FORUM
Early College: A day in the life
11
By Meredith Jones
Staff Writer
From the perspective of high school
underclassmen, the divide between the Early
College at Guilford (ECG) and Guilford
College seems nearly impenetrable.
I recall clearly the few conversations I had
with college students before becoming an
upperclassman and thus able to take courses
at the college level.
The first occurred outside the Grill, dur
ing our 45-minute lunch period. Several of
my friends were making the most of our
scant time by slipping Mentos after Mentos
into a bottle, of Coke. An older girl slouched
next to us, smoking a cigarette.
"So you guys are Early College, huh?"
she asked.
I nodded, surprised at this newfound
contact. My friends snickered as the soda
began to fizz.
She looked me up and down. "So are you
guys, like, geniuses?" she asked. Behind me,
the Coke bottle exploded, showering both of
us with tiny fizzing drops.
"No," I said.
We're not geniuses. At least, most of us
aren't. We run the gamut of intelligence; in
my time at Early College I've seen as many
different definitions of "smart" as there are
students. Back-row slackers display casual
brilliance, physics naturals flunk their histo
ry assignments, and several of the ordinary
stalwarts earn straight A's through sheer
dedication rather than academic flair.
We vary wildly in appearance, too, but
those who can pass for college students gen
erally try their best to do so.
Some of us have a whole passel of college
friends; others attempt to be as invisible as
possible.
In the past, ECG students have dated col
lege students, some without telling them,
others with full disclosure. How far one
sinks into the college life is a personal deci
sion, colored by appearance, grades, matu
rity, and other factors.
This is a major concern for faculty. As a
Early college students attend class in one of the portables near Frank
seven-year-old experiment put in place by
former superintendent Terry Grier, other
school systems look to us for signs of trou
ble, gauging whether or not we are success
ful, well-adjusted guinea pigs.
So far, the experiment has turned out
stellar results. For an input of enthusiastic,
overachieving high school students, one
receives ... enthusiastic, overachieving col
lege students.
ECG has ranked both 14^ and 21®*^ on
Newsweek Magazine's annual list of the
top 100 high schools in the nation, and was
17^^ on U.S. News and World Report's "Best
liigh schools of 2009." The 2007 graduating
class garnered $5,410,680 in scholarships
and awards. A 100 percent graduation rate
has been maintained since the inception of
the school.
Most of the class offers statistics along
these lines when asked. But much of the
time, others want to know about the day-
to-day experience of being an Early College
student. Attempting to explain this is similar
to trying to describe Mozart to the deaf.
For one thing, the ECG experience alters
drastically over four years. Underclassmen
remain in the modular classrooms located
outside the Frank Family Science Center,
taking four years of high school credit in a
challenging two-year period.
. Upperclassmen, however, receive dual
lives along with our dual enrollment; Like
Britney, not a girl, not yet a woman, we. are
often unsure how to classify ourselves.
"It depends on the day," said one Early
College junior, who preferred to remain
anonymous. "(In general) I feel more like a
college student, because we have a lot more
freedom than most high school students."
Out of all the ECG students I contacted,
not a single one wanted their name printed.
It says something about how sensitive iden
tity becomes when it can determine how
smoothly your academic career goes.
In the classroom, and often outside of it,
most of us prefer anonymity.
"If they don't know Tm Early College,
they do (treat me like a college student).
Vyhen they first find out, they might start
acting condescending," said the student.
I played the no-name game, too, for a
while. Today, I'd rather not go through the
whole song-and-dance.
It irritates me that so many find their
views drastically changed once they discov
er that Tm a high school student, as though
it is a personal affront that I've disrupted
their neat categories.
Td much rather your opinion of me be
based on who I am, rather than who you
believe me to be.
Google map outs donors to Proposition 8
By Mary Bubar
Staff Writer
A Google map is now at the center of
a politically charged argument pitting
Proposition 8 supporters against gay rights
activists.
Prop 8 won by a narrow margin in
November and eliminated the right for
same-sex couples to marry in California.
Glide your mouse over the pinpoints on
the map and you can find not only support
ers who contributed more than $100 to Prop
8, but also their addresses and employers.
Thanks to Google technology, you can use
the satellite feature and zoom in on the layout
of campaign donors' land and access the
quickest route through their neighborhoods.
After combing this map, activists encour
aged by gay rights Web sites have been
harassing individuals who have donated to
the Prop 8 campaign. Death threats, physical
violence, vandalism and harassing pnone
calls have been reported.
A lawsuit advocated by the Pro-Prop 8
group Protect Marriage has been filed in a
Sacramento Federal District court asking for
a preliminary injunction of the state election
law requiring folks that donate more than
$100 to reveal their personal information.
Though donor records have been in the
public domain for years, this new applica
tion of technology makes it too easy for
anyone with a grudge to seek and destroy
those they do not agree with.
One victim of this vigilante justice came
home to find his neighborhood littered with
fliers advertising him as a bigot.
Another casualty of the list is Richard
Raddon, who resigned as director of the
Los Angeles Film Festival, which is spon
sored by Film Independent, an organization
whose explicit mission is to promote diver
sity in film.
Raddon is a member of th^ Mormon
Church that actively campaigned for dona
tions to pass Prop 8. His devotion to his
church cost him his job.
Outrage over seemingly hypocritical
CEO's like Raddon and outed donor Alan
Stock, head of Cinemark theatres, which
promoted films like "Brokeback Mountain"
and "Milk" is justifiable. What a terrible
irony that executives who promote gay
causes lead such ambivalent lives.
But violence is not the answer and when
you intrude on someone ielse's rights, it does
not make you or your cause virtuous.
While Raddon and Stock's organiza
tions may deserve to be boycotted for their
sizeable donations, individuals that back
causes with smaller donations should not be
included in the reign of terror.
"The cost of transparency cannot be dis
couragement of people's participation in
the process," said James Bopp Jr., the lawyer
who filed the lawsuit of behalf of Protect
Marriage. "The highest value in the First
Amendment is speech, and some amor
phous idea about transparency cannot be
used to subvert those rights."
Google provides the tool that enhances
discouragement. Influencing people is one
thing, but bullying them is unacceptable and
against the law.
WWW.GUlLFORDlAN.COM
A step toward
universal healthcare?
By Jasmine Ashton
Staff Writer
It's second semester senior year and Tm
starting to feel the pang of a mild panic attack
every time someone asks me, "What do you
plan on doing after you graduate?"
What scares me even more than the fact
that Tm honestly not really sure what 1 want
to do after I graduate, is the fact that for the
past 21 years I've always felt secure knowing
that I can count on Dad's health insurance
plan to protect rne if Tm ever sick or injured.
That which has been a steady constant in
my life, come May, will no longer be there
to take care of me. So. on top of figuring out
what Tm doing with the rest of my life, 1
need to make plans that will provide me with
health insurance.
Responding to the many young people
like myself who are or will soon be with
out health insurance. New York Governor
David A. Patterson will propose that private
employers be required to offer health insur
ance for workers' dependents ages 19 to 29.
According to The New York Times, if
passed this would expand healthcare cover
age to 800,000 uninsured New Yorkers, 19-29.
It would provide 31 percent of New York's
uninsured, most of whom fall within this age
bracket, to remain on their parents' insurance
until they are able to find a job that offers
healthcare benefits.
"1 pay $60 a month for an insurance plan
with no dental, no eye care, and no co-pay,"
said '08 graduate Tyler Mobley, who cur
rently works two jobs, neither of which pays
for his healthcare. "My healthcare doesn't
even kick in unless my medical costs am
above $2,700. Even then my insurance will
only cover 80 percent."
People come to the US from other coun
tries because the level of healthcare here is
state-of-the-art—if they have the means to
afford it. In a country with the best medical
technology, hospitals, and physicians in the
world, 46.6 million had no health insurance
in 2005.
Many young adults go without health
insurance due to cost and their relative good
health. However, this group of uninsured
also goes without primary care, creating the
risk that developing health problems will go
undetected.
The U.S. has become motivated by the
interests of the insurance companies rather
than the people; maybe it's time that we
consider taking a hint from our democratic
socialist neighbors and begin moving towards
universal healthcare. Gov. Patterson's pro
posal would certainly be a step in the right
direction.
"It's in that time, between 19 and 29, when
young people begin to stabilize themselves
financially," said Mobley. "So you either pay
too much for a really crappy plan or pay
nothing and break your leg and find yourself
in debt for the rest of your life."
Tm sure there are many out there who
are in the same boat as me: about to gradu
ate from college and wondering where to
go next. But in a country where for many
preventive healthcare is not an option and
people are unable to go to the doctor until it's
too late, America could learn a lesson from
ambitious New York and begin expanding
our healthcare opportunities on a national
level.