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EDITORIAL: The Opinion of The Oracle
Advisory Committee recommendations for Titan 102, tutorial impractical After almost a full year of research and collaboration, the newly appointed Guidance Advisory Committee (GAC) recently released a report containing recommendations for the school to consider in planning its future. Though most of these recommendations are well-reasoned and likely to yield positive results, the suggestions of making tutorial mandatory and in the middle of the day and creating Titan 102 for sophomores is not only impractical, but if implemented, will only negatively impact students’ abilities to make decisions for themselves and decrease student productivity. For students, moving tutorial to the middle of the day and extending Titan 101 to Titan 102 makes little sense. Obviously, shifting tutorial will mandate a schedule change, which will require months of debate and deliberation. And regardless of the methods used, mandatory tutorial will be almost impossible to enforce. Closing the campus will not guarantee that students go into classrooms; many will most likely wander around campus or sneak out anyways. Having a system like Palo Alto High School’s in which students sign into classrooms will mean restricting students who need help in a variety of areas to one classroom. In the end, trying to keep students in the right classroom at the right time will be a logistical nightmare. Also, if the school makes tutorial compulsory, it will be sacrificing student self-reliance and positivity for a limited amount of greater academic success. Students will essentially be robbed of the opportunity to make their own decisions about their academic careers. The fact is, that some students need to go
tutorial every week, some need to go occasionally and some don’t need to go at all. The key point is that students should be allowed to determine for themselves which category they fit under. As for students who need to go to tutorial but
student excelling in their studies yet lacking in extracurriculars should be able to spend tutorial time pursuing non-academic activities or just relaxing to reduce stress. Students will come to see tutorial not as a useful resource for succeeding in school, but as a restricting agent.
choose not to, a more effective way of making sure they get the help they need will be having teachers ask students specifically to come to tutorial when needed. If students are not allowed to make even simple decisions like whether or not they need extra help in a subject, then administrators will be sending a wrong message to students that their grades matter more than their maturing into responsible and independent members of society. In addition, it makes no sense for students who do not need additional help for their classes to be forced to attend tutorial. A
If tutorial is relocated to the middle of the day, students will lose opportunities to make the most of their short day. Currently, students who do not utilize tutorial can leave school to work on various activities, such as a job. However, with tutorial in the middle of the day, students who have no need for extra help will be stuck on campus with nothing to do. Titan 102 will have many of the same fundamental issues that a compulsory, midday tutorial will have. Extending Titan 101 will be highly impractical for administrations.
More teachers will be required to oversee students in these Titan 102 sessions, which will compound the already existing problem of teachers missing important meetings after school because of Titan 101. Most importantly, sophomores are far more independent and busy than they were in freshmen year. They neither need nor have the time for Titan 102 sessions. By their second year of high school, these students do not need to have their academic and social progress in high school checked up on by teachers, which is the aim of Titan 102. Time effectively wasted in Titan 102 would be far better spent exploring the new opportunities presented by sophomore year. Altering tutorial to make it compulsory and in the middle of the day and expanding Titan 101 into Titan 102 will not resolve the issues of each program; instead, it will only hurt student independence and workload while causing problems for the administration. If GAC wishes to improve the two programs, then it should more closely consider the student opinion. For example, many students complain of teachers not being present during tutorial. In that case, the administrators should work on accountability for teachers to be available to their students. Many students also criticize Titan 101 for being unnecessary and time-consuming. Perhaps the best course of action should then be to downsize the program rather than expanding it. These are the types of solutions that the school should research and promote for future years. —Unsigned editorials represent the majority opinion of the staff (assenting: 45; dissenting: 1; abstaining: 2)
Palo Alto’s carbon-free program eliminates harmful emissions Rebecca Alger In the wake of recent natural disasters and extreme weather, the Palo Alto City Council voted unanimously to approve a 100 percent carbon-free electric portfolio on March 4. The plan is incredibly important because it has the capacity to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by more than 100,000 metric tons per year. According to the city council, Palo Alto’s carbon-neutral electric-supply portfolio will demonstrate annual net-zero GHG emissions. By establishing a program that relies solely on the city’s existing renewableenergy sources in the place of standard, fossil-fueled energy, Palo Alto becomes a leading force in the push for American cities to get rid of carbon from their electrical operations. Global warming brought about by carbon emissions led to the melting of polar ice caps, which hold the very small amount of fresh water available on Earth, provide a natural habitat for vari-
ous species of plants and animals and reflect heat and sunlight back into space, thus regulating the temperature on Earth. If humans neglect to alter their habits and make significant changes in how they create energy, the destruction of the environment on all spectrums will continue. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the largest source of carbon dioxide emissions comes from the combustion of fossil fuels for electricity. In 2009, electricity accounted for 40 percent of all U.S. carbon emissions. If the human race continues to impact Earth at the current rate, the average temperature, sea level, acidity of the oceans and amount of precipitation will steadily increase. It is necessary to make long-term changes as soon as possible in order to make a positive lasting impact on the environment. Palo Alto would greatly reduce its impact with the carbon neutral portfolio. According to City Manager James Keene, because the City of Palo Alto already possesses its own utilities, residents will not need to pay more for electricity than those in areas charged by the Pacific Gas and Electric Company. The average cost increase
will only be between $2.60 and $4.20 more per month according to Carbon-Free Palo Alto, a grassroots citizen-activism organization. Last year, the Utilities Department issued a survey asking residents if they would be willing to pay more for renewable energy. 73 percent of the 948 respondents said they were willing to pay anywhere from $2 to $10 per month, or even more, proving that the change in pricing resulting from carbon-free electricity would not be a problem for citizens who would be directly impacted. Carbon dioxide is killing people and making it harder for people to breathe each and every year, and it certainly is not happening slowly. Through c ar b on - n e ut r a l ity, Palo Alto reduces the effects carbon dioxide has on health. By lowering air pollution, the new
portfolio is making the serious changes necessary to save lives all over the world. Palo Alto’s program for a carbon-free electric system will be able to make serious changes not only in the immediate area but also all over the world. The changes being made currently will benefit the planet both now and in the long run.
In the past seven years alone, Palo Alto brought its GHG emissions down through local renewable energy sources. As other cities and counties follow Palo Alto’s lead and amend their current supplies of electricity, the world becomes a healthier place for all. —Alger, a junior, is a Features Editor.
Dave Zhu