Jimmy Carter once said, “I say to you quite frankly that the time for racial discrimination is over.” Many people are the world wish this was true but each day, it is encountered. People who have lived in the United States for hundreds of years are discriminated against because of their skin color and culture. The poet, Martín Espada writes about these injustices in his poems,”Revolutionary Spanish Lesson”, “The New Bathroom Policy at English High School”, and “Two Mexicans Lynched in Santa Cruz, California, May 3,1877”. In all of his poems, Espada shows these injustices by exploring the role of power.

In schools, the principal has the highest point of power and every decision generally weighs on him or her. “The New Bathroom policy at English High School” includes that power role of the principal. In the poem, the principal bans the speaking of Spanish in the bathrooms because it makes him uncomfortable. “The only word he recognizes/ is his own name/ and this constipates him.” The use of the word “constipated” shows how when the boys speak Spanish, the fear of the unknown stops the principal from understanding what he wants to understand. “So he decides/ to ban Spanish/ fro the bathrooms/ now he can relax.” This shows how by taking away the boys freedom of speech, the principal can relax knowing that he now has the ability to understand. He shows the boys that he has the power by taking away a basic right.

In the poem, “Revolutionary Spanish Lesson”, there is no set position of  power. The role shifts as the subject shifts. “Whenever I hear my name mispronounced,/ I want to buy a toy pistol”. This line is very relatable because many people have encountered this anger. When something as personal as your name is mispronounced, you can feel weak. However, the poem displays the discrimination of more than just a name. It displays the constant miscommunication of personal and meaningful aspects of life. The power in this poem overlooks how meaningful these things are to those they are addressing. “Hijack a busload/ of Republican tourists/ from Wisconsin,/ force them to chant/ anti-American slogans”. This shows the feeling the subject has when the person of power abuses their authority.

“Two Mexicans Lynched” has a clear position of power. The fact that the subjects of that power are no longer living, enhances it. The quote, “more than floating corpses/ trussed like cousins of the slaughterhouse,” shows the stakes of the situations and the complete abuse of power because death is the tipping point. “But all crowding into the photograph” shows how the authority figures are proud of what they did. They don’t see their abuse of power and of others’ culture.

“The New Bathroom Policy”, “Two Mexicans Lynched”, and “Revolutionary Spanish Lesson” show the discrimination of the subject through the position of power. They do this through the portrayal of feeling, the banning of a basic right, and the proudness of the authority figures. All three poems present a strong situation through the position of power.

Upfront Essay-- “CHINA’S CRAM SCHOOLS” by Brook Larmer

Dr. Seuss once said, “Only you can control your future.” This quote applies to many people around the world but not to students in China. One test, the gaokao, is all that universities look at when choosing applicants. Students develop health risks and many other problems arise. The gaokao does not benefit the students health and determines their lives.

When it comes to the gaokao many students are put at risk medically. Because their lives ride on their scores, students are put under an immense amount of stress. This causes suicide rates to soar and just like Yang Wei, a then senior, had classes starting at 6:20 in the morning and ending at 10:50 at night for three years leading up to the exam. A picture shows students in Hubei Province hooked up to IV drips in order to keep studying. This is an extreme because it is   pushing the students beyond their point of exhaustion. The gaokao causes students to be put at risk in order to study and do well.

Everyone in China is affected by the gaokao, even if they aren’t the ones taking it. Many parents work extra hours when high school nears because even public schools like Maotanchang cost money. Many students move with their mothers or into the dorms so that they can attend the “cram school”. Students are taught with “military rigor” because the teachers’ job security and bonuses depend on raising their students’ test scores. Maotanchang High School goes to extreme lengths to ensure their students education with security guards that roam the campus and surveillance cameras that track the students. Although the results pay off, about 80 percent score high enough to get into university, the conditions are very severe.

It is unfair to base a persons’ life off of one test because it only shows how well they can take the test and how much they can memorize, not what they are good at or smart in. A lot of tests don’t show how intelligent a student is but more how much they are paying attention to what they are reading and how tired they are. A student could get all the questions of the last passage wrong because they were tired and just circled random answers. The article did not describe the test but a test doesn’t always show a students’ best talents, putting them at a disadvantage.

Many event in Chinese cultural revolve around the gaokao. Students are put at risk and teachers, parents, and others go to extremes to help students do their best. Millions of lives every year are determined by the gaokao, which is studied for for three years. Students attend cram schools such as Maotanchang High School where they are taught everything they need to know for the exam.Cram schools for the gaokao cause many problems in Chinese lives.

1984 by George Orwell Emmeline Vickers Batzdorf

Dennis Potter once said, “Some of the words and symbols and images from childhood will continually be part and parcel of my personality.” Throughout the book 1984 by George Orwell, symbols express the ways of life in Oceania. The telescreens watch everything that happens, the Party controls everything, and Big Brother is the face of power. The symbols shift the way Winston sees things.

The telescreens symbolize the control the Party has over Winston and all the other peoples’ lives. They watch and hear everything that people are doing. In the very first scene of the book, Winston sits in a little nook in his apartment where he think the telescreen can’t see him. He then writes, “DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER” multiple times in his diary. Because he is not certain that the telescreen cannot see him, Winston feels guilty and expects to be punished. Winstons job is to erase people from history once they have died because they are not allowed to feel. When he writes in his diary and when he is with Julia, Winston is away from the telescreens and free to feel. As the story progresses, Winston think about the reasons for the Party’s actions and by the end of the book, he is no longer a force against their decisions. The telescreen monitor the people of Oceania, but the intention is different to everyone, and for Winston, you could say it’s positive.

Big Brother symbolizes the party and the vagueness that goes along with them. No one actually knows exists but citizens are told he is the head of the nation. Winston doesn’t remember when Big Brother emerged but he remembers things from his childhood. “‘I can remember lemons’ said Winston. ‘ They were so sour that it set your teeth on edge even to smell them.” This shows how much has shifted since Big Brother emerged. Winston grew up with feelings and tastes, only to grow up and have them taken away. “The hypnotic eyes gazed into his own”. The symbol of Big Brother is all over Oceania and draws people into the idea of security. For example, Winston sees a childrens history book that has the face of Big Brother which shows how much power the ideas have and how strong the symbol is. The citizens of Oceania rely on the symbol of Big Brother to lead them and ensure them of security.

The book 1984 has a lot of symbols that carries it to a conclusion. Big Brother symbolizes the Party and the power they portray, the telescreens symbolize control, as well as many other objects and places. In the end, Winston learns to love Big Brother and understands the motives of the Party. The symbols in the book 1984 by George Orwell become a part of Winston and change the way he looks at things.

Dear Ms.Berner,

John F. Kennedy once said, “Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth.” Through reading, people gain knowledge about certain topics and discover what they are interested in and intrigued by. By banning books, the amount of knowledge that can be gained and the variety of topics are both limited. Books should not be banned because this stops teens from exploring parts of themselves, from tackling problems and hardships in their imaginations, and from thinking about issues that are uncomfortable.

Limitation. Students need exposure to different topics to be aware of what happens in different places around the world. Winnie-the-Pooh is a classic childrens’ book and according to buzzfeed, “ Several institutions in Turkey and the UK have banned the book, claiming that the character of Piglet is offensive to Muslims. Other institutions claim that the book revolves around Nazism.” This quote shows how the institutions jumped to conclusions about who the characters portrayed. Also, this is a book for much younger kids who would not know whether these characters were portraying Nazis or not. Winnie-the-Pooh is a joyful book that captivates many young children. Younger kids start off by learning the basics and exploring happy topics. As kids grow up, dealing with real world problems gets easier and they start to think deeper about the meanings. According to the ALA parents in Savannah, GA complained about the book The Catcher in the Rye being read and taught in an AP English class because it contained “sex, violence, and profanity”. All of these things happen around the world everyday, and stopping these teens from reading about them is limiting their knowledge of events that they may one day encounter. Also, many books containing these topics are commonly banned in high schools where many teens start to engage in some of these instances and they need to be educated about them. I recently read SOLD by Patricia McCormick which is about a girl who leaves her home in the Nepalese mountains to provide for her family and ends up in a brothel. This book and many books like it have been banned and challenged all around the world. Before reading this book, I was aware that many young girls were in very similar situations, but was unaware of why this sort of situation happened and what people are doing to help those caught in human trafficking. To look up information like this on the internet can be very scary and uncomfortable, and reading the story took me through a journey that so many girls take, but didn’t scare me. Limiting books doesn’t just take a good book away from students, it takes away the important knowledge gained from the book.

Problems. Issues. Hardships. These are things that everyone faces but the actual issues or hardships or problems are different around the world. A mother from Riverside, California felt that The Fault in Our Stars had a “morbid plot, crude language, and sexual content” which were inappropriate for children to be reading. Millions of people around the globe have cancer and many die from it. This book tells a very realistic story of two teenagers who both have cancer and fall in love. The hardship that Hazel, Augustus, and their families face is one that millions of people around the world go through, and by saying the book has a morbid plot is like saying that millions of people do morbid things and have a morbid life. An article from Banned Books Awareness about the book Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher states, “The majority of students are the ones who look the other way, the ones who laugh at someone else’s expense because it’s “me or them” in the popularity game of high school social life, and feel that they can take advantage of someone’s body, emotion, or mentality because it’s okay as long as they feel as if no one “really” gets hurt.” Even with all of the organizations trying to stop bullying, it still occurs. Many kids do kill themselves due to this hurt and this book portrays reasons why someone would reach that breaking point. It is important to be mindful of the ways your actions affect others. Suicide and bullying are two major issues that happen around the world everyday. Many authors focus their books around topics such as death, bullying, and sickness to educate readers, so why should the strongest ones be banned? Perhaps they are too strong and realistic.

Some may argue that many books emphasize topics that are problematic for young people. Many parents complain to libraries and school boards about how these children should not be exposed to such topics and books should be banned. Superintendent Ann Riebock stated, “The goal would be to find some acceptable process by which parents feel comfortable with their voice in making decisions and teachers feel comfortable that students have access to a wide variety of print”. This statement shows how many parents want a say in what their kids are exposed to, however kids are then not learning about the subjects exposed in the book. When parents have a say in what their kids can and cannot read, they are generally making that decision based on how comfortable they are with the book. They are also not letting their children have a say in what they want to be learning about and encountering. Many schools ban books because they don’t think that they students are old enough to handle the topics expressed by the story. This makes perfect sense because no one would want a third grader reading about human trafficking, but people take it too far and ban students from reading books about things that are very relevant to their everyday lives. Although some books are reasonable to ban, many contain information should be commonly known.

Banning books affects the ways in which people, especially teens, gather information. Different groups such as parents, libraries and school boards ban books due to language, sexual content, and many other things that humans encounter in their day to day lives. In books, characters go through situations that can help others through difficult times in their lives and educate them about how to help others and who in the world needs help. Before banning a book it is important to think about how the information presented in the book could be of use to people. Also, teens should be able to vouch for themselves and decide what they want to know. Students shouldn’t have to read a book if they are uncomfortable with it, but know onw should be able to decide that for them.

Emmeline Vickers Batzdorf, 802