Newspapers / North Carolina School of … / June 1, 2008, edition 1 / Page 13
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the stentorian | ncssm opinion june 2008 13 Student Body Expansion One of the most debated questions about the future of this school is whether or not the student body should be expanded. Every year more beds are stuffed into smaller rooms; singles become doubles, doubles become triples. This is great from administrative purposes because the more students, the more money. It is truly ruining the future of this school though. What makes this school so respected is that it is selective of its students. It only takes the very best students from around the state. The more people that are accepted to NCSSM the lower the standard becomes for acceptance. Average students and people that don’t really care will end up your classmates instead of the amazingly smart people that end up challeng ing you everyday to be better. Most students come here to get away from being the smartest person in the school. They wanted to be around students that share their passion for learning and interest in subjects like Astrophysics and By Katie Boudreau Molecular Biology. If the standard for acceptance lowers in or der to meet a higher quota of students, then this purity of learning will be tainted. Every student here probably knows what it is like to sit in a class at their old school, bored out of their mind because the work is excruciatingly basic and easy. When all of the students aren’t at the same caliber of learning, teachers havfe to teach down to those that may not get things as quickly. All of the other students are left to doodle or watch the clock as the seconds tick by. That is what will become of this school if the student body is expanded and the admissions standards drop. Most NCSSM students ran away from that, and don’t want to go back. Sure, all students complain about the mountain of homework that awaits them every night, and how hard the tests are. These difficulties are what make getting through them so much more rewarding though. When a student gets their first, maybe only, A in AP Chemistry, or when they make it through the trimester without completely failing it is one of the greatest feelings you canhave. It is an ac complishment that is unparalleled for an NCSSM student. These are the experiences that make this school great, and would be ruined by changing the standards to allow more people in. When people say that they go to NCSSM, people often refer to it as the “smart school” or the “nerd school” which are terms that many students here have grown to enjoy and laugh at. Colleges stand in awe of the students that graduate from here and accept average NCSSM students over exceptional students from other schools, because NCSSM is held in such high esteem. The students who come to NCSSM are seen as the elite, and a larger student body would ruin that. NCSSM would become just qnother high school eventually, which would ruin the entire point of this school. Is that really what this school needs? Ask A Uni The Darfur Genocide Question: I got my first C in a class last trimester. My parents flipped out. They just can’t understand how hard it is to be a student here. I do at least seven hours of homework every night and have had to pull all nighters just to complete my homework. I even go to tutorials and study groups. My parents don’t see this though of course, even though I tell them. They still think I am slacking off. They expect me to get the same grades that I did at my old school. How do I get them to imderstand that no matter how hard I try, I won’t be the straight A student that I used to be? -Desperately Trying Dear DesperatelyTiying, I understand how hard it is to get your parents to understand the difficul ties of this school. They expect everything to stay the same as it has always been and that isn’t possible. I think you really just need to have a good sit-do%\Ti conversation with your parents. Don’t just tell them that your classes are hard. Explain to them about why they are hard and the differences beP\’een these classes and the classes at your old school. When you are talking to them, try not to get mad. Stay calm even when they become angry at you. Remember that your par ents do care about you; they are just worried about you. Talk rationally and calmly and explain that you study thoroughly, do all of the homework and go to tutorials. You should also consider talking to your teacher on how you can improve your grade in their class and ask your teacher to talk to your parents. If you go to tutorials on a regular basis, your teacher could vouch for your hard work. You could also show your parents the amount of homework that you have. My parents finally realized that 1 was working as hard as possible when I brought two book bags full of books and homework home for extended. Visu als really do help sometimes. Just don’t give up on your parents. Eventually they will realize that you are tiying and will lay off. Good Luck, UNI 3 -a VI a e •S o fi s ft; g .o Stentorian The North Carolina School of Science & Mathematics 1219 Broad Street, Durham, NC 27705 Editor-in-Chief: Edina Wang Advisor: John Kirk News Editor: Joe Naron Features Editor: Eli Homstein Sports Editor: Nancy Yang Opinion Editor: Katie Boudreau Lifestyles Editor: Olivia Lamontagne Photography Editor: Kara Tinker Staff Writers: Carey Averbook, Jenna Beck, Daniel Miller, Kavya Sekar, Hillary Seybold By Jenna Beck http://www.worldproutassembly.org/images/darfur-refugee- chad.jpg Darfur is a small region, about the size of Texas, in western Sudan. It shares bor ders with Libya, Chad, and the Central African Republic. Darfur is a poor, underdevel oped region with lim ited resources. Most of the people there ate nomadic herders or subsistence farmers. Why does such a small country matter to the rest of the world? What matters is not the size of the country, but the daily atrocities affect ing the many people in Darfur. The current Darfur crisis began in 2003, but minor conflicts had been occurring for decades in Darfur before 2003 . Two non-Arab rebel groups, the Sudanese Liberation Movement and the Justice and Equality Movement, attempted to have Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir put a stop to the conflicts. President al-Bashir responded by building up local Arab tribal militias to subdue the people. These militias are known as the Janjaweed (translated “demons on horseback”). Their mission is to destroy villages and resources and to murder, torture, and rape as many Darfurians as possible. Their attempts have sueceeded: hundreds of thou sands of people have been killed in Janjaweed attaeks. Over two and a half million Darfurians have been displaced from their homes or forced to escape to Chad. Refugee camps are overflowing do to the high rate of displacement. The crisis in Darfur has been declared by the United States as genocide. This is the first time in history that genocide has been declared as such while it was still occurring. This means there is still a chance to help the Darfurian people before hundreds of thousands more die. Individual efforts really can make a difference. We can all tell friends, parents, and teachers about the genocide to spread aware ness. We can submit letters to the editor of the local newspaper. We can even write letters to politicians, urging them to help support Darfur. The more people that know, the more people that will be working toward change. After the Holocaust and Rwanda, the world promised to “never again” let similar crimes against humanity continue. Now the crisis in Darfur is spiral ing out of control. Let’s work together to ensure that “never again” is not an empty promise.
North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics Student Newspaper
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June 1, 2008, edition 1
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