Hopkins Students Set High Bar for State Legislature

Schools are a regular feature in the news. Lawmakers shift their money around. Teachers and school districts confront one another about staff pay. And residents pore over the latest standardized test results.

Hopkins Patch wanted to find out the opinions of those most affected by all these debates—the students. We asked students what they would like to see their state senators and representatives tackle during the session.

Here’s what they had to say.

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I'd like schools to have better policy against bullying of all types and keep protections on LGBT students because of the mass amount of bullying they have. Make it against school rules to say "f----t" just like it is to say the N word. I would also like if the LGBT issue could be brought up in Health Classes because it is a part of teen health and without kids knowing gay is okay, the mass amounts of suicides will continue.

I am very discouraged by Anoka's new policy and I find it to be quite ridiculous they can just reword the same policy and get away with it. Isn't the whole point of their lawsuits so they are better at human rights? It isn't fair for that population of LGBT students which will always inevitably be there.

Also teachers should have some type of limit or some guidelines on the amount of homework and the level of difficulty if they are giving a lot because I find that many teachers find their classes to be "more important" than other classes or they don't think we have any other homework or a LIFE. I know teens should learn wise time management, but I don't think stressing out America's teenagers is going to do that. Our expectations of things used to get into good colleges get in the way of high schoolers ... such as DECA, Debate, sports, music, volunteer work, a job, etc, etc. Because although we all KNOW homework is priority, so are these extra things to receive acceptance into (an) American university or college (need)? Although I just sound like another teenager getting "out of homework" I am truthfully not. I know that, truth be told, we NEED homework, and I LOVE homework because it is a tool required to remember all the information we take in every day. However, the masses of homework cause kids to have to stay up late after their events and wake up early, which definitely is inefficient for school (and leads) to kids not paying attention or doing well in class.

• Anna Bates

Actual progressive things instead of spreading hate. Over the summer when, instead of preventing the government shutdown and working on the budget, they chose to argue about whether or not to BAN (not allow) gay marriage, even though its ALREADY not legal, that angered me. If they are going to do things, I want it to be fixing/allowing things, not making things worse.

• Mia Berman

I believe that the first thing the Legislature ought to do is impose a steep, progressive income tax on the state. I believe the tax should be progressive just from the fundamental idea that some people are born into situations that are harder than others' situations, and it is the government's duty to ensure that everyone has an equal opportunity for success, a responsibility that is not being fulfilled with the large economic rift separating the rich from the poor in our state and nation. I then would hope that the funds derived from this tax would be used in two primary ways:
1. I believe that a substantial amount of money should be invested in public schooling. I hope that this investment is used to finish paying off the tenure wages of teachers already embedded in the tenure payment system (assuming, another hope of mine for the Legislature, a law is passed favoring schools using the Quality Compensation payment structure). However, I also believe that public schools should receive funding to be used on their social science, language arts, visual art, and music programs. I am aware that this goes against the grain of how kids should be concentrating on the rise in demand in the math and science academic sectors, but I would support educational funding to be used in humanities programs due to a individual success and communal success. Sometimes I feel that the academia our government supports is short-sighted in their drive to prepare students to be "successful" on a financial level that they forget that the global purpose of education is not to raise a financial successful group of individuals, but to raise a communally successful society; a society that can overcome injustice and willingly make sacrifices to support the society's lowest members. I firmly believe that social studies and discussions along with introspective observation and self-expression is crucial in assuring the moral-awareness of students and this is exactly what many humanities programs support. I don't believe that all children should have a career in a humanities area, but I certainly believe that all students ought to be exposed to it before becoming independent.
2. I also would hope that the government ought to spend money in providing incentives to businesses that practice environmentally friendly behavior as it is a trend that we ought to set for our state's businesses in order save mother nature from the atrocities being inflicted on her.

• Tim Bergeland

The community needs to be more aware of teen depression and suicide rates and create a "public service announcement" for depressed/suicidal teens that the community is willing to reach out and let them know they are not alone in their struggles. The world is full of caring people, and our community needs to be a part of that.

• Kaley Inman

Continue to cut spending. We had a deficit of over 5 billion dollars last year. We need to cut. In this bad economy, raising taxes on our job creators won't cut it. Cut spending! Set up a rainy day fund and save for the future. Our government never saves, but it really should.

• Alex Loewen

This year I want the State Legislature to accomplish a lot of stuff—for example, decide on a stadium for the Vikings, have MN go against the PIPA bill (Protect Intellectual Property Act) in Congress and rule on welfare. The problem (with) welfare is that some people buy unnecessary things like alcohol and tobacco with it! That's not how it should be spent.

• Abdi Moalim

When the state Legislature convenes this new year, I want them to create ways  to make schools safer for LGBTQ students, and make everyone feel welcome, with no regards towards race, religion, sexual orientation, or appearance.  I know for a fact that there are teenagers who feel unsafe in school. … I want to make sure that same sex marriage becomes legalized, or at the very least, dose not become illegal. Everyone deserves the chance to be happy, and in love, and married. If you grew up gay, or lesbian, and you knew that you would never have the same opportunities as everyone else because of who you were, how would you feel? It is bullying and freedom-infringing laws that drive teens to suicide, and there are ways to prevent these deaths. What I don't understand, is how the Minnesota state legislature could not legalize gay marriage, and pass laws to stop bullying, when they know that it will save lives.

• Lily Strehlow