|
The results of
Jaykees
HEY! Stop guys and read our intro.
We are the Jankees. We are a group of three freaky girls. Our names are
Kristin (lying), Jana (left) and Sonja (right).
We are 11th graders and 16 (Kristin) and 17 years old. Our characters are
very different. Jana is shy, Kristin loves talking a lot and Sonja is our
dancing queen. Our school is at the Northsea-coast of Germany . In our
sparetime we go in cafes and discos to have fun;-) We often read. Sonja
and Jana read thrillers and Kristin likes books about philosophy or poems.
Jana really dislikes lovestories. Jana and Sonja play bowling in the same
team. They often play tournaments at the weekends. Kristin and Sonja
really like buying every kind of clothes or cosmetics. Jana and Sonja
listen to nearly every kind of music. Kristin listens especially to music
of the sixties. She also really likes watching horrorvideos. Except
Kristin we hate piercings. Kristin wishes to get a Piercing at her chin.
She wants to study psychology in the South of Germany. Sonja wants to
become a Pilot at Lufthansa and Jana wants to work in the field of social
pedagogy.
Our first topic is: What do you think about drugs, especially smoking? In
our group only Kristin smokes but she doesnt have any problems with
that. The law in Germany allows you to smoke at the age of 16 but most
parents do not agree with that. Smokers in Germany are accepted nearly
everywhere.
We would also like to discuss about the following topics
sociology (psychology, philosophy)
Genetic engineering
From VHS to Jever, 11.2.03:
Hello Jaykees!
My name is Emily Groves. I am a junior at Sutton High School , a really
small school in a really small town in Massachusetts , which is in the
northeast region of the United States . I like playing soccer, running
track, reading, writing, and listening to music.
Well you girls sound very interesting! My three best friends and I form
sort of a group, which sounds a lot like your group (the Jaykees?). We
love going dancing, and go to clubs every once and a while. We do not real
ly have many discos here, though.
I love reading. I read all different genres, a lot of mystery, some
romance, a few thrillers, and a lot of novels which don't really fit any
category. My favorite author is F. Scott Fitzgerald. You may not be
familiar with him. He's an American author from the 1920s. I'm reading a
lot of his stuff right now. I also like Charles Dickens, and though many
people find him too descriptive, I love his style.
My friends and I love doing each other's make-up, and we usua lly try
different things on each other. We have to be careful, though, because my
friend Ashley has a reputation for doing some really crazy things on our
faces!
Two of my friends and myself have our belly buttons pierced. But otherwise
we have no de sires to have any other body piercing, though we all have at
least two holes in each ear. I want to be a print journalist for a
newspaper. My other friends are still undecided about their aspirations.
I am very excited to work with you girls and othe r teenagers from around
the world. It will be interesting to talk with all of you and learn a
little bit about your trends. I have never been off of the North American
Continent, and the only time that I have been out of the United States was
my visit to Montreal , Canada four years ago. I wonder, though, when did
you girls learn English? I think it is amazing that you can write as well
as that. I have studied Spanish for four years and still have a lot of
trouble when I write. It takes me forever, and I usually make a bunch of
mistakes. Then again, we do start our foreign language program late here
in the United States . Talk to you soon
From Jever to VHS, 13.2.:
Hi Emily!
We got your email yesterday, and we also think it might be very
interesting to talk to you. What topics do you want to talk about? Did you
get our topics? We have been learning English for nearly 7 years now. We
call our selves the Jaykees because of the first letters of our names. Can
you tell us something about your best friends who you are working with..How
old are you all and what are the hobbies of your group. Our email is a bit
short, but the next one will be longer when we know what to talk about
The Jaykees
To Ramallah, 13.2.:
Hi at all!
We are the Jaykees from Germany . The name of our group consists of the
first letters of our Names, Jana, Kristin and Sonja.
What topics are you interested to talk about?
You can find our intros including our topics on our homepage :
www.mgjever.de
@Gilava : What is the meaning of With 2 million apples for u?
Hope to hear from you soon Jana and Sonja
from VHS, 20.02.:
Hey you guys. Well, girls!
My name is Cassandra Maker. I live in a small town in Massachusetts , in
the United States .
I love to read too. It's just been hard latel y because I'm taking a
college-level English class, so we read a new book every week. Combined
with sports and theatre, I don't get a lot of time to read anymore.
Kristin, I also like poetry books. Do you also write poetry? I love to
write.
I used to play on a bowling team. Me and my best friend signed up for the
summer. It was a lot of fun. Then they installed all sorts of technology
into the bowling alley, and everything starting breaking down. I acutally
think that they're going to sell the alley t o a local publishing company.
It's so sad!
I also love to shop. My parents tell me all the time that I have too much
clothes. What of stuff do you guys like to wear? I have every sort of
clothes under the sun. I need to stop spending money :).
Wow, Sonja, a pilot? That is so cool! I can honestly say that I have never
met anyone who has wanted to be a pilot. Do you fly a lot? I have never
even been on an airplane before. The closest I've been to the sky is a
roller coaster at a fair. Being a pilot so unds like a lot of fun.
I'm very excited to work with you guys for the next few weeks. I hope we
get to talk more. I would love to learn more about your culture and what
you do for fun. Good-bye for now!
Cassandra
to Ramallah, 21.2.:
Hi everybody in Gilava's group! This is Jana of the Jaykees. Your question
was, if we like physics. I can tell you, I really hate it. I don't
understand any word of physics. That's why it was the first subject, that
I kicked out of my lessons. We can choose one science that we won't do
after grade 10 and I decided to do chemistry and biology in the following
years.So I don't have to do any physics during my time in school. Can you
please tell me, what the last sentence of you email "with 8 million
big apples for u " means? Bye Jana
From Sonja to VHS, 28.2.:
Hi Cassandra!
How ru?
We got your mail yesterday and I have to say it sounds very interesting
what ur writing about. I think we have the same interests. You wanna talk
about cloths and stuff like that? Of course that`s something very
important for us, too.
Fortunalty my parents never say anything about my cloths but I think a
woman or also a girl always needs something new, isn`t that true?
What kind of cloths do u prefer? In our school for example there r of
course many different styles. From skater cloths to college style.....
U also said that u have never been on a plane before.... I think flying is
something wonderful! I have flown to spain , greece and australia .
Because I like flying so much I wanna become a pilot. In that
profession I can combine everything I like... That`s working with people,
a lot of travelling and always something new.
What do U wanna do when u have finished school?
Hope to hear from u soon
Sonja from Germany
From Seattle, 26.2.:
Hey Kristin, Jana, and Sonja! My name is Kaytlyn. You guys sound really
interesting! I wanted to know what kind of dancing Sonja did because I did
ballet for 9 years but stopped last year so I could do other sports. And
like Kristin and Jana, I love to talk but I can get really shy. On your
first topic I thought it was interesting because I didn't know that you
were allowed to smoke at such a young age. Here in America , you have to
be 18 to smoke. I personally think it's bad to smoke because it hurts you
and others. The thing about smoking is that it kills you and then your
friends and family lose you to such a stupid thing that you know can just
kill you. Well since I'm only in 7th grade,
I can not smoke. And I don't intend to. No
offence to Kristin but in my opinion, smoking is dumb. Well smokers are
treated fairly here. There are smoking sections in almost all the
resturants, and people smoke everywhere. TV tries to discourage it but I
don't see any change. Last year I think, they had a lot of commercials on
drugs and how they killed people and everything, but this year I don't see
as much. I don't know why, but its probobly because nobody listens.
Well for your next topic, I am not afraid of
my own death because I am a christian and Ii
believe I will go to heaven when I die. The meaning of life for me would
have to be to searve Jesus...well that's the meaning of being a christian,
so I am guessing that the meaning of life for me is to be a chirstian.
Well I have a question. Who is R.A. Moody? Does it involve philosophy?
Well to answer your next question, most boys in the 7th grade only think
about sex and stuff. I know some people who have actually messed around
with girls. :) Well for your next questions,
yes they are trying to clone babies. I agree with you guys that they
should only clone organs because then nature would be ruined. What would
the point of saying your a "Mother" or a "Father" to a
baby that was cloned? So I believe that they should only clone organs. :)
I think cloning should only be used for organ cloning because if someone
was in need of an organ, and someone didn't have the organ, you could get
someone with a match, and clone it. :) I don't know what
virtro-fertilization, or PID.
from VHS, 27.2.:
I consider myself to have a group of friends much like your own. My three
best friends Ashley, Nikki, Renee and myself compose our own little group.
We do not have a name, a group name like your own, but we each have
individual nicknames. I am the goose, Nikki is the duck, Renee is the swan,
and Ashley is the turkey. Nikki loves ducks, so her nickname came from
that, and Renee is always concerned about how she looks, like the
beautiful swan who is mesmerized by her own reflection. Ashley h as a
one-track mind: food, so we figured the turkey would be appropriate. And I
am said to pertain many mother-like qualities in that I am always looking
out for the well-being of others, "mother goose." It is somewhat
odd, but we thought it would be funn y to have "foul" code names
(as in foul=birds).
I think that is great to learn another language at so young an age. It is
probably easier, too, because you are not yet totally dependent on your
1st language. I started my foreign language program only 4 years ago, and
I certainly could not communicate like you Jaykees do.
Well, I must do some other work, so I hope to talk to you girls later!
- Emily
from VHS to Sonja, 5.3.:
Hey Sonja! I will agree that clothes are very, very important to any
girl's life :). I have actually had to stop myself from going shopping
lately because I am very quickly running out of money because my job
closed in December and doesn't open for another week. So sad! I wear all
types of things. On the days when I want to be comfortable, I will just
wear a comfy sweater and a pair of sweatpants that we got for track. On
other days, like today, I need something a little more fun, so I throw on
a cute jean skirt and a sweater. I also have this pair of boots that I
love because they look really good with all of my skirts. Besides that, I
love wearing just a nice pair of jeans, boots, and a sweater or bu
tton-down. I wouldn't say that I have any specific style. I wear whatever
I feel like putting on in the morning. What about you? What would you say
your "style" is?
Yes, I have never been on a plane. I am probably going to travel to
England , though, in a few months, and I might go to Montana over summer
break, so I should be getting lots of plane time in soon. We shall see.
I guess that's all for now. I hope to talk to you again!
Cassandra
from Jana to VHS, 7.3.:
Hi Emily!
Im Jana of the Jaykees. How are you? I just read your email, in which
you have explained your and your friend's nicknames. I think, it is very
funny, to have nicknames like that. Who had the idea to give these
nicknames to you? Was it the whole group, or only one of you? I share your
opinion about learning a second language in such a young age. I was only
11 years old, when I started to learn English, and two years later we
started to learn French, or (the students who dont like French) Latin.
Which is your second language, that you are learning? And how old have you
been, when you started to learn this language? What about your friends of
your group? Do they learn a second language? Which one?
Hope to hear from you soon.
Jana
from Emily to Jana, 12.3.:
Hi Jana!
It is nice to hear from you! I agree, our nicknames our pretty funny! It
was a mutual thing, we were all kind of brainstorming and just came up
with them I guess. We usually don't use them like to address each other
though. We say our real names.
I started learning Spanish when I was about 14, and Latin just last year
at 16. We have a language requirement, and everyone has to take at least
two years of a foreign language, and they only have to tak e one. I've
taken 4 years of Spanish and 2 years of Latin. Pretty much everyone in my
school started taking language at 14, and two of my friends have taken
four years like me, but they take French. My friend renee only took three
years of french, but she also took one year of Latin. I really think our
foreign language programs are awful though, I am very limited in my
Spanish. I am actually better at Latin because we have a stronger program
in Latin, but Latin is not spoken because it is a dead tongue, but it
helps me a lot with my English words and grammar. Do you speak English or
French in your classes? In my Spanish class we are supposed to only speak
Spanish, but many of the kids can't, so there is a lot of English spoken.
Hope to talk to you soon!
Emily
from Jana to Emily, 12.3.:
Hi Emily!
We have to learn two foreign languages. So our whole class learns English
and also we have to do Latin or French. Some students are learning more
than these two languages. Kristin of our group for example has started to
learn Dutch but it is a voluntary subject in the afternoon. At lot of
student at our school started their second foreign language (for example
French) at 7th Grade, learn that language till the end of the 10th Grade
and then start a third foreign language (when they started with French
they can do Latin) in year 11. That is only possible for French and Latin.
Hope to hear from you soon
Jana
from Jana und Sonja to VHS, 14.3.:
Differences in cultures
Hi Alyse!
In our families there are only few traditions, for example how we
celebrate Christmas.
Most people in our community go to church on Christmas eve. After church
the people get their presents in their families. We do not have any taboos
in Germany . The only thing which is prohibited is having sex on the
street we think. Everyone can live the way he or she wants to. Thats
what we think and know about America`s culture: We think people in America
cannot live as free as they want. The society has too many taboos starting
with some rules for clothes you are allowed to wear at school. In Germany
we can wear short skirts if we want to and really nothing is forbidden.
What we also know about America is that religion is very important for
you. Here are many people who do not believe in god and who never go to
church. ( Like us). Most people we know say that the Americans are too
strained and it would be nice if they were a bit more relaxed. Our parents
are married but during the week there is only one parent at home. At Janas
its her father who is at home, and at Sonja`s her mother.
Jana and Sonja (Jaykees)
from Sonja to Ramallah, 14.3.:
Hi at all Ramallah students
You wanted to know what our opinion about progress in science is. We think
that progress in science is very important. Or what would we do without
our modern medical aid? Maybe you have heard of the big European issue
about nuclear power stations. Here the Politicians discuss if the stations
make any sense, if they are too dangerous and if they are economically
defendable. I (Sonja) think that those nuclear power stations are much
more safe than any other source of energy but in Germany we have a problem
with one political party. They call themselves the green party and they
want to prohibit those stations. What do u think about that?
Sonja (Jaykees)
from Kristin to Seattle , 14.3.:
Racism
Hello everybody!
From my point of view
racism has been a problem for centuries and maintain persistent. It faces
you every day again in every day life and in all social and political
structures. As well as the individual socities are convinced of there own
moral and this is not reconcile with racism, because of that it is hushed
up.All unambiguous racism evidences start with: I am not racist but...That
is not surprising because racism has a long awful past (for example:
Hitler and the Second World War).Everyone would distance himself of that
history. A great many surveys verifies that racist perpetrator assign
their victims their own positive characteristics the other way round. The
other races are idle, dirty, unreasonable , loud, deceitful, fanatical or
intolerant. So a racist society assesses itself as being diligent, clean,
sensible, quiet, sincere, understanding and tolerant. In the racism I have
seen, the victim is defined as strange. The perpetrator thinks that he
Kristin of jaykees
from Ramallah, 18.3.:
hi we are from ramallah sec school >we agree with u , the
modern medical aid is so important in many sides because
the scientific progress has double edge sword if we use it in the
right way like producing several kinds of energy but nowadays
many countries which have nuclear resources use it for making
nuclear weapons against other >weaker
countries. note: can u supply us with more informations about
green party sabrin, ahlam,dana ,banan, jihad, ruba, dana(we
have 2 danas)
from Kz., 18.3.:
(1) Genetic engineering
Now chemistry and medicine have great results. They have inventions
that help in their work. For example, in 1921 - insulin found to
treat dibets, in 1967 organ transplantation. In 1996 - first
cloning. Dr. Ian Wilmut introduced the world the first successful
clone of an adult mammal a seven-month old Finn- Dorset
lamb named Dolly. When Dr. Ian Wilmut and his team from the Roslin
Institute created a lamb named Dolly, they accomplished what many
experts thought was a scientific impossibility. Dolly does not
merely took after her biological mother. She was a carbon
copy, a laboratory counterfeit so exact that she was in essence her
mothers identical twin. In 1996 Dolly became the first large
animal to be cloned from genetic material extracted from an
adult cell. Her birth at the Roslin Institute in Scotland was
announced in 1997 and caused an international sensation. In
medicine doctors clone organs and transplant them. This way is big
progress in medicine. But cloning is not only helps in
medicine but also helps to earn money for criminals. They sell
expensive clone organs to desperately ill people and reach their
goal-to make big money. Ramina
Rakhmatullina
(2) Genetic engineering
There are a lot of kinds of genetic engineering, for example
cloning, transplantation, Pre-Implantation- Diagnostic. These
inventions are not researched up to the end that is why, to my
mind, they are dangerous nowadays. Scientists make a lot of
experiments of cloning nowadays. Doctor Ian Wilmut made the
first cloning in 1996. After that experiments a lot of other
experiments on the sheep and people have been made. I think
that cloning is useful in medicine, because a lot of
desperately ill people need some special donors or organs,
which they cant find for years. Of course genetic
engineering is the great invention of present time. It can be
the most important thing in our life in future but not now
because as I have already written this process has not been
investigated thoroughly. I think the consequences might be not
very good if you dont know possible results. Ainur
Baigulina , Kazakhstan
(3) In Vitro Fertilization (IVF), assisted reproductive
technologies (ART) in which one or more eggs are fertilized outside a
female's body. This technique has been used extensively in animal
embryological research for decades, but only since 1978 has it been
successfully applied to human reproduction. I have found what the
IVF is in the encyclopedia and I want to say that I am against of
human reproduction because people must be born in a natural way, they
must have their own family, history and something which is close to
their society. But I accept cloning of some organs of human body if
it helps them to live longer. I think it would be interesting
for you to read some detail information about cloning people, just to
understand the process. In human reproduction the process
involves stimulation of the growth of multiple eggs by the daily
injection of hormone medications. (It is also possible to conduct
IVF without the use of the hormone medications; a single egg would
develop and be retrieved.) The eggs are recovered by one of two
methods: sonographic egg recovery, the more common of the two, which
uses ultrasound guidance to retrieve the eggs, or oocytes; or
laparoscopic egg recovery, in which retrieval is made through a small
incision in the abdomen. Once the eggs are retrieved, they are placed
in a special fluid medium, then semen that has been washed
and incubated is placed with the eggs and left for approximately 18
hours. The eggs are removed, passed into a special growth medium and
then examined about 40 hours later. If the eggs have been fertilized
and developed normally, the embryos are transferred to the woman's
(or a surrogate's) uterus. This process is very
difficult and depends on many circumstances that are why nobody is
sure about the results. This problem needs thorough investigation.
Peoples opinion must also be considered. Thank you for such an
interesting topic Im sure our opinion will be taken into account.
Oxana Smirnova
(4) My opinion about cloning. I think cloning is the greatest
discovery on the earth. It opens great number of possibilities
before mankind. But as any other invention it has its own plusses
and minuses. Due to cloning people can increase livestock and
consequently all mankinds will not need In met and hide.
People also can give birth to a child with determined traits.
Scientist can take experiments with cloning cells. These
experiences can help making medicines for recovery any
diseases. I am not quite opposite of cloning but I think results
will not justify all expectations. At first, it requires great
expense, special laboratories and high qualified people in
this field. And people who will be results of cloning will
expose to big risk, because cloning is just in the beginning of ones
own formation. I think cloning is necessary to save human
life. For example, create same organ for transplantation to a
sick person. It is very humanely. But to create clone people
as copy or for having certain traits is not required. My
opinion is that people must be born naturally. I think cloning
should be allowed for medical purposes. Human life is the most
valuable on the earth. Medicine should use it only in cases to save
human life. Dilyara Nazyrova
from Kz., 18.3.:
(1) Hi everybody!
My name is Artyom, but you can call me simply Art. I'm a 17-year old
boy from Kazakhstan and I'd like to take part in a project named
"Drugs". Seems like many of I*EARN participants like
this topic :) I won't write a lot about how important the
problem of dealing with drugs is 'cause we all know it and it's
been said many-many times. I'd like to get staight to the subject and
answer all the questions that came together with the
project idea. -What about drug usage in your
region? Well, looking back into my life experience I can say
that drugs are used by people almost everywhere. In my region,
too. Laws against drugs (especially marijuana) seem to make
more people try drugs. People like trying something that's
prohibited, naturally a human being is a very curious creature
that likes trying something new and amazing. That's how most of the
drug addicts start taking psychodelics. The most common drugs in
Kazakhstan are marijuana, heroine, cocaine and LSD-25. It's not very
difficult to find weed selling dealers 'cause there are many of 'em.
About 70 % of teenagers have smoked marijuana at least once and about
40 % of teens do it frequently. Not many people take cocaine and LSD,
but hero is more spread. Like in other countries heroine usage
leads to much crime. Almost all the people who start taking this
"white death" turn into thieves 'cause heroine is quite
expensive to buy. The only thing that makes our region a little bit
more positive is that we don't have such stuff as DMT, opium, shrooms
and peyott cacti here. -What do you think about drugs and drug
usage? I think that all the drugs except marijuana are bad for
people. They affect man's body and brain in a very bad way. Well,
I'll stop here in order not to retell all the books about drugs'
influence on a human being. Let me explain the first sentence of the
paragraph (it might seem interesting to you :) The laws of almost all
the countries prohibit marijuana usage along with harder drugs'
consumption. I think that's dumb. All the scientists who have tested
hard drugs' influence on a human being have come to a conclusion that
cocaine, LSD, heroine, DMT, opium, cacti, and psychodelic mushrooms
are bad for our health. They have published tons of reports that
proof this fact. Now let me ask you, have you ever seen a scientific
report which proofs that marijuana is bad for man's health?
I haven't. But I have come across the facts of medicinal usage of
marijuana. It's being used to treat some US citizens who have cancer
and AIDS. It's legal in Netherlands and can be easily bought by
anyone who's not under 18. Marijuana kills cancer cells and gives
human's body many vitamins when taken orally. -What is
your definition of drugs? In English a drug is a substance that
cannot be taken by a man without doctor's prescription. As for me, I
think that a drug is a substance that (first of all) does harm to
man's health and (less important) that is easy to get addicted to. I
think that the worst drugs ever are heroine, nicotine, and alcohol
'cause their influence on human's health is the worst comparing to
other psychoactive substances.
from Ramallah, 21.3.:
Hi we are some students from ramallah high school in Palestine
.We're >pleased to share you in your project "Drug and
Smoke" ,it's really >encourage us to work and work to
know that it have more about this item >.Well.......about
the drugs,all of us know that it have a bad effects on >the
human's health but we don't know -in fact- it's kinds!!!! and
whats >the reasons which make the human as an
oddict??!! > >Firstly Drugs have many kind like
"cocaine,cannabis,opium,morphine and >many other kinds
.Secondly,there is many reasons make people drinking >drugs
and it's: > >1- fatigue in work ,illness and
proverty. > >2- misery,hunger and stress of
life. > >3- the medical poisoning which causes by the
medical soporifics....... > >Thirdly about the bad
effects it's innumerable and here is some of it
:- > >1- it makes some changes in the installation of the
cells of the human's >body . > >2- the
oddict face meny instanities whereas the doctors cann't heal
the >oddict from the physiological side without taking care of
the >psgchological side . > >This is not all the
things about Drugs because if we wanna to talk about >it we
will never finnish talking but at the end we wanna to ask you
all >this question "Are you an oddict ??!!!" Don't be
frighten...... all the >people these days are oddicts not on
drugs but on other things like >tea,coffee and some times on
bad habits .so we are waiting for the answer >. >
>rom Jihad,Nreeman,Abeer,Remaa,Heba.
from Jever to Ramallah, 22.3.:
Hi Ahlam, Sabrin and Ibaa!
You have asked us a few questions about cloning. Here is what I think
of that subject: You said that most of the pregnancies with a
clone spontaneously abort themselves. If I understand you in the
right way that you want to emphasize that it does not make any sense
if we go on exploring this kind of scientific possibility because we
will never be successful with that. In my opinion it is just too
early for us to be able to understand such a complex subject. Science
is still at the beginning to enter that new world. We will see,
I think ten or twenty years later, that everyone only laughs about
our problems we have nowadays and cloning is going to be as normal as
to get an injection . You also wanted to know what we think about the
possibility what could happen if a clone grows up one day. Well, thats
a question which is not easy to answer but my general opinion is that
there would only be the same superficial looking but the personality
will never be the same. Your personality is not in your genes, it is
influenced by your environment, upbringing and culture. My questions
for you: Do you think that your personality is in your genes or is it
influenced by your environment? What is your opinion about cloning
for medical purposes? Will cloning be a part of every human life one
day or should it be prohibited? Sonja (jaykees)
from VHS, 22.3.:
Jana-
That is very intersting. I am still very impresed with how well you
speak English. What do you do for extracurricular activites: i.e.,
school sports, clubs, etc. I play soccer and run track, and I also
work on our school newspaper and our yearbook. I am a member of
a leadership group in our school, and I also do peer counseling
(students can come and talk to me about different issues
especially problems with friends, like fights and stuff).
Hope to hear from you soon!
~Emily
to VHS, 25.3.:
Hi Emily!
How are you? I'm very fine. Thanks for your email. I don't do any
extracurricular activites at school, because I don't like the
subjects that we have, or I don't have any time, when
these subjects take place. In my sparetime I play bowling and
badminton in a team. Jana
to LAquila , 25.3.: Hi Alessia and Vittorio...
Your message was a surprise for our group. We do not know someone who
tried to kill herself. Arent you afraid of death? Why are you
in this learning circle when you are out off school? What is
the opinion of your parents that you are drunk every day. Why do you
drink every day? Or is this all a big fake;-)? Jaykees
to Ramallah, 25.3.:
Hi sabrin, ahlam, dana, dana, banan, ruba and jihad!
You asked for more information about the green party. Here are
some: Officially they want to protect the environment but they
only invent new and higher taxes. If it goes on like this
people will not have a cent for themselves any more! It is their
fault that we have to pay 80% taxes on petrol. What are your prices
for petrol? We have to pay about 1,14 Euro. They want to get rid of
the old energy resources and use the energy of the wind and the sun.
That is much more expensive than for example coal and only a
minority agrees with that. Most of the time these people are rich and
they can afford these energies. Do you have a party like this too?
Their newest invention is that we have to pay taxes on drinking tins.
If we want the money back we have to bring them back to that!
Supermarket where we have bought them. It is complicated for
travellers who bought them at a station and when it is empty they are
500 kilometres away. What they want to achieve with that is that
people stop buying tins and buy more returnable bottles. If this idea
makes any sense is another question. What do you think about this? We
think our opinion is clear: We are not convinced of them. Jana
and Sonja (jaykees)
from LAquila , 26.3.: Reply on Drugs
From Andrea, Davide
In Italy the use of drugs is illegal, heavy and light. We are completely
against the use of heavy drugs because we know they are very
dangerous physically and mentally. On the other hand we think that a
moderate use of light drugs like cannabis causes no more damage than
a normal cigarette. And cannabis tastes good.
Reply on Drugs
From Claudia, Federico, Filippo
Personally, we don't smoke and neither like the smell of smoke nor drugs.
We know that some of our friends smoke cigarettes and some marijuana
too. We don't agree with their ideas. The law in Italy allows you to
smoke at the age of 16, but it isn't respected. Smoking is forbidden
in airports and in some restaurants too, but you are allowed to
smoke in public if you want. Of course, marijuana and other drugs
are forbidden but even in a little city like L'Aquila there are a
lot of drug dealers.
from Ramallah, 26.3.:
Hi Aniur Baiguling .Kazakhstan...... > >I already read
your writting about the "GENETIC ENGINEERING" .Well as i
>think Genetic Engineering is very important coz as u said people
need >some organs which is not available at any time "like
>heart,pancereas,brain,lungs.....and many others"so we -
nowadays- can >remedy these people and chand their organs with
this new step or this new > tecnology .So as u see it's good and
prober for humanity .But i have >some questions for u :
> >Q-1:If the Genetic Engineering become a general thing
or a puplic thing >...Do u think that u will use this tecnology
in ur life and Why ? > >Q-2:Do u think that cloning
could be a disaster for humanity - as i think- > and why?
> >Waiting 4 ur response
.................................. >
>Jihad Halawani From Ramallah High School .Plaestine .
from VHS, 28.3.:
Jana-
That's cool that you do other stuff because you don't like what
your school has. I am very busy, too, and i can understand
that! Bowling is not realy big here, especially as a sport. A
lot of people do it for fun. Actually my best friend met her
boyfriend bowling. She accidently threw her bowling ball into
the lane next to us, which had a whole bunch of guys. This one
guy noticed her, and he brought back her ball. Now it is a year
later, and they are still together. Needless to say, my friends
and I are not very good at bowling.
Emily
to Ramallah, 1.4.:
Hi Jihad!
We would use this technology, if it became a general thing. But we
would only use it for medical purposes, that means, that we would
not clone a whole human being. This technology can save lives and you
are able to improve the quality of life for many ill people. We dont
think that cloning will become a disaster for humanity if it is used
in the right way. Of course there will be some scientists that try to
misuse cloning, but these people should be punished seriously. They
should never be allowed to work in science again. But most of the
scientists are legitimate and they would only use it for the legal
purposes. They try to prevent that cloning becomes a disaster. Why do
you think that cloning could become a catastrophe? Jana and Sonja
(jaykees)
from Seattle , 2.4.:
Ever since I was very little I've been taught that the meaning of
life is to survive. My dad always told my sister and me that
that was what it was. I have never ever been told anything else
and so I stick to what my dad told me. What I have been told
makes allot of sense if you think about it, every living thing
seems to be created with the tools it needs to survive and/or
help others survive. For example: plants give us the oxygen that
we could not live with out and we breath out what they need. See
we help others survive! I believe that the meaning of life is
to survive... that answers your question right?
Love and hate are very strong words, they should never be used
lightly and without care. If you use them lightly they could
become meaningless and confuse people around you. One of my
friend's brothers has been caught up in something like that,
one of his neighbors would come over and ask him to play tag
with her, if He said no his neighbor would say that she
hated him and than the next day say she liked him again. If he said
yes his neighbor would say she really liked for playing tag
with her but if he said no the next day she would say she hated
him again. Everyone got really confused about if she hated him
or not and stayed away from her. If you don't be careful
something like that could happen to you, just don't use them
lightly.
I am afraid of my death, always have been. I remember when I was
four years old I was sitting in the car on my way to my ballet
lessons and I was thinking about death. I was very afraid of
it. Sometimes I'm too afraid to fall asleep because I'm afraid
of someone coming in and killing me wile I'm asleep. (No really
I am!) I watch the news way too much when they're talking about
murder cases and stuff of the like, the stories scare me to
death (not literally) I am always scared that that will
happen to me. I'm afraid of even thinking about death because
I'm afraid that if I think it, it will happen but that's a
different story all together. I guess you could say I'm more afraid
of being killed than dieing a natural death, but I am still afraid of
death in general. By Megan
===================================
From Stephanie Alderwood Middle USA
Smoking is considered a big deal and a big problem in the US .
There are many underage smokers and drug users in this country.
Personally I don't smoke and I have never smoked. I'll try to
answer three of your questions. What age am I allowed to smoke?
By law I could smoke at 18. What does my society think about
smoking and how are smokers treated by society? My society
doesn't treat smokers differently in the sense that they have
the same rights as everyone else does. Those are the main things I'll
talk about, through my response.
In the US you have to be 18 to smoke legally. There is a big problem
here in the US with underage smoking, and drug use. They say that
smoking and drug use in teens has gone down over the past few
years though. Smoking at school and getting caught means you
are automatically expelled, and getting caught with drugs at
school would probably get you kicked out of school and you
wouldn't be allowed to come back. While I've been at Alderwood
I don't think anyone has been caught smoking. I don't smoke
and none of my friends do either.
What does my society think about drugs and smoking? My society
doesn't tolerate smoking when it is done by teens. Even if the
smoking is done by an adult it's still something that is not
taken lightly. There are many things that my society is doing
to stop smoking. There are about a million anti smoking
commercials on TV. At my school me have to watch a program
in the morning called channel 1. It's like a news show for teenagers.
Almost all the commercials are anti drug or anti smoking. There
are groups that are against tobacco use or smoking in teens.
M.A.D.D. is mothers against drunk driving, and T.A.T.U. teens
against tobacco use. That's only a few of the organization by
society has for smoking and drugs.
Smokers aren't treated differently in my society here in the US .
Almost everywhere you go you'll find non smoking area's. These
are mostly in restaurants, and stores and of course hospitals.
Smoking is allowed in public places, but there can be
designated area where you could go and smoke. If you were to go
to a baseball game here in Washington , you would have to get
seats in a smoking section of the stadium, or go out to
the open parts of the stadium because there's no smoking in the
regular sections. Smoking is tolerated and smokers are treated
the same and have the same rights as non smokers.
Being a smoker in the US does not change the rights you have or the
way you're treated. It does, however, change where you can go when
you smoke, like at a baseball game, or at the mall. 18 is an
age that most parents agree with, because when you're 18 you're
considered an adult and out of their care. In other words they
don't have to deal with it and you can make your own decisions.
I hope I answered your question is my
to Kz., 4.4.:
Hi Ira, Artyom, Ira and Yulya
I read your letter about the third world war, and I absolutely share
your opinion. I dont think, that the Americans only started this
war, because they want to exempt the population of the Iraq from
Sadam Hussein and his political system. Perhaps it is an ulterior
motive, but mainly, they want to get the oil of the Iraq . From my
point of view the war of the Iraq damaged not only the population of
the Iraq , but also people who have relatives in the Iraq , and who
knows, how many journalists will die during they do their work in the
Iraq . Of course there are not only people dying. Also the land, the
economy, the environs, and the states that will reconstruct the Iraq
will suffer from this situation. I hope, that this war will soon come
to an end, and that the citizens of the Iraq are soon exempted from
Sadam Hussein. Jana (Jaykees) from Germany
from Seattle , 23.4.:
Topic: Philosophy
Are you afraid of your own death? What do you think about love and
hatred? What is your meaning of life? Those are just some of the
questions that everyone has a different opinion about. Many may
think death is nothing to take regard of and some might think
the opposite. Some people think love is stupid and some may
not. It depends on who they are and what they believe in. It is
called, philosophy. People have their own beliefs in different
things. I have my own philosophy and beliefs, also. Other
people may not feel the same way as me but everyone has different
concepts. As said above, many people have different opinions
about things like, death. Some people are scared of death and
some live life to the fullest. In my opinion, I think the
people who are scared of death should stop living in its grasp.
What I mean is, if you are scared of something, it will
pull you back on greater things. Death is something I don't
think about because I don't want to live in fear. I don't want
death and fear to pull me back on things that I want to do. For
example, when my family went to Disneyland , there were many rides
that went up very high. The rides were very exciting but my sister
wouldn't go on any of the high rides. She missed out on some of the
fun because she was afraid that she might fall off and die. Her fear
of death pulled her back. Like I said, I believe that death should be
something you shouldn't worry about, it only pulls you back on all
the things you might miss out on. Moving on from the subject of
death, we come to how we think about love and hatred. Some people
think love and hatred are a part of life and some think that we don't
need either of them. To me, I believe that love and hatred are a
big part of life. I feel that everyone has to have someone to love,
even if the person you like doesn't like you back. You can't stop
your feelings; they will always be in you. What about hatred? I feel
that hatred is in everyone. No matter how hard you try, you will
never be able to like everyone you meet. Some people have a lot of
hatred in them and some people have a little in them. Everyone has
love and hatred in their selves, even if you believe it or not. As I
mentioned earlier, many people think differently about the meaning of
life. Many people think life is worth living for and some feel that
life is unfair. I believe that both of the opinions are true. Yes,
life is worth living for but life isn't always fair. If you think
about, you don't always get your way or what you want. But it doesn't
mean life isn't worth living for. You have a lot of years before you
and there will be plenty of times where you will get your way. Life
has ups and downs, that's something you can't change. To me, life
is a chance to do what you want and to learn from your mistakes. In
my opinion, I think that is the meaning of life. In conclusion,
everyone has different opinions about death, love, hatred, and life.
I believe that death shouldn't cause people to live in fear and I
feel that love and hatred are a part of every person. And how about
life? I believe that the meaning of life is when you get the chance
to do what you want and to learn from what you do wrong. Your beliefs
may be different from mine but everyone is different from another.
That is why we have different opinions from each other. What about
you? What are your opinions of death and love? How do you feel about
hatred and life? Your Friend, Jennifer N. from Alderwood Middle
School (WA)
from VHS, 23.4.:
(In response to topic #3, Jever , Germany , Jaykees- My Opinion on
Cloning)
Ethical and Moral Questions
The cloning of human beings is unethical, and no one should have the
power to do such a thing. I was raised as a Catholic, and because of
this fact , I believe that controlling the human gene pool is up to a
superior being. The Catholic Church's view on this issue is that
taking such measures is unethical. This view comes from the belief
that God created man and all the earth's other creatures. By cr
eating another human being through cloning, people would be
"playing God" which would in essence be saying that His
work is no longer superior to our own. In addition to my religious
beliefs there are many other reasons that cloning should not be lega
l or supported, one of which is the evolutionary aspect of
the argument. Doesn't human evolution and the evolution of other
creatures rely on variation? According to Darwin 's Theory of
Evolution by Natural Selection, which is the widely accepted theory,
o ne of the key elements needed for evolution to take place is
genetic variation within a species. If the cloning of humans is
allowed, the natural variation within our species would lessen,
changing the way that human beings adapt to their environments and
how we change as a whole. We are completely incapable of telling what
our interference could do. As long as cloning is restricted to
medical research, it could be very helpful to the medical community
and the rest of society. For example, stem-cell re search could help
to revolutionize the medical field. Cloning single cells for medical
purposes is perfectly fine as long as this research is monitored to
ensure that no wrongdoing will occur, and that there is no other
cloning-related or genetic modifica tion research taking place. For
example, something would need to be in place to ensure that the
research was being conducted correctly, and there wasn't any other
controversial research going on. This would be incredibly important
because if someone were to take advantage of illegal research, a
"black market" for cloning technology could easily arise.
Also, this new technology could fall into the wrong hands and be used
to reach unimaginable ends. From the beginning of the cloning debate,
there has bee n a great controversy over where the line of "what
can and cannot be cloned" should be, and if such a line should
exist in the first place. Any plants or individual cells can be
cloned without any moral questions having to be answered. However,
the ethica l questions begin when people try to clone mammals. These
ethical and moral questions are the reasons why I do not believe that
human cloning should be legalized or supported anywhere in the world
today. By: Alyse Kebert Age: 16 Virtual High School USA www.govhs.org
Colegio Internacional de Puerto La Cruz Puerto La Cruz Venezuela
April 6, 2003
from Iran, 23.4.:
Hi everybody
it is one of the lastest news on TV ! everybody is talking about it !
Well ! now we r gonna give u our points about it : whenever we think
about this topic we tell ourselves that if some people come to this
world who r different or may be better than us in some ways we will
afraid a lot ! creatures without father and mother! it is a big pity
for this world because it seems that we r gonna lose our histry ! u
see everybody has a profile of his/her life but they don't have ! so
what's up ? what will happen ? something is wrong hereeeeeeeeee there
is something in Biology that says "whenever we have better
specieses the weaker spieces will destroy after a short time ... so
again ! if they r better So ~~~~> we should die ! and we will ruin
! what's wrong ? about 100 hundred later there won't be any human
like us ! in our country most people believe( nearly everybody) says
that it is wrong because of our special religion believes ... great
because of this topic ! congratulations !!!!!!!!Wow ! Iran team With
best regards
from Ramallah, 23.4.:
Hi Jana and Sonja !!
> >You ask me why I think that cloning could become a disaster
??.. > >Well I ask my self a little question and it
is Can we clone an organ >without cloning the home of it
?? and I found the answer NO! so if we >wanna to help the
ill by cloning some organs for them ..we must clone a >new
human being just like the ill one and then take the important
things >or what we need and let this new die!!! > >For
an e.g if the ill person need a heart or have some problems
in >his/her heart and we decided to clone a new human and
take the new heart >for the sick person ..after that what
will happen ..just tell me,please >?! the person whom we
cloned will die because he/she now without a heart > > >When
the cloning become a general thing believe me the people will use
it > an a bad way of course,not all of them but the most
they will use the > cloned people just like the spare parts
so now tell me is it good to >kill a person just because you
need something from his/her body
?? > > > >Jihad
Halawani > > Ramallah High School > >
Palestine
from Kz., 23.4.:
(1) Philosophy
Life! There are too many meanings of this word and every person
understands this word in a special way. As for me, life is a short
period of time, which some people live in a useful way and some only
exist. I think that all people should do as many good things as they
can during all their life. There are too many good examples: all our
scientists and philosophers lived making good inventions for people.
But unfortunately, the majority of people only exist and their life
is very boring and can`t be called life. During all life people love
and hate. These are the basic parts of life. Since childhood I`ve
read fairy-tales where love and hatred faught with each other. And
always love is a winner. And unfortunately in real life it is not so.
We have too many envious people and they can`t take life as it is
(real). I think that love is the most beautiful thing in the world.
With the help of this feeling people are like birds, they are very
happy and they can`t hate and do bad things. In conclusion, I can say
that love and hatred are two words that don`t come together.
Ira Lyapunova
(2) Philosophy
by A. Yugov from Kazakhstan .
Yeah, its an interesting project I mean, hi everybody! My
name is Art. This is a cool topic, but I dont have enough
time to answer all the questions. I want to answer the most
interesting one. It is-> Whats for you the meaning of
life? The meaning of life for me is to live. Pretty simple. The whole
world and nature do not expect anything of me, so Id say theres
no meaning of life except living it up the way you want. What nature
puts into a human being and every alive creature is that life worth
to live it. Thats why every creature has an instinct of
self-preserving. People do not get born to build a house, to grow a
tree, and to raise a child or something like this. This is stupid.
Everybody has a different point of view about what life is. Everybody
has a right to CHOOSE for himself/herself what the meaning of life
is. Life is not something particular or something definite. Its
something in your head, isnt it? No one can name some goals and
say those are the meaning of life. At least I cant. I cannot say
what the goals that everybody should achieve are cause I dont
know what other people think life is. I cant say whats really
going on in different peoples heads, so I cant speak for
everybody As for me, life is what I believe it is. The meaning of
life is what I think it is. These two things are quite
flexible.
(3) Phylosophy
Whats for you the meaning of life?
Hallo, my name is Juliana. It is a very interesting question for
me, because in our age we think about it a lot (not all teenagers,
but many of them). What is the meaning of life for me? I think that
meaning of life is connected with your relationship with people. If
you make in your life something that will help people, so your life
is not empty! I see the meaning of life in helping each other, in
making life of other people better. If all people think so and do it,
there will be piece all over the world and all people and children
will be happy.
Juliana Shelkovina
to Ramallah, 25.4.:
Hi Jihad
You said, that you have to clone a wholehuman being to get an organ,
but that is absolutely wrong. Science has made much progresduring
thepast years and now they are able to clone just one singleorgan. We
would not have said that cloning is very useful if you hadhad to kill
the clone. So we don't understand why you are worried, because this
case will never come true. We think it is going to be very difficult
to abuse cloning, because there will bestrict rules. Isn't that true?
Jana and Sonja
to VHS, 25.4.:
Hi Alyse You said that the world is created by God. Thats
your point of view, but what about people that dont believe in any
God? We are people like that. We think that the world has arisen of
simple physics, because one person is not able to create a whole
planet. You said that people that are cloned dont have parents,
but what about people that are created by God? They dont have
parents either. In our point of view, plants are also living beings,
so where can we put the border line? Certainly there are
moral questions which have to be answered, but we dont think that
they have anything in common with God. Of course civil rights mustnt
be abused by cloning but if the rules are respected by everybody then
we can take the moral responsibility of cloning. Cloning should only
be used for medical purposes and not for creating the perfect child.
Imagine someone in your family needs an organ wouldnt you use this
possibility to get a new one? Sonja and Jana |