/ ft
2006
Student Opinion Matters
No Child Left Behind Act riddled with small print
N icole H utchinson
S ta ff Reporter
It was the year 2000; a
milestone in many ways.
The Senior Class had just
entered middle school,
while the rest of the student
population were third,
fourth and fifth graders. It
was also the year that the
first President of the 21st
Century, George W. Bush,
was elected. Now I don't
know if any of us, being
between the ages of nine
and 12, followed politics,
but I bet a lot of parents
would remember one of
the first things George
Bush did as President of
the United States: help pass
the No Child Left Behind
Act (NCLBA), which w m
supposed to have helped
kids struggling to sti
school based on in
and demographics;
It started as a
continuation of a proposal
Bush made when he was still
governor of Texas. When he
was inaugurated, his first
project as President was to
institute NCLB. Bush signed
the act as a law on Jan. 8,
2002 after both the House
of Representatives and the
Senate approved the act with
flying colors
,
Now I am not
that would take too
e to figure out
t and si
would
ess is Section 9528.
section of the bill that was
uried among important
(but played off as not
important) small print.
Instead of showing
Section 9528 in it's raw fo rm ,!
let me summarize: Section
9528 of the NCLBA says
that schools are to provide
the military with student
addresses and phone
unless their parents
that little box
bottom right- i f
hand corner of the student
registration form. Schools
receive federal funding
based on whether or not
they comply with Section
9528 or not.
Almost since it was
passed as a law, the National
Education Association
(NEA) and the American
Federation of Teachers (AFT)
have opposed everything
Was meant to do.
rding to Wikipedia,
ugn anout me mu to
whether or not the law
dually improving local
>n or not. According
> survey, seven out
:en Americans don't know
gh about the NCLBA to
have an opinion on it.
ie Sw
in the Career
is:
a parent
mark'
erwise on
gistration
their child
form, Û
g seniors
i ist of
address, and
eir na
mber) to a
represents e of each
military.
branch
The ac Iso says that
the school must allow
military personnel into
the school. At West Linn,
&■ <
,
,
-
fe ,
once a month, on a specific
date, representatives are
allowed to set up a booth/
display with brochures,
free merchandise, etc. in
the Commons. Military
personnel are not allowed
to approach any student; a
student must approach the
military representative.
Military personnel are
not allowed to attend
extra-curricular activities,
such as football games,
for recruiting. (Kim Noah,
principal, said that one
year they wanted to toss
t-shirts into the crowd at
the football game and she
politely turned them down.)
If any student approaches
Swanson to inquire about
joining a branch of the
military, she directs them
to a representative for that
branch of the military.
What do I think about
this? I don't like it. And
neither should you. The
NCLBA was instituted
to help kids from falling
through the cracks in
education. Instead, it's jam
packed full of small print
that is slowly manipulating
American children.
Look at the target market
for young recruits: people
who can't afford college.
They are targeting young,
vulnerable kids in high
school who feel like this is
their way out. The way the
military is manipulating
the youth is disgraceful,
putting our young people,
who may not even want to
be there, on the front lines in
Iraq (a war that in it of itself
is controversial enough tó
be a full, two-page spread
editorial, but we shall refrain
because even after screwing
up as badly as he did,
there are still supporters of
President Bush).
But I'm not writing this
article about Bush, or the
war in Iraq. I am writing
this about your privacy
being invaded; about the
government possibly taking
advantage of you and your
youth. Know your rights.
Don't let the small print
sneak up on you.
Does the movie industry need the MPAA?
J ohn C am pbell
Entertainm ent Editor
The Motion Picture
Association of America:
most people probably don't
know what this organization
is or what it does. This is the
way the MPAA likes it, if no
one knows what they do or
how they do it, they can't
get blamed for anything.
What is the MPAA? The
MPAA is the organization
that decides what rating a
film deserves; they watch
News: Lauren Levine
Forum: Sarah Chicoine
Features: Roya Elizeh
Entertainment: John
Campbell, Mike Gorgone
Technology: Nathan Fisher
■
Margaret Adams, EmmaHe
a movie and then stamp
a rating on it. Therein lies
the problem. How does the
MPAA decide what content
constitutes what rating?
The ratings are based on
arbitrary and ever-changing
rules decided by the MPAA
themselves.
What are these ratings
and what do they mean?
Most people are probably
familiar with the MPAA
ratings: G, PG, PG-13, R and
NC-17. G stands for general
Cox, Hilli Ciavarello,
Christopher Erbin, Chris
Garfield, Jacob Gianuzzi,
Sachie Hopkins, Nicole
Hutchinson, Simon Kirch,
Hillary Krippaehne, Calley
Lathrop, Jaimie Lorenzini,
Sydney MacNaughion, Ike
McGinnis, Kelsey Schrader,
Mary Scofield, Megan Stump,
Kate Tolan, Lexi Welp
Photographers
Sarah Chicoine, Malia Chong,
Cole Fiala, Chris Garfield,
Nicole Hutchinson
Adviser
Ann Breyne
audiences, this means the
MPAA has deemed the film
appropriate for all ages.
The next step up is the
PG rating, which stands
for Parental Guidance
suggested, this means the
MPAA thinks this film is
appropriate for most ages
but their may be some
content that is inappropriate
for younger children. Above
PG, is PG-13, this is means
the MPAA thinks this film
appropriate for children 13
years or older.
The R rating is where
things get interesting; the
R stands for Restricted. In
this case the MPAA finds the
content to be inappropriate
for anyone under 17; but
the difference between
this and the other ratings
is that in this case no one
under 17 can enter the film
without a parent or legal
guardian. Now the ratings
are no longer guidelines
for parents to protect
their children but actual
film-going rules. Then
comes the all-powerful,
unquestionable, supreme
ruler of ratings, the NC-
17, which means No Child
under 17 will be admitted.
In this case the MPAA has
taken the decision of letting
a child see this movie out of
the hands of parents and has
decided that no child under
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17 will see this movie under
any circumstances.
The problem with the
MPAA is what gets a film
an R rating and how an R
film different from a PG-13
film? There are certain rules
that designate what content
deserves what rating.
For instance, if someone
is to use a certain four
letter expletive that starts
with "F," then the film is
automatically issued a PG-
13, but if it is used again,
then the film is rated R. If
this word is used even once
in a sexual context then the
film is issued an R rating.
Another problem is
there is a time limit on
nudity in a PG-13. A great
example of this is the movie
"Something's Gotta Give."
w m is it
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continued on page 13