Should Mixed Teams be Allowed in the

RWC?

The Rugby World Cup takes place every four years

and is the decider of which country has the best rugby team.

Despite all of the teams’ physical and strategic differences,

they all have one thing in common; they’re all completely male

teams. This is a completely good and reasonable decision.

Here’s why:

First of all, male and female players have completely

different builds. While males are stronger and have more

brute force, females will be more agile but less able to take

a hit. This could change strategies in the teams, seeing as

certain strategies will work better in completely male or

female teams. Agility-based strategies won’t work with a

team that only has 30% females. The same could apply for

the opposite; a team with a very strength-based strategies

but mostly females.

Building off of this, getting a good number of good and experienced players of both genders will be difficult. In countries like ours, it may be easy to get a willing number of players, but in some countries, it may not be the easiest thing. In some countries may not allow for women to play these kinds of sports or even sports in general due to cultural or religious boundaries. For this to be a fair game, all countries that can compete should have an equal number of males and females to another. That means that there should be a good amount of both genders on the sides in case another person gets hurt. Some countries may not be able to supply this many female players.

With the new changes on the teams, male players may be removed from the team. This will most likely annoy the male players who worked hard for a chance to be on their national rugby team. We say ‘survival of the fittest’, and this rule will definitely apply to the choosing of the teams. Only the most useful, strong, fast, agile, and strategic players from both genders will be picked from the team, cutting some of the previous team members. The two genders of players will have to be evenly skilled. Some countries’ male players may outshine the female players, which could make the mixed teams completely null and void.

So these reasons are why I think that mixed teams should not be in the Rugby World Cup. The male and female players may be too different, the male-female ratio may be hard to create and some of the best male players may need to be cut from the team.

Matariki Slide: Our Matariki Knowledge All in One Slide.

Should Universities be Free to Attend?

Universities have a reason they’re expensive. Another ‘pre-uni’ school will cost you money, so why would a university be different? If universities were free, then schools would get crowded, teachers would barely get paid and students wouldn’t take it as seriously.

If universities were free, then there would not be enough space to fit all of the students. This could push schools into having a waiting list or broadening the one they already had. In the classes, the student cap will most likely be exceeded. This can put a lot of stress on the teachers, who would have to help students with  and discuss an assignment to such a large crowd. The student to teacher ratio would be vastly out of proportion compared to what it is now with universities costing money.

To add on to this, teachers wouldn’t get paid as much as they do now. When a student pays their fees, the money goes towards the government and the school, which goes towards the teachers. Only a small portion of money comes from other places. This can make teachers want to quit their job, thus making the teacher to student ratio even worse. The schools wouldn’t get as much money for learning, either. They wouldn’t be able to sell books because they would barely have enough money to buy them. Of course, they would be able to get some books.

The students in the universities would probably find the free schooling as an easy pass for education. This could make the students not value their education as it would come so easily. The students who do become something like a doctor wouldn’t get as much credit because of the fact that the amount of people who could get into the profession would vastly increase. On the other side of the spectrum, there will be a lower percent of students who graduate. This is due to students not valuing their education and dropping out of university.

So in conclusion, universities should not be free to attend because the schools would get crowded, the teachers wouldn’t get paid as much and students wouldn’t take university as seriously.

Our objective for this task was to create a piece of writing on if we were sharks. We were to make it creative, interesting and entertaining, but not too long.

Shark Writing

I am a shark. There’s nothing to it really. All I do each day is swim; that and eat. I eat to survive, so I don’t see why everybody is scared of being eaten by me.

I was taking a stroll, and while chewing on a couple of measly fish I saw that there was a big grey fish. I think to myself ‘I bet I could beat it in a duel’. I charge at it full speed, which turns out worse than what I’d imagined. From above my aquatic confinements, I hear multiple cries of terror. Although big and juicy, its hard exterior brings me away from the battle.

I didn’t realise this was a squid, because when I hit it, the fish, or squid, started leaching out black ink into the water. I accidentally inhale some of its ink and start to feel a bit tired. A small school of fish seem to be surrounded by the squid’s odourous concoction. Easy prey. The small fish barely move before I snag them into my grasp.

I try to swim away but the evil black liquid prevents me from doing so. I slow to the speed of a sea snail. Now I understand the problem with those fish; they inhaled oil. I look up to see that I wasn’t battling a large fish or a colossal squid, it was a boat. The boat leaked oil when I hit it. The screams were from humans. Now it’s my fault I’m dying.

I can’t move a single fin. I’m stiff, but slowly relax my muscles. I hope I don’t meet any of the fish I’ve slaughtered in Fish-Heaven. At least I’m dying with a full stomach.

If I was Prime Minister

Our task was to create a piece of writing about if we were Prime Minister. We were to list some perks, some struggles and some thing we would do to help our country.

If I was Prime Minister

If I were Prime Minister, the first thing I would do is be surprised over the fact that I actually made it into the position. Then I would immediately tackle helping people in impoverished conditions.

People who would need help finding a job or struggling to keep up with our current economy would definitely be my first order of business. Where we are now, most of us have stable jobs, access to food and water, great homes, and education etc, but many people around the country may not have access to any of those things. To increase education, I would radically increase funding to libraries so people can have a wider selection of free books. Things like having more accessibility to food through things like the Food Bank are important, so obviously, more funding towards those sources. Making bad decisions is sometimes not  even a certain person’s fault; they could have been forced into doing so. Some bad choices make life a lot harder than it needs to be.

It would be hard to be Prime Minister. It would be difficult to leave the role of Prime Minister with the country the same as it was when you came into the role, let alone better. Helping out smaller communities while still focusing on the bigger ones is a lot to handle. Asking people how we could help in itself be challenging. If I were to promise that, finding the time to do so might be complicated to do. If the country was unhappy, I would probably give everyone a day off, run a poll to see what the communities would want.

Being Prime Minister would definitely be tiring. I really wouldn’t know what to do in that position, but giving people respect is what I know is the right thing.

Jacob the Great

Jacob saved up money from raking leaves in the Autumn, watering flowers in the Spring, then combined that with his birthday and left it all in a shoe box next to the abandoned guitar under his bed. Jacob packed decided whether to bring his metal detector or not. In the Summer, he waited for Saturday morning to go to astronaut camp. He waited for people to have their turn in the line so that he could feel lighter that air in an anti-gravity room. When he got to that front, a camp leader said that he wasn’t old enough and steam filled Jacob’s ears. Jacob set up a bet with a newly-found friend. The bet was that if Jacob could get into the anti-gravity room, then, until the end of camp, his friend would have to call him ‘Jacob the Great’.

In the middle of the night, Jacob retrieved the torch from under his pillow. He went to the anti-gravity room and found that the door wasn’t going to move from the wall. Jacob fled back to his tent and took the metal detector out of the box. Jacob found a key behind a ‘space plant’. Jacob went into the room and quickly realised that it was boring without any other kids to enjoy it with. Jacob locked the door as he left, crept back, hid the key, and woke up his friend. All Jacob heard was “Congratulations, Jacob the Great.”

Lunchtime Should be Longer

Lunchtime Should be Longer

When lunchtime is mentioned in schools, people normally talk about the quality or nutritional value of food. Although, the length of the lunchtime may also have an effect on the health and academics of the students.

Why are lunch periods shortened?

Lunch periods are usually shortened because schools need to shorten their overall time, while still fitting the academic time. Therefore, lunchtime is the first to go.

Sometimes, administrators are afraid that more free time could put students into danger. Some schools are overwhelmed with students so they need to alternate the students’ lunchtime into 2 or more periods.

Healthier Meals

Often, the longer it takes to make a healthy meal, the healthier it is. When students have more time to eat, obviously, they are going to eat more. Even if students start with unhealthy things, they will still have time for healthy food like fruit or vegetables. It is especially important for parents without the money to send their children to school with proper lunches, who depend on the school for half of their lunch.

Time to relax

Rushing to eat doesn’t give students enough time to properly enjoy the food, sense fullness, or how food makes them feel so they know when to stop. Allowing students to socialize at lunchtime is important for their focus on academics in the afternoon. Although some adults worry about students wandering off in play time, most children use this time to socialize, catch up on homework, or get help from teachers.

So in conclusion, lunchtime should be longer because there are healthier meals and there is more time to relax.