October/November Issue - South Burlington High School

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Rebel Opinion Fall 2011 The Rebel Word Page 6 Occupy Burlington By Amna Mustafic & Nicholas Garcia For over a month now, some of our community members have been occupying Vermont. Occupy Vermont is an organized movement of people that were inspired by Take the Square, NYC General Assembly, and the Arab Spring (well known past protests.) This could also be known as the 99% Movement, referring to the difference in wealth between people. The politicians, bureaucrats, and bankers caused the current economic crisis. The result has been Occupy Movements around the country including Burlington, VT. More than 1,000 people have been arrested for protesting against banks that are in the opinion of the protesters taking money from the middle class and using it further the aims of the upper class. People are also protesting against the government that they feel isn’t helping the poor and middle class as much as they should. On October 20th Nick Garcia and I went out to meet the people that were occupying Burlington. Upon our arrival we got a chance to really see what was going on. What we saw was no surprise. Everybody was determined to make a difference and stand up for what they believe. Rain or sun they were outside no matter the circumstances. Because of this I think that the protesters are doing the right thing. Protesting their opinion is a great way to get more people involved. It was interesting to see how they developed their plans and the way they took action towards achieving their goal. Isn’t it about time to change things? Millions have been out of jobs and been looking for one for years now. Nothing is changing and people are getting sick and tired of it. The protesters are not just protesting for their own problems, but also for the younger generation that is about to enter their struggles as well. So why should they get arrested for that? Many of us need to have our voices heard. The rules have been altered lately and many of the protesters I have met feel they have been cheated by politicians. Some are even scared of finding jobs after graduating college. If this continues what will the future look like? This what is what some of the protesters had to say: A & N: Why does the rest of the crowd have to copy what the speaker says? Answer: “Because when you are in a large group of people it’s hard to hear the speaker. It’s commonly used so everyone hears, it takes longer but everyone hears and understands the message. It helps with decision making too. “It’s called consensus Facilitated and consensus decision making” says Linda Hamilton from Charlotte. [Note: This is also done because loud speakers and microphones have been banned by the police] Rebel Sports A & N: What would you like to people to know about this protest? Answer: “We have to maintain parks, hold and occupy the entire park area. Bring as many tents and tarps as possible. To fill grass with tents, we can make a presents so they won’t be able to push them out!!” Statement from a protester: “History has shown us that violence is not a way to accomplish what we want therefor I would like to create a statement of non violence.” A & N: “Why does your sign say Goldman Sucks?” Answer: “Because Goldman was one of the main banks that got bailed out they basically took our money. They are also the biggest contributors. That is one of the ways that money controls our government. Goldman is a big part of that.” Girls Soccer By Connor DeVarney Rebel Football By Ryan Scagnelli The Rebel Girls’ Soccer Team won their semifinal game on Wednesday November 2nd to advance to the State Finals. The Rebel Girls improved their record to an outstanding 14 and 3 and were looking to repeat their championship run with a win over CVU. “This has been such a fun season.” said Senior Midd Kayla Schaefer. SB and CVU met twice in the regular season, which both ended with a win for the Red Hawks. The State Finals had a similar ending with CVU winning 4 to 0. Rebel Field Hockey By Sean Lunny Our field hockey team is headed to the ‘ship! The Rebels headed into the playoffs as the number one seed with a record of 14 wins and only 2 losses. The ladies look to extend their championship streak this Saturday against Middlebury at UVM at 3:00 p.m. Come out and support our Rebel girls! Rebel Cross Country By Jake Barton The South Burlington Rebel Boy’s Cross Country team is looking very good this fall. Top runners Malcolm Plunkett and Tommy Royer, returning from last year, look to lead the path for the Rebel boys. “We’ve had some very good races this year”, runner Patrick Hickey says. “We have been placing very well [both] in and out of state”. Also, watch out for the upcoming and fast improving girls cross country runners. Top runners Katie Merrick, Katherine Cook, and Christa Weaver are leading the path for our Rebel girls. “We’ve been improving a ton”, runner Avni Nahar says. “We have had some very good races, including a race in Manchester, New Hampshire and a 3rd Place finish in Burlington.” In the semi-final game, the Rebels season came to an abrupt end when Hartford claimed the game. The Rebels fought hard but their efforts weren’t enough. The Rebels ended their year with a record of seven wins and three losses, losing only to Essex, BFA and Hartford. With half of the varsity football team graduating this year, there will be a fairly new squad for 2012. Giving rise to speculation about the team’s chance next year. Boys Soccer By Jennifer Camm The boys soccer team’s 3 game shut out win streak was snapped on Wednesday afternoon by Colchester. With only three games left in the regular season, the Rebels hope to finish the season strong, especially with the return of Eric Davidson! Jack Tarricone says, “We are preparing ourselves for CVU who we play the last game of the season. It will be a good test to show the team where we are for play offs.” Playoffs begin at the end of the month and we’ll just have to wait and see if it makes or breaks the our boys. CONGRATULATIONS TO THE REBEL FALL SPORTS TEAMS!
Point - Counterpoint Fall 2011 The Rebel Word Page 7 Is South Burlington Too Politically Correct? Forward by Samuel Rodgers Political correctness has become part of our culture. We choose our words carefully and “correct” others when they are not being “PC”. It is natural then that a discussion of political correctness arises within the hallowed halls of South Burlington High School. Are we too politically correct or are we not exercising enough political correctness? Two students consider this issue in this version of: Point/Counterpoint. By Bailey Gokey In the society we live in today almost everything you say in public could be used against you. Your personal opinion can be taken out of context or even seem offensive when it is just that, an opinion. When it comes to South Burlington High School it’s a larger scale than just one person’s opinion. With students from all over the world attending South Burlington it would be hard for the administration to know what would and wouldn’t offend every student. Rather than playing this guessing game which very well could end badly, the school should just continue to strive to be as politically By Sean Lunny Our school has been caught in a flurry of controversy in the past few years. We all know about the new grinding policy, the pep rally was taken away and then reinstated and there was plenty of controversy with that, and of course the Powder Puff (Wait, am I allowed to say that?) Football Game. I find myself asking “why?” Why is our school trying to please everyone and why are they making big deals out of nothing? I understand the pep rally being taken away, the negativity at the last one was reportedly awful. Fine, at least we have it now, but there was controversy with the new pep rally. Apparently the fact that the football team was planned to be announced last was unfair because it made it seem like football was more important than the other sports teams. The fact that the order of teams being announced was changed because some people believed it gave one team more importance just made me shake my head in disbelief at some of our school’s decisions. Now, the Powder Puff Football Protecting the People: Political Correctness correct as possible. When there is a failure to remain “politically correct” it can sometimes lead to law suits. In most PC cases, the result is not good. Schools have been sued over what students have published in school newspapers, what administrators and teachers have said to students and almost anything else you could think of. At Notre Dame University a few years back a student’s cartoon was published without anyone noticing the blatant antigay message. Students and families were outraged and threatened to take them to court over it. They settled outside of court and now the school must be more vigilant with prior review. As almost everyone knows the school was recently hit with the Powder Puff football issue. It’s admirable that even though he was unsure where the whole school stood on the issue, Mr. Burke cancelled it once there was even a mention of it being sexist and derogatory. There also was a chance of injury which, most likely, only solidified his decision. When issues like this come up in a high school it is important for school officials to respond quickly. Only a few students feel offended and degraded by some of these P.C. - A Waste of Time Game. A group of senior girls organized the event for charity, and it got canceled because of worry about injury and the “negative social implications”. First off, anyone who plays flag football in gym class is taking the same risk of injury that these girls were, so that is not a valid reason for canceling the event. The real issue is that the event got canceled because some felt it was degrading to women and women’s sports. The girls who planned the event were athletes, so how can the administration cancel the event on those accusations? Just because some felt it was offensive doesn’t mean everyone does. Why are we digging for problems here? As quoted in Principal Burke’s email to the school, “Powder Puff encourages people to see female athletes in a humorous light, creating a new kind of misogyny that isn’t rooted in older restrictions like laws forbidding women from owning property, but betrays recent advances in gender equality.” I am being bold by saying this is how you should be thinking, but open your mind to this concept, if a person is going to base their view of women’s sports over a single Powder Puff Flag Football Game, does that person’s opinion really matter to you? Last but not least, the subject that has brought the most amount of attention to our school, grinding. After years of grinding happening at schools around the country our school decided to ban grinding at dances. If I had to guess why this happened I would say it’s because somebody complained about it. The students in our school work hard; is it really so much to ask for you to suspend your own outdated principles for two nights a year so we can enjoy ourselves? We only get one high school experience, so stop thinking about your rules and your feelings and let us enjoy high school. “Mr. Burke, I am sorry but I do not believe that you tried to be flexible. If you had been flexible you might have come up with any number of solutions such as, parent consent forms, age limits, or a no tolerance rule for explicit behavior while grinding, meaning you get one shot and if you step over that issues. But, it doesn’t take long for a larger group of students to adopt the feelings of the offended students. The problem takes much longer to resolve with more people involved. Although some may say that South Burlington High School is too politically correct, you must take into consideration why that may be. If the school was spending all of its budget on court cases and paying off settlements then how would we ever afford new uniforms for the athletic teams and textbooks for the classrooms? Are we too politically correct? I think no. big bright line, you’re kicked out.” I can understand intervention on a smaller scale of dancers that go above and beyond what grinding actually is, they should be separated or kicked out, but will it really hurt anyone if we grind for two nights out of the year? Now I’m not saying that we should criticize people for opening their mouths and voicing their opinions, otherwise I would not be writing this. People should be praised for standing up for what they believe in, especially when they feel they are being mistreated. I just believe whole heartedly that our administration needs to recognize that we’re not going to acquire some awful reputation because a few people are unhappy. We can still respect individuality and diversity while being more relaxed on all of these rules. I might have been brazen to write this and influence your opinion, but am I being more brazen than our administration imposing their values on our student body? Too PC at SB, I definitely think so.
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October/November Issue - South Burlington High School

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