style is developed, it usually comes apparent very quickly as you see half of the school wearing the Uggs Boots. All of a sudden these new and ever so popular styles are beginning to fall behind the lights because of their overuse.

One of the newer fashion icons this year was the use of Coach Brand items, such as Coach Sunglasses, Purses, and Shoes. The most popular in high school and among adult women are the Coach purses which come in many different sizes, designs, and colors. Early in the school year one or two girls at Kennedy had their own personal Coach Purses that they confidently carried around from class to class. But now, close to the end of the year, every 1 in 7 girls have to have had a Coach Purse in their possession. This is a typical example of conformity among teenagers and their desires to fit in with the rest of their classmates. It bothers me to see these purses blown out of proportion, and my instinctive response to the sight of one in school is a grumpy scowl.

One other large problem with these Coach Purses is the fact that almost 50% of the purses at Kennedy are only fake replicas of the real, name brand items. It bothers me to know that these people are only pretending and that they are simply wasting money to look “cool” or “rich”. These fake lies are a disgrace to our generation and the lack of individualism will definitely impact our lives in the future. Although the sunglasses are a little bit less popular, girls will do whatever they can to show of their new shades to classmates. Some even wear shaded glasses during class, when the rooms are perfectly lit and comfortable. This is simply an example of how people try too hard to fit in with others. Many people have learned to ignore the usage of name brand items, such as these Coach products. Hopefully in the future, Americans will be able to once again life in a society with more individualism than conformity.

"Let's All Get Drunk"

With growing up comes the responsibility of taking care of yourself in millions of situations and through thousands of different decisions. No longer are parents constantly watching your back and keeping an eye on your every move; now you are doing what you want to do. Slowly you gain more and more freedom by getting to stay out until10, then 11, and finally 12am on Friday nights. It is all based on the measure of trust that your parents have in you and the decisions that you are going to have to make. The more truthful that you are towards your parents, the more likely that they are going to trust you out late with friends.

However, there are some problems that arise as kids begin to near adulthood, including sex, alcohol, and drugs. The most prominent problem is alcohol which affects around 20% of teenagers in the United States who are between the ages of 12 and 17. This causes even more extensive problems with growing up into a healthy and successful adult. Drinking alcohol has become a social activity and an event where teenagers can meet new friends. Even though these events can be both entertaining and fun, there are still many serious consequences that teenagers often take for granted while inducing. These can vary anywhere from having sex, to driving drunk, to getting poisoned, to getting in trouble by the law, or to possibly even getting so drunk that you end up dying.

Within the past few decades the number of teenagers who drink frequently, and illegally, has increased greatly. Thousands of teenagers wake up regretting something that happened the night before, while they were too wasted to control themselves. An even scarier piece of data is the fact that the average age of boys who have their first drink is 11, while for girls it is around 13 years old. High school commonly consists of drinking both before and after popular sports games, and by having multiple parties each weekend night. This results in many teenagers getting in trouble by the school and developing bad habits that will probably stay with them for the rest of their lives.

Many parents fail to recognize the waning signs that their children are drinking alcohol at such young ages. However, even by realizing the mistakes that their children are making, there is still a high probability that these kids will continue to drink. Eventually almost 100% of teenagers will be involved with drinking alcohol because of the influences that we are constantly receiving from various advertisements. I think that it is now too late to stop this illegal activity and that it would almost be smarter to just lower the drinking age so that kids are not so eager to drink.

Sex Through the Years

Last Friday we found out

that our first draft of our research papers is going to be due at the end of this week, containing 1200 to 1500 words. There is a slight problem with this entire assignment, however, because I have not yet even started writing my paper. Even worse I do not even know for sure what I want to talk about in my paper. This is called unorganized; I just cannot decide which direction I want to go with my paper and how I want to address the entire issue of sex. There are a couple of ideas that I would like to think out by analyzing the different facts that I could include and discuss. Hopefully by the end of this blog entry I will be able to have a better idea of what I want to base my entire paper on. I know that it is going to involve teenage sex rates, but I need a much more specific topic so that I can have a strong paper.

One idea that I am considering is comparing sex rates today from the rates that took place in the 1960’s and 1970’s. This would be kind of hard to find good and reliable information from the earlier time period so I am almost afraid of continuing with this idea. I think that this would provide a lot of valuable information that most people are unaware of and would open up a large group of options to what I could talk about. This would involve a lot of research and I am not sure if I really have the time to work on such an extensive topic.

I could also analyze why the United States is becoming even more open to the ideas of teenage sex. This has changed over time greatly, even during the past decade. These also vary between cultures so I could compare how different nations deal with teenage sex and then contrast it with that of the United States. I know that there are many different practices in various countries that the United States would find completely irrational. This would be interesting to see how teenage sex stands out in certain world powers and the influence that it has on us here in the United States. This would require a lot of research also but I think that I could find some very interesting information that could keep my readers very captivated by the topic.

A third method that I could use to write my research paper is discussing different anecdotes that are related to teenage sex. Many things are said to scare teenagers who are thinking about having sex but many are really not true at all. I would like to access a couple of these different ideas and I would enjoy being able to inform others of the interesting scandals by sexual education teachers. This could also involve how American teenagers feel when they are talked to about sex. Why are so many teenagers afraid of talking to their parents about having sex with a boyfriend or girlfriend? I think that this would be hard, since there is not that much information but I feel that it would be the most interesting of the three.

A final topic that I am considering is how many teenagers lose their virginity while under the influence of either drugs or alcohol. This could include date rape, which is the idea of spiking drinks in order to get a person to agree to sexual activities. I don’t know how common this is among teenagers but I do know that there are increasing numbers of teenagers who lose their virginity before they even turn 18. Much of this is related to alcohol and I think that it would be very interesting to see the correlation between the two topics. This is probably the topic that I am going to end up choosing.