Declaration of Independence from Grosse Pointe South- Rachel Montgomery, Mai Qiang Hipsley, Connor Reinman, Autumnbre Moore, and Zoie Uznis

Everyday, decisions are being made for schools without the students’ representation. While a bunch of adults make decisions on our school, we, the students, are suppose to stand on the sidelines and concede to whatever decision the adults make. We want to represent ourselves and we are willing to fight for what we think is right. We needed representation on the school board and on the city council. The adults needed to hear the opinions we have as students, instead of basing it off their own judgment. It’s too late now though and we want to form our own source of representation. We, the students of the Grosse Pointe Public School System, believe we deserve the power to make the decisions made about our school.

            While the adults may say we have representation by having student councils or student associations, we only receive partial representation. It’s one thing to be able to pick out decorations for a party, but another matter entirely to decide on matters that really affect our school. We, the students, want that ability to decide on the issues that truly could affect us, the school or even our education. We want our own school board that will be the one and only group of students that will make the decisions on our school. We can no longer have a bunch of adults, who are not in or graduates of our school, being the deciders on these matters. We, as a student body, needed to be the final deciders on everything. The students are the ones that know what happen inside and outside of the school. We are the ones that get the blunt of the blow whenever the deciders on the city council or school board make decisions about our school. They don’t really know what happens in the everyday lives of the students, so they shouldn’t be the deciders of our future. Issues that affect all schools, such as snow days, need the students to be the deciders. We don’t want the adults saying what happens because they are not the one’s walking to school in the freezing cold or even driving to it on the icy roads. Then when it comes to each individual school, we need to be the deciders on issues, such as the classes we have and class sizes, because these issues could affect our education as students. The adults aren’t there in our classrooms with us or know what classes we need. They don’t need to be deciding these matters for us. So we, the students, believe it is a basic right for the students to be the only representatives on these issues.

            We, the students of the Grosse Pointe Public School System, deserve this basic right as students of the schools. We are willing to do whatever it takes for us to get what we think is right. We want our own representation and we will no longer wait to act upon this. The adults will no longer be the superiors, for we are stepping up and fighting back. We are our own deciders. We are our own source of representation.  We are the Grosse Pointe Public School System.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->I.      <!--[endif]-->The district has given us an early start in school, and an early start to the school day as well.  Save Monday, the school day starts earlier than is acceptable to students. 8:00 a.m. provides little time to be sufficiently prepared for yet another school day in the morning.  After rising out of bed, deprived of sleep by large amounts of homework from all seven classes, students have to make their groggy way to school and wake themselves up by first hour.  Students need to have more time in the morning to be adequately prepared for the school day.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->II.    <!--[endif]-->The district has provided us with dances as an opportunity to unwind.  However, we students are locked into these dances as if they were jail sentences.  Some students can only stay at the dance until ten, but are locked down until 10:30.  Whether it's a large event the following day or just overly protective parents, most students have a reason.  Should students need to leave a dance early, they should be allowed to.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->III.  <!--[endif]-->Late homework in inevitable.  It simply cannot be avoided: students will turn things in late.  Steep penalties for late homework are being issued by teachers who seem to have little to no respect for students.  After all, the concept of filial piety says that we should respect our elders, and our elders should respect us too.  If students cannot complete their homework, they should not be penalized.  Students should be given two days free of penalty to complete homework and turn it in late.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->IV.  <!--[endif]-->Buses are a service that most other schools in the Detroit area have, and that we lack.  Taking a look at a simple comparison, the amount of snow days between Grosse Pointe South and another school in another district show a landslide in favor of any other school in any other district.  A simple way to make students happier is to increase the amount of time off, in the increments of a short but great snow day, sprinkled over the school year.  The way to increase the amount of snow days is to add buses to the district.  Thus, the way to the student’s hearts' is through a system of buses.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->V.    <!--[endif]-->The lunchtime should be longer. It’s too short, barely have enough time to eat, socialize, being back in time for class without rushing in at the last moment.  The lines in the school lunchroom are too long. They don’t have enough people working the lunch counter. It takes them four to five minutes to serve one person when there is at least twenty or thirty people waiting for food and by the time that the last person is served they only have about four or five minutes to eat. If they are in that long line waiting for food then they won’t have time to socialize with their friends and talking to teachers about extra help and catching up on the thing that they missed. Some kids like to go out for lunch, but they know that if they do then they will have to rush back to the school; they will have to get a carry out and eat the food on their way back to the school.

           

<!--[if !supportLists]-->VI.  <!--[endif]-->Extra credit should be allowed in every class at all times. Students need extra to improve their grades. If a student isn’t a strong test taker they will need to have extra credit to boost up their grade. If an assignment is missed or failed by a student they can use extra credit to make up some points. Extra credit is a lifesaver to some students. Students also use it as a pull up. There could be a limit to how mush extra credit a student is given. So they don’t depend on extra credit too much really needs it then the teacher should provide. Extra credit is not a fall back for students, but only something to give you a little push.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->VII.                  <!--[endif]-->The class school schedule should be changed. There should be three classes in the morning and three in the afternoon.  With this schedule the students will be less reluctant to go to school. With all of the information that is given to a student in one of our regular school day they will forget half of it before they leave to go home.  If the day is changed to our way then the students will have enough time to process all of the information that they are given. More students’ homework will be done. The more time the students will have time to do it and study for tests and quizzes.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->VIII.                <!--[endif]-->The rule of having no cellular devices in class has always been and issue. Students are constantly getting their phones apprehended by administrators for the simplest things as checking the time. It is one thing to get the phone taken away for texting a peer during a test or quiz to cheat but it is definitely another to be texting a parent asking for schedule changes or if they dropped something off in the office. Students do not want to use the school provided phones located in classrooms unless it is an emergency. It is much simpler and less disruptive to send a quick message to a parent or guardian instead of disrupting an entire class to make a phone call.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->IX. <!--[endif]-->             Facebook is a social Internet site that is used by almost every student today. The fact that it is blocked in school is inconvenient to all students. The website keeps students connected with one another. Students can frequently check in with each other between classes to catch up on a homework assignment or compare study guides to do better on quizzes or tests. Facebook is not a bad thing like the administration seems to think. It will actually improve on student’s capability to communicate with each other and make our school a joined community.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->X.   <!--[endif]-->             The bathrooms in Grosse Pointe South high school are horrendous. There is graffiti in almost every stall. There is always a shortage of toilet paper and soap. The actual toilets are disgusting and unsanitary. It is not healthy for students to be associating with such filth. Regular cleaning and sanitary enforcements should be looked into. Not only will this give our school a better image but it will keep students from getting sick.

We as the outnumbering student body have agreed on ever matter included within the document, signifying our strength in number and ambition to receive basic and deserved rights. If we are not to receive such fundamental rights then actions against such unjust authority must and will be initiated within the next 30 days. We can no longer live under the wrongful dictatorship of King Provenzano and the administration. Such tyranny has forced a separation between hierocracy and the people. We will no longer be subject to such oppression. We declare ourselves free of unwarranted and arbitrary rules and restrictions made and enforced by the school district. We now represent a new and free nation- of students. We will be taking our education elsewhere leaving the unjust Grosse Pointe South school district. Under this new administration we will be able to arrive at school at a decent hour of the morning, have a longer lunch break, less class periods in a day, nicer bathrooms, freedom at school dances, provided buses, usage of facebook, chances for extra credit and no more cell phone restrictions. We the students join together to create an equal and fair representation involving school decisions unlike the strict and oppressing system of the old administration, which ultimately lead to such separation.

Crucible Epilogue

The town of Salem. Never again will it be the thriving Puritan village it used to be, not after the trials. I stood on a hill overlooking the town I single handedly destroyed, shivering out of fury in the cold evening air. The man I loved was dead, I’m known as the taker of innocent lives, and my white name in the village had been blackened. All because of Elizabeth Proctor. As I start to walk down the hill towards Salem I thinks to myself of how I should have destroyed Elizabeth when I had the chance but how my love for John Proctor had gotten in the way. My twisted mind had remade the trials in my head. In my eyes Elizabeth was the reason for John’s death not I and it was not John who had called me a whore, it was Elizabeth. Elizabeth caused the problems, Elizabeth is the reason I’m no good in Salem, and she killed the man I loved. These thoughts have been rolling over in my head for five years. Now, at the age of twenty-three, I have come back to Salem for my revenge. Slowly and sulkily I shuffle down the main road gazing through darkened windows into a black abyss like my heart. Five years, I thought, five whole years to think and wonder what happened to that woman. As I look out onto the horizon and sees my old workplace- the Proctor House. It seems to be the only house with smoke coming out of its chimney or candle light flickering through the windows, making them glow in the night. As my demonic thoughts about Elizabeth begin to brew I attempt to repress them. Revenge on Elizabeth is not the reason I have come back to this God forsaken town, no I came to forgive, to forgive all of those who hurt me and to receive forgiveness from those who I had hurt. But Elizabeth deserves to die! The difficulty of repressing my hatred to Elizabeth is strengthening; it’s as if the closer I get to her the more I want her dead. I am less than ten feet from the house now and Elizabeth’s silhouette is as plain as day in the window. I watch as she bends over to pick up what looks like a small child. I walk closer to the house, step by step my rage increases until I cannot hold it in any longer. I scream a horrifying yell that would frighten those in the Devil’s grasp. Elizabeth’s silhouette hastily puts down the child and runs outside. She bursts through the front door and stops immediately when she sees me. Our expressions match each other. A stunned, resentful look hardens our faces. Elizabeth’s everlasting beauty that I remembered so vividly has been washed out of her face. She is old and looks as if she hasn’t slept since I ran away to Boston.

“What are you doing here Abigail?” she asks in a stern motherly tone.

“I’ve come back,” I say. “I’m…I am trying to forgive and be forgiven.” Yet the thought of this wretched woman who I have plotted the death for for so many years now forgiving me seems almost impossible.

“Abigail, there is no one left to forgive you. No one can forgive you. You killed innocent people, people who's lives were the only luxury they had. With all due respect, did you rally think you could come back and just pretend that none of this had ever happened?”

“Because I have forgiven! Because I forgave you for stealing the man I loved! I deserved him Elizabeth not you! He loved me, he said so himself. He denied it because of you. You’re the reason he is dead!” Elizabeth paused and looked at me with almost concern. She stands there shaking her head. When she looks up at me there are tears rolling down her cheeks.

“You silly, silly girl. You think he loved you? Where in the bible does it say that adultery is equivalent to love? You have confused the bond you two made for something much greater than you could ever imagine. You don’t know what love is.”

“How dare you say that he never loved me! How dare you! John and I had something real and you were the one obstacle that was in the way and refused to budge!” I yelled violently back at her. “But now that’s about to change isn’t it?” I draw my hands behind my back and pull out a kitchen knife. “I didn’t want this to happen today Elizabeth. I thought you would admit for what you did. John died because he loved me! He died so that my name would still be pure in the village!” As I begin to walk towards her she makes no movement back or to run away.

“Abigail, listen to me. Before John died I took the blame for his affair. Now I am the one to carry the weight on my shoulders of the mistake you made. John died a good man and for a reason he believed in, not because of me or you.” She pauses. “Don’t do this Abigail. You know you’ll regret it someday. I have four children to raise now. I have a husband who needs me-.”

“You mean Johns replacement!’ I yell back at her. “If you loved him Elizabeth there would be no reason for you to try and have another man in your life!”

“Well if Patrick is such a great man then he can do perfectly fine without you.” I walk towards her, knife in hand. “I loved John everything that happened at the trials was for him and you had to go and change his mind on me. I know it was you who told him to tell the court of our love. If you could have just stayed out of this you would have already been dead and John and I would have been together!”

“I did it because I love John! He died for his name not for me. I would do anything to see him again-.”

“Well then today is your lucky day!” I walk towards her and bury the knife deep into her heart. She crumples over and falls to her knees. She looks up at the sky as blood trickles from her mouth.

“Forgive me John,” She says, “I tried.” And as she took her final breathe she looks up one last time clutching the knife and whispers, “I will always love you,” then falls to the ground. She is dead. I walk over to her corpse and pull the knife out of her body. I have gotten what I always wanted, I thought, and yet it doesn’t feel right. I am a murderer. I did kill the innocent people of Salem and now Elizabeth is dead adding onto the list of the innocent who I destroyed. As I look down at Elizabeth my eyes well up with tears. I turn around and starting walking back the way I came. There is no need for me here. I will only cause more damage. I walk back up the main road I have walked hundreds of times. It is time for me to leave, it is time for the people of Salem to start anew and not let me, Abigail Williams, destroy them again.

What three people were the most responsible for the Salem Witch Trials?

The Salem Witch Trials were the most devastating events in all of Puritan history. Who would have thought that a group of young girls could ruin an entire towns reputation. Mary Warren, John Proctor and Danforth are the three main people that the responsibility for the trials lays entirely on. Both John Proctor and Mary Warren both knew the truth of the trials and couldn't bring themselves to tell the truth and ruin their reputation. Danforth, who knew that the trials were ridiculous when model citizens were being tried, couldn't step up and admit that they had taken it to far and admitted he was wrong. All three people strive for the power in the town, yet when the opportunity to seize and do what was right came along, they all figured their power would be lost. The power surge in Salem is in fact the main cause of the witch trials. All three Puritan citizens however, thought that lying to cover up their faults would hold their powerful position.


Mary Warren, a naive follower to both Abigail Williams and John Proctor, was on the inside circle of power from the beginning. She was part of the dancing group of girls who started the trials. She knew of the lies that were being told and that the people that the girls were accusing would either die or be tortured until death seemed like a gift from God. Yet, instead of telling the truth, the greediness to feel powerful and like a leader obscured the moral decision to let the innocent people keep their lives instead of dying over a false assumption. She continued to lie to the court until John Proctor, who was brought to his senses by his wife Elizabeth, forced her to go to Danforth and tell him the truth. But under the pressure of the court and of Abigail, Mary Warren's cries of the truth were stifled by Abigail and her forceful lies which eventually turn Mary onto John and accusing him as the Devils man calling out lies such as "My name, he want my name! 'I'll murder you,' he says, 'if my wife hangs! We must go and overthrow the court,' he says!" (119). It is as if lying is the one way to feel respected in Salem. As long as you have the power, the feeling of longing for it will never leave.


John Proctor is a good man who is blackened by the sins of adultery and lying. Seven months before the trial he had an affair with Abigail Williams herself. Abigail's strong attachment to John leads her to share with his a small but entirely important fact that all of her and the other girls accusations were entirely false, that they were just messing around in the woods and did not want to get in trouble. John keeps this sliver of information away to himself because deep down he does feel as if getting involved in the trials will make him lose his good name in the village and even his soul if he lies. But with the conviction of his wife from Abigail John goes to court, Mary Warren in hand, and tells the judges everything of his past and how he is already weighted down with sin. But even as he confesses his deepest secrets the trials continue. It is often wondered if John had confessed that he knew of Abigail's plan that the trials would have been ended the moment they were even thought of but the thought of John losing his position of power in the village and his good name was to much of a sacrifice until Elizabeth was convicted. Even minutes before his death he still cried out "It is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! Because I lie and sign myself to lies! Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of them that hang! How may I live with my name? I have given you my soul; leave my name!" (143). The loss of his name was of the most importance to him but in the end John realized that the struggle for power in Salem wasn't in his favor and that he did not even want to be in the running for it. All that mattered was his wife and his children and the reputation he left behind for them.


Deputy Governer Danforth was not a part of the Salem Witch Trials in the beginning. He thought it was just another case he was needed in. But as he soon reached Salem an eerie feeling crossed through him. Danforth must have felt the power switch from the officials in Salem to himself and the other judges. With all of the power that he and the other judges had, Dan forth could have stopped the trials at anytime. He could have told the villagers that it was all nonsense and that they had nothing to worry over. Yet, with great power comes great responsibility and Danforth knows that he has both of these almost all to himself. In the beginning of the trials when the outsiders of the community were tried he looked upon it as no big deal but when model citizens such as Rebbecca Nurse and Martha Corey were charged it did seem to get suspicious. One might think that he would have just called the trials off and say that it had gone to far, but no, Danforth must have been determined to keep the power to himself because admitting you were wrong meant that the person who had the power made a mistake and that their power was to great of a responsibility to them. zit seemed as if those who were tried were those who were against him and his power. "Hang them all over the town! Who weeps for these, weeps for corruption!"(144). He had gone mad with power, thinking that he and those who though his ideas were right were the ones who knew all and that they could choose the fate if the innocent people. Unlike John Proctor and Mary Warren, Danforth did not lie to others, he did something even worse, he lied to himself. He tricked himself into believing that since he had the power his decisions would be right. The power in Salem caused the insanity of many people, and Danforth's corruption caused the death of them.


Mary Warren, John Proctor, and Danforth all caused the trials to expand in length and in seriousness that was never predicted to happen. All three lied not only to other but to themselves. Their quest for power, which was not always clear, took a turn for the worse and ended up killing people the cared about. It did not matter if they were considered the good guy, the bad guy, the follower, or the leader, their actions in the Salem Witch Trials will forever be remembered in history and by God. The lies for power were not worth the guilt that was brought upon all three of them. Although this epiphany was not realized until to late, the deaths over the power struggle in Salem will be remembered forever. John, Mary, and Danforth's lies and struggles will mark the town for its biggest mistake. The souls lost to their lies will haunt them for eternity and make them regret the feeling of power that they once longed for.

Crucible Post Two

In The Crucible, John Proctor tells Reverend Hale that he believes in witches even though he clearly states in previous conversations that he does not. In those days, Puritans took everything in the Bible literally because to them God's word was the law and if the law was broken you were to be condemned to hell. In the Bible it is stated that witches, demons, and figures of that nature do roam the earth waiting to drag sinners down into Hell to associate with the Devil and leave their Christian lives for a way of sin. Proctor seems to be the only truly sane being in Salem during the trials but if he states his true opinion on the witchcraft that has been aroused in the village he will be accused just like the other women. Therefore, in order to save his life Proctor lies to hail and to the other citizens and says he does believe in witches just to save his and his family's lives and well being.


The matter of John Proctor lying to the officials of Salem to save his life is a conspired act among people today. Was he morally right to lie? Or was he to cowardly to stand up to his true beliefs? If i were put in Proctors case and had my family and my own life on the line then I would have to back down to my beliefs and deny any acknowledgement of trespassing upon an unpopular belief. However, if the consequence of my true beliefs were nasty looks or an outcasting of a group of people, then I would stand up for what i believe in and proclaim what I thought was right because, as Abigail and John Proctor show us, if there is a leader out there you will soon come to find you will have followers.