Page Two — THE GRYPHON — Thursday, March 10.1977
m
m
SNOW SURPRISES EVERYONE: One could hardly believe that this
snowy weather followed a mild day with temperatures in the high
60’s. Such sporadic weather conditions characterized the month of
February. [Photo by Hutchisson]
Letters to the Editor
The purpose of the Gryphon is to examine events in the school, the community and the world which affect the
lives of the students of RMSH. It is the Gryphon’s aim to stimulate awareness of issues, to promote a better
understanding of others, and to bring about positive action where change is needed. Student, faculty and
community response is welcomed and may be sent to the Gryphon, room 110; however, the editor reserves
the right to withhold libelous or profane letters.
Negligent Teacher Studied,
Attentive Teacher Praised
Mrs. Rebecca Longfellow, Advanced Philosophy teacher, enters the classroom ten
minutes late. The class is in apparent chaos and uproar continues until she walks to the
podium.
Mrs. Longfellow shouts, “Take your seats and get out your pencils and paper to take
notes.” The class responds immediately to her requests. “Now we are going to talk about
the manifest destination the United States made in the frontier of the country. ”
One student suddenly raises his hand. (He has to check out in ten minutes). “Mrs.
Longfellow!”
Mrs. Longfellow quickly replies, “Do not ask any questions until I have finished. Maybe
I’ll answer your question in my lecture. Now the manifest destination is the goal the
United States tried to achieve. You should at this point have a definition of “manifest
destination,” whether or not it was a speedy or slow process and what part of the world it
covered.”
It is now ten minutes past time for the student to check out. Mrs. Longfellow notices the
student packing his books. “Where do you think you’re going?,” says Mrs. Longfellow.
“Mrs. Longfellow, I was supposed to check out ten minutes ago, but you wouldn’t let me
tell you. May I leave now?”
“Yes,” replies Mrs. Longfellow. The student exits the room, and Mrs. Longfellow is
again interupted by somone at the door. Before she leaves the room she says, “Study your
notes because I’m in the mood for giving a quiz.”
She exits the room and stays out for ten minutes. When she returns, the students are
comparing notes. Mrs. Longfellow sits down at her desk. “Take out a pen and a sheet of
paper. From your reading and the introduction to manifest destiny, you should be well
prepared for this quiz. You will have two essay questions for the quiz. You can make a
possible 50, 25, or 0. One is either all right or all wrong. No. 1 — Explain the term ‘manifest
destination.’ Follow essay procedures. No. 2 — Explain the steps accomplished by the
United States to achieve manifest destination. When you have finished, turn your pages in
and get your assignment for tomorrow, off the board. There is to be absolutely NO
talking.”
When all the papers are in fifteen minutes before the end of class, Mrs. Longfellow pins
the papers together and walks out the room, going to the teacher’s lounge.
Busy-Work Tutor Viewed
The tardy bell sounds and the teacher calls the class to order.
“The class will please come to order,” commands Mrs. Busywork as she opens her roll
book and begins to call the roll. When she finishes, she calls out, “All right class, open
your Dogwoodatry books to page 399. Put up each problem on the board going down the
row starting with Bob.”
When all the problems are on the board, Mrs. Busywork has each student explain his
work. Halfway through the period, all the homework has been explained. “Now class turn
to page 404 and do all the problems on that page, next turn to page 406 and do those
problems, and finally do the chapter review. There’s not more than 200 problems, and you
have the rest of the period to work on it, and what you don’t finish you can do for
homework. If you need any help. I’ll be in the teacher’s lounge. ”
Mrs. Busywork grabs her pocketbook and leaves the room. As soon as she leaves the
room, bedlam breaks loose. It seems that one-third of the class has already done the work,
the second-third does not care, and the third is trying to do their work. Some people are
calling for the smartest girl in the room so that she can explain a problem to them. A look
out is posted at the door to watch for Mrs. Busywork. When the period is nearly over, Mrs.
Busywork returns to find her class industriously working.
“Class, I have just finished grading your papers and I am very disappointed in you all to
say the least. The highest grade in the class was a 95 and that was made by Mary Lou (the
smartest girl in the class). I just don’t know what to do with you. Maybe I should start
grading your homework again and giving you more work. For tonight, read the in
troduction to the next chapter. Goodbye,” said Mrs. Busywork.
Good Mentor Keeps Learning
Dear Editor:
It has come to my attention and
the attention of many other Seniors
that one of our Senior Privileges is
being badly abused. This is evident,
when our vice president, Kyle
Pittman dismissed the assembly
and boldy speaks out, "SENIORS
may leave first." There are many
Juniors and some Sophomores who
can stand up at the end of the
assembly and dart out the door
before half the Seniors can get to
half-court in the gym! This is a
serious violation of our Senior
Privileges. Trickery has even been
us^ to detain the lower classmen.
For example Kyle has told the
juniors and sophomores he has
another announcement, only to keep
them seated while the seniors exit.
I think all juniors and sophomores'
homeroom teachers should strictly
enforce their homeroom students to
stay seated while the seniors leave,
by detention or some other means.
Last year some homeroom teachers
gave out detentions for students who
left assemblies before the up
perclassmen. It is not fair for
students who suffered last year to
watch other classmen violate this
senior privilege.
For three years we have been here
at Senior High. We have worked our
way up from the jokes, the hassles,
the tricycles, class rings,
homecomings, and the top to the
bottom of the bleachers. Our class
has sat down at many assemblies
and watched the Class of '76 and '75
leave before us. This year I think the
Class of '77 is also due that respect.
To some of the juniors and
especially sophomores all this may
seem very irrelevent. But in another
year or two it might make a dif
ference when you see the Classes of
'80 and '81 rushing over you and out
the gym doors.
Sincerely,
Kim Thornell
Homeroom 205
To the Editor:
"Roots" an exaggeration? A
myth? Or conjugated facts? You be
the judge. I was shocked to read the
last issue of the GRYPHON and find
no comment on the subject, whether
it be sarcastic or complimentary. I,
myself found the TV version to be
very realistic and informative.
There have been comments made by
critics who said that it was
exaggerated and void of reality.
Some nobody professor of Black
Heritage had the gall to degrade
Alex Haley's TV version by saying
that it was unnatural when a sailor
(seen in one of the earlier segments)
lit a match to light a cigar though
matches hadn't been invented at
that time. I personally feel that Alex
Haley's intentions were not to show
man's progress in technology but to
give the people a background of
Black Heritage so that we may
understand each other a little better.
Even Shakespeare used
anachronism in one of his best
writings of Julius Caesar. The point
I want to stress is that "Roots" was
more than just a movie. For me it
was a whole course of history
summed up in eight episodes.
"Roots" gave me a sense of pride
that I'll forever hold in my soul. I
watched the drama from episode to
episode. I endured when they en
dured, laughed when they laughed,
and cried when they cried. In the
end, I rejoiced because finally my
ancestors had reached their
ultimate goal, to be granted the right
to walk the face of the earth as
human beings, unchained. But then,
"Roots," also taught me another
lesson about life. Not all Blacks are
good people, not all whites are bad
people. But people are people. Just
like ice cream, good people come in
different flavors. Our ancestors,
both black and white, died for their
belief in equality for all mankind.
We, as students owe it to them to get
an education and never quit in life. If
you are a quitter, or on your way to
becoming one, you don't deserve
your heritage, you simply lucked
into it. "Roots" was not only Alex
Haley's heritage, but yours and
mine.
Anthony Titus
The good teacher is not
necessarily the one who gives
the longest assignment. Let’s
look in on Mr. Seymore
Rodriquez. His class is quiet
and eager to learn, his students
don’t hang out in the hall when
the bell’s about to ring, and the
amazing thing is that they don’t
want too. From this classroom
description we gather that Mr.
Rodriquez’s class is somewhat
different from many classes in
our school.
Mr. Rodriquez works hard
planning his periods for each
day. The subject matter isn’t the
difficult part, but how to present
the lesson is where we find Mr.
Rodriquez most resourceful
powers. As every great teacher
has taught us, the only way to
get people to learn from us is to
repeat a given statement, but
his constant repetition causes
most people to jump on the
defensive where they can
neither learn nor enjoy the
lesson. Mr. Rodriquez, there
fore, has to think of ways to
teach his lesson through as
many different channels as
possible so as not to make the
student feel like an idiot.
Change attracts students, and in
Mr. Rodriquez’s various ways of
presenting a given thought he
necessarily constitutes a change
which perks his students up to
learn the next step in the lesson.
He uses different channels of
teaching such as showing
pictures or diagrams of what he
is trying to get across and
allowing students to have a
chance to talk. (Everybody
thinks he’s smart; allow the
student to talk and he will
remember the lesson better
than had the teacher done the
entire lecture). This all takes
time out of class. Futhermore,
Mr. Rodriquez must spend time
finding diagrams, illustrations,
authors, opinions, etc., but it
actually saves time for Mr.
Rodriquez because most of his
students understand him during
class. Yes, Mr. Seymore
Rodriquez had learned a
valuable lesson in understand
ing the art of teaching.
THE GRYPHON
Rocky Mount Senior High School
308 South Tillery Street Rocky Mount, N.C. 27801
Member of Columbia Press Association
Member of Quill and Scroll
PUBLISHED MONTHLY
News Editor
Managing Editor
Photography Editor
Advertising Manager
Business Manager
Circulation Manager
Staff Writers:
BiUy Carroll
Jackie Wilde
Trey Bulluck
Kevin Maurer
Cathy Kilpatrick
Debbie Mosley
Clifton Barnes, Neely Blanchard,
Kathy Carroll, Maty Davis, Mary Fleming,
David Goff, Leslie Locke, Beth Hutchisson,
Frieda Jordan, Keith King, Robby Noble, John Smith,
Cyndi Strickland, Dan Thorpe, Karen Walston
Advisor
Principal
Assistant Principals
Mrs. Henrietta Barbour
Mr. Elton Newbem
Mr. Charles Davis, Mr. Robert Miller