The Corsair Issie 03 Fall Semester by Santa Monica College Corsair Newspaper

CORSAIR

OCTOBER 19, 2016 | VOLUME 112 ISSUE 03 | SANTA MONICA COLLEGE

FIRST COPY OF THE CORSAIR IS FREE, EACH COPY AFTER IS 25

PLAYERS PROTEST ANTHEM (P.5)

STEM

CICLAVIA

PROGRAM BOLSTERED BY $6 MILLION GRANT (P.3)

OPENS THE HEART OF LA TO BICYCLISTS (P.6-7)

THE CORSAIR • THECORSAIRONLINE.COM • 1900 PICO BLVD. SANTA MONICA, CA 90405 • (310) 434-4340

CONTENT

VOLUME 112 ISSUE 03 • OCT 19, 2016 • SANTA MONICA COLLEGE

EDITORIAL STAFF jacob hirsohn

............................ Editor-in-Chief

corsair.editorinchief@gmail.com september dawn bottoms

.......... Digital Editor

corsair.digitaleditor@gmail.com

christian monterrosa

............... Digital Editor

corsair.digitaleditor@gmail.com

josue martinez

.............................. Photo Editor

corsairphotoeditor@gmail.com jose lopez

....................... Assistant Photo Editor

corsairphotoeditor@gmail.com

daniel han.................................... Design Editor

corsair.designteam@gmail.com

christina kelley..........................Culture Editor

corsair.calendarpage@gmail.com

troy barnes............................. Sports Columnist

corsair.sportspage@gmail.com

CORSAIR STAFF Kianna Anguiano, Andrew Aono, Hank Brehman, Emily Burton, Daniel Bowyer, Oscar Carranza, Andera Canizales, Cliff Cheng, Kevin Colindres, Joanna Esquivias, Emily Flores, Samuel Gerstein, Sam Green, Alex Harris, Marco Heredia, Christina Kelly, Kissindre Kimbrell, Daniel Lee, Brian Lewis, Agustin Martinez, Erendira Martinez, Caroline Marriott, Yulia Morris, Dylan Mulcahy, Leslie Plascencia, Brian Quiroz, Martina Rakar, Jasmin Rogers, Brian Schaefer, Gabriel Schittdiel, Jett Sacker, Rebecca Singleton, Jovante Smith, Marisa Vasquez, Rosangelica Vizcarra FACULTY ADVISORS saul rubin

............................ Journalism Advisor

gerard burkhart.........................Photo Advisor

AD INQUIRIES: corsair.admanager@gmail.com (310) 434-4033

FRONT COVER Top Photo by: Marco Heredia. Caption: SMC Corsairs, Sharieff Reed (7) right, and Jah-Real Morris-Mills (5) left, kneel down and raise their fists during the playing of the national anthem on Saturday, September 24. Bottom Left Photo by: Yulia Morris Caption: SMC student Katherine Gutierrez wroks on a lab assignment for a chemestry 12 class on Tuesday, October 18. Bottom Right Photo by: Josue Martinez Caption: CicLAvia participants ride on 7th St near MacArthur Park on Sunday, October 16.

Employees Donnie Davis, center left, and Geraldo Tapia, center right, clean up and restock the store after an attempted robbery took place at Surf Liquor in Santa Monica on Friday. Police gathered statments from both employees in regards to the incident that evening. (Photo by: Cecilia Martin)

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR Hello Readers of The Corsair, I was having dinner with my girlfriend, Elissa, and her grandparents a little while back. Before this dinner I didn’t know them very well, but we bonded throughout the meal, largely over one thing: our love of the San Francisco Giants. This was before the Giants got eliminated from the MLB Playoffs in embarrassing fashion by the hopefully-soon-tobe-World Series champion Chicago Cubs, effectively ending the Giants’ “Even Year” dynasty. We discussed the team’s prospects, which, even at the time, were dire. When talking about the playoffs, Elissa’s grandma said if the Giants lose, she will root for the Los Angeles Dodgers since they will be the lone remaining California representative. She wasn’t the first person to express this sort of sentiment to me over the last few years when we have seen the Dodgers and Giants regularly contend for championships (one of course finding more success than the other). It never fails to boggle my mind each time. Not because I think it’s wrong — I respect Elissa’s grandma’s right to root for whomever she chooses — but because it is so incredibly far from how I feel. If — and with tonight’s win over the Cubs, it’s starting to feel more like a “when” — the Dodgers win the 2016 World Series, I won’t just be sad or disappointed. A part of me will die. That’s what makes being a sports fan so unbelievably stupid. For context, a quick summary of my sports year so far. My football team of choice is your least favorite squad, the New England Patriots. They lost in the AFC Championship to a crumbling statue of Peyton Manning because the best field goal kicker in the league missed an extra point. This was followed some months later by an astounding feat by my favorite basketball team, the Golden State Warriors. In case you somehow don’t know this, the Warriors became the first team in history to blow a 3 games to 1 lead in the NBA Finals shortly after becoming the first team in history to win 73 games. It drew stunning parallels to… that’s right! My Patriots losing in the Super Bowl after going 16-0 in 2007. Then, the Giants. Now, the Dodgers. Every time I thought things couldn’t get worse, they did — which is why I’m prematurely awarding the Dodgers the title. Being a sports fan is stupid because of how much these things truly affect me. As trite as it may be to point out that sports are just a bunch of billionaires chasing around a ball, it is important to remember that it’s true to put in perspective what idiots we all truly are. The actions of these uniformed men aren’t just entertainment or background noise for me — they bring unbridled joy to my life, and also make me existentially miserable. It’s super dumb. And there isn’t really anything I can do about it.

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In order for the Giants winning the World Series to be one of the best moments of my life, the Dodgers winning the World Series has to be one of the worst. But sometimes — much more than usually lately — I consider giving it all up. I have plenty of sources of joy in my life. I have a wonderful girlfriend, an amazing support system of family and friends, I get paid to write about basketball while living in the greatest city on earth, and most importantly of all, beer exists. This year, it’s gotten to the point where my sports misery doesn’t just toy with my regular life — it undercuts it on a daily basis. Take tonight for example. I got to spend all day doing what I love most: producing content with my brilliant and supportive staff. Yet, in the back of my mind, I can’t help but be tortured over the fact the godforsaken Dodgers won. As I lay all of the evidence out in front of me, there is really no question that I should stop watching sports, or at least cut back significantly. But I know I won’t. It’s my life, and there is nothing you or god himself can do about it. The basketball season starts in less than a week. Go Dubs. In your hands you hold our third print issue of Fall Semester, and it is our strongest yet. Daniel Lee gives you a look inside the heads of three figures on campus following in the footsteps of Colin Kaepernick, including Associated Students President Terrance Ware, along with Sharieff Reed and Carnell Lewis, two sophomore cornerbacks for our football team. Our photo story is on the Heart of LA event put on by CicLAvia, an event which brings pedestrians and bikers together to freely roam the streets of multiple LA neighborhoods. We also have our new Culture editor Christina Kelley providing all there is to know on the massive fig tree just outside of our aging Letters & Science building. In News, we have tension between the Associated Students Board of Directors and the Inter-Club Council, or ICC, and a $6 million grant for SMC’s STEM program. Our first Op-ed Duel of the semester sees Troy Barnes and Jovante Smith duking it out over whether Obama’s presidency was a success or a lame duck. My take: it was a little of both. But you can make up your own minds. Filling out our Opinion section is contributing writer Grace Canning’s take on the failures of the public school system. Last and certainly least, the Editor-in-Chief wrote about the tenth anniversary of “The Black Parade” by My Chemical Romance — as if this letter didn’t give you your fill of me writing about things you don’t care about.

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Sincerely, Jacob Hirsohn Editor-in-Chief The Corsair

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NEWS

VOLUME 112 ISSUE 03 • OCT 19, 2016 • SANTA MONICA COLLEGE

STEM PROGRAM GETS $6 MILLION GRANT CAROLINE MARRIOTT STAFF WRITER

SMC has been granted nearly $6 million by the U.S. Department of Education to develop STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) programs at the school. There were over two hundred applications from schools across the U.S. for the 2016 Hispanic Servicing Institutions (HSI) STEM & Articulation Program award. SMC was ranked amongst the highest for the most deserving of the grant because the school proposed innovative ideas for classes, activities, and equipment, and all STEM staff were deemed as being extremely dedicated to the students’ success. The Associate Dean for STEM and Student Equity, Dr. Melanie Bocanegra, will discern how the five-year grant from the federal government will be used. But this isn’t the first time SMC STEM has received a grant. “We’ve had this grant [totaling $6 million] for the past five years… the SMC STEM program started in 2011… [and] getting another five years is rare,” said STEM Counselor Jose Cue. Vanan Yahnian, Student Services Specialist for STEM and Equity, explained that the STEM program at SMC is regularly updated because “in order to receive funding again, you can’t do the same projects… [if we hadn’t added new ideas], we wouldn’t have been awarded [the grant].” The SMC STEM program hopes to effectively motivate and prepare the underrepresented minority students to transfer to four-year institutions to pursue STEM majors and careers. “One of the areas that this new grant will focus on is building up an engineering program [and physics-preparation courses],” said Yahnian. “We want to create a ‘maker-space’ on campus which

is a permanent learning space for engineering students… [they] will actually have a 3D printer, circuits, equipment, everything they need.” The STEM program also offers many opportunities for internships, which greatly benefits students by providing exceptional hands-on experience in a lab. “We have a collaboration with UCLA,” said Yahnian. “We send interns to work for ten weeks in a paid [research] internship over the summer… we hear back from [Dr. Tama Hasson, UCLA Director of Undergraduate Research Center,] who says ‘they are producing work just like my grad students.’ They are very well prepared and they don’t expect that from a community college student but they should. The bar should be just as high.” In the near future, the STEM program hopes to further expand their program by implementing a “transfer-bridge program” with UCLA. “It’s about bridging that transfer process to make sure that [students] continue to get the [year-round] support they need… at their transfer institution,” said Yahninan. “So that they are not left high and dry -- like we help them get in and then there’s a new atmosphere and they don’t know how to [deal with it]. We want their success to continue in that new environment. They will learn study skills and how to make the most of all resources there.” Hector Medina, a 20-year-old Computer Science major with a focus in Game Design, is a member of the STEM program at SMC. “I originally joined STEM because I wanted to find a community of people of my major,” said Medina. “I did find a community and more with STEM. They had us go through ‘STEM week’ over the summer, which was basically a Math and Science boot camp. It really helped me with some math troubles I had and

THE ASTRONOMY CLUB HANK BREHMAN STAFF WRITER

Are you interested in the universe? You should be, considering it’s your home. In SMC's Astronomy Club, they certainly hold that interest, and show it through engineering competitions, astrology themed Jeopardy games, student-led lectures and a night sky inspired camping trip. Earlier this semester, the club held a competition to see who could support the most weight using only newspaper, tape and a piece of cardboard. The winning structure held four textbooks. Whether you’re interested in the technology that goes into the James Webb telescope that’ll be shot into space in a couple years, the search for extraterrestrial life, or anything else in the expanding universe, the Astronomy club welcomes you. The club has been meeting since the early 90s. The club’s purposes include expanding the knowledge of students interested in astronomy and enabling them to experience astronomical study beyond the classroom setting. Inspired members present factoids on anything astronomy related each week. Previous semesters have seen trips to the desert of Joshua Tree, Palomar, and Big Sur, away from the light-emanating Los Angeles aura. The club has collaborated on trips with the Anthropology club and will likely do the same for

this semester’s camping trip in Joshua tree. A trip to the Mt. Wilson observatory, which features a 60-inch telescope, is on the club’s radar. In the past, club advisor Professor Gary Fouts has facilitated a training session at the Mount Wilson Observatory for interested Astronomy club members. Last week Matthew Cardona, the club PR officer, presented a slideshow on Europa; Jupiter’s sixth closest moon. Europa is a possible harbinger of life beyond Earth. It has a crust of ice encompassing an ocean from which plumes of water erupt more than 100 miles into the atmosphere. These plumes have been photographed by NASA’s hubble telescope. As Cardona presented his slideshow, Fouts prepared the Celestron solar telescope. Club President Curtis Corbett had heard about solar prominences that would be visible from Earth on Tuesday, September 27th. The prominences pictured were equivalent to about eight earth diameters and previous prominences have been up to 35 earth diameters. Solar prominences are bright displays of matter extending from the surface, into the outer atmosphere (corona) and back to the surface of the sun. The cause of solar prominences is being studied but it likely involves magnetic forces. The Astronomy Club explores these and other fascinating elements of our universe at their meetings each Tuesday. Meeting time/place: Tuesdays at 11:15am-12:35pm in DH 128.

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SMC Students Naurenp Terouaux, 22 (left) and Tanvir Rohan, 17 work on their lab assignments for their Chemistry 10

I felt connected with other students for the first time to a point that I formed a ‘Computer Science Squad.’” “STEM offers students a chance to explore a major in that field and with much support,” he said. “For example, the tutoring services [and] help in computer science courses. They don't have that anywhere else. [Also we go] to UCLA to see fellow STEM mates present the research they worked over the summer [and we can intern there]. Lastly, they offer plenty of scholarships and internships like the NSF-STEM scholarship [and] JPL internships offered only to STEM.” The STEM program aims to help students overcome their doubt in their abilities. Should students not feel capable of achieving their career goals, the program helps them realize they can succeed and obtain their aspirations. Yahnian said, “We often hear from students things like ‘if it wasn’t for the STEM program and the support I received

class on Friday. (Photo by: Josue Martinez)

and the friends I made here, I don’t think I would’ve made it through or stuck with it. I may have changed majors, I may not have applied to the schools I thought of applying to ‘because I never thought I would get into somewhere like that.’” Feeling grateful for the assistance they received in the STEM program, students often write thank you letters to staff or express appreciation in person. “Just yesterday a student came up out of nowhere and hugged me,” said Yahnian. “[She said] ‘I got the internship that you helped me apply for.’ We get a lot of that throughout the year. It’s really nice.” This year, the STEM program accepted more than twice as many students than they did the previous year. “The numbers always go up,” said Yahnian. “We are hoping with these next five years it will be the same.” The STEM program office is based in Drescher Hall 302 with a free online application.

CENTER FOR WELLNESS AND WELLBEING MARTINA RAKAR STAFF WRITER

At the end of the hallway in the Liberal Arts building, there is an inconspicuous door, with a sign that reads "Center for Wellness & Wellbeing." The sign is warm and welcoming, quite a change from the plain metal sign of the Center for Psychological Services which used to hang in its place. “We wanted to get rid of the stigma of 'psychological services' and make it more welcoming for students to approach our office,” said Student Services Assistant Martha Whitfield. Whitfield is one of the first faces to greet you when you step inside the office, peeking over the chest-high reception desk, with a warm smile and bushy brown hair. Whitfield has seen a big difference since the center re-opened with the new name and logo this semester. “Now I believe [the students] are coming in a lot more, without difficulties,” said Whitfield. A study published in Psychological Science In the Public Interest (a journal by the Association for Psychological Science), written by Patrick W. Corrigan, Benjamin G. Druss and Deborah A. Perlick, from Oct 2014 titled "The Impact of Mental Illness Stigma on Seeking and Participating in Mental Health Care," shows that the stigma surrounding mental illness can prevent as many as 56 percent of patients to seek treatment, usually out @THE_CORSAIR •

of fear of being labeled crazy, ostracized by their friends and family, or because they think they can handle it themselves. “In the past, what they would do is they would walk in front of the office, and they would not come in,” said Whitfield. “It has made a big difference, because now we see people coming in and they feel more comfortable.” The center’s services remain largely unchanged; they’re still a short-term treatment center, but they have improved their crisis hours, with the goal that everyone should be serviced. If long-term care is necessary, the center has a list of clinics they can recommend, even for people without insurance, but their main focus is still suicide prevention rather than treatment. “You can find us in the student services event calendar, every month we have workshops scheduled,” Whitfield said in regards to monthly workshops held in the HSS building. With themes such as stress management, suicide prevention, mindfulness, etc. “Our goal is to prevent suicide, that’s our main goal." When asked if she has anything else she’d like to tell the students, Whitfield said, “Just that we have a very comfortable atmosphere, and when they come in, we’re here to service them, and they will be treated with respect.”

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NEWS

VOLUME 112 ISSUE 03 • OCT 19, 2016 • SANTA MONICA COLLEGE

I.C.C. VS

A.S.

CC Chair Daniel Kaitel sits in disagreement at the AS Board Meeting on Monday October 17. in the Cayton Center. Daniel is opposed to the use of the AS logo on ICC merchandise until "The Board of Directors and ICC are on equal playing fields again." (Photo by: Christian Monterrosa)

CHRISTIAN MONTERROSA DIGITAL EDITOR Everyday, students board the Big Blue Bus at the swipe of their ID card. Others run to the Cayton Center, minutes before their exam to request a free scantron. Those who are savvy get the discount at the cafeteria just by showing their 2016 sticker. What many don’t know is that deep in the heart of campus a group of 13 student officials are meeting every week to come up with the next best thing for our campus. This student body is known as the Associated Students Board of Directors. Along with the Associated Students Board of Directors, three members of the Inter-Club Council (ICC) sets out to, according to the SMC website, “promote student awareness of and participation in Santa Monica College clubs.” Every Monday at 3 p.m., the AS Board of Directors meets with the ICC and their advisors to discuss how to utilize their studentfunded budget in the most effective way for those very students. Events such as Homecoming, fast approaching on Oct. 29, and the current sustainability week are examples of events funded by the AS. This Monday, however, a disagreement between the two government bodies arose. On the Agenda for the Oct. 17 A.S. meeting, Item 7.1 read “Approval for the ICC to purchase pencils, pens, key tags, and baseball caps for promotional purposes for the ICC with the AS logo represented.” For ICC Chair Daniel Kaitel, having the AS logo represented was unacceptable. The initial purpose to discuss the item was to notify the AS that both the AS and ICC logos could not fit on some of the merchandise. Somewhere between the Cayton Center’s high decibel level, and the AS members fumbling with the microphones, the topic changed to why the AS logo should not be included in the first place. “If any of us are going to put [in] work for all the clubs, we should be, I mean, at least thanked for it in that way,” said Director of Activities Jeannie Joo. With an irritated tone, the ICC Chair replied “that statement right there demonstrates exactly what I’m fighting against it, because you guys are not the AS board. You are the Board of Directors. The AS is above you. By saying, you know, ‘you should have the AS logo on there because it

will represent us,’ that’s exactly the problem here. It’s not supposed to represent you, it’s supposed to represent all of us. And that’s not what it currently does.” After the A.S. meeting, Kaitel elaborated on his main concerns. “What happens is, the Board of Directors and the ICC are supposed to be on an equal playing field, we’re almost like a check and balance on one another. But somehow through, almost years of neglect, I wanna say, the Board of Directors has been kind of pushed up onto an almost equal playing field as the AS in general. And the ICC has been relegated almost to a secondary position. Which in my opinion isn’t right. A. because that’s not what we’re supposed to be and B.

takes place. “It’s definitely in the way that funds are spent. There is definitely very clearly a difference in power. Look for instance, [at the] finance committee. The vast majority of the stuff that goes through finance is from us, the clubs. But we only have one vote out of something like five or six.” he said. Currently the Finance Committee consists of only one ICC representative and three A.S. directors along with Associate Dean of Student Life Dr. Nancy Grass, and Director of Auxiliary Services David Dever. Should the AS and ICC disagree on certain matters, the majority vote leaves an uphill battle for the ICC. Former ICC Vice Chair and current Director of Budget Management Orlando

Director of Instructional Support, Walther Perez, listened with intense frustration as the debate between ICC Chair and the AS Board of Directors continued on Monday, October 17. (Photo by: Christian Monterrosa)

we represent more students than the AS,” said Kaitel. Constitutionally speaking, Kaitel is correct. According to the Associated Students Constitution, the power of the AS shall be vested in four bodies: the AS Board of Directors, Inter Club Council (ICC), Joint Council, and Judicial Board. With no mention of hierarchy between the four bodies, Kaitel gave specific examples of where he feels the imbalance of power

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Gonzalez originally was against the use of the AS logo on ICC merchandise. In a letter issued to his fellow AS Board members, Gonzalez wrote that he did not agree with the enforcement of the AS logo being used claiming that “they are different bodies, with different functions, but you wouldn’t force one’s advertisement over another.” Gonzalez later rescinded his position on this. “I thought that the AS logo represented @THE_CORSAIR •

Tensions rise over distribution of power in student government

the AS board. And I was wrong. It’s not representative of the AS board, its representative of the whole four bodies of government [combined],” he said. Gonzalez acknowledged that there is a conflict of power between the two bodies of government because of the difference in voting numbers, referring to the 3 to 1 disadvantage the ICC currently holds over directors of AS in the finance committee. He reiterated that the AS and ICC operate with the same goal of benefiting the students. AS Vice President Adrian Restrepo expressed his desire to make peace between the two bodies of government. He noted that the ICC logo is not currently used on all AS merchandise and therefore, ICC items should not be required to attribute to AS. “On some events, the ICC works really hard on it, and the AS Board of Directors, we don’t get that involved, and we don’t put in as much work as they do. And I think it’s a disrespect to their work just to tell them ‘Oh, you have to put us there because we gave you the money,’” said Restrepo. Looking forward to a resolution between the two powers, leaders from both sides gave their take. “In some way I feel like the AS Board of Directors has overstepped the ICC,” said Vice President Restrepo. “I even sometimes think I've done it before. So now that they have come to me, and we have talked [about it] face to face, I realize that. And a mistake that has [been made] through the years is that the AS board of directors have much more power than the ICC, and it’s not [that way]. We’re a couple of organizations working together to give the students [as much] success as we can.” For the ICC, Kaitel said, “Until the power is equally distributed, I refuse to have the AS logo on there.” Much to Kaitel’s dismay, section 8 of the Fiscal Policy does state that any person, club, or organization, which conducts an event, activity, or program funded with monies originating in whole or in part with the Associated Students, must provide on any advertisement or promotional material a credit referring to the partial or total funding by the Associated Students. The AS Board of Directors intends on revisiting these laws and requirements in the future, but for now, the students hold the right to know who has funded their free t-shirts.

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SPORTS

VOLUME 112 ISSUE 03 • OCT 19, 2016 • SANTA MONICA COLLEGE

Santa Monica College Corsairs, Sharieff Reed (7) right, and Jah-Real Morris-Mills (5) left, kneel down and raise their fists during the playing of the national anthem. (Photo by: Marco Heredia)

CONSCIOUS CORNERBACKS Football players, Associated Students President follow Colin Kaepernick's footsteps DANIEL LEE STAFF WRITER On August 26, 2016, Colin Kaepernick, a quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers, decided to sit during the national anthem before a game against the Green Bay Packers. By taking a seat, Kaepernick took this stand to bring awareness to the social injustices done to African Americans here in the United States. Kaepernick’s action created a lot of controversy. Those who oppose his decision state it is unpatriotic and disrespectful to those serving the United States’ military and their families, as well as the police. Sharieff Reed, a sophomore at SMC who plays cornerback for the football team, has decided to follow Kaepernick's example and has also been taking a knee during the national anthem before his games. “I support Kaepernick. I support what he is standing for, and I agree with him. A flag is supposed to represent us as a people, as Americans, but how can you support a flag that doesn’t really support you?” Reed said. “Until something changes, I’m taking the knee.” Terrance Ware Jr., the president of Associated Students Board of Directors, has also chosen to protest in his own way, remaining seated while the pledge of allegiance is being recited during the Board of Trustees meetings. “Personally, I’d like if the entire team took a knee. I’d like it if all of our teams took a knee,” said Ware. “I do 100 percent believe in this movement. I do believe we have to take a stand. It bothers me that racial relations have always been an issue in this country." Having grown up in South Central Los Angeles, Ware is an active supporter of local rallies and protests, and has recently been involved with Black Lives Matter. As with Kaepernick, Reed’s actions were not directed at those serving the army and veterans, but the thousands of black lives who suffer from racism, prejudice, and profiling. According to the Washington Post, 381 African Americans were killed by police in 2015, 50 of whom were unarmed. At the height of tensions over the stop and frisk law in New York City, 2,017,478 New Yorkers were stopped by police from 2010-2013 before the law was deemed unconstitutional by a federal judge. Of those stopped, 52 percent were African American and 88 percent of all those stopped were innocent, according to the NYCLU. “It’s not really a shot towards the army. I support what [Kaepernick] is doing and I have a cousin that went to West Point and then served in Afghanistan. It’s really just us standing up for what we believe is right,” said Reed. FOR EXTENDED COVERAGE VISIT US AT THECORSAIRONLINE.COM •

Ruth Bader-Ginsburg, the liberal leaning Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States who was appointed under Bill Clinton, expressed negativity towards Kaepernick, telling Katie Couric his actions were “dumb and disrespectful” and even compared it to the burning of the flag. Carnell Lewis, a 21-year-old SMC student from North Carolina who is also a sophomore cornerback, called Kaepernick’s protest “iconic.” Although Lewis is currently injured and unable to play, he still takes a knee during the anthem. In response to Ginsburg’s comments, Lewis said, “That is disrespectful because first of all, she is not in that position. She wouldn’t know how we feel ethically, because she is not African American.” Lewis was not the only one who viewed Bader-Ginsberg's comment as inappropriate. In the SMC’s Athletics Department, Dr. Cedric Hackett, an athletic counselor for the sixteen sports teams at SMC and also Professor of Pan African studies at CSU Northridge, gave his opinion on Bader-Ginsberg's stance. “While everybody has a right to express their views, she is in a position of authority, who makes rules and laws, and for her to say ‘dumb’ and compare it to the burning of the flag is a very dangerous statement,” Hackett said. “Especially for folks who traditionally vilify and bring stereotypes to communities of color, in particular African Americans.” Race relations have been a divisive issue throughout the history of this country. According to Dr. Hackett, sports are an equalizer when it comes to race relations. “There is an entertainment component to it. Because of who we are and where we are in this country, in terms of institutional bias in racism and discrimination being embedded in the fabric of this country, sports are kind of a way to escape from that," Hackett said. AS President Ware hopes to clarify the objectives of the protests, as well as shoot down a common criticism of civil rights movements. “As African Americans, I’d like to say, we are not trying to be superior. We are not trying to not be oppressed, so we can take over. That’s not what we are trying to do,” said Ware. “We just want to be treated as equals. It’s not that we want to be better than anybody. We just want to be treated the same as everyone else."

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PHOTOSTORY

VOLUME 112 ISSUE 03 • OCT 19, 2016 • SANTA MONICA COLLEGE

On a lowrider bicycle William Holloway participates in the CicLAvia event looks back with a smile and greeting while waiting to cross the intersection at 7th Street and South Alvarado Street at MacArthur. (Photo by: Jose Lopez)

SMC student Ranran Ni, Cognitive Science major, volunteers through the SMC Alpha Gama Sigma (AGS) honor society at the CicLAvia event to help manage bicycle and pedestrian traffic at an intersection along the designated route at MacArthur Park. Ni mentioned that she feels bicycling in Los Angeles seems dangerous but when asked if she would attend future CicLAvia events as a cyclist she said that it was something she would consider because it looks fun. (Photo by: Jose Lopez)

Local residents Ryan Lopez , Pablo Dominguez, and Fernando Hernandez (from left to right) take a break from pedaling their bikes along the CicLAvia event on 7th Street over the 110 freeway. (Photo by: Jose Lopez)

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PHOTOSTORY

VOLUME 112 ISSUE 03 • OCT 19, 2016 • SANTA MONICA COLLEGE

Champion unicyclist Jamey Mossengren jumps over a member of the audience in Los Angeles on Sunday, October 16. (Photo by: Jose Lopez)

THE HEART OF LA CicLAvia lets pedestrians and bikers explore LA in a new way

STORY BY ANDREW AONO

he morning air was deceptively humid under the grey skies of Los Angeles as thousands made their way to this Sunday’s Heart of LA event put on by CicLAvia. For the event, miles of streets were closed off to cars in a bicycle and pedestrian only path that started at MacArthur park, cut through Downtown, Chinatown, and finished in Boyle Heights. CicLAvia, a play on the Spanish word “cyclovia” meaning “cycleway,” was started back in 1974 by a Colombian citizen named Jaime Ortiz Marino. Ortiz Marino, who went to college in the United States, returned to find Colombia was readily embracing the car culture that had overtaken America, destroyed its cities, and created a massive outbreak of the disease known as “suburbia.” In rebellion, Ortiz Marino created the first “cyclovia” in the streets of Botega, Colombia. Fast forward 42 years later, drop an “o,” add an “a,” and you have miles and miles of bicycle only open space in the streets of Los Angeles. Although a far cry from Botega’s weekly cyclovia, Los Angeles’ CicLAvia event this Sunday gave the citizens of sunny SoCal a much needed break from the onslaught of cars that would inevitably come the following day, and indeed, most other days. Walking or biking along the route, one can see that CicLAvia brings people from all walks of life together. All races and all ages were present on two wheels. Many police were grouped on street corners, but there was no animosity between the police and the public.

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Mario Soria Jr. guards his family’s bicycles while his parents Mario and Linda stop for a snack in Chinatown during the event. “We collect classic bikes, as you can tell. We’ve got over thirty of them. Try to get as many of them out as we can,” said Mario Jr. But the Soria family, with their classic red Schwinn bicycles, a mix of gleaming and rusted, is but one of the families enjoying the streets of Los Angeles. John Deno has been going to CicLAvia events for about four years. “I just got silly string!” his grandson chimes in from down below in the seat of a bike that Deno built himself. It has three seats, all the perfect size for children, with a trailer pulling a tricycle. The whole contraption is decked out in UCLA blue and gold, with a UCLA pattern fabric on the seats. Deno started building custom bikes as a hobby. “We’ve been stopped about twenty times already,” said Deno, who put his phone number on the bike so potential customers can give him a call if they’re interested. Although the event was primarily made for those on two wheels, they are not the only ones that attend CicLAvia events. Evena Wang, a student at Alverno Heights Academy, is among a large group of students from her school volunteering for the event. “This is kind of like a service project,” she said as one of her classmates danced in the street while wearing a tiger suit, the tiger being her school’s mascot. “We brought it here to encourage people to go on.” Indeed, it is hard not to feel better about the heat of the day when there is a giant tiger dancing in the street.

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CULTURE

VOLUME 112 ISSUE 03 • OCT 19, 2016 • SANTA MONICA COLLEGE

SMC'S GIANT TREE The life and times of the tree that every student sees

Ebba Oestereng (left), psychology major, and Vitor Sambugaro (right), mechanical engineering majorsocialize around the big tree near the Letters and Science building on October 17. (Photo by: Jose Lopez)

CHRISTINA KELLEY CULTURE EDITOR Just a few steps away from the Pearl Street entrance of SMC several students are taking it easy as they sit under the wide canopy of a very large and beautiful tree. It’s easy to be astonished by the tree’s magnificence and intrigued by its shape and presence. It has a massive curving trunk and beautiful twisting roots. Thick, heavy branches stretch out w-i-d-e underneath dense dark-green leaves. This tree is noticeably full of life. It’s easy to imagine it coming alive like an angry tree in an orchard throwing apples at Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz. “We call it the ‘Rubber Tree,” says Tom Corpus, SMC’s Grounds Supervisor. “And that’s kinda what they have called it. I don’t know why they call it that. It looks like a rubber tree. But it’s a Moreton Fig." Best-known for their visually striking above-ground roots which also grow aggressively underground, Moreton Bay Fig trees are also known for their “land of the giants” size. In their native Australia they can grow up to 200 feet high. Corpus has been SMC’s Grounds Supervisor for 27 years and he knows this Moreton Bay Fig tree like the back of his hand. He’s pleasant, stout, and crisply dressed with an easy laugh, neatly cropped hair and tanned arms freckled by the sun. Sitting in a meeting room in the maintenance office near SMC’s swim center, he peers through glasses at a mobile phone while making calls to the employees who care for SMC’s 38 acres. “It’s big,” he says of the tree which has a relative near SMC’s Counseling Center. There are more well-known Moreton Figs growing in Southern California. They’re rock-star trees located on Santa Barbara’s State Street, in San Diego’s Balboa Park

and here in Santa Monica at the end of a long driveway at the storied FairmontMiramar Hotel where the hotel’s signature restaurant is named “Fig.” Corpus uses his experience to estimate the size of the fig tree growing mightily near the Letters and Science building. “It’s probably 60 to 80 feet tall and…100 feet across,” he says. While not on any official registries of giant trees in California, this tree has its fans on campus. Students meet under its massive branches daily, sitting on the large concrete circle that surrounds it’s thick and twisted above-ground roots. Some hold skateboards, others sip from huge cans of energy drinks while enjoying its lovely shade. Occasionally groups stop by to observe it. “It’s a nice place to sit and relax and have a break from the sun,” says Allison Morales, an International Business major at SMC. She’s sitting with classmate Mari Psuchida on the concrete ledge that surrounds the tangled above ground roots of the tree. “It’s definitely soothing and relaxing. It’s really nice to see the squirrels running around.” But there are characteristics of the tree that require considerable time to manage. “I’m trying to treat it with a hormone which will keep it from dropping those berries,” says Corpus with a bit of irritation in his voice. The berries, Corpus explains, are small pieces of fruit that fall from the tree and shower the pavement beneath it, creating a hazard to people walking past. “You walk underneath that tree after they’ve dropped for awhile and you’ll twist an ankle or you’ll slip and fall,” says Corpus. Go out there some morning after things have fallen down. You can’t walk through there without stepping on something.” It’s Corpus’ crew that removes the berries and pressure washes the pavement to remove their stains,

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SMC students are dwarfed by a huge tree on the campus on Tuesday, October 18. (Photo by: Andrew Aono)

giving students and visitors safe passage. Estimates are that this spectacular Moreton Bay Fig was planted sometime around 1952. Unlike so many other things pushed aside, redeveloped or priced out of Santa Monica, it has flourished for more than six decades. It's a long-term survivor in a Snapchat world. @THE_CORSAIR •

As she enjoys a break from the rat race, chatting and laughing with a friend underneath the tree and its lovely branches, Morales says, "It’s a nice break from reality… paying attention to different details. Just the juxtaposition of leaves falling, and nature happening, and people walking around on their phones — it’s interesting.”

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CULTURE

VOLUME 112 ISSUE 03 • OCT 19, 2016 • SANTA MONICA COLLEGE

THE BLACK PARADE TURNS TEN My Chemical Romance's defining album sees its impact lost to time Illustration by Rebeca Singleton

JACOB HIRSOHN EDITOR IN-CHIEF The effect nostalgia has on art — most prominently music — is funny, and I don’t think it has ever been fully examined. The known effect nostalgia has on your perception on any piece of art is a positive one. When children of the 70s listen to AC/ DC, they don’t listen and realize how objectively shitty it is, they just think about the good times they’ve had listening to them. But there is another side to this coin as well. Nostalgia eliminates objectivity from your perception of a piece of art, but that doesn’t always mean positive results. Sometimes, attaching a song or an album to one specific time in your life means you can’t view it as the legitimate piece of art that it truly is. Take for example “The Black Parade,” My Chemical Romance’s defining album that turns ten years old at the end of the week. The album was given a beautiful vinyl release for its anniversary, packaged with a collection of MCR demos titled “Living With Ghosts.” I bought it immediately despite already having a copy of the 2006 album on vinyl. “The Black Parade” is among my three or four favorite albums ever recorded, but for many people in my age group — born in the early ‘90s — it is still considered just the music we listened to in middle school. MCR gets lost among the shuffle of Fall Out Boy, Panic! At The Disco and Taking Back Sunday, who are all also great by the way.

As much as I genuinely like Fall Out Boy and Panic, MCR is different — you may have noticed the lack of a ten year anniversary celebration of “From Under the Cork Tree.” My Chem was headed in that direction after their breakout album “Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge.” A young band that comes on the scene as part of a genre revolution, has a couple of smash singles — “I’m Not Okay (I Promise)” and “Helena” — but ultimately fades away as the fad they were a part of dies. “The Blac Parade” is what changed that, and what makes them still relevant to this day. It’s the defining piece from an era of music that died too quickly. It went doubleplatinum in the US and platinum in the UK. It saw a New Jersey pop-punk band attempt to make a rock opera equal parts Pink Floyd and Queen that would still please their prepubescent Hot-Topic crazed fan base — and actually pull it off with flying colors. For my money, it is the best rock album of the century. To examine this claim, look not at how “The Black Parade” has influenced rock music, but instead at how it hasn’t. Guitar music in this decade sucks — especially in the mainstream. And the entire genre of 2010s rock seems directly in response to the My Chem era. Every popular rock band of the last six years, from the banjo-wielding Mumford and Sons to the entirely unobjectionable Black Keys are boring. It’s toned-down, detached, and completely risk-free. The closest we get to truly risky, bold music is Imagine Dragons, and let’s just say there

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are some risks that shouldn’t be taken. The hip, “artsy” new era of rock seems intent to directly avoid the fate that has come to Fall Out Boy and Panic! At the Disco. These bands, both obviously silly in their earnestness, have now been reduced to nothing but a middle school dance memory and a fill-in-the-blank reference for a sitcom punchline. This can be credited partially to the fact that mainstream rock music is no longer where innovation and creativity is thriving. You can find that in pop and rap. But the reverse could be said as well. The lack of boldness and creativity from ‘10s rock has allowed other genres to take its throne. Say what you want about mid-2000s rock, but it captivated the youth of the day, and that’s ultimately what decides what music matters and what music doesn’t. Rock bands now want to avoid becoming a meme in ten years, but if you make music with the goal of avoiding that, there is no way to find the opposite fate. “The Black Parade” lives on because MCR mastermind Gerard Way was never afraid of tumbling face first into meme-dom. It’s how they ended up following a tight, formulaic pop song like “I’m Not Okay (I Promise)” with the epic, rambling, keychange-laden piano ballad “Welcome to the Black Parade.” It’s how a pop-punk, rock opera, concept album about death ends up going double platinum. It’s how an album that’s part of a forgotten era ends up still mattering ten years later. “The Black Parade” is beautiful and silly, overly-earnest and perfectly ambitious. It

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has songs like “Disenchanted” that give me the chills, “Famous Last Words” which makes me do backflips, and “Mama” which sometimes makes me hit the skip button. It’s audacious and funny and more or less perfect. Okay, now that I’ve gotten that out, it’s time to be fair. While it could be true that much of the culture at large has long moved on from My Chemical Romance because they’re blinded by nostalgia, it could be the other way around. For me, listening to “The Black Parade” is like re-watching a season of “30 Rock” for the hundredth time. Every moment feels like it is exactly where it should be, because I already know exactly where it’s going to be. It’s impossible for me to sit here a few days before “The Black Parade” turns 10 and judge it objectively because every second of it is already seared into my brain. It was the first album I ever bought. One time, my friends and I sat in a garage for five hours and had a scientific debate about what the best song on the album is. It’s “Famous Last Words” if you were curious. So, at the end of the day, I have no right to pretend to be any more objective about MCR or the era from which they came than the next guy. But so much horrible music has been forced on us throughout our lives due to the powerful effects of nostalgia, it would be a shame if we didn’t give the same treatment to a truly important album which deserves to live on as long as we do.

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OPINION

OP-ED DUEL

VOLUME 112 ISSUE 03 • OCT 19, 2016 • SANTA MONICA COLLEGE

PRESIDENT OBAMA Did all that hope really change anything?

CON TROY BARNES SPORTS COLUMNIST It all started with one word. Hope was the mantra of 2008 and captured the zeitgeist of the time. We gave that hope a face, and it was Barack Obama. Now eight years later and we have an almost lame duck and seem to be completely devoid of that hope. Obama was the embodiment of American hope, especially for the millennial generation just coming of age to vote. According to the Pew Research Center, 66 percent of voters age 18-30 voted for Obama in 2008 and 67 percent in 2012, which was a deciding factor in the landslide over John McCain and decisive win against Mitt Romney. As Americans, we were embroiled in a quagmire sending our soldiers home mangled and mentally tortured all while bankers had all but ruined the economy back at home. With Obama, we had something to look forward to. America felt like was on its way to progress, electing the first African American president who promised us an equal, prosperous, and happy future. Obama promised to fight climate change, repeal the Bush tax cuts that only benefited the rich elites, and most importantly to bridge the gaps we have as people in this country. None of these promises have been fulfilled and with the discord flaring up constantly in the world, many of us young people feel doomed at what we are about to inherit. Obama did his best to fulfill his job as president. He did strive to introduce a reformed healthcare system that despite its many faults is beneficial. He ended the war in Iraq, killed Osama Bin Laden, and toned down our operations in Afghanistan. At home, Obama has been vital in securing marriage equality for LGBTQ citizens.

These were victories we felt as Americans, but the high they gave us has long worn off. Faced with ISIS, a severe strain on U.S. and Russian relations, civil unrest at home, the threat of climate change, and an overall turbulent and unpredictable world, it begs the question if Obama has done enough during his presidency. For our generation, Obama represents the first great heartbreak with American politics. We gave our confidence into the system, and we were given a full course in corruption and greed. As the Occupy protests broke out, Obama said to ABC, “The most important thing we can do right now is those of us in leadership letting people know that we understand their struggles and we are on their side…people who

don’t feel a sense of obligation to their communities and their companies and their workers that those folks aren’t rewarded. ” However, the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans have only gotten richer as corporations circumvent taxes and gain influence by funding political campaigns. Over the course of his presidency, Obama has always empathized with the poor and middle class, but never truly executed policies that would discourage corporate greed and corruption. Obama has spent much his term in a title fight with a Republican controlled Congress that has at times flamboyantly shown how dysfunctional the government is in the most powerful nation in the world. The government shutdown in October of 2013

PRO JOVANTE SMITH STAFF WRITER Despite being one of the most criticized presidents in history, Barack Obama can also join the list of the greatest presidents in history along with John F. Kennedy, Abraham Lincoln, and Franklin D. Roosevelt. In 2008, when Obama was elected, we were facing a recession, massive job loss, a foreclosure crisis, and a war thanks to our previous president. George W. Bush started a war on terror that he had no plans to pay for. According to the Washington Post, taxpayers have spent $4-6 trillion for the war in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001. During his presidential campaign, Barack promised to pull the troops out of Iraq. On December 18, 2011, he did just that, and the finals troops left Iraq. Speculations around how large the national deficit has grown is concerning a lot of Americans, but people commonly get the deficit confused with the national debt. The national debt is how much our government currently owes, where as our national deficit is the difference in how much our government spends and brings in each fiscal year. The Clinton administration left office in 2001 with a $236 billion surplus which was quickly squandered by the Bush administration. Bush implemented tax cuts that were meant to encourage people to spend more, which leads to higher demand, which leads to jobs.

was an example of these senseless partisan politics and an inability to compromise to simply get our own federal government to be funded and working. There is also the issue of the US military’s drone war that’s been an ongoing program during Obama’s tenure. According to a press release provided by the White House, drone strikes have killed approximately 64-116 civilians along with 2,581 combatants from January 20, 2009 to December 31, 2015. However, according to the White House, these numbers are rough estimates compiled from all operations in Libya, Somalia, Yemen, and Pakistan and does not account for operations in Iraq and Syria to combat ISIS. NGOs such as the Long War Journal and New America Foundation heavily dispute the civilian death count and estimate it to be 200-900 deaths higher and place the ratio of civilian to combatant death at 1:3. With Obama as Commander-in-Chief, the eagle on the seal has still kept its head cocked towards the arrows. As Obama solidifies his legacy and makes his last hurrah campaigning for Hillary, the brunt of that absence of hope is hitting America hard. Millennials have even greater electoral power in this election as more and more of us are of age to vote, and we have our backs against the wall. With the defeat of Bernie Sanders, there is no person to assume the same archetype Obama embodied. There is also a lesson to be learned from giving a politician that amount of emotional power; heartbreak is always there waiting. A Buddhist monk once said, “Hope is important because it can make the present moment less difficult to bear. If we believe that tomorrow will be better, we can bear a hardship today.” After these 8 years, hope is more valuable than gold. Illustration by Rebeca Singleton

It a l l sounded good in t h e o r y . However, just 10 years after the first tax cuts were implemented 2.4 million jobs were lost, and from 2001 to 2007 employment wages fell by 2.3 percent. The only winners in that situation were the top 1 percent who received 65 percent of the tax cut gains, according to Economic Populist. The tax cuts added $2.6 trillion to the deficit which has to be paid with interest. In order for us to pay off our debt, taxes will have to be raised sooner or later or we are likely to end up penniless like Greece. Obama has since cut our deficit from $1.4 trillion to $486 billion, according to Politifact. Upon taking office, unemployment was on the rise due to the 2008 financial crisis that struck America. Job loss began to increase and unemployment peaked in 2009 at 10 percent but has since dropped to 5 percent, the lowest since February of 2008, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. According to CNN, during his presidency Obama has created 9.3 Million jobs in the healthcare, food service, temp help, retail, childcare, and social worker industries, compared to Bush’s 5.7 million jobs created. Although many republicans and media outlets try to denounce Obamacare, it has

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helped 30 million p l u s Americans who wouldn’t otherwise have insurance. Media outlets like FOX News have taken advantage of the politically challenged and attempted to blame the president for the rising costs under the Affordable Care Act. In reality, it is the healthcare companies within the marketplace pulling out which is causing premiums to go up due to the decrease in competition. While the Republican presidential nominee promises to repeal and replace Obamacare, he has failed to explain what he will replace it with. Repealing it could mean higher premiums for women than men, removing coverage for most if not all people with pre-existing conditions, enabling lifetime limits, and adults under 26 on their parents healthcare plan losing coverage. Much of this could lead to a very morbid future. The Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton however has expressed that she would not repeal and instead reform the Affordable Healthcare Act to include the public option and bring down costs of prescription drugs. President Obama inherited a failing war, broken economy, high unemployment rates, and a massive health care crisis but overcame. David vs. Goliath has been the synopsis of his presidency, fighting with a Republican @THE_CORSAIR •

controlled Congress that does everything in its power to stymie his efforts. Furthermore, there are only 14 people under the age of 50 currently on Senate and 44 over the age the 65. People 65 years of age and older only account for 14.4 percent of the population, but 44 percent of the Senate, which is preposterous. They have made it difficult for Obama to enact any real change when they are so out of touch with the base that supported Obama in the first place. The United States of America’s legal system is much more than the President. It’s the Senate, the House of Representatives, U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. Court of Appeals, U.S. District Courts, as well as the state governments. Maybe if people were more involved in voting most of our current problems would be resolved. Obama has weathered oblique allegations about his character, religion, and even his nationality. Through all the adversity he has overcome and brought affordable healthcare to Americans, increased our gross domestic product growth rate from -2.8 percent to 2.2 percent, overseen a decrease in foreclosure rates, and ended the war in Iraq. But he is not Martin Luther King Jr. and can’t do these things by himself. It’s our job as citizens to further the change that our president has made possible.

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OPINION

VOLUME 112 ISSUE 03 • OCT 19, 2016 • SANTA MONICA COLLEGE

THE FAILURES OF AMERICAN PUBLIC SCHOOL GRACE CANNING CONTRIBUTING WRITER As a college student fresh out of the public school system, I can say with confidence that the American public school system failed to prepare me. I fear my intellect is no match for my peers across the globe. When I talk to someone my age who was educated elsewhere, I feel behind and incompetent. I'm frustrated and after thinking about education comparatively, I’ve come to the realization that I’m eating the dust of the rest of the world as a global citizen. Before I rip into the school system, I want to clarify that in no way do I mean to dismiss the luxuries I have as an American or call myself disadvantaged; I’m merely sharing my experience, an experience that I feel has left me empty handed. We Americans are lucky to have a legitimate education system; and most of us sit here while honorable people like Malala Yousafzai put their lives on the line to spread education to those who have none at all. All I’m wondering is why I live in one of the richest and most powerful nations in the world, yet kids in other countries that America considers “third world” can study circles around me. This is not to say that one will automatically succeed with a good education, or that one can’t succeed with a subpar education. But in a country with so many resources, why aren’t things better? Do any of my fellow Americans feel behind? To elaborate, I find myself having a hard time keeping up with intellectual conversations. My knowledge of humanity and the universe as a whole seems limited compared to my foreign friends. Anyone could argue that it's not the fault of the education system, but my own mental capacity. Whether or not the school system is subpar, Americans are notorious for being ignorant and close minded. It's quite embarrassing when I see myself falling into that stereotype. My schooling was the biggest facilitator of

American exceptionalism in my maturing mind -- not my parents or the media. I wasn’t taught global geography or socio-cultural anthropology, subjects that would enhance my global knowledge. Instead I learned about America and things that affect America. The National Center for Education Statistics states that in 2012-2013 the US spent $620 billion (roughly $12,296 per student) on public education. That’s a lot of money, and I think it's great that we have that much to spend. However, I look at my high school and I observe what money is spent on. There is a Smart Board -- an interactive whiteboard that responds to touch -- in every classroom. Some classes have laptops for every student, and there are three AstroTurf athletic fields. Yet, my high school had some of the lowest test scores in the county, and I doubt more than 10 percent of the student body could locate Mongolia on a map. The fault begins at the hands of the administration and its weak infrastructure. Money is being spent the wrong way. Technology is great, but if we have finite funding, students can learn just fine without smart boards and iPads -- they have for hundreds of years -- as long as the person in the front of the classroom knows what they’re doing. In the face of all this money, high tech facilities, and technology, the teachers went on strike during my senior year. Their already pitiful salaries were being cut. A lot of amazing teachers left the school looking for teaching jobs in counties that could pay them enough to support themselves. This leads me to believe that teaching is not a respected profession in the eyes of the government -- which is strange. After all, teachers shape the minds of our future leaders, and subsequently the future of the entire human race. During school I also had a lot of teachers who shouldn’t have been in the classroom

to begin with. It's almost as if they were hired off the street just because they had a college degree. They really didn’t have any teaching skills, qualities, or passion and that was reflected in my education. I had many classes in which the teacher just gave us printed Powerpoint presentations and told us to do worksheets. That didn't promote learning; it was busy work. Imagine if the position of a teacher was taken more seriously. If they were paid better and hired more selectively, kids could learn infinitely better than with a random, unqualified person and unnecessary technology. Perhaps there could be more stimulating Socratic discussions; or classes could be modeled after Plato's Academy or French salons. In its most true and organic form, education is the relaying of information and transfer of knowledge between human minds. Too many of my teachers denied me profound knowledge and instead acted as a babysitter for an hour and a half every day. An often discussed topic is that of the fallible process of communicating concepts and learning material to students. It’s common knowledge that Americans just memorize facts, pass the test, then forget them. We skim over concepts and historical events just so we can answer a few multiple choice questions. We lack profound understanding of subjects because we are rarely exposed to in-depth learning. Kids who learn elsewhere don’t just recite dates, names, and definitions. They learn to fully understand subjects -- they can tell you why things are the way they are, not just that they are the way they are. Additionally, Americans lack continuity with learning. If we had more continuity with topics and full understandings thereof, we could exercise our higher level thinking and practice drawing logical conclusions on our own. We should be taught to critically think and use logic to extrapolate and discover

new conclusions based on the facts and concepts we study. Our logical skills aren’t honed -- our memorization skills are. The ability to reason at such an advanced level is what makes the human mind so superior, so why aren’t we being taught how to? The lowering of standards is a huge problem. I’ve had countless people from other countries tell me “the stuff you guys learn in advanced high school classes is primary school material for us.” This is beyond disappointing; if they can handle the rigor, why can’t we? Why aren’t we being challenged? My school liked to push everyone into AP and honors classes to improve their enrollment statistics. If people couldn’t handle AP/honors classes, they lowered the standards of rigor so people could pass. In all of the AP classes I took throughout high school, I only had to write one single paper longer than five paragraphs. Modern society is entirely geared toward specialization. This is detrimental to the intellectual nurturing of polymaths, potential leaders, and visionaries -- the people who end up changing the world. The emphasis on specialization is taxing on students and deprives them of their passions. We are taught to focus on one thing that we are good at, turn it into a career, and play out our small, unfulfilling role in the advancement of economical society until we die. I feel pressured not to expand my knowledge as much as I possibly can, but to instead find a small area that I can focus on in order to make a superficial career. In my opinion, true advancement is stagnant if we continue with this mindset. When will I be encouraged to think outside the box? We need to end systematic, industrialized education and make it humanistic and allencompassing.

Graphic by Michael Traore

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