Newspapers / Rocky Mount High School … / Dec. 20, 1996, edition 1 / Page 4
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4 December 20,19% Uniforms, corporal punishment not a solution for violence Citizens view America’s schools as being a war zone with students fighting against students, teachers and administrators, individually and in gangs. School administrators search for solutions to school violence. Re quiring students to wear uniforms and reinstating corporal punishment are two suggested solutions. School uniforms replace individualism with an alternative that squelches self-expression. Uniforms are designed to create an atmosphere where students are not concerned about their clothes or the clothes of others. Instead, students can focus on school and learning. Wearing uniforms will help students develop more self-discipline, especially in their ap pearance. The uniform requirement will eliminate students wearing any sloppy or obscene clothing. That is the theory. The rules, however, al ready regulate the dress of the students. Perhaps, it is time for the school to strictly enforce the dress code. Corporal punishment has been approved by the school board as an alternative to short-term suspension. It is intended to influence students to be less violent and have more self-discipline. However, corporal pun ishment fights violence with violence. Instead of teaching the student a lesson, it teaches that the ideal way to punish is by physical force. In stead of punishing with violence, students need to be taught non-violent ways to solve problems. Students must not leam that the way to solve a problem is by physical force. That will only create more violence. The price to pay for uniformity would be the loss of individuality, spontaneity, originality and freedom to express oneself by daring to wear clothes not worn by others. The result of punishing violence with vio lence will be to teach students that the answer to their problems is to use a form of physical force. These two ideas fail to target the source of the violence—the lack of education and morals and ignorance. Who is that mysterious lady behind the computer? Recently I was in the Chill-Out room and made a surprising discovery: Ms. Martha Sikes. Her initial duty is to assist Mr. Stefphan Allen in checking in late students in the morning. Sykes is also in the Chill-Out room while Mr. Allen takes his lunch break. She helps the students with their problems and is in charge of disciplinary tracking. What I want to elaborate on is her assisting students. While I was in Chill Out, two students were sent there, and Sykes tried her best to create a solution between the two. This is what really surprised me; she was really sincere in her work. When 1 think about Chill Out, I think about people who merely supervise students who had been sent to the room by their teachers. I was surprised and delighted to see how much Sykes cared about her students. Before I was sent to Chill Out, I had the outlook that nobody cared anymore. It’s nice to see that there really are people who care, by Sarah Johnson Rocky Mount Senior High ROCKY MOUNT SENIOR fflGH SCHOOL "Truth will free you" 301 S. Tillery Street, Rocky Mount, N,C. 27804 Editor Kelly Griffin Assistant Editor Pat Farnsworth Advertising Manager Meredith Harris Business Manager Ashley Avery News Editor Jennifer Joyner Photography Stash Figlewski Clubs Editor Stephanie Williams Opinion Editor Crystal Lucas Sports Editors Ben Clack C.J. Cash Entertainment Editor James Anderson Insight Editor Martha Holland Center Section Editor Jim Bonomo Assistant C.S. Editor Jamika Murray Staff Artist Jim Bonomo Feature Editor Sarah Johnson Letters from students, faculty and other citizens are welcomed and may be sent to the Gryphon in 016. The editors reserve the right to limit content and to withhold libelous or profane material. oy*' soWl^ uJt'U be Well Hit Wtjrl li>t j U>V* /f a- Gryphon charter School PlAMMiMG .iESSl ON CD Habarl Gani... Habari Gani, lUlketa Kwanzaa greeting...in African tradition Kwanzaa is a unique American holiday that pays tribute to the rich cultural roots of Americans of African ancestry. An interesting thing about Kwanzaa is that it is not a religious, political or heroic holiday. It is a cultural holiday. Kwanzaa was instituted in 1966 by Dr. Maulana Kernega, a black studies professor. Kwanzaa is celebrated December 26 through January 1. Kwanzaa is not a sub stitute for Christmas. The word "Kwanzaa " means the first," or in the African language of Kiswahili-a nontribal African language that covers a large portion of the African continent- Kwanzaa means "the first fruits of the harvest." Linda Mosely’s African American his tory class presented a Kwanzaa play on December 12 in the auditorium. Caste-like elementary school no-go in merged system By Pat Farnsworth Imagine a school with no academically gifted classes? What if there were no aca demically gifted students? On top of that, what if all of the top-ranked students left the school? It certainly does seem that the test scores would drop a whole lot. Now imagine having a school with no failing students. Well, that doesn’t sound so bad. Test scores would probably sky rocket. This would mean, however, that there would be no comparison as to who was doing well. Now imagine two things: a school with out the best and the worst and a school with the best and the worst together. Doesn’t make too much sense, does it? One would be a school full of middle- of -the- road students with mediocre grades and test scores and the other would be a school full of high achieving and low achieving students. No matter what any one may say, we have two good schools here; or, at least, schools with some po tential. Why ruin them? I am not saying that these schools are perfect- far from it. I am saying that we should work our problems out instead of adding some new school. The Rocky Mount Charter School, if created, would consist of 75 percent mi nority students and 25 percent non-mi nority students. This ratio is determined from current Nash County public school ratios. For this to work out, students who might be qualified, academically, for such a program might be ignored. That soimds ridiculous to me. The Charter School will be managed by a Massachusetts based group and financed by local businessmen. One personal ob servation is that these businesses are sim ply trying to make it easier to figure out who they will hire straight out of college to work in their boardrooms and whom they will hire straight out of high school to woik in their manufacturing plants. A charter school would be bad for stu dents who would not fully understand why they were separated from other stu dents and put in a different school just because they made above or below aver age grades. Many European coimtries have a three school system. One school is for college- bound students, one is for higher-grade job training and one if for lower grade training job training. I have never agreed with that caste-like system but it seems as if somebody wants us on that road. .L
Rocky Mount High School Student Newspaper
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Dec. 20, 1996, edition 1
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