Image provided by: West Linn High School; West Linn, OR
About The amplifier. (West Linn, Oregon) 1921-current | View Entire Issue (April 1, 2011)
Forum 4 "When I was your age../' That's the phrase some par ents use to prove a point, whether it’s about ground ing you from your phone or scolding you about watching too much television. As a teenager, you may roll your eyes and scoff. Tire stories can be interesting, but most of the time, it sounds like our parents didn’t have any fun. Let’s face it, most of us have been a part of this conversa tion at least once in our lives. >ly enough, "back in me days ’’ was much dif- t than now. Over the 11 technol- ogv evolved—for exam ple, no cellphones to bulky cellphones to smart phones. Benefits of this technology include easier access to inform ation and faster communication. It has transformed the way we watch movies and read books (Kindle, eReader, Nook). But, what happened to the days when "hanging out" meant April phones and iPods. Commu nication between friends used to mean letters and postcards, and now i t’s just a chain of text messages sent with the push of a button. W hen our p aren ts and grandparents were teenag ers, they had planned ahead is something we can learn from. Instead of being constantly plugged in to technology, there was a slower pace to life; being able to spend time with the farm 1 y or pass the time togeth er—in person and undistracted. As teenagers, we often take tech nology for granted. Par ents and grand- ~ parents didn’t have technology and that killing enemies in "Call of Duty" or shopping at the mall. Back we have has if la } to p s' or •iting grams to whip up an a ff b e approached i t h o u g h 11 L illy. ess of our la reach a point in the future calculators or the newest laptop evolve. Being a teen in this ir fin' s imagine what would hap- the chance to use in gat might see it as something else that’s just complicated to understand. One may symp a- thize and feel sorry that the n suchhigh-tech gadgets to enter- managed failed. It seems highly unlikely, but it’s not impos sible. WouId we have to rely on brains and pencils? Our parents chances are it’ll probably be you. Budget restrictions limit number of vocational opportunities necessary for life skills y o e i l o i i l glasses________________ continued from page 3 "Those are all very expensive programs. And they're difficult to fund," Bailey said. "We need to do a better job with internships, work experience and other vocational training. I don't think we've explored all of our options, and that's the march I want to go down with our counseling staff." Streetcars have little benefit to West Linn con|inued from page 3 The city is already strug gling with budget cuts and funding the streetcar project will make that even worse. If there is a street car, Metro taxes would be slightly higher each month, even though we already pay an average of $24 in Metro taxes each month. Having to go to Lake Os wego to catch the streetcar could also lead to more traffic on Highway B than there is currently. There are two alterna tive options for West Linn which could actually ben « efit the city. The first option is not to build the streetcar to Lake Oswego. Instead TriMet could improve its system in our city. The other option is a high speed bus. Either of these would be a lot more ben eficial to the city’s budget and its people. The not build option would be the best one for West Linn. West Linn rid ers would only have to make the one transfer with this option and maybe TriMet could improve its service. We should refrain from funding a streetcar for now. One possible solution suggested by Bailey was a half school day for students who would be interested in vocational training. In this type of format, a student would be able to take regular classes for half of the day at the high school, and then go off campus to a different site for specific training. These types of classes are essential to the growth of imperative life skills in all high school students. With places like Clackamas and Portland Community College offering job training and transitional programs, this may be the solution that many students are looking for. The bottom line is that with current budgetary issues within the district, WLHS is stuck between a rock and a hard place trying to sustain every student's needs. But until these classes are included in the schedule of WLHS, many students are left asking: where do we turn? Photo by Laurel Massaro A student in Mylan Rakich's Introduction to Welding class watches sparks fly while welding April 22 at Clackamas Community College. In the past few years, schools like CCC and PCC have began offering more specialized training classes similar to welding.
