In the article, “Even popular kids are bullied in high school, researchers find” by Mary MacVean, she emphasizes the reality that bullying doesn’t just happen to the unpopular. Many researchers at the University of California are getting a consistent response from the teens that they have interviewed. They are all saying, “For most students, gains in status increase the likelihood of victimization and the severity of its consequences.” These researchers hope to learn more about the anatomy of bullying so that it can be put to an end. They put together a group of more that 8,000 students in 19 North Carolina schools. There results were very clear and concise on the information that was presented. What they found was that about half the students that get bullied are white and a third black but girls had higher rates of victimization. The researchers state in the conclusion, “We have very precise measures of the status and we have access to the social map of the school. We can assign a score to each kid. The kids don’t have access to that degree of precision.” So, as the issue progresses, the researchers will continue their studies and eventually put their information into a book or maybe a tome.

 

The theme that the author puts into this article, “Even popular kids are bullied in high school, researchers find.” The author puts all of these incisive information to convey you, the reader, that bullying is indeed a major issue. The researchers wrote, “Perhaps it shouldn’t be a surprise that popular kids get targeted: If the tormentor is aiming to raise his or her own status.”

 

http://newsela.com/articles/bullying-popular/id/3271/

The recent presidential election created a new form of media, “fake news”. Fake news is information that has been manipulated by a writer to create a story that draws an audience. Fake news sounds true, and the place where it is published looks like a real news page, but it is all created to make money or create chaos. In the article, “Fake news author is fired; apologizes to those ‘disappointed’ by his actions,” by Joe Marusak, Cam Harris, a recent Davidson College grad and Republican intern, states, “While the initial motivation behind launching a fake news site was financially-based, the lesson I learned from the experience is far more important-and it’s one that can’t be covered in a tweet or even a NYT article.” Harris was the author of a fake news article, “BREAKING: Tens of thousands’ of fraudulent Clinton votes found in Ohio warehouse,” that may or may not have swayed voters. His argument evinced the mantra, “the election is rigged” and “was eventually shared with 6 million people.” “Fake” news can be used for political propaganda or for financial gain, but it is ethically irresponsible. Harris and Davidson College apologized for this action; however, there is no way to retract the information people have read and shared. Many are unable to deduce that the news found in these articles are not true.

In the article, the author uses numbers and statistics to induce the reader to look closely at the news for validity. The fact that “Harris is a 23-year-old” who created such chaos at such a young age indicates the issues with fake news. The author may be saying that the younger generation does not realize how dangerous this type of news can be. The mention of “Tens of thousands’ of fraudulent Clinton votes” was an impetus for the article to be “eventually shared with 6 million people.” Harris’ use of such large numbers caused people to believe and spread the news. In his statement, Harris’ use of the phrase “large-scale changes [are] occurring in America” makes the reader weary of “fake” news articles that are intractable once they get in the mainstream media.

To me this “fake” news article makes a personal connection in my life. About three or four years ago my brother and I had the worst grades. Our parents would constantly check our grades even if it was the first day of school and nothing was put in. One night when I was about to go to bed I overheard my mother and my brother talking about his grades. Being that our grades were so poor I thought my mom was going to kill my brother. At this point in time Sun Valley had the different teacher Moodle pages to check your grades. He would always tell my mom that the Moodle pages were down every time she asked him. This would go on for five or six more months until it came to exam day. When my mom asked him to check his grades he said the moodle pages were down. My mom did not believe him and asked him again five more times. Determined to get an answer out of him she had a wild card. She had a phone call from the principal talking about the exam dates and that the grades will be posted on the moodle pages so parents can see them. Feeling defeated my brother consented to looking at his grades prepared to feel the wrath of my mom. He indeed felt the wrath not for his grades, however, because he lied to my mom.

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