VHS Journalism Ventura High School
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The Cougar Press Friday, September 8,2017
“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns. Or rejoice becuase thorn bushes have roses.” -Abraham Lincoln
Volume 70 Edition 02
News flash, pick up your trash Sarah Clench Bonnie Neeper, a campus aid at VHS, was reportedly told by assistant principal, Susan Eberhart, last Friday to talk to the students in the lower parking lot about the trash being left behind everyday. Neeper then went to the lower parking lot on Poli Street to explain the consequences of the numerous pieces of trash being left in the parking lot after lunch. Neeper said that if all the trash was not picked up by the end of lunch, the parking lot would be made off-limits during lunch. Students appeared surprised by this, though Neeper mentions that there were previous warnings.
According to Neeper, the amount of trash being left in the lot is three to four times the amount from prior years. In the past, there had been a trashcan placed closer to the middle cars, but Neeper explained that
this had not solved the problem. “The trash would be by the trashcan, not in it,” Neeper said. She added that there is only one janitor in charge of the parking lot, who is also in charge of the field and the area near the
Photo by: Acacia Harrell
Neeper and teacher Dan Larson want YOU to pick up your trash.
Tuttle Gym. “It doesn’t matter if it’s yours, pick it up, and put it in the trash… or privileges will be revoked,” Neeper explains in hopes that students will begin to make better choices for the school campus. In compliance with throwing away trash in the lower lot, the same is expected of students in the upper lot. Neeper and other VHS campus aides will be adding trash cans to the upper lot that should be used to dispose of trash and avoid excess trash on the floor of the parking lot. In addition to students complying with the parking lot rules regarding trash, both the campus aides and assistant principal Charles Cornwell have agreed to opening the gate
by the auto shop in order to accommodate those who have to park in the upper lot. However, if trash is left behind after repeatedly being asked not to, this privilege will be revoked. Also, in order for the gate to remain open, the area must be used for it’s sole purpose of getting to and from the upper lot with ease. Cornwell shares that, “about ten years ago, the gate leading to the upper lot was closed because of students mistreating the area by littering, smoking, hanging out, and [starting] fights, so it was necessary to close it off to stop kids who shouldn’t be up there,” said Cornwell. Cornwell hopes that by re-opening the gate, students will be less hesitant to park in the upper lot.
The bigger the class, the less likely you’ll pass Ryan King Does the amount of kids in a classroom matter? Is it possible that it can negatively affect the ability to learn and absorb information? According to an article from frontiersacademy. org, the U.S. Department of Education said, “Crowded classroom conditions not only make it difficult for students to concentrate on their lessons, but inevitably limit the amount of time teachers can spend on innovative teaching methods such as cooperative learning and group work or, indeed on teaching anything beyond the barest minimum of required material.” This year at VHS, classes seem to be more crowded than usual. At Ventura High School, the average class size is at about
34 students. However as of now, many classes are well over the average number of students. When asked, “Would you prefer to be in a smaller sized class?” River Winn, a junior, responded “yeah, because I feel like it’s easier to focus and I just like [to] have less distractions.” However, Junior Omar Al-Bawab responded differently saying, “No, I like the vibe that a big classroom gives me.” In a recent Twitter poll by The Cougar Press, 70% of 67 voters answered “yes,” when asked if they feel that a crowded classroom compromises their ability to focus and learn as best as they can. When junior Mary Sinclair was asked what she believed the most important problem with a larger class size was, she responded, “I just think the whole space thing. Like, in some of my
classes some kids don’t even have desks.” Preston Biller, a Math 1 and Math 3 Honors teacher at VHS, explained his take on the situation: “They’ve been doing okay, like better than I thought they’d do, but it’s the beginning of the year and I feel like the longer I have a lot of people in there, the harder it’s going to get, because the more uncomfortable they are going to get in the class. Initially, I had 45 students in my class, now they are both down to 43, and so I have students without desks right now and I’m just kind of waiting another week to see what we’re going to do before I add more desks.” When Biller was asked what he believed the most difficult thing about teaching a larger class was, he said, “We do everything in groups, and so I don’t get very much time to spend with each group because there’s more groups than
Photo by: Ryan King
Edward Pacula’s sixth period Math 1 class currently has 36 students enrolled.
there usually would be. And so, I feel like you know while I’m over here working with a group, that group may be doing absolutely nothing, and for me to move around to all the groups and get to all of them just takes too much time. And so time away from their education, and not getting enough.” According to a study on the impact of overcrowded classrooms and academic performance by Jehangir Shah, a research
scholar from the University of Peshawar Pakistan, “Students in smaller classes develop more positive attitudes, perceptions, and human relationships. They can think more creatively and divergently and can achieve higher attention and lower absence rates. In small classes students are in more close relation, they develop better understanding and associate themselves with their classmates as well as with their teachers.”