PAGE TWO
ROGUE NEWS
Fri.. Fehr. 4. 197:
Grading System Questioned
The present system of judging a student's proficiency in a subject
area by the use of a grade point average is a poor practice. This
especially becomes evident at report-card time when a students
grades are tallied.
When the final grades are averaged, no consideration is made for
the type or level of courses taken. All grades are given equal weight. It
does not matter how difficult or advanced a student's classes were.
For example, a "It" in an advanced math class is better than an
" A" in a basic math courses, the student in the upper division math
course will be more proficient in math than the basic math student.
Yet. the student in the upper division math class received a "It" and
the basic math student received an "A". This kind of comparison can
he made in every subject area.
What is called for is not an elimination of grade point averages as
it can provide an incentive for improvement. However, it should not be
the only evaluation of a student's progress. Attention should also be
paid to the type of classes he took.
-RD.
English Instruction Poor
The academic committee of the State Board of Higher Education
has come to the conclusion that students at Oregon's public colleges
and universities are not receiving proper instruction in the English
language.
Judging from the way that many college graduates use the
language, that conclusion was not exactly surprising.
What's sad is that people in charge of so-called higher education
have to worry about something as elementary as the use of their
students' native tongue.
It seems that if problems relating to instruction in English are
identified in our places of higher learning, something already has
gone wrong.
Logically, whatever went wrong must have happened somewhere
among the lower rungs of the educational ladder.
It's an apparent indication of the failure of our elementary and
secondary education systems that higher education even has to
worry about teaching basics like how to write and how to speak.
Perhaps there is a trend among educators to treat the English
language and its use with less than enough loving care.
An indication of that is the ever-increasing reliance on
professional jargon rather than English among some educators.
Abominations like "in-service" and "resource person" crop with
dismal frequency in the communications among our teachers.
Of course there are differing degrees of expertise in the use of the
English language, many of them perfectly acceptable in varying
contexts. But the way a few teachers speak and write oug.it to
disqualify them from their roles as instructors of our young.
One of the members of the State Board of Higher Education put
the situation this way:
"One of the big problems is that we have many teachers who
write poorly themselves and thus are hesitant to criticize students
for poor writing."
The Daily Tidings
October 7, 1971
-COMMENTS
Dear Editor:
In the last issue of the Rogue
News, there was a letter to the
editor which heavily criticized
the school paper. I wholehearted
ly agree with those points
brought out in the letter.
I am in the Journalism I class.
We have nothing to do with
putting out the school paper.
However, part of our time is
spent criticizing it. Karlier in the
year, we arrived at the same
faults the three concerned stu
dents did. I would like to add
something to what has been said.
True, the staff has leftist leanings
and is guilty of an imbalance of
news coverage. Sometimes they
cover only those events of
interest to the liberal-minded
student. The student body must
share part of the blame, though.
Kveryone had a chance to sign up
for paper staff last spring and
only these students showed any
interest.
The Journalism II class was
made aware of our feelings and
acted accordingly. Due to the
complaints voiced by students,
the Rogue News is changing and
seeking to please the student
body as evidenced by the last
issue. In the last issue, there was
more coverage of school news
and even a complete sports page.
All of us should keep in mind,
changes take time.
Casey Dale
Mini iwaaa
Poor Use Of Space
The student with a car has a difficult time locating a parking
space that is reasonably close to the school. There is only one parking
lot which students are allowed to use. This lot is not adequate to hold
all of students' cars. The Science and Humanities parking lots are only
for the faculty.
This only leaves the street for student parking. By 8 o'clock both
Mores Street and Mountain Avenue are lined with cars. Any student
arrives after this hour must park his car at a considerable distance
from the school.
At the same time it has been observed that some reserved parking
remains consistently vacant. It seems that the space could be better
used.
If the faculty or administrators reserve the right to private
parking space, it should be used. If it is not used, someone else should
be able to use it.
Also, some of the faculty parking lots are able to adequately hold
more cars than just those of the faculty members. Again we have
another example of poor use of available space.
R D.
loVO 23.
forgiving even
if you can't forget.
J ciioi.a(tic J lwXl
( punt I
THE ROGUE NEWS
Published bi-weekly,
during the school months,
bv the Associated Student Body
of Ashland Senior High School.
201 Mountain Avenue.
Ashland, Oregon 97520
Subscription cost S2.50 per year
Any letter to the editor to the Rogue News must be 250 words or
less and signed. The name of the writer may be withheld on request
but it will remain on file available to anyone who wishes to see it. It is
the policy of the Rogue News not to publish anything libelous or
slanderous in nature. Only punctuation and spelling will be changed in
the letter. Any letter will be printed on a space available basis.
Editor Lois Hill
News Editor Julie Harrison
Feature Editor Rick Stanek
Sports Editors Kevin Gandee,
Mike Hocking
Adveniafrs Shirley Deisman.
Sharon Hill, Jeralyn Lewis
Business Manager Mary Hoxie
Photographers Harold
Berninqhausen, Waller Vait
Illustrator & Cartoonist . Dale Nelson
Reporter Willie Thompson
Researcher . . . .Rosario De La Torre
Advisor Chtlord Brock
By Larry Taylor
Fly, by Yoko Ono and the Plastic Ono Band, is a disappointing
sequel to John Lennon's Imagine. A few of the songs are rather good,
but they are far outweighed by the rest of the double album.
"Midsummer New York" is the first cut. It has good rock'n'roll
instrumentals. featuring John Lennon on guitar and piano. Yoko's
singing is at least coherent on this song, whick is one of the best on
the album.
The instrumentals on "Mind Train" convey the idea of a train
well. However. Yoko's inane "dub, dub" becomes unnerving long
before the end of this l:52 cut. The instrumentals are repetitious
through most of the song.
John Lennon's guitars are sensitive, expressive, and varied on
"Mind Holes." Duo's voices are smoother than usual. This song stands
out against the rest of the album.
The guitars of Ericclapton and John Lennon and Ringo Starr's
drums aren't enough to salvage "Don't Worry Kyoko" from the
destructive influence of Yoko' vocals. Her piercing screams are
enough to drive the sensitive or unprepared listener up the wall.
"Mrs. Lennon" shows John Lennon's influence. The piano part is
reminiscent of "Oh My love" from Imagine. Yoko's singing is gentle
and poignant. This song is one of the high points of the album.
Yoko is hack to her vocal noiseniaking in "Ilirake." The theme of
the song, to "open" (just about anything), is buried in the painful
musical style.
"Toilet Piece Unknown" is, quite predictably, a 30-seeond
recording of a toilet flushing.
"Ail male" is the first appearance on the album of Joe Jones Tone
Deal Music Co., a group of electronic noise-makers unsuccessfully
trying to pass themselves off as musicians. The song becomes tedious
long before the end of its Ill-minute duration. It contains the same
low-quality vocals.
Joe Jones again dominates the instrumentals in "Don't Count the
Waves." Some of his effects are interesting at first, but they
eventually wear on the listener. The vocals consist of Yoko Ono
continually repealing the song title.
"You" contains more of Joe Jones Tone Deal Music Co., with Ono
vocalizations. This electronic madness is almost too much to bear for
the full nine minutes of the song. Like "Don't Count the Waves," the
lyrics consist of countless repetitions of the title.
The title song, "Fly", takes up almost the entire fourth side of the
album. It contains the same Ono vocals. John Lennon's guitar only
appears in short "wah-wah" bursts, which don't do much for the song.
Finally, "Telephone Piece" consists of Yoko answering a ringing
telephone, matler-of-factly stating. "Hello, this is Yoko," and hearing
the phone hung up. The entire sequence takes only 10 seconds.
Yoko Ono can produce some good music. However, much of her
material is very poor. No matter what John Lennon says, a song isn't
good just because Yoko Ono sings it.
Spinoza
Will Mistaken For Desire
By Kick Stanek
People live with the idea that they are free to do whatever they
please. But actually, what most people call "free will" is not freedom
at all; it is desire. "What is often called will . . . should be called
desire," the Jewish philosopher Spinoza says.
Desire is an instinct of which humans are aware. Instinct comes
from the built-in force that people must survive, and so by simple
deduction, self preservation determines our thoughts and actions.
Spinoza explains, "There is, consequently, no freewill; the necessities
of survival determine instinct, instinct determines desire, and desire
determines thought and action."
These thoughts and actions are what people consider free
decisions on their part. They may be conscious of what they call free
will, but they are unconscious to the fact that they do what they do so
they can live as happily as possible. "Men think themselves free
because they are conscious of their volitions and desires, but are
ignorant of the causes by which they are led to w ish and desire," states
Spinoza.
Instead of many choices in life tas many believe), there is no
choice at all. Humans must live, and in the happiest way possible. In
the words of Spinoza, "There is in the mind no absolute or free will;
but the mind is determined in willing this or that by a cause which is
determined in its turn by another, and this by another, and so on to
infinity."
A good tabla performance highlights "O'Wind t Body is the Scar of
Your Mind)." The message reinforces the al) too-common tlualistic
separation of mind and body ; that is. it would if one could understand
the vocals.