Even though we can no longer accept any more students for work placement in The Irish Times for this school year, we still love to hear from Transition Year students with opinions on various subjects. Send us your thoughts (200 words maximum) on a media-related topic - and if your submission is published, we'll send you a book token.
The Millennium is just a money racket which gives people the excuse to go drinking excessively and driving carelessly. What is the point of having a millennium celebration (i.e. fireworks) in the middle of March? It's this: to attract tourists so they can squander their money and fatten the Celtic Tiger.
As for the "Millennium Committee", the money used to set this up could be given to the many needy people of this world: we'll be celebrating the millennium with fireworks and fancy food, while people in the Third World won't even be able to celebrate with clean water.
New Year's Eve 1999 will prove to be a huge expense for parents. Along with the cost of clothes, food and drink, some parents are prepared to pay up to £1,000 for the night for babysitting. At this rate, there will be so many people in debt by February that suicide rates will soar like never before. The stress and over-expenditure of the millennium will be the cause of many unnecessary deaths. And the theory of the world ending is crazy. Wasn't it supposed to end in 1900? And in 1995? I think the whole "Millennium Fever" is just "Much Ado about Nothing".
Rachael Brown, Ardscoil Mhuire, Limerick
To be celibate or to sell-a-bit, that is the question. Whatever happened to good old-fashioned love and companionship, or did that go out with Thin Lizzy and vinyl?
What's the rush? Did anybody ever hear of waiting? "Surely you're not still a " - this demeaning astonishment has nothing to do with the Zodiac. Will it be dangerous curves ahead for you girls, especially around the waistline, if he hits a blind spot?
Girl or guy, you've got to forget those moments of sheer bliss and face reality with maturity: think of what could happen! Perhaps the social acceptance of casual sex has evolved as a result of lack of discipline and low moral standards. And, of course, also in the dock must be the over-exposure of youngsters to the morals of the mass media.
As things progress, I think "having sex" could become a thing of the past and be called an old-fashioned 20th-century custom. It may possibly be labelled unhygienic and unsophisticated by the people of the next millennium. So don't all rush together!
Whether you abstain 'til marriage, despite peer pressure, or you get your kicks while you still can, it's going to be bye-bye normality, welcome virtual reality.
Write to media scope by posting your comments to Newspaper in the Classroom, The Irish Times, 11-16 D'Olier Street, Dublin 2, or faxing them to (01) 679 2789.
Be sure to include your name, address and school, plus phone numbers for home and school.
Or you can use the Internet and email us at mediapage@irish-times.ie.
media scope is a weekly media studies page for use in schools. Group rates and a special worksheet service are available: free-phone 1-800-798884 (8 a.m. to 5 p.m.).
media scope is edited by Harry Browne.
Fax-back: Worksheets and other materials for media scope are available to teachers who place group orders through their schools. The worksheets are sent out to all subscribing schools via the automatic fax-back system. This automatic system will re-try a busy line up to four times.
If you do not receive the fax-back material by Wednesday morning and you have a touch-tone fax machine, please use it to dial (01) 670 9709 and follow the recorded instructions; the material will be faxed automatically to your machine. If you have a pulse dialling machine, refer to your fax manual for details on how to set it for touch-tone dialling. If you have problems, telephone (01) 679 2022, ext. 568 or 580.
