the sun journal
March 11, 2022
4
OPINIONS Pocket-sized Opinions: Education needs a system change (just like real opinions, only smaller)
Clean up after yourselves
Mariah Zentner
Reporter
PHOTO BY HOLLIN KEINTZ
We learn from a very young age the value and importance of cleaning up after ourselves–not to be slobs, not to make someone else’s life miserable because we are too irresponsible to use a trash can, often when there’s one within two feet of where we are standing. Many of us probably learned the “clean up” song in day care– “Clean up, clean up, everybody everywhere. Clean up, clean up, everybody do their share.” We learned from our elementary teachers to put our things away after each station–to tidy our space, and throw our garbage away. Don’t litter. It’s a very simple concept, and one everyone knows. Don’t try to say otherwise. Yet, many Big Sky students apparently don’t understand this. Is it too complicated? Is there something that needs more explanation? Throw your garbage away. If you spill something, clean it up. If you bring in a giant pizza from Little Caesars for lunch, throw the box away when you’re finished (or better yet, recycle it). Who is so entitled in this school that they think they have maids to follow them around and clean up after them? Who is so entitled that they think they can just leave trash all over for someone else to clean up? Not sure who these people are? Walk through the Commons at lunch, or the hallways. You’ll find them. Just follow the trail of trash. As high school students, we are mere moments away from adulthood–and unless we really hit it big, no one will be cleaning up after us when we are out on our own. Let’s stop disgracing ourselves and our school. Instead, let’s take a little pride in our space, and throw our trash away.
Stop destroying bathrooms The smallest act of vandalism affects all of us. You may think you are being funny. You may think it’s just a joke that you drew genitalia in full detail on the bathroom wall. But it hurts us all. The custodians, and sometimes the district level painters and carpenters, and maybe even outside sources need to come to rectify the situation. This costs money. This takes time. Did you read the other article? Kids aren’t cleaning up after themselves, so the custodians are already overly busy trying to make the school respectable and sanitary. Eagle TV just aired a cute, but real PSA on the graffiti in the bathrooms. But the point is real. If you keep this up, the admin will continue to shut down the bathrooms. You won’t be able to use it. What’s the next step? Putting in porta potties outside? Seems rather chilly in a Montana winter. It’s not funny anymore. We’d like to use our restrooms. We want to be treated with respect, to be treated like adults. This won’t happen until we start acting like adults.
PDA needs to stop. Now. Public displays of affection in school are vulgar, disgusting, and need to stop. Walking through the halls before school, lunch, after school (and often during class), we cannot escape the common social annoyance of PDA. Everywhere we walk is infested with twitterpated teens. Affection is fine. A hug – when appropriate and wanted – can help to heal a hurting soul. Want to hold hands with your significant other? Go for it (maybe not in class–that’s still a bit much). But couples making out, sitting on each others’ laps and more (yes, we are referring to having to step over or around horizontal couples in the hallway) just need to stop. We know, we know. You’re in love. Whatever. We just don’t need to see it. We don’t want to see it. You are embarrassing yourself and grossing the rest of us out.
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here is a lot of talk about school education systems all around the world, about what they teach us vs what we should be learning, how students are not properly prepared for real world issues, adulthood, etc. What should we really be prepared for? Are we ever going to use the information we are taught? The topic has a variety of opinions.
The problem students are having is not feeling prepared for life with the knowledge they are receiving....We come out of school scared, unprepared, with no knowledge on how to manage finances, pay taxes buy houses, stay out of debt... The basic education system consists of a set of academic standards for what every student is expected to learn in each grade level. Usually in grade school you are expected to go through math, history, English, science, and then electives like arts or gyms. As you get into high school it’s clear that you are given more freedom to pick what kind of classes you enroll in. You move
up according to your education level meaning you can start out in Algebra 1 and work your way up to Algebra 2 and such with every subject. If you fail, you retake it next yera. The problem students are having is not feeling prepared for life with the knowledge we are receiving. True, the education we are learning is still improving our brain growth and helping us gain knowledge. Yet, there are several things that I disagree with about the system. For example, schools aren’t taking time to teach proper lessons on culture in history classes. Or the lack of attention they give to students with slower learning abilities, racial bias or homophobia, horrible schedules, system set ups, and more. The way the education system has kids strictly take tests and teach us that there is one right answer and that mistakes are most commonly not okay to make, sets children up for self-failure and anxiety when it comes to doing large tasks. We come out of school scared, unprepared, with no knowledge on how to manage finances, pay taxes, buy houses, stay out of debt, apply for jobs, etc. We receive algebraic math skills, typical integrated science classes, basic English skills and so on. A large group of students don’t have people to go to when needing help with real world skills. Granted, there are classes in high school that offer classes to help with finance, but it mostly covers how to invest money. Coming out of middle school into high school is also extremely nerve wracking and there’s barely any preparation. Along with that, there are poor lessons being taught in everyday classes such as English, history, etc. The little to no time spent
on race and culture all over the world in history classes is upsetting. It’s important to understand the culture and traditions of everyone and where things come from. Geography and world history are very important as well but it’s focused on far more than it needs to be. The system of education sets high standards for children and if they don’t rank where they should be, they get looked down
A large group of teachers also take no time and zero consideration to the students’ needs, but instead make it easier on themselves. This also set students up for failure. on.
Online education like Mathia is also required when a lot of students struggle to sit in front of computers and do math for hours a week. Teachers at the school are not responsible for this which is also important for students to realize, but the education system itself is. A large group of teachers also take no time and zero consideration to the students’ needs, but instead make it easier on themselves. This also sets students up for failure. Although you have more freedom in high school to pick your own course, that still doesn’t change the way classes are taught and what they teach. It also doesn’t change the small amount of time spent on making schedules with little consideration and thought. Students should feel more prepared to enter the world, receive better education, and more help if they need it.
We all need an oculus Did anyone watch EagleTV a few weeks ago when Cameron Spooner took on Mr. Murphy at Beat Saber? It was awesome. Murphy showed us what a true rookie looks like and Spoons basically schooled him and showed how expert he was. It was impressive to say the least. Everyone should get an oculus. And video games are good for you. Want to know how? Read on. Want to exercise, play video games, not leave the house, and have fun at the same time? Then the Oculus Quest 2 is for you. Virtual Reality games can literally transport you to another world right in the middle of your living room. Or kitchen. Or hallway...just give yourself some space. You can work up a sweat in your pjs, and have fun doing it at the same time. Two of my favorite games are Beat Saber and Gorilla Tag. They are also
some of the most popular games. And, they get you up and moving. Not only are you competing, but you can get a bit of a cardio Riley Pellett session in at the Reporter same time. In Beat Saber (like we watched on EagleTV last week) you can pick any song to play and you have to hit as many blocks as you can to get a high score. Gorilla Tag is a game where you’re a gorilla with no legs but you have to move with your arms. You can even play a tag mode where you run and climb around to get away from the taggers or you can play a casual mode just to hang out and climb for fun. You can also make friends in VR. Vir-
tual reality chat is a place to play games and hang out with friends and make new ones. Who wouldn’t want to do this? An article a while back talking about how video games can help with memory loss. Also, playing video games as a child can improve a person’s working memory years later on. In other words, video games are an educational tool, a way to use your brain. Puzzle games are a way to use your brain and figure out how to solve the task. There are shooting games where you have to figure out the layout of the land and how to survive to win. There are tons of games that are multiplayer so you can learn from others how to play and how to get the win or you could just play and have fun with the others. So there you have it. Invest in a quality VR to make friends and get in shape.
A little advice for advisories We need to figure out a better sytem for Advisory. Is it optional? Is it required? If it’s required, why should we go? It seems that the only reason we need to go to Advisory is to not be marked absent. But what happens to us if we are marked absent, other than a phone call, email and text message home? Nothing, really, unless you’re in a sport. Mariah Zentner So what’s the point? And why Reporter is it so long? And why is it before school? A lot of students don’t attend advisory because they don’t have any work to catch up on and they receive an absence for this. I find it unfair that someone has to show up and sit there or just do extra work because they don’t want a bad attendance record. It’s a once-a-week study hall with no grade. Why are students required to show up? If a student has a failing grade it would be simple to email their parental figures and inform
them that they need to go to advisory the following week until the grade is raised. If a student is not failing, perhaps the “class” is simply optional. This could lead to fewer students attending advisory but at least the school would be aware that the advisory is actually doing something if failing students need to attend until the grade is fixed. Another option for Advisory would be to make it shorter, and after second period. As we look at schedules for next year, and they say they are switching back to normal start times, perhaps two more things should be considered. First, on block days, give us 10 minute passing periods. We need time TO DO NOTHING--or go to the bathroom, or talk to our friends, go the school store, or just let our brains relax. Second, move Advisory to after second period but before fourth period--for no more than 30 minutes. It is nice to have a period to get something finished, or eat a snack, or watch Eagle TV. It’s a nice period for an assembly (bring those back) or taking surveys and signing up for classes. But as they stand now--they are too long, at the wrong time of the day, with zero consequences or reason to attend. We need to fix it.
Say WHAT? Comments made by students, faculty, and staff around campus They all agreed that they wish they could see change in the boys’ bathroom and how dirty the school is. -Seamus Farley, Jadon Belitz and Brody Foland (11).
Kaitlyn would like to see a dance team added to Big Sky to be able to compete. -Kaitlyn Whatman (not pictured, 11)
Connor said he liked sledding while Rylan doesn’t like the Olympics
She said that the sweep isn’t productive and encourages skipping.
-Connor Manion (10) and Rylan Baker (11)
-Ashley Bagley (10)
They believe that the sweep is, “Pretty baller”. - Rickson Bartholowme and Chris Bullcalf (from Sentinel)
Lucas said “The sweep is dumb, it’s like the staff is so focused on getting tardies, the fact that they have brooms is hilarious.” Dylan follow up with, “Tardies will go down but absences will go up.” Angelina agreed with them. -Dylan Stocke, Lucas Schroeder and Angelina Le (12).