{"id":6102,"date":"2022-07-06T16:25:22","date_gmt":"2022-07-06T20:25:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?p=6102"},"modified":"2022-07-06T16:25:24","modified_gmt":"2022-07-06T20:25:24","slug":"should-masks-be-required","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?p=6102","title":{"rendered":"Should masks be required?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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1st Place, Pro-Con Opinion Columns<\/strong>
2021-22, Division 3, News Writing<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Hayden Purvis & Myah Shelton<\/strong>
Focus
Midland HS<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Myah Shelton<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

While I typically try to not overdo the same outfit or piece of clothing, one aspect of my first day of school attire this year was intentionally the exact same as it was last year. Here\u2019s a hint- it\u2019s small, covers part of the face, and most importantly, offers a level of protection from a disease that can be life threatening.

This year, Midland Public Schools decided to \u201chighly recommend\u201d masks for all high schoolers instead of requiring them like they did last year. In doing this, the District not only made it easier for COVID-19 to spread as fast as it has but also proved how easily it bends to the whims of outside opinions.

When it was announced that masks wouldn\u2019t be required at school this year, it was an easy decision for me to continue wearing one. As cases were still relatively high, I had continued to wear one over the majority of summer, so this was nothing new. While I didn\u2019t expect most of my peers to be wearing them as well, I was surprised when I walked into classrooms only to be one of three or four students wearing a mask. Though that number is typically higher now, I\u2019ve found it\u2019s still nowhere near a majority.

While I feel that wearing a mask to school is the right thing to do for the safety of others, I can understand why many of my fellow students don\u2019t. Since the majority of students don\u2019t wear them, many feel they\u2019ll get bullied or made fun of if they decide to wear one. It can also simply be an issue of convenience for some students. A mask is just one more thing they\u2019ll have to remember every morning and deal with throughout the day.

As I stated, the point of this isn\u2019t to attack students who decide not to wear masks, this is their choice and have for not wearing one is likely valid. The district, on the other hand, is at fault in this situation. Wearing a mask is currently recommended by the CDC for all staff and students, regardless of vaccination status. Currently, MPS is highly recommending the wearing of masks but is not enforcing a mandate.

If MPS is both aware of this CDC recommendation and it\u2019s evident that most students aren\u2019t following it, wouldn\u2019t it be logical to enforce masks? Clearly, the fear of parent and community backlash has been a more significant factor in making this decision than student safety.

So yes, MPS is following what the CDC has said by recommending masks. At the same time, this isn\u2019t enough. Doing the bare minimum to avoid conflict is okay in some cases, but preferably not with a life or death situation like COVID-19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hayden Purvis<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thinking back to last year, all I can really remember is how every single student was forced to wear a mask no matter how they felt about it. All you would hear in class was
\u201cput your mask above your nose, or you\u2019ll go to the office.\u201d Oooh scary, an office referral. What are they gonna do? Expel me for not wanting to be forced to put a piece of cloth over my face and having trouble breathing? Nice.

Or what about all the people who got COVID-19 last year? They were all forced to wear a mask before they got COVID-19. Their mask obviously did an outstanding job keeping them from getting sick, so we should totally be forced to do it all over again this year. I mean, let\u2019s face it, the new variant is even more contagious than the original. More people are going to get sick no matter what. If masks last year couldn\u2019t stop us from getting sick while the virus was less contagious, why are they going to work now with a more contagious variant? They\u2019re not.

Last year, when cases got too high, we just went online and the cases went down. We were not near each other spreading germs, so no one got sick. But my question is, why did we have to go online if people\u2019s masks were working as well as they said?

People are much better off in the comfort of their own homes anyway, so why not just let us learn from there? Or let us have a personal choice of going online or staying at school.
People who want to go home and not wear a mask should be able to go home and be comfortable. And the people who want to do school in person can put their masks on and go to school.

Overall, the only way to really keep everyone 100% safe would just be to keep everyone home so that their germs don\u2019t spread to anyone else.

Or, a more logical answer would be for people to build their immunity. Once you get one strain of the virus, it\u2019s less likely that you get the same one again. Be sick for a few days. You\u2019ll be fine.

There are other solutions to this problem. People could have the choice to learn online. I don\u2019t think making people wear masks would be effective. Some people don\u2019t want to. Shouldn\u2019t we include the opinions of all of the students? They are the people who this would directly affect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NW-10. Pro-Con Opinion Columns<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Each entry must:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • have two (2) columns that express opposing viewpoints on one topic<\/li>
  • the columns should be written by two people and should be packaged together on the same date in the opinion\/editorial section<\/li>
  • have both columns submitted together in the same entry form<\/li>
  • have a standing head that indicates the pro\/con nature of the package<\/li>
  • carry bylines or other writer identification to indicate the personal opinion nature of the content<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Judging Criteria<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
    • Topics relevant to interests and\/or welfare of school or students<\/li>
    • Two pieces, while offering opposing views, are consistent in style and tone<\/li>
    • Both pieces win reader interest with compelling leads<\/li>
    • Present evidence\/interpretation in logical sequence<\/li>
    • State issue; uses effective examples, facts and comparisons to clarify<\/li>
    • Deal with specific issue; avoids preaching, rhetoric and clich\u00e9s<\/li>
    • Show sufficient thought and knowledge of subject, developed with personal style<\/li>
    • Sentences, paragraphs of varied length; written clearly, concisely and vividly<\/li>
    • Proper diction\/grammar<\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      1st Place, Pro-Con Opinion Columns2021-22, Division 3, News Writing By Hayden Purvis & Myah SheltonFocusMidland HS Myah Shelton While I typically try to not overdo the same outfit or piece of clothing, one aspect of my first day of school attire this year was intentionally the exact same as it was last year. Here\u2019s a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":6103,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,58],"tags":[182,22],"class_list":["post-6102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nw","category-proconeditorialcolumns","tag-2021-22","tag-division3","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Pro-Con-opinion-scaled.jpg?resize=600%2C400&ssl=1","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Pro-Con-opinion-scaled.jpg?resize=600%2C600&ssl=1","author_info":{"display_name":"Morgan Womack","author_link":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?author=12"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Pro-Con-opinion-scaled.jpg?fit=2020%2C2560&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6K0n6-1Aq","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6102"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6102\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}