Does Your Teenager Need a Credit Card?

            "Does your teenager need a credit card?" says blogger Sheryl Smolkin. On October 25, 2011, she wrote a blog describing some guidelines of how parents should carefully monitor their children's credit cards, if they have one. She claims that "When each of my children got their Ontario G2 driver’s licence and were able to drive alone, my husband and I decided they were old enough to have a credit card." Some parents may seem very skeptical about giving their children credit cards when they grow to a responsible age, but that's mainly just the parent's personal preference. Smolkin does a good job explaining how to monitor your kids if you decide to give them a card. I personally agree with what she has to say, specifically with three main topics in her article; how to monitor your childs card activity, how to deal with bills and pricing, and the proper time and place for your child to use his/her card.

            If you choose to give your child a credit card, it's important to monitor how and when they spend it. Smolkin use her children as an example: "We never worried that they would abuse our trust because we check our accounts very frequently online, and if a problem did arise, we knew we could nip it in the bud pretty quickly." Smolkin also offers several alternatives to the standard credit card; A reloadable prepaid card is another option. It's important to check the monthly fees for this type of account. I agree with her suggestions, because if I was a parent and I gave my child a credit card, I would want to make sure that nothing serious would happen to it if, for example, my child ever gave into peer pressure when in a store with friends to buy something, among other scenarios.

            It's also very important to know how to pay the bills and set spending limits. Smolkin recommends not worrying about the credit limit. "Just because a card has a credit limit of $1 000 or $20 000 doesn't mean a cardholder should charge to the max." Instead, she recommends setting personal spending limits. "Unless your child is spending for budgeted items and will have cash on the due date, tell him to forget it until he has saved up the money." When paying bills, you should be a good example by avoiding paying interest. I highly agree with this information, because setting a good example for your child when paying bills will help them grow more knowledgeable in their financial education.

            Lastly, you need to be clear with your child on where and when to spend the card. Smolkin uses her kids as an example: The cards were meant to be used only in an emergency, and on the rare occasion where one of the kids used them for something else they asked first and promptly paid us back if they had agreed to do so." The decision comes down to personal preference, so if you let your child buy whatever they want with it, you need to make a deal that your child will eventually pay you back. This, to me, is the most important aspect of a child's financial education because if your child does not know how to effectively spend his/her money with a credit card, that child will not be prepared properly for later years in life.

            "Understanding how credit cards work and learning to use them properly is an important part of your children's financial education." says Smolkin. By helping them understand how credit cards work, it can save you a lot of trouble down the road when your child leaves the house to live on his/her own. Monitoring the card's activity, dealing with bills, and when to spend the card are all extremely useful to your child, and can help them build a strong, healthy lifestyle once they move out.

Who Would I Want to Meet?

"If you enter this world knowing you are loved and you leave this world knowing the same, then everything that happens in between can be dealt with." (1) -Michael Jackson

          Michael Jackson seemed to have a very positive outlook on life, despite all of the challenges he faced. For this reason and many others, I would love to "take a page out of Thriller" and spend a day with him, asking him about his many decisions, accomplishments, and challenges. Of particular interest to me would be his inspiration for his songwriting, the story behind the Thriller music video, and his bizarre lifestyle.     

          First, I would ask him about his inspiration. Certain people would tell you that Michael Jackson defines pop music. In fact, he is commonly known as the "King of Pop." His many contributions to music and dance and even fashion have made him a symbol of popular culture for over forty years. From his style of singing and groundbreaking accomplishments to his bizarre life, no one thought that anyone could ever step up to this master of music. Take what is literally the best-selling album of all time as an example: Thriller. It sold 65 million copies worldwide in just under a year after it's release. It stuns me to think how someone finds their inspiration to write such a record-breaking song. I'm sure certain sources would tell you how MJ created this fantastic piece of music, but no one would know better than Jackson himself.

          I would also ask him about his decision to create the Thriller music video in the first place. Before Thriller, no one had ever filmed a music video like that. Back then, music videos usually only consisted of live music or recorded footage of a performance. Michael Jackson took it much farther and created the very first "proper" music video in history; many people would follow in his footsteps and do the same. I'm very interested in his ideas for the music video, which is why I would love to question him about it.

          Finally, I would ask him what many others would be very interested in: What was the reason behind his bizarre social life? Jackson's various actions outside of producing music had been the point of discussion for some time. To give you an example, MJ bought a property and created "Neverland Ranch," his home from 1998 to 2005. The ranch is approximately 3000 acres. This bizarre purchase of land had many people wondering why MJ would want to make his home double as an amusement park. MJ had often stated that he loved children. "I wanted to have a place that I could create everything that I never had as a child. So, you see rides. You see animals. There's a movie theater. I was always on tour, traveling. You know? And I never got a chance to do those things... Neverland appeals to the child inside every man, woman and child. It’s a place where I feel like you can return to your childhood. You find grown-ups, you know, doing things they hadn't done since they were like 10 years old. And it’s just a fun, wonderful place to be." (2) Michael was raised in a world of adults, so he never had the freedom that other children had. He wanted to give other children that freedom, and so he turned his home into Neverland, a place named after a fictional setting in the story "Peter Pan." Unfortunately, many people speculated that he was going mad, spending so much time with children. But all he wanted to do was give kids the experience he never had.

          These questions are only the beginning of the many topics I would ask him about. People thought MJ had a very strange life; however, maybe that's just what it looked like on the outside. On the inside, maybe he was just a nice guy who loved making children happy in the way he never could. He was a fabulous musician; one of the best the world has ever known. So if I ever get to meet him, I'm sure it would be a real "Thriller" moment.

"Let us dream of tomorrow where we can truly love from the soul, and know love as the ultimate truth at the heart of all creation." -Michael Jackson (3)

(1) Michael Jackson. (n.d.). BrainyQuote.com. Retrieved October 29, 2014, from BrainyQuote.com Web site: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/m/michaeljac403017.html

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/citation/quotes/quotes/m/michaeljac403017.html#KYvb2St6ASbWbXrY.99

(2)" Neverland." Neverland. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Oct. 2014. <http://www.truemichaeljackson.com/neverland/>.

(3) Michael Jackson. (n.d.). BrainyQuote.com. Retrieved October 29, 2014, from BrainyQuote.com Web site: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/m/michaeljac389543.html

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/citation/quotes/quotes/m/michaeljac389543.html#lsxfpj3w1ADZ42L2.99

Ivan's Death: Who is to Blame?

     Imagine living in an old shack on the edge of an enormous cemetery, all by yourself, without any family or friends to keep you company. Every night, you would drop in the local pub to have a drink, all while being bullied by the more powerful and wealthier people above you. You only endure the teasing because they are the only people you interact with.

     Lonely, ashamed, annoyed, angry, depressed; this is the life of Ivan, the protagonist of a short story called "The Cemetery Path," written by Leonard Q. Ross. Ivan is a timid man who lives by himself in a lonely shack on the edge of an eerie cemetery. If you were in his shoes, I would imagine you would feel the same way. Despite the loneliness, name-calling and rude comments, Ivan still takes the challenge given to him by a young Cossack Lieutenant, who tells him to disprove his cowardice by sticking the Lieutenant's sabre in the ground in front of the cemetery's biggest tomb. Ivan hastily accepts the challenge, but the outcome isn't what you would have expected. Ivan does indeed fulfill the challenge, but ends up scaring himself to death when he accidentally strikes the sabre through his coat, making him unable to escape. The next morning, the Lieutenant finds Ivan's body in the cemetery, which brings us to the million-dollar question: Who was responsible for Ivan's death; himself, or his tormentors? 

     It's clear to me that Ivan has himself to blame for his death, because of three specific reasons. He could have avoided the incident altogether if he was strong enough to stand up for himself against his tormentors. He was drinking vodka before he accepted the challenge, which may have given him impaired judgment, and he scared himself to death when he drove the sabre through his coat.

     Living alone doesn't make you very strong when it comes to being bullied, so Ivan doesn't have the courage to stand up to the Lieutenant when he calls him a coward. Ivan grew up small and shy ("timid little man," as stated by the story), and therefore that may have made him less confident in standing up for himself. Regardless, he still should have stood his ground, as he is the only one responsible for his own health and safety.

     Ivan was most likely under the influence of vodka vodka, which may have caused him to use poor judgment and take the challenge from the Lieutenant, even though he would never normally have taken the cemetery path back to his shack at the end of the day. "Perhaps it was the vodka. Perhaps it was the temptation of the five gold rubles. No one ever knew why Ivan, moistening his lips, blurted: "All right, Lieutenant, I'll cross the cemetery!" Being poor, Ivan would do anything to get his hands on some money, drunk or not. The combination of his poor judgment and his desire for the five gold Rubles overwhelmed him, causing him to hastily accept, which would eventually lead to his death.

     The last reason is vaguely stated in the story. "They found Ivan, the next morning, on the ground right in front of the great tomb that was in the very centre of the cemetery. His face was not that of a frozen man, but of a man slain by some nameless horror. And the Lieutenant's sabre was in the ground where Ivan had pounded it - through the dragging folds of his long and shabby coat." By reading between the lines, we can conclude that this "nameless horror" is likely a heart attack, which means that Ivan scared himself to death. If Ivan hadn't struck the sabre through his coat, he wouldn't have died. The vodka may also have had an effect on him, causing him to be a bit uneven on his feet and uncoordinated, which may have resulted in the sabre getting stuck in his coat.

     These reasons are perfect examples why Ivan only has himself to blame for his death. If he hadn't been drinking, he may have had better judgment to tell the Lieutenant that he wouldn't take the challenge. If Ivan wasn't always lonely, he also may have had family or friends to help out with his troubles. So while the Lieutenant played a big part in the death of "Ivan the Terrible," It was Ivan himself who killed such a timid, depressed, and lonely little man.

It's You That Matters

     Have you ever had the desire to have something about you changed? It doesn't necessarily have to make you into an entirely different person, but a few things about yourself that you wished you had or didn't have. How you got this feeling could come from anything. Some people feel like they want to be different if they're being bullied, for example. It could be any reason, but sometimes, you just have that desire to be able to do something that you can't do, or to not have a certain aspect of yourself. Examples of this include things like height or weight. As for me, I'm going to be complete honest and say that I don't feel like I want to change anything about myself, so I figured I'd take on this topic from a different perspective: Why is it important for people to like who they are? 

     The answer to this is quite simple: You're not you if you change who you are. If you had the ability to, say, make yourself taller because everyone is picking on you because you're short, would you do it? I certainly wouldn't, because I'm proud of who I am. It just wouldn't feel normal if you changed something about yourself, because you're so used to how you used to feel. Whatever the reason is that you want to change yourself, whether it be bullying, if you desire to have a certain skill, or if you just don't like how you look, you are changing yourself into a different person. Here, I'm going to go into detail about why you should be proud of who you are and how to conquer these three downsides of why you would want to change yourself. 

     If you're being bullied, remember something important; There's nothing wrong with you. In most cases, It's the bully that has certain issues. It could be a case of low self-esteem, self-conscious issues, or maybe the bully is being picked on at home him/herself. Whatever the case, it's the bully that needs to change, not you. The bully could be a victim his/herself, so you go through the exact same thing that they could be going through. If a bully is ever picking on you because of how you look, just remember that they lash out because the same thing is happening to them. 

     What if you desire a certain skill or ability that you're unable to acquire? Such as playing a certain sport well, or to succeed in a certain subject. These desires are, most of the time, quite difficult to accomplish for one reason; You have to work for them. For example, say you want to join the baseball team at school, but you lack a good pitch. You can't be all upset and think to yourself "boy, I wish I was good at baseball" without putting some elbow grease into it. When you have a desire like that, your mind is often clouded with things like "I'll never be good at baseball" and other negative comments. Most people over look the one, simple fact that you have to work hard to achieve that skill or ability. If people overlook that, It can make them feel bad about themselves, which can lead to you wishing you were different. If you work hard for something that you want, the feeling of accomplishment will be amazing. Don't focus on how you could be better than how you are now. Instead, like who you are and to celebrate what you're good at.

     Of course, there's just some people out there who don't like how they look, which is quite a shame. Say you're looking through a friend's photo album on Facebook, and you see one that you're not particularly fond of. You think to yourself, "Is that really what I look like?" and you start to wonder why you look bad in that picture. So why do some people hate seeing photos of themselves?It's simply because the human eye isn't used to seeing the face that it's attached to. The only other time you ever see your face is in a mirror. These people are thinking about how they appear to others, so when they see themselves in a mirror, they think nothing of it because that they're the only one there. Photos are often accessible by other people, so the person gets all self-conscious about how they look. It's completely normal for you to act that way. Don't judge how you look from a single photo. Thinking you're ugly or unattractive will just make it worse. And if you see a photo that you don't like, there's an easy solution: Take another one.

     It's always important to like yourself just the way you are. Don't rely on other people to tell you if you look good or bad, you have the proper judgement to tell yourself "man, I look good today." If you have a desire to accomplish something, then work for it! And if you don't like how you look in a picture, take another one. If you don't appreciate who you are, then you can't appreciate your life. You may feel like there are some things that you can improve on, but it's perfectly fine to stay exactly how you are. Who you are.

The Deduction Debate

      "New policy allows teachers to deduct marks for late assignments" Says an article posted by Siri Agrell on The Globe and Mail. The article says that students in Grades 1 through 12 have been "getting away with too much for too long." Therefore, the Ministry of Education have implemented a new policy that explicitly allows teachers to deduct marks for assignments that are turned in late for the first time in fifteen years. Being a teen student myself, I'm not a big fan of due dates. However, I feel like it is a fair for teachers to expect students to hand in their assignments before the deadline in order to accomplish organizational skills. Here, I'm going to discuss what I think of this new policy, what it was like before the policy was applied, and how it's impacting students like me.

     The fact that students have been getting away with things far too easily, in my opinion, is quite true. I know of a few examples from past classmates and myself who have not gotten assignments in on time and still got the mark that we would have got if we did hand it in on time. If teachers can deduct marks for late assignments now, that would mean a gradual increase of what would be late assignments now being turned in on time. Before the policy was implemented, students have never had to experience the consequence for late assignments until now. The potential backlash was noted by the teachers and parents. They worried that penalizing the students would scare them away from school. The policy was still carried out, so students had to cope with this strict new change.

     A rule was applied in 1999 when the Ontario ministry introduced a policy that encouraged late assignments to be included in the evaluation of student work habits and not to influence the students' actual grades. Basically, students didn't get penalized for handing in late work. Certain schools even completely banned taking marks from tardy assignments. An interview among 562 teachers was carried out. 62 percent said that it had resulted in a higher level of students missing class, and 84 percent said that they had received an increase in late assignments.

     My opinion on the 1999 policy is that it really didn't accomplish anything in schools. The students weren't learning any organizational skills or habits, so they felt like they could hand in their work whenever they want. If the policy we have today never existed and the no-penalty policy was still in charge, students would have an extremely hard time in future years of school and university or college. They wouldn't have learned how to reach a deadline, so if they have a job to do in a future career, they might not have the skills to complete that task in time. However, the new policy is making students work harder and more efficiently to complete tasks more easily than before; I should know, as the policy has affected me as well.

     I personally think that this is a fair penalty, and that the new policy has the right to do what it can do for all of the right reasons. That may mean that students will have to endure late nights to complete homework, but it helps them become prepared for what lies ahead in their lives. Hard work will always pay off in the long run; There's no doubt about that.

Where I Want to Live

    If I could live anywhere I wanted, that place would need to have certain attributes to fulfill my requirements. What's the point of living somewhere that you don't like? When you leave the house after you're finished school, or when you're moving, you always need to try your best to live somewhere that you can feel comfortable. A variety of things would factor into my decision if I were to live somewhere. Here are some of them.

First up is climate and weather. I like a place that has a nice, warm climate in the summertime, but also a cool, cozy climate in the wintertime. Toronto is a perfect example. The summers are nice and hot, and the winters are cool and fun most of the time. Most people tend to favour summer, but I love both summer and winter for different reasons. I also hate rain, so living in a rainy area wouldn't work with me very well. Luckily, Toronto is quite balanced in terms of sunny and rainy days. So if I were looking for a place to live and I based my decision entirely on climate and weather, I would stay put, right here in Toronto.

     Safety is another concern. If I were to live somewhere I would want to make sure that I'm safe from criminal activity. It's always important to try and settle somewhere safe, so you don't put yourself and others in danger. Places like Detroit or Mexico City are VERY bad choices, as those cities are filled with crime. Toronto, as it is, is already a very safe place. If I'm looking for a new place to move to, I really don't need to go anywhere; Toronto fulfills my expectations again.

     Lastly, I would make sure that the place that I want to live is healthy, meaning not a lot of diseases spreading around. Places like Africa or India have several deadly diseases spreading among it's inhabitants, such as Ebola. Toronto, and Canada as a whole, is considered to be very safe health-wise. we're lucky to not have to deal with deadly diseases such as Ebola or Malaria, and our doctors and hospitals are well-trained and have the knowledge to control certain health-related issues. Toronto once again has everything I need to live a safe, healthy lifestyle.

     If I had to decide somewhere else where I would want to live, my decision would be quite simple: No where. Toronto has everything I need to live a happy life. Of course, it's always fun taking a trip with your family to Disney World or going up north to your cottage where it's always a bit chillier outside, but as for a place where I would want to "set up shop," so to speak, I really don't need to go anywhere. It's impossible to know where you'll end up in your future. Maybe you'll get a job that requires you to travel around a lot, or maybe you'll get a job that you can work from home. There's so many things that could happen, but who knows what will? Only time will tell.