opinion/viewpoint
BY MARIAM WAHED
What Matters to Teens?
South Eugene High students speak out
O
ld enough to have opinions but too young
to be asked for their input, teenagers
don’t often get the chance to pres-
ent their thoughts on issues of importance to
them. So I decided that this viewpoint would
not revolve around my opinions; instead, I
wanted to voice the concerns of the teenage
community.
To initiate the discussion, I sent out an online
message to my classmates with a simple question:
“If you could ask for something, something that the
teens of Eugene could benefi t from as a whole, what would
you ask for?” I wanted to know what changes my classmates would implement
here in their hometown, were the opportunity to present itself. I also wanted to
see if they cared enough to respond.
The feedback I received was overwhelming. My simple question spawned a
discussion forum of more than 80 comments on what issues concerned students
the most and how they would shape their collective future if given the chance.
Here are some highlights from the discussion.
• Students wish there was more money invested in the art programs, that
funding was equivalent to the quality of teaching and the level of students’
talent; and for art subjects to be taken as seriously as math and science —
regarded as core courses and not “required samplers.”
• They wish they had more time to indulge in their interests, like art and
creative writing, but feel that the pressure to perform at a high level of academic
and extracurricular achievement keeps them from enjoying non-academic
pursuits.
• They wish that high school felt less like a “pressure cooker” environment,
and that public education focused more on creating well-rounded, thoughtful and
enlightened individuals and less on churning out future workaholics.
• They want subjects (especially science and math) to include realistic
applications as well as theory. They want econ and personal fi nance to be
required courses (so people can fi nally learn not to spend more than they make!),
and they wish math, science, social and humanities classes were taught in a
coordinated curriculum, instead of as isolated disciplines.
• One of the major points of contention in the discussion was sexual education
programs. This might come as a surprise, but proponents for sexual education
outnumbered the one person who was against it. (Proponents presented
statistical evidence to prove to the one opponent that sex ed has a positive effect
on teens by lowering risks of disease, infection and unplanned pregnancy.) Not
only do they support sexual education because it “directly deals with the lives
of students,” but they wish for more funding for non-abstinence-only-based sex
ed programs as well. One proponent also pointed out that school-based health
centers are only allowed by district policy and state law to distribute condoms
as a preventative measure after someone has tested positive for an STI, an issue
about which most people, myself included, are probably unaware.
South students are only a fraction of Eugene’s entire teenage population
— but look at how much they have to say. Had the rest of Eugene’s teens been
involved in the discussion, just think of how many other issues and concerns
would have arisen that are never otherwise mentioned.
My wish for the new year: a public forum, live or online, where students and
teens can voice their concerns to a responsive audience. We are full of ideas and
opinions, and our input is valuable. We are not apathetic; we are here, we are
aware, and we do care.
All we need, Eugene, is for you to listen.
Mariam Wahed is a senior at South Eugene High School.
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4 JANUARY 29, 2009
EUGENE WEEKLY
letters
TO THE EDITOR
NOTHING WORTH READING
My friends and I were hanging out the
other night and one of them brought up
your newspaper. It seems that no one in
my group is a regular reader. You always
report on some boring city growth problem,
the Eugene Police Department or run some
rant from some regular letter writer that
uses your newspaper like it’s their personal
platform to pontifi cate. Nothing of interest
for us 20-somethings.
Well, last week Obama became president.
Everyone I know was excited and everybody
was talking about Obama. I saw your Jan.
15 issue and thought, “Right on, something
interesting to read.” I picked it up.
I shouldn’t have been surprised when I
opened to the story and there it was: Rants
from regular letter writers pontifi cating
freely. Nothing about the election from a
news perspective. Nothing about our fi rst
African-American president. Nothing about
the inauguration. Nothing newsworthy.
You fi gured out the formula. You can
wrap dog poop in Obama, and somebody
will pick it up. Consider these six Lane
students duped.
Jennifer Crowley
Eugene
CLINGING TO HOPE
“Top 25 Censored Stories” (1/8) includes
a token 25th position for the story of
Eliot Spitzer’s character assassination —
astonishingly the only story on the list about
the meltdown.
William Engdahl wrote the story for
the Centre for Research on Globalization
(Toronto), and that website perhaps above all
others has continuously carried analysis that
if disseminated widely would result in much
needed higher levels of political-economic
literacy at a time with great potential for
public uptake of such information.
Instead, people who one might expect of
having adequate background and perspective
to know otherwise cling nevertheless
to “Hope” and miss the big picture and
implications of corporate statism being this
rogue nation’s modus operandi. For that
matter, a story that should have qualifi ed
is the one about Obama’s public relations
apparatus having portrayed their donor base
as twice as large as it really was, hiding
the role of repeat donors, large donors and
bundlers and giving the still dearly held
impression that “my” small donation ushered
in a new era.
The neo-liberal acolytes in Obama’s
economic policy inner sanctum set this debt-
fraud disaster in motion 15 years ago on
behalf of the Wall Street titans who vetted
Clinton — and Obama.
Robert Beal
Eugene
HOMELESS DEPOT
Sometimes I have trouble detecting the
true defi nition of irony. I spotted a man on
West 11th holding a sign reading “homeless”
as he was wearing a bright orange Home
Depot windbreaker. Izzat irony?
I’m always glad to come home to this
town when I’ve been away, except when I
see that sign on I-105 which reads “Entering
Eugene.” Nothing personal, people, I just
don’t swing that way. Izzat irony?
I was staring at the building that houses
The Good Guys, “audio/video specialists,”
and noticed there was an antenna on the
roof. Izzat irony?
When I drop an iron on my knee … OK,
I’ll stop.
Glenn Leonard
Eugene
IT’S UP TO THE FAMILY
It is annoying and offensive that you
chose to publish the “odd email” from “David
Minor’s Ghost” asking for the David Minor
ghost bike memorial at the corner of 13th &
Willamette to be removed. Apparently its
author thinks the memorial is just generating
negative energy or something. I’m sure the
person who wrote it is well-intentioned, but
that doesn’t change that it’s obnoxious, self-
important, hippie-dippy bullshit.
I hope that memorial — which continues
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