PAGE TWO
ROGUE NEWS
Fri.. Sept. 22, 1972
) JJcilOLASTtC J
( pmcM I
THE ROGUE NEWS
Published bi-monthly, during the school months, by the Associated
Student Body of Ashland Senior High School, 201 Mountain Ave.,
Ashland, Oregon 97520. Subscription cost $2.50 per year.
Editor Rosario De LaTorre
News Editor Jeanne lloadley
Feature Editor Dale Nelson
Sports Editor Sharon Hill
Advertisers Peter Dodge. Teresa Fowler, Anita Johnson
Business Manager Jeri Lewis
Photographers Harold Berninghauser, Willie Thompson
Reporters Randy Dew. Joseph Hawk, Jim Roberts, Ingrid
Sandberg, Steve Schmeltzer, Ken Svensen.
Sports Reporters Kevin Gandee, Charlie Lewis
Advisor Clifford M. Brock
Printed by THE PRINT SHOP, Ashland, Oregon
IMluTfjIlgfe
Student Apathy
"I don't care!" This appears to be the motto of most of the student
body at AHS.
A minority of students are active in such activities as debate,
working with the handicapped, and other extra-curricular activities.
These students should be commended and encouraged to continue
their fine work. It is the remaining students who should be prodded to
become more involved.
An area where student apathy becomes painfully apparent are at
student council meetings. At the typical meetings, only a handful of
students will attend. Usually these are the same ones which are
involved in other activities. These students easily dominate and
control student government.
As a consequence, many students complain that student
government is a "farce" because these few students are able to
control the meetings. For the most part, the students who do the most
complaining are the ones who do not even bother to find out when the
meeting is.
A student council meeting is about the place where the average
student can make his voice heard and have it lead to action, whether it
be not having a boring assembly of the way the homecoming
princesses were chosen.
Student government is a farce, when not even all of the class
representatives bother to show up. In order to make It significant,
each and every student will have to take an active part in student
government. Either by giving his views to his respective elected
officials or by actually attending the meeting and making himself
heard.
Student government is your government.
Use it!
t Editors Note: This is the first of a series of columns on this growing
genre.)
The Literature of Imagination
A new column, "The Literature of Imagination," scheduled to
appear in all issues of the Rogue News this year, will examine the
realm of Science Fiction and Fantasy, particularly in written form,
though there will be a look at SF & F in other media as well. Each
column will examine a specific author, work or branch of the total
field.
Before this, however, definitions should be made clear.
Specifically, what is the difference between SF and fantasy?
It's hard to say. Some works say The Caves of Steel, by Isaac
Asimov, for SF, and The Hobbit, by J. R. R. Tolkien, for fantasy are
easily classifiable as one or the other. Other works, however, blend
elements of both together, as in the case of many of Ray Bradbury's
short stories, such as those collected in The Illustrated Man.
For the purposes of convenience, though, it can be said that SF
generally uses science or society as the basis for most stories, while
fantasy is more the product of the author's own imagination. This isn't
really the best possible definition, but for the sake 6f brevity will serve
the purposes of this column.
Now that that's cleared up, this column can get into its chosen topic.
NEXT ISSUE: A look at SF master Isaac Asimov.
Comments
Schedule Changes
To the Editor:
This letter is to inform you of
the unnecessary trials and tribu
lations of schedule changes in
hopes that some form of action
might be taken.
To spend a good portion of your
spare time waiting to get a
change in your scheduling for
three days is a little dishearten
ing. Then once you spoke with the
deans, you found out there were
class period conflicts or some
thing just as ridiculous.
Sometimes the only way to get
a change was to switch U. S.
History, English or other re
quired subjects but that was
usually an unwanted last alter
native. "The classes are set and
we want as few chanees as
possible" was uttered from the
mouth of one teacher.
Now this letter has turned into
my own personal gripe session
which I definitely did not want.
Agreed, the class conflicts cannot
be helped and neither can there
be less chaos in waiting to plead
your case. I only wish to arouse
some thoughts toward solving a
few of its problems.
Blame should be placed on no
one. It is a break-down in
communications between the
wishes of a student and possible
compliance with the administra
tion. The chaos may never be
completely disbanded but a
certain amount of understanding
between student and adminis
tration might help the overall
situation.
Sharon Hill
WfcuT, CLASS, I
Student Lounge
New Look in Library
To the Editor:
I would like to compliment the
school board for their decision to
remodel the library. Before the
library was cold, noisy, and had
generally a bad working at
mosphere. Now, with new paint,
carpeting, and new window
shades, an entirely different
atmospnere is present. With the
bookselves rearranged there is
more room to rr.eet friends, read
magazines, or study for a test.
It's about time something else
was improved before the Boy's
Athletic Department.
S. Delsman
To the Editor:
I am writing this letter to let
Dave Jensen know that there are
some people who do not approve
of a student lounge. There are
several points against the student
lounge, which I feel outweigh the
few points for it.
One: We should profit from the
example of the reading room. For
some reason, the people who
frequented this area did not have
the proper respect for the
furniture. There is no reason to
suspect that these people have
reformed and I for one believe
that they will wreck the same
damage on the the furniture in
the student lounge.
Two: There is no need for a
student lounge. For most of the
year, the people who are not
eating in the cafeteria, will be out
on the quad, and the few days
that it rains are not sufficient to
warrant the money spent on a
student lounge. Students do not
mind sitting on the floor as much
as they mind wasting their
student body funds on foolish
endeavors.
Three; The reasons behind
Jensen's desire to establish a
student lounge are obvious.
Besides the fact that this is one of
the few things that Jensen has the
ability to do, he feels that having
a student lounge will make him
an adult. He reasons that we can
make ourselves as mature and
powerful as the teachers if we
have a lounge just like them. Not
only is this a complete fallacy,
but it is a damaging fallacy. The
entire idea surrounding being an
adolescent or teenager is to break
away from the, not to follow them
in slavish idolatry. If all the
better Jensen can do is to follow,
then I suggest he resign from his
office.
The students of Ashland High
did not want or need a student
lounge, and they would appreci
ate it if their student body
president would respect their
wishes and use their student body
funds correctly.
Signed,
Amy Elspeth McNair
1972 Enrollment
800 students have been enrolled
in Ashland High School this year,
an all-time high for the school.
However, the increase is not a
dramatic one over last year,
when 797 were enrolled.
When attendance is surveyed
on a ten-year level, one can see
that the student population has
been steadily on the increase. In
the 1962-63 school year, for
instance, 580 were enrolled; in
the 1952-53 year, a scant 367 were
enrolled.
Two Problems Confront Schools
Editorial Policy
Students are welcome to express their views in letters to the
Rogue News. Any letter to the editor must be of reasonable length and
signed, though the name may be withheld on request. However, the
letter will remain on file available to anyone who wishes to see it. It is
the policy of the Rogue News not to publish anything libelious in
nature. Only spelling and punctuation will be changed. Letters will be
printed on a space-available basis. The opinions expressed in the
letters are not necessarily those of the Rogue News or its staff,Letters
should be delivered to H-ll or Mr. Brock's box in the office.
All high schools, at least in this
area, are having much the same
problems. The only variable is
the degree to which the various
problems exist.
Two major problems are facing
high schools today. They are
student apathy and the lack of
community interest and support.
The first has a direct bearing
upon the second.
Over the last few years, many
schools have come to the painful
realization that interest in school
activities is steadily dwindling.
This is shown by the lack of
"pep" at rallies and shrinking
memberships in clubs and lack of
attendance at student govern
ment functions.
The reason for this is that
students feel that much of their
education is irrelevant. They do
not see any significant purpose or
use for their acquired "knowl
edge" in the immediate future.
Part of the reason for this is the
method the material is handled
by outmoded curriculums which
treat material in a boring
fashion. A revamping of curricu
lum and teaching techniques is
necessary.
Many educators are realizing
this and are taking steps to
improve teaching techniques.
The pendulum is beginning to
swing in the right direction, but it
needs more of a boost. This boost
must come from the community.
This leads to the second major
problem, the lack of community
interest. If students cannot be
come interested and take an
active part in school affairs, how
are parents and community
expected to react?
When the community fails to
see results or even interest from
the majority of students, the
community will feel that the
school has failed. Consequently,
there will be a negative attitude,
if any, toward the school.
It is for this reason that the
turnouts at almost all school bond
elections are only a fraction of
the voters and in many cases the
response is a resounding "No!"
If the school will take an active
part in motivating students to
become interested not only in
school affairs, but also in
community affairs, the school
will become more a part of the
community.
When the school has become
part of the community, residents
will be more conscious of what
goes on there and will see more
results, in terms of a greater
interest in social affairs, both at
the school level and the com
munity level.
The school can motivate stu
dents with new ideas in the way
teaching is accomplished. Such
methods as neighborhood sur
veys and work experience pro
grams, which increase contact
with the community and busi
nessmen should be encouraged.
Only when parents and the
community see that the school is
accomplishing its function,
shown by how active and
interested the student is, not only
in school but everywhere from
the home right up to national
affairs, will they support the
school financially and otherwise.