6th Grade SAS Naper
The Crusader Chronicle
Opinions & Debates
Chapel Seating
by Aislin Lyman
As perhaps you know, the 6th grade teachers have given assigned seats to the 6th graders in chapel. We sit in alphabetical order by last name, boy-girl. We have had these seats since around November, but the majority of the students don’t know the real reason we have these seats and whether or not we will get free seating back.
I asked two of the 6th grade teachers, Mrs. Campbell and Mrs. Ortman, to give us more insight on the seating arrangement. They told me that the reason we are in assigned seating is because we were fooling around, talking to friends, and not being reverent. They thought that putting us in assigned seats would help us take chapel more seriously. The teachers told me that the majority of the students are behaving, but some people are still causing problems. The amount of talking has gone down, but our participation has only improved some. Both teachers would like us to get our free seats back, but if that were to happen we would need to work on singing louder, holding books up, and being reverent.
I also interviewed 5 students, Cammie, Jackson, Ava, Amelia, and Thomas, about their thoughts on chapel seating. They all strongly dislike the seating. One student said that it is unfair and a big waste of time because we are old enough to make our own decisions and we are responsible for ourselves. The students do think our behavior has improved in some ways, but not in others. Another student believes that we are old enough to be responsible for ourselves and make our own decisions. All of the students think that we are still disrespectful during chapel and our behavior has not been fixed.
Now that we know a little bit more about the chapel seating, let’s talk about a way to get free seating back. Mrs. Ortman suggested the idea of an agreement, like our 6th grade creed. We would write a statement about all the things that we will do in chapel, such as participation and being reverent. Then we would all sign it. If we couldn’t follow our statement, we would get our assigned seats back.
So, do you want to be able to choose your seating? If you do, you need to participate more, talk less, and be reverent. Chapel is a time to worship.
Debates In Class
by Timmy O'Brien
In 6th Grade we have been having a few debates on certain topics.
The first topic that we debated about is the topic on whether or not we should have grades. I personally think that we should have grades because grades let you know where you stand and what you have to improve on. Students who oppose my viewpoint said that they don’t want grades because they think that it discourages students if they get a bad grade. While this viewpoint is understandable, I think that good grades encourage students more than bad grades discourage students.
The second topic was whether or not people should support or go to war. From my point of view, no one should go to war. When people go to war they are willing to “die for their country”. So they’d rather die for their country then be able to live happily with their family? That doesn’t make much sense to live that way. They abandoned their family for a piece of land? When you go to war, you are prepared to take another person’s life for a piece of land. Think about their family’s that they will be leaving behind by you killing that person. Of course, while you're in war, you probably don’t think of these things because you’re too concerned for your own survival.
Students who opposed my own view said that they don’t fully support war, but if war is necessary they think it is right. They says that the U.S. would not be standing if we didn’t fight in the wars.
These debates in Language Arts have allowed sixth graders to elaborate freely on their opinions without people judging them. The debates are very fun, and I hope that we will be able to do more of them in the future!
