The McCalls

Burge and Venita McCall are(gr.) a special couple. Burge, a grumpy, short unattractive man met Venita at a picnic, after a row of unsuccessful marriages. Although Burge was obviously not a lady-killer, he was sure he was a womanizer. Venita McCall, originally from Peppersauce Bottom, simply looks(gr.) like Burge's antithesis - she was tall and skinny and had a(מיותר) smooth black hair.

The relationship between the McCalls wasn't an ideal one. Burge always spent all the money he earned about(ww.) himself and other women, but never on Venita. He was always looking for some action - always looking for fights and struggles. He called his wife names but Venita was always extremely apathetic because she knew that the silence would be the most annoying response. But, one day Burge went to(sp.) far and slapped her. This time Venita wasn't so apathetic as before, and she told him that he's(gr.) a big rat, and that he's(gr.) going to regret what he have(gr.) done.

Venita had the perfect plan how to end Burge's violence - she told her brother-in-law, the druggist Sled Sather, to tell Burge she have(gr.) bought a pound of rat poison to poison a big rat. When Burge heard about this total lie, he seriously freaked out. He was desperately searching for the rat poison but never found it, because it never existed. He took meals downtown instead at home, what reviled(sp.) Venita, who hated cooking. Finally, the frightened Burge decided to change his attitude through(ww.) Venita. He started speaking nicely and gave her very expensive presents. They kept living this way until Burge's sudden death in 1935, which was actually very hard for Venita.

Like I stated before, Burge and Venita McCall are(gr.) sure(ly) a special couple. In their position you would except divorce and total loathing, but Venita was smart enough to make things right by a simple maneuver. Although I'm glad about how Burge and Venita finally ended up, I am not sure Venita have(gr.) done the right thing. In my opinion, a good marriage should come from real love and not from maneuvers.

Very good work, Omer. I enjoyed that.
(90)
Daphna

Do We Really Need Homework?

To some students, "homework" is a word that is synonymous to "disaster". Generations of students experienced this "wonderful" experience of sitting at home, solving questions and writing essays instead of doing something more fun. But deep in their minds, most students know that although homework is irritating and nerve-racking, it is a neccessary component of learning.

I believe that homework is necessary and important. Ben Berrafato, a young fifth grader from the United States who is now getting public attention due to his arguements that homework is simply unnecessary. He even compares homework to slavery. Berrafato is sure making some serious and interesting arguments, but I still can't agree with him. I don't agree because although I think homework is irritating, I just can't ignore the fact that it's great practice, especially in the practical fields of mathematics, English, physics et cetera. I fully support the saying that "practice makes perfect". I don't think students can learn better without homework, because without homework, only the morning lessons are left and sometimes they are just not enough. Moreover, Ben is saying that homework can actually hurt our studying. I don't agree with that. I think homework can only be helpful, and I don't think it can actually hurt the studying procedure.

Saying homework is slavery is quite a foolish statement. We all know that homework isn't fun, but there's a lot of difference between "not fun" and "slavery". At the end, our teachers give us homework because we need them for practicing and understanding, not because they see us as their slaves...

To conclude, I think homework is nessecary for our learning and our education. I think that Ben Berrafato is very smart, but he can't understand the fundamental difference between "not fun" to "not important". Anyway, I can understand the hype around him - it's not that common to hear about a fifth grader that expresses himself with such confidence and knowledge.