Story originally printed in the La Crosse Tribune or online at www.lacrossetribune.com

Published - Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Put a stop to all of this

By LIBBY ROBERTS / Lansing, Iowa

When is it going to end? The men and women dying in the war, the excuses for gas to go up, and the amount of drugs that young people are able to get. It is bad enough that gas is close to $4 a gallon, but sending thousands of teens off to war is too much! We need a president who can put a stop to all of this.

A president is a person who can lead and should be a role model. We need someone who can help our schools and keep drugs away. The government needs to give more money to schools and stop wasting it. We need someone who can make learning fun. Many students have dropped out of school in our nation. We must give them reasons why they should want to be in school.

The war is making many kids think that fighting isn’t bad. They believe that if adults are solving problems with violence, they can start mini-wars at school. We have had thousands of citizens die since the beginning of the war.

Some kids will now, thanks to the war in Iraq, grow up with one parent; others may lose both. We need to stop worrying about what other countries think and take care of our country. We must take courage in the knowledge that we are one great nation. We must elect a president who will make these changes and help our country.

The writer is a sixth-grade student in the Eastern Allamakee Community School District.