Queen Elizabeth: Monarch of Great Britain

QUEEN ELIZABETH 
  
Quick Facts:
 -Born April 21, 1926 in London
- Was born a princess... Prince Albert was her father who was the second son of King George VI and    Queen Mary.
- Crowned in 1953
 -Longest reigning monarch in British history

How she became a Queen: 
Elizabeth knew Phillip Mountbatten when she was a young girl. They were distant cousins, but fell in love and got married in 1947. Phillip Mountbatten was the son of Prince Andrew of Greece, and had ties to both the Danish and Greek royal families. In 1952, King George VI passed away, and Elizabeth was crowned ruling monarch of Great Britain.
 

Queen Elizabeth's Children: 
Charles, Prince of Wales-the eldest son of Queen Elizabeth
Anne, Princess Royal-the second child and only daughter
Prince Andrew, Duke of York-  second son and third child
Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex- third son and youngest of four children

    

Why I think she is so unique and interesting: 
-Since 1952 she was rewarded over 404500 honors and awards
-There have been 12 US presidents during her reign... That's crazy!
-She speaks fluent French
-  In the past 60 years, the Queen has undertaken 261 official overseas visits, including 96 state visits, to 116 different countries.
- She opened the first children's trail in the Buckingham Palace garden for its seasonal opening.
- Elizabeth has visited Australia 16 times, Canada 22 times, Jamaica six times and New Zealand 10 times
-She was a Girl Guide, a Scouting movement for girls and a Sea Ranger , a section of the Girl Guides focused on sailing.
 In 1986, the Queen became the first British monarch to visit China.

    
What I knew and what I know now: '
Before I researched Queen Elizabeth for this blog I knew that she was somehow related to Kate Middleton and was the Queen of England. After researching her I discovered that she has a really interesting life and has accomplished many things during her reign and lifetime. She is a very interesting person and I can see now why she is loved all over the world. 
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Should schools start later in the morning?

At Lake Forest High School, school starts at 7:50am. There was discussion for the day to start a little bit later, and that discussion actually changed the schedule for the fall of 2016. In my opinion, I wish they changed the time 3 years ago... when I was a freshman! The purpose of starting later in the morning is to improve physical and mental success in school and their life.

In more than 40 states, at least 75 percent of public schools start earlier than 8:30 a.m. If times were a little bit later, test scores would go up, grades would go up, tardies would go down and so would absences. Research has shown that students who do not get enough sleep perform worse in a sports game than the kids who get enough sleep. At the adolescence age you need enough sleep in order to grow and perform in school and in after school activities. I do not think there would be one kid in high school especially  opposing this idea. 

This graph shows sleep deprivation before finals when students do not get enough sleep. This is before finals so kids are bound to get less sleep in general, but either way a later start would help with a better performance.

So because so much research has shown that kids and adolescence need more sleep, why have they not changed it? Some myths why school doesn't start later are: it is too expensive to start school later, kids need to be more responsible and prepared for the real world and real jobs, if we start school later kids will go to bed later, later times will keep parents from getting to work. But the real reason is because school transportation and community life adjusts to school schedules, not vise vera.

Divorces in America

Divorce Rates Going up in America 

In America today, there are more divorces than there were 50 years ago. Half of my friends parents are divorced, and it seems like a normal thing. In a movie I watched a couple weeks ago, I remember a character saying, "who cares that we're divorced, everyone's divorced." Is it just me or is that sad? 

Statistics: 

• 41 percent of first marriages end in divorce.
• 60 percent of second marriages end in divorce.
• 73 percent of third marriages end in divorce.
• In America, there is one divorce approximately every 36 seconds
• The average age for couples going through their first divorce is 30 years old.
• The average length of a marriage that ends in divorce is eight years.
  
  So why is this happening? Are people just getting less happy? No. There are specific reasons why families in America just can't make it work anymore. In the 1970s it was uncommon because there had to be a specific reason why they needed to end the marriage. As in a crime, domestic violence, if one spouse had a drinking problem, or another necessary reason to break it up. A main reason divorce rates have gone up is because of women in the workforce. In my opinion, women in the workforce is amazing, I love that women have taken action and stepped up in business. But in terms of their husbands, they don't need support from them anymore. There isn't anything holding them back to leave, (as in their husbands money).
   If women are unhappy in their marriage, they would be more comfortable leaving without needing financial support from anyone else but themselves. 
  
  
  In my research I also found that divorce has become more socially acceptable, and a part of every day life. And I agree with that, because like I said before, half of my friends parents are divorced. So, are kids affected by it? I would say most of the time, yes. I know kids who have gone down the wrong path because of it, who hate one of their parents because of it, who feel uncomfortable talking about what happened etc.. But I also have friends who live at both parents houses on different weekends and who are completely okay with it. 
  
  
  In my opinion I think if the divorce is healthy and the kids are comfortable and okay with their living situations then I think divorce is fine to be increasing. 

Racism in America:

It is sad that at this point in America's history, we are still fighting the war of racism in 2016. Over the past couple of years, police brutality against Africa American's is the most talked about topic on the news. I think it is so sad to see how far African Americans have come since slavery, and it makes me sick that America has taken a step backwards for them.


Here is a list of Killings by Law Enforcement Officers by age 

Last year in Ferguson, Missouri Michael Brown was walking down the street, unarmed, and a police officer pulled his car in front of him and shot him. Again, what is so sad about this story is that this isn't the first time this happened. But this started riots in Ferguson shortly after.



Eric Garner is another example of police brutality when he was unarmed and being harmless. He was put into an illegal chokehold for 15 seconds by a white police officer, only because he was selling cigarettes. He yelled 11 times, "I can't breath!" His story became a symbol, and everyone was hash tagging: #Icantbreath in honor of his death and to show support for the lives being lost around the country to police brutality.


When I heard these stories I didn't know what to think of them. I was confused, sad, angry and again, confused. Why are officers targeting only black men? This made me believe that racism is still around in America, even if these officers deny it.

During my research on this topic, I found these key points:
-Police killed at least 102 unarmed black people in 2015, nearly two each week.
-37% of unarmed people killed by police were black in 2015 despite black people being only 13% of the US population
- Only 9 of the 102 cases resulted in officers being charged with a crime!



I have a couple of friends that go to the University of Missouri, and I actually applied there myself. My close family friend is a freshman there and she did not have school for a full week because of a racism issue. Payton Head is the Students Association President, and he is black, and said that a group of kids drove by him in a pickup truck and yelled something racist at him. There were other cases of students calling other black students the n word. These incidents led to incoming freshmen having to take online diversity training classes.


In conclusion, racism in America is still around and we all need to do our best to treat everyone equally and punish the ones who do not.

Reasons for Poverty in the US

In the United States, 15.1 percent of people live in poverty... a striking number since the great depression. But why is America still dealing with high poverty rates when we aren't in the depression anymore?

Reason #1: Compared to countries around the world where poverty is easy to see by the people on the streets, America has created a new form of poverty. Instead of having no food, poor Americans have enough money to buy junk/unhealthy/fast food; creating a country of malnourished and ill people.  These people are unable to work, or don't have jobs in the first place, causing the economy to worsen. The economy is a huge reason why America has poverty.

Reason #2: Drug use in America is a main reason for homelessness and poverty because of the addictive factor. Addicts often spend all their money on drugs and alcohol than on their families or finding a job. Addicts often live on the streets asking money for drugs, making the poverty rate go up because they are not spending money to benefit the economy. 

Reason #3: The costs of housing have gone up in the past few years because of the economy. Minimum wage in America typically does not allow someone to afford even a one bedroom apartment, and so there are people who either do not afford a house, or need to work from day to night. And even those who do work day and night cannot seem to make things work because they have families who they need to take care of too. 

Reason #4: People who do not graduate from college or high school are bound to make a significant amount of money less than those who do have a high school diploma and/or a college degree. Universities are extremely expensive, and those who can't afford it just jump right into a low paying career. Also, in communities where money and education are low, teens are likely to drop out of high school to work to earn money for their families.