Image provided by: West Linn High School; West Linn, OR
About The amplifier. (West Linn, Oregon) 1921-current | View Entire Issue (April 1, 2008)
2008 5 _ Eight-class schedule logical solution for new freshmen credit requirements ■ K elsey S chrader ___________ Staff Reporter Compared to neighboring school districts, our six- class schedule system seems pretty complicated. With different schedules to keep track of, students, teachers and parents can become confused. Not only that, but with new requirements starting for this year's freshman class, space for electives has diminished to one per year. This means more required math and science classes and less time to learn about photography, art, or drama. Eliminating our six-class schedule and replacing it with an eight-class schedule would actually simplify our system, meet the new requirements, and allow students to take more electives. An eight-class system would simplify the system by entailing only two schedules: classes one- through-four (Block One), and classes five-through- eight (Block Two). Just like existing block days, each class is roughly an hour-and-a-half long, and W the mysterious my-printer- broke-down phenomenon. More room for electives could lead to the development of more elective classes from which to choose and the room in student schedules to take them. Also, with more room Kim Carlson, Assistant Principal, said. "We are looking at other ways students can earn credit other than during our six period day. There are many discussions going on and those will continue over the next several years." —Natalie Snyder, sophomore "More classes equals more homework. I have friends at Lake Oswego, and it's just more stuff to deal with." McKenna Miller, senior, concentrates on her acrylic painting during Art III. If the district changed the standard six period days to eight periods, then students would have more options and be able to take more electives, such as art classes. Photo by Malia Chong in schedules, both early release and late arrival could be possible. Students would meet the state required courses and would also be able to focus on multiple areas in electives, such as taking both drama and art classes, or Yearbook While this may sound discouraging, if enough students desire to take more classes, there is a way to make that happen. If we can get enough people, students could approach ASB and try to convince them to talk with the school board. It’s true, it m ay take a couple period every day, not just and Journalism , w ithout w orrying about m aking on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Switching block periods every day gives teachers a consistent amount of time to teach and to prepare, and guarantees every student two nights to complete homework for each class. This could boost the overall student GPA, and also might alleviate the problem of late work and even possibly solve space in your schedule with summer school or early bird courses. However, don't get your hopes up, it doesn't look like the district is making any kind of change fast. "It takes a district decision to change any school's schedule and there is also Wilsonville [High School] that would be part of the big conversation," w o u ld g iv e stu d en ts a break "I think eight classes would be better because during sophomore year you don't get very many electives." of years to forward the process, but in the long run, it will be a positive change. With eight classes, students will be able to earn more credits, and also take more of the classes that they want to take. An eight period day is an idea that needs to take effect as soon as possible so that students can have both a simplified system and more opportunities for learning. —Michael Cummings, senior r Do yo u think that having eight classes instead o f s ix is a g o o d idea ? "I think that having eight classes would be a lot better. You could balance taking A.P. and honors classes with electives." Students reflect on encounters with sexism liiisii sill gregliiil______ a continued from page 4 Even in the United States, there is no official amendment or law that provides equal rights to women. Only 14% of members in the House of Representatives (the ones that were elected to represent "the people"), are female. This makes for a very unequal balance of power, and many issues could be overlooked or poorly represented because of their importance, or lack thereof, to the male- dominated house. After centuries of this discrimination, you may think that sexism will always exist. That men and women, although created equal, will never be equal in this country or anywhere else in the world. For awhile, I was also under that impression. That was until the student who had assaulted "anonymous female student" came forward, and I realized that, if he is willing to apologize and learn from his mistakes, anyone can. "Last year in PE I did something that is unacceptable. I know, everyone is shocked at how bad this whole thing wound up being. But at the time I didn't know how bad of a thing it would be. I don't know what I was thinking. The first time I slapped her on the chest area, then on the butt, but after that she went to the bathroom. I had to then go through all of the semester in that class feeling a lot of grief and shame. I will not tell names but, to the girl I did this to, I am very, very, very sorry. I hope this apology is acceptable. I have learned a lot from this whole experience," he said. Everybody makes mistakes and everybody makes bad decisions, it’s human. What it comes down to is whether a person is willing to apologize and make it right, or whether they take the easy way out, and pretend nothing ever happened. For years, we as a society have tried to sweep sexism under the rug, to keep it out of the mainstream and hope that nobody takes notice. Sexual harassment or discrimination affects almost everyone at some point or another. —Jessica Smith, junior "No, because even if its an elective, you still have to do more work." —Thomas Ward, freshman % ■ tnt n wwe ■•Aisic secco
