The Mirror | Issue 1 | October 2021

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the MIRROR OCTOBER 2021 | 13
OPINION
THE MIRROR | ANI TUTUNJYAN
College application season is in full force and I’m stressed out
JULIANA MACFARLAND
It’s that time of the year when “work
on college apps!” is on my to-do list
every day but never gets checked off.
College application season is in full
force and I am stressed out.
There’s so much to do from applying to
FAFSA to writing over a dozen essays, not
to mention the many parts of the application
itself that are confusing to fill out.
I need to pick one pivotal moment that
encompasses my entire personality and
reflect on it in 650 words or less. That’s too
much pressure and not enough words.
Writing isn’t the only thing to be overwhelmed
about when applying to college.
College costs hundreds of thousands
of dollars. And each application alone can
cost anywhere between $60 to $80.
Some people even take a gap year to
work to afford college, while others work
all summer before college instead of
having fun with their friends to pay for
textbooks the next semester.
Your worry is still not over if you manage
to write good essays, find money for
your applications and scholarships for your
tuition. Because for the next three months,
you’ll be sitting at the edge of your seat
wondering if the admission officers reading
essays think you’re interesting enough, if
your grades are good enough, if your extracurriculars
are unique enough and if you’re
an overall good fit for their college.
There’s a constant pressure of trying
to be the perfect person and make all the
right choices in high school when you’re
not even old enough to vote. And college
applications are a test of how close to that
person you have become, all based on a
mysterious formula.
High school competitiveness is at an all
time high while college acceptances are at
an all time low. Students are competing
for the highest grades, the most extracurriculars,
and the best recognitions.
College acceptances have created a
toxic culture in high schools that likely will
not dissolve was college acceptance rates
continue to drop.
While I’d be happy to get into any UC or
CSU school, I’ve also fallen victim to college
elitism, seeking to receive acceptance
from the school with the most pristine
name and the lowest acceptance rate
even if the campus or student life might
not be for me.
It’s a dilemma almost every high school
student faces. All we can hope for is that
we make the best choice for our individual
needs when the time for decisions
does come.
The intricacies of college are likely
something I won’t really understand even
after I apply to college and get accepted.
Teaching the Holocaust: Sometimes there aren’t two sides to an issue
The Holocaust was a horrific genocide. Six million
Jews were murdered.
That’s a fact everyone agrees on. Well, everyone
except neo-Nazis and other Holocaust deniers.
Southlake, Texas school administrator Gina Peddy
seems to concur with neo-Nazis that the Holocaust is
Texas politicians
want to rewrite
history. The only
diverse perspective
on the Holocaust is
DENIAL.
a topic up for debate
in schools. That it’s a
topic with “opposing
views.” Southlake is a
suburb in the Dallas/
Ft. Worth area.
Peddy informed a
group of Southlake elementary school teachers that
if their classrooms include books and discussions on
the Holocaust, then students should also be exposed
to “opposing views.”
After her directive was secretly recorded and posted
by one of the training
session attendees, Peddy
explained that she was
just trying to keep teachers
in compliance with
Texas House Bill 3979.
Signed into law on
Sept. 1 by Governor Greg
Abbott, the new law prohibits educators from discussing
controversial historical, social or political issues.
When these subjects do arise, the law mandates
that teachers “explore such issues from diverse and
contending perspectives without giving deference to
any one perspective.”
The only “diverse perspective” on the Holocaust is
denial. Hitler didn’t kill six million Jewish people and
hundreds of thousands of people who didn’t fit in his
picture of a perfect specimen with blonde hair and
DAKOTA THREATS
blue eyes such as homosexuals.
Texas politicians want to rewrite
history.
Their goal is to erase America’s
real history which itself is muddled
with genocide and colonization.
This both-sides-ism can also be
used to justify teaching teaching
slave owners’ perspectives on slavery or even denying
the existence of slavery as a whole.
Lively debates in classrooms are an important part
of the learning process but the Holocaust is not up for
debate. Slavery is not up for debate. LGBTQ+ rights are
not up for debate. Human rights are not up for debate.
Educators should be the ones shaping the education
curriculum, not legislators who are out of touch
with the reality of their people.
Not teaching history risks repeating it.