Fiddler on the Roof

This musical is about a Jewish man named Tevye who is a farmer with five daughters.It takes place in pre-Revolutionary Russia in 1905. He tells about his world and how it is based on tradition. The men work outside, and the women are homemakers. Because he has five unmarried daughters and no sons, they must help him work outside in the fields which is uncommon for women. When the matchmaker comes to their house, she tells Golde, Tevye's wife, that she has found a husband for their oldest daughter, but the suitor is the same age as Teyve. He tries to keep his family and their traditions together as many people in the town encrouch on his life. He also must cope with the fact that his three oldest daughters are coming of age to get married. He is also stressed about the fact that he is not wealthy. The oldest daughter secretly likes another guy and wants to marry him, but he is poor. The guy does not think that Tevye will accept him as his daughter's groom. Tevye goes to visit the butcher at his house after the Sabbath, but Tevye does not know why he wants to talk to him. After Tevye finally gets on the same page as the butcher, he agrees to let him marry his daughter. I can conclude from this story that marriages are arranged in their culture, regardless of whether or not the bride loves her groom. They are also very religious people and get along with each other.

Nonverbal Communication

Through watching Mr. Bean, I have learned a lot about nonverbal communication, and how there are so many different types of this communication. Mr. Bean used nonverbal communication through expressing his emotions, how he reacted to certain situations by his gestures, and by reading and writing. Although he does not speak often, he still does a great job of conveying how he feels. At the test he was very nervous and frustrated, and at the beach, he was very embarrassed. When he went to mass, Mr. Bean was very tired, and he fought to stay awake. Mr. Bean's trip to the movie theater was extremely funny because of the reactions he had to everything, and the way he kept scaring the girl. By using facial expressions, the audience can clearly understand the story he is trying to tell, whether he is happy, upset, sad, sleepy, or scared. The act of nonverbal communication can easily be learned by watching Mr. Bean and his outrageous adventures.

Too Much Homework

A raging debate has ensued lately as to whether or not students are receiving too much homework every night. Parents and students are starting to become upset with the schools because of all the time that is being consumed just for homework every night. Because schools are beginning to get negative feedback from families, they should consider alternatives. With schools piling on too much homework, students are becoming stressed out, not being able to participate in extracurricular activities, and the large amount of homework could actually be hindering a student's education. I too agree that teachers are assigning too much homework, and they need to cut back in order for students to get the best out of school.

Stress is one of the major issues today surrounding teenagers. Not only do teens have to deal with peer pressure and day-to-day problems in their every changing lives, they now have to worry about exhausting hours of homework every night because teachers believe this is the only way students will be prepared for college. With all of this stress, teenagers are beginning to crack under the pressure. In an article title The Homework Ate My Family, the authors highlight just how time consuming and repetitive hours of homework can be, and how they are causing immeasurable amounts of stress on not only the students, but also the parents. Teachers should consider this the next time they decide to assign such a lengthy task to their classes.

I find it ironic how teachers and school administrators are constantly nagging students to participate in extracurricular activities and telling students to be involved, yet they continue to assign hours of homework each night. With all of these assignments, students do not have time to participate in other things. Between reading assignments, English papers, math problems, and science labs, students hardly have enough time to eat dinner much less attend after school practices and meetings. As a high school student that is involved in many things outside of just classes, I find it hard to complete all of my assignments while still trying to just be a teenager. I can infer that other students feel the same way as me when it comes to this soar subject (No pun intended). In an article by Grace Flemming, she suggest ways to balance out homework and the rest of a student's life. Teachers should be smart enough to know that students have lives, and we should not spend every night inside working on lengthy amounts of unnecessary homework.

Probably the most important reason to cut back on homework assignments each night is because it could be hindering a student's ability to learn. After too long, students become lazy and quit trying. When the students stop trying and thinking on their homework, then they are just wasting time and not getting anything out of their homework. So why are teachers assigning hours of homework when it is in not helping? In a research study by two Penn State researchers, they found there is no positive correlation between the amount of homework assigned and state exams. They found that the thought that more homework helps students to succeed better in school is a logical fallacy.

The belief by teachers that more homework helps students to become better learners needs to be changed. Parents and students are becoming increasingly unhappy with all of the stress, not being able to participate in other activities, and not getting anything positive out of all these hours of homework they are working on all night The facts are there, teachers just need to realize that they need to ease up on the homework load.