Issue 52 letters
We received a wonderful set of letters from our Year 5 readers at All Saints School in Whetstone, London. They had been discussing the article in which we asked whether it was right to spend so much money on trying to save the Giant Panda.
We have printed a selection of their letters below.
Dear Editor
I would like to express my feelings on the article ‘Endangered’. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it however I don’t agree with Chris Packham because I strongly think that we should keep spending money on Giant Pandas because we owe them.
Firstly, one of Chris Packham’s points is wrong because the dinosaurs died out because of a change in the earth’s atmosphere. But the pandas, however, are dying because of the human race cutting down the forests.
Therefore pandas are one of the 17,921 out of 47,677 animals that are vulnerable to extinction. I strongly think we should save them from extinction, can anyone not agree?
Lastly, think about the future generation, your children and their children’s children, never seeing the joy, the grace and the happiness of a Giant Panda, what gives us the bigger right to life than them?
In conclusion, pandas should still have money spent on them because I know we can do it. We humans have flown to the moon and saved elephants from extinction. I know we can do it.
Joe
Dear Editor
I am writing in response to your article ‘Endangered’. In particular, I am writing to argue with Chris Packham on what should happen to Giant Pandas.
Firstly, I utterly disagree with Chris Packham on the point that we’re saving pandas because they are cute as we most definitely are not. The real reason we save them is because we are the ones, who by greed and selfishness, are destroying their habitat and therefore making them endangered. How would you feel if your home was destroyed in front of your eyes?
Further more, 17,921 species, including the Giant Panda, are under threat. Surely it is our duty to protect all of them, don’t you think?
In conclusion, my opinion is that Chris Packham is completely wrong in thinking that we protect pandas too much, as we protect them as much as we protect other species.
Katerina
Dear Editor
I am writing in response to the article ‘Endangered’, an article I very much enjoyed reading. It was in the November/December issue. I am writing because I heavily disagree with Chris Packham saying we are spending too much money on saving the Giant Panda.
Firstly, I utterly disagree with Chris. 17,921 species are under threat and of course we want to help them, but the pandas are very special. If we let the pandas die out, there will be less beauty in the world, won’t there?
Futher more, pandas have the right to be saved as we, humans, have destroyed their beautiful habitat. Humans have cut down their bamboo trees. Imagine if they did that to us? Would we have the right to be saved by them?
Penultimately, I again disagree with Chris saying ‘extinction is a part of life’. Ony the dinosaurs died out naturally. The rest are extinct because of us. Just like the kihansi spray toad.
In conclusion, I think that the Giant Panda has the right to stay alive and be saved.
Milos
Dear Editor
I am writing in response to the article entitled ‘endangered’. I am writing because I heavily disagree with the opinions expressed in the article by Chris Packham.
Firstly, I totally disagree with Chris because there are 17,921 species under threat, counting the panda, 11 species became extinct in 2009. We do not want the panda to be next. If the panda died out where would it all end?
Secondly, Mr Packham says that we only save pandas because they are cute. I could not disagree more. It is us human’s fault that their habitat is dying out because we are cutting down the bamboo forests.
Do you want to see a panda in your life? Well you won’t if they die out. We know we can help. Every little helps.
Georgia
We also received some wonderful letters from Y5/6 at Barnack School in Stamford. The letters were written as a homework acitivity. The children responded to many different articles from previous issues of The Newspaper. We have printed a selection of them below.
Dear Editor
I am writing in response to your article ‘Bananas under threat’ in your September/October issue. I like to have a banana most days, though this only makes up about 5% of my diet, compared with the people you mentioned in Africa and Asia, as bananas make up 30% of their diet. Sadly with the banana crop under threat this has a larger impact on their diet than on mine, as I have access to many different types of food. It is such a shame that farmers have to use drastic measures such as pulling up entire fields as this gets rid of the good bananas as well as the diseased ones.
I think the government should help raise money for the farmers to buy pesticides to help get rid of the diseases. I am not sure if the government will put aside some money to help the farmers as there is such a high debt in this country at the moment. I think the UK should raise money to train people to plant different crops. This has several advantages including a more varied diet for locals and it will cover them in case of crop failure. We could have a yellow Banana Day along the lines of Red Nose Day. A BBC/CBBC appeal that could raise money for seed or food packages to be sent to the affected people.
In conclusion, I think this problem can’t be solved quickly so we need to raise money so the affected people don’t rely so much on bananas. This is likely to take a long time so we need to not give up if we don’t do it quickly.
Benjamin
Dear Editor
I think bananas are an important part of your diet because they are full of vitamin B. In the West we have loads of sources of vitamin B, but in other poorer countries they rely on bananas for their main food crop. So I think it is terrible that these diseases are causing problems.
I think the solution could be that richer countries could stop eating so many bananas so they can go to countrys that need them more. The problem with this is that the banana farmers won’t have a good income, so maybe we need to buy other crops from them instead.
Cara
Dear Editor
I am writing to you about the article ‘Do New School Rules Really Keep You Safe?’
My say is that some new school rules are necessary but some aren’t. The rule not being allowed to run in the playground is a really bad idea, because you should be free to do what you want. Yes you may fall over now and then but that shouldn’t affect running so much that you can’t run in the playground.
I also think that not being allowed to eat sweets is a good rule because you could choke, and I generally don’t like the idea of having sweets for a snack when you could have a healthy snack such as a rice cake.
Ethan
Dear Editor
I am writing to you about the article on pupils voting to send a sheep to slaughter.
I don’t feel that this type of article needs to be in a children’s newspaper. It is bad enough for the children at Lydd Primary School to have to cope with having their sheep slaughtered. Putting it in a paper for other children to read doesn’t seem necessary. I object to this article for many reasons.
My first objection is that farm animals are slaughtered all the time. There is enough information available about sending animals to be slaughtered and turned into meat without children sending their own sheep. My second objection is giving animals names makes them more like a pet and a friend. Thirdly, I believe the children could have just grown their own vegetables or gone on farm visits to find out where their food comes from. My final objection is, as they are buying pigs are they going to continue this horrible scheme?
Dominic
Dear Editor
I am writing in response to the article on children voting to send a sheep to be slaughtered. I totally agree with the idea of sending the sheep to be slaughtered, I mean we’re born to die aren’t we? Anyway I think it is right the children decided the fate of their sheep. Also I think children should know what should happen to animals because most animals are slaughtered for their meat in a humane way. However I think it would have been rather upsetting for that one child that voted against the idea but she/he should realise it is fate.
Pippa
Dear Editor
I am writing to you about the article No Mirror No Make Up No Ipods. I think it is a very good idea to swap African and UK children because the African children will learn how it is not to be in poverty and try things they have never done before. The UK children will learn how difficult it is to live under their conditions. Then they might fund the African school and go out there and help. I think if I were one of the girls I would find it very hard to cope without running water or electricity.
Armin
Dear Editor
I am writing in response to the article on Banksy’s exhibition in Bristol. I think Bristol Museum was right to give publicity to Banksy because fans of his came from all over the world to see it. The exhibition drew in a huge amount of tourism and money to the city.
Banksy is now giving something to the city after having vandalised it with his art at the beginning of his career. The donations from the exhibition raised £45,000 – this must be good.
Lily
Dear Editor
I am really interested in animals. I love reading books and watching programmes about them.
When I read your article about the new species of animals found recently in Papua New Guinea, I was amazed that there are still animals in the world that haven’t been discovered yet. I think it’s really exciting to see these animals for the first time and to learn about their habitat. The animal that interested me the most was the Bosavi woolly rat because of how big it was.
My only worry is that tourists will want to visit this place and the animals will be endangered. I hope that this area will be protected so that the animals can continue living in this safe environment.
Arthur
Dear Editor
I read with interest your article Danish city is the best place for cyclists. I feel that if we have cycle paths children would ride better, especially children who are learning and are still wobbly. If we do have them people might be encouraged to cycle more often and there might be less pollution. I live too far from school to cycle but I try to walk or use other ways of travelling. I used to live in a village in Wiltshire and there were cycle paths everywhere. I used to be able to ride to school without going on any roads which was great for my parents. I think it is a good idea but it might be a lot of money.
Elani