May 2017

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12 opinions May 12, 2017 W The struggles and chaos of trying to navigate your way between classes in a stream of students, especially around the mouth of upper B-wing, can make you feel like you are trying to navigate your way through Grand Central Station. But when you have to deal with PDA, slow walkers and people blasting their music, too, it is a recipe for disaster. The most prominent hassles in the hallway are PDA: public displays of affection. We all know how stomachturning it is to see two people “hopelessly in love,” no matter whether they try to “hide” in plain sight in stairwells and doorways or just park themselves on the side of the hall to make A CULTURE OF ENTITLEMENT RUINS CHANCES OF REAL SUCCESS out. The most aggravating part, though, is when—as the minutes tick closer to the end of the passing period—they act like Jack and Rose on the Titanic, clinging to each other as though it's the end of the world when they have to separate and go to class. It is just one class period—a total of 45 minutes—before you can see each other again, so please keep your romantic desperation in check or do it on your own time. Even if you aren’t slowed on your path to math or social studies by Maine West’s Romeos and Juliets, you’re probably going to get stalled by another major problem throughout the halls: slow walkers. Some people are naturally fast walkers, so to them it may seem that everyone walks slowly, but when people are moving slower than sloths, something needs to change. Plus, if you want to talk to your friends, go to the side of the hallway; you don't need to have a dramatic moment because you haven't seen your bestie since yesterday. Just. Keep. Walking. Also, if you are walking with a group, don't create a fence by walking Anyone who has attended sporting events for children has seen two things: number one, a parent on the sidelines, screaming at his or her star child to catch the ball, run faster, hit harder, kick further and, number two, the participation award. They could even be passed out by those exact same parents.. I know what you’re likely thinking: “Hey! Don’t talk smack about this baseball trophy I got during my Little League years! It has been sitting on my desk for the last 10 years as a reminder of my glory days!” Well, there’s a reason why your eight-year-old self was the pinnacle of your BY DOMINIK BRONAKOWSKI “Glory Days.”. That worthless sports editor piece of plastic helped you aspire to be the person you are part of later success, and in these struggle to get better is a necessary today:the person who does moments, parents teach their child mediocre in math and gets a the values of hard work and perseverance. And why would they put in 2.5 GPA! Why is that a problem, extra effort to improve if they are going to get a participation award any- you may ask? After all, if everyone was to become a way? The process of handing out a future top cancer-curing medal to every child on the field is doctor or some fancy like Oprah Winfrey’s classic line, human-rights lawyer, then “YOU GET A CAR AND YOU who’s going to flip my burgers and ask me “Would you like some fries with CAR!” The award itself is self-destructive as kids are GET A CAR AND YOU GET A that?” Could having too many people in the future taught that just by showing up they get the credit. aspiring to do great things and make a difference in Instead, credit should be given to a child when the this world cause more harm than good? proper effort is in place and he or she has met the The participation award is given out because of requirements of the achievement. adults who are afraid of their young athletes facing defeat. We all know that the award itself has no the real-world of our own school community. It is Unfortunately, we can see this same trend in meaning behind it, but to a child, it has great value. a rule that is blissfully praised by some, and bluntly By fooling children into thinking they have achieved frustrates others: the “40% Rule” that we see put in levels of greatness, we teach them that no matter place at Maine West. what, everyone’s a winner! Our system of participation awards and handing Teaching this causes kids to learn that any them out for every childhood activity is a mirror of effort they put in can still win something at West students feeling entitled to get something in the end. Learning about mistakes and how to return for their mediocre skills or effort. If the base- Just. Keep. Walking. ball team loses 10-2, the CSL doesn’t say they scored four runs. The same should be true for academics. Simply put, the 40% is the school’s way of saying to us students “Hey, um...You tried, I guess..Take this as a our gift from us, to you! You deserve it, buddy!” Kids learn at a young age that any type of effort can result in a type of reward or gift, and in this case, the 40% rule our school has in place is that “reward.” Showing up for an exam and filling in random bubbles will get a 40% score for one student, while another student who comes to school, studying all night, may fail the test and earn a 40% as well, but in the books, their efforts are recognized as equal. How is it fair for one student who did no studying at all to be able to match with another student who unfortunately earned a 40%, but still had a much higher level of effort and knowledge of the topic due to his preparations for the test? These results don’t add up because both students are given the same score even though one had a higher level of participation and willingness to learn, yet the other student put in zero effort and “earned” the same grade as the first student. The participation award has created a generation of people who are going to grow up expecting something for their efforts when they are at just a subpar level or are just not trying at all. Those around them are going to get larger scholarships, bigger paychecks and in the end, better opportunities, while the other person is left behind, wondering why they don’t have the same. The award itself is a device that is going to make a generation of spoiled, disillusioned brats, expecting everything and giving subpar effort in return. What must happen is that we bring participation awards themselves to an end. By doing so, a few little children may shed tears for not getting another meaningless trophy to collect dust on the shelf, but we will create people who aren’t afraid of failure and have the sense of self-respect and responsibility to put in a fair effort. As the famous Thomas Edison once said “I have not failed, I just have found 10,000 ways it doesn’t work.” We should take this to heart the next time somebody thinks of handing out participation awards. with three or more people in a row. You aren't the only ones in the hall and, coincidentally, the people that walk stretched out across the hall so you can't get past are the slowest walkers. But, wait. What’s that I hear? Oh, it’s someone who thinks he’s the passing period DJ, blasting his music in the hallway. Nobody should have to complain about this; just keep your music to yourself. It's actually pretty easy now, thanks to this nifty new invention called headphones. And they are available practically everywhere—even the vending machines! For those new to this technology, headphones allow you to listen to your music as loud as you want but no one else has to hear it. You get your music; we get our sanity. BY SARAH LANE columnist
W May 12, 2017 opinions 13 A: “I hate that class. It’s black as hell.” B: “Tell me about it. And that teacher? He’s so black.” C: “I kind of like it actually. It’s sort of fun.” A: “Are you kidding? Man, you’re so black.” C: “No I’m not, okay? You’re black!” If reading that conversation made you shocked, confused, angry, offended or any other similarly revolted feeling, good. It should have. Using the word black to describe something that is stupid, lame, or something bad that you don’t like is offensive. It is racist and insulting. If we replace the word black in the above conversation with Muslim, Christian, Mexican, Polish, feminine or masculine, it is easy to see how obscene those sound in this context. It is rude, and it is not okay. Now, replace the word black with gay. Reread that conversation with the word gay instead. Sounds more familiar? Sounds like a conversation you would hear on a typical day? For some reason, the word gay is used to describe things that are “uncool,” “rubbish” or “lame.” If we understand that it is wrong to do that with the words black, Muslim, Christian, Mexican, feminine or masculine, then why is it okay to do with the word gay? It is not. It has become watered-down to the point that people think it isn’t derogatory. But it is. Whether it is meant or not, when one uses the word gay to describe something that is bad, lame, or weak, what they are implying is that gay means bad, lame or weak even if they do not agree with that statement. The original meaning of the word gay was something to the effect of “joyful” or What did you say? BY MONROE TORKELSON columnist “carefree”. The word gay did not become a word for homosexual males until the 1920s and 1930s. Even then, it was still used to describe happiness or being carefree. The first time it was used as a pejorative, in a derogatory way or as an insult, was in the 1970s and 1980s by people who were not accepting of the LGBT community. It is 2017. We are a more tolerant society today and we recognize gay people as equal members of society. The thing is, the language hasn’t caught up to match that. People get lazy, and it is used as a sort of throwaway word. I don’t believe that anyone using the word “gay” to describe something that is “rubbish” or “lame” really means to say that gay people are garbage or lame, but that is what is implied. If someone is gay and hears that word being used as an insult or used to mean “stupid,” wouldn’t they start to think of themselves differently? If you are Polish and you heard people using the word “Polish” nearly everyday to describe things that are “lame” or “dumb” wouldn’t you feel a bit offended? I would think so. The same goes for the word “retarded.” If you replace the word “stupid” in conversations with “retarded”, it may sound more familiar, but you know that it is not okay. Society today has denigrated this usage of the word “retarded” and more and more people are stepping up to shut down people who use “retarded” in a derogatory way. The usage of the word “gay” to mean “bad” or “lame” needs to stop. It hurts me to hear it, and I cannot imagine how it would feel to be gay and have your friends—or any other human being, actually—use the same word that describes you to describe something annoying or unlikeable. I know it may just be a bad habit for some, but I ask us all to do something simple: start using the words we actually mean. How hard would it be to replace the word “black” with words like “annoying”, “bad”, “lame”, “uncool”, “atrocious”, “trashy” or “absurd”? We have to stop ourselves from using these words and say what we mean instead. It all starts within us. Sleepless nights, endless frustration and back pain: all are part of the average high school goer’s guide to success. “Get more involved in clubs and activities. Do more for the community,” they say. With the homework load continuously increasing, how could anyone even consider doing anything outside of school? From a young age, parents and teachers strongly emphasise the need to do your homework, do it well, and do it on time so that you can best situate yourself for the long run, whether it be college or the work force. But does increasing the load of homework on students really help us become better suited to go to college? According to the Los Angeles Times, “On average, high school students are assigned 3.5 hours of homework per weeknight, or more than 17 hours a week.” Add this onto extracurriculars and there is just no room for anything besides school. However, there is an alternative to the amount of homework: less homework! I’m sure that homework has its benefits as it helps reinforce what is taught in the classroom. However, homework that takes longer than the class itself is not a good way to help students enjoy learning. Success is defined as the accomplishment of an aim or purpose, according to the Oxford Dictionary. Being taught from a young age that the most important task that lies in front of students is to do well in school in order to be successful in life by going to college and getting a job leads to stress and frustration as students push themselves to reach this goal. Feeling the need to reach the ultimate goal, whether it be straight A’s, going to the most prestigious college or getting a perfect score on your ACT, students do whatever it takes to finish their assignments on time, even if that means pulling an all-nighter or sacrificing their social life. Last time I checked, colleges didn’t check off a box for applicants who completed four hours of homework every night. Adding more homework to students’ busy schedules, while still expecting them to study for tests, is a recipe for disaster. How can you squeeze in three hours of homework, two projects and three tests to study for while still going to bed at a reasonable time? Add on extracurricular activities, and now you’re looking at a horror movie. Second on the list of what we are told from a young age, is that it is very important to get involved in extracurriculars in order to go to college. Not only are our parents preaching this, but colleges as well. Being involved in extracurriculars BY VINCENT PARCELLI buried columnist ALIVE helps students enjoy things they are passionate about and allows them to express themselves. Do teachers and administrators just expect us to quit things we like so we can complete the 10 page packet for the next day? No, because then we will not be able to be successful because colleges want students who participate in a lot of activities. But with the activities, there just is not enough time in the day to do the homework. It is an endless loop of exhaustion and adding to the homework load just isn’t going to solve it. Maybe we should just add more hours in the day. The excessive homework load also has numerous negative health implications. These include spinal compression from the 30 pound backpacks we carry around all day and unhealthy stress levels. On top of these, doctors and school administrators always feel the need to stress the importance of getting enough sleep, but how can someone go to bed early enough and have all of their homework done? Maybe there should be a warning label at the front of school which says, “School may cause back pain, sleep deprivation, agitation, stress, frustration and tears—lots and lots of tears.” While I am not saying that we should eliminate homework completely, teachers should take steps to reduce the sheer amount of it so that students can maintain their health and wellbeing. Homework that takes just 15 minutes a day could help reinforce what was taught in class that day and help take the load off students both physically and mentally. The administration often stresses the importance of developing the whole student—not just as an academic scholar, but as a person, as well. Because of the homework load, though, our whole selves bear more resemblance to stumbling, confused zombies than successful teenagers.
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