Newspapers / North Carolina School of … / Dec. 1, 1997, edition 1 / Page 3
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DECEMBER 1997 PAGES The mall: guys beware Underappreciated teachers ^ #«* ft lyoA *VixximK ov\r1 1ot>r\rArc r ROSHAN BALIGA In need of a new suit, I made the horrible mistake of going to the mall over my Thanksgiving ex tended to buy one. Not only was November 28th the busiest shtqiping day of the year, but I had picked Hanes Mall, the biggest mall in the Carolinas. Even though I was ac companied by two women, I should have realized that even when “su pervised,” men do not belong in the mall. We should just stay far away on thesd busy shopping days. Noth ing could have prepared me for what I saw while shopping. After what seemed like an eternity, we found a parking spot. As I entered I over heard two Women thanking them selves for arriving at si* AM./ Now myself, coming at a ten-thirty, obvi ously had no right to expect to find a parking spot within two miles of the mall. It took me nearly an hour to get from one side of the mall to the other. I orily wanted to stop in two stores, but ray companions, like recognized, but I did see 700 identi cal GAP sweaters. While dodging Santa’s elves and other assorted Christmas deco rations, I almost resorted to pushing people out of my way. (I thought it was Thanksgiving!) I imagineafew people must have suffocated in the sea of people. Ninety-nine percent of these shoppers were women, but occasionally I did see a giri dragging her boyfriend around trying on clothes for him. Whra we finally made it to a decent deparfinent store, I had to meet the next challenge; find ing the men’s secdon. The mall executives know that women are more likely to spend money in tlteir stores, thus they devote a large portion of the store to women’s cloth ing. Ihcked into a comer, I found Even though I was accompanied by two women, 1 should have realized that even when "supervised," men do not belong in the mall SAURABH DESAl The profession of teaching is one of the most desirable professions and is very useful to society. The teachers have the excitement of working with curious student, find ing a lot of satisfaction in teaching otherpeople what they know. How ever many teachers cannot be as ef fective as possible because of the lack of respect shown to them through the salary which our state governments are paying them. There are 1,634,000 elementary school teachers and 1,263,000 high school teachers in the United States. The average salary of elementary school teachers in 1993 was $34,800 in the United States while a high school teacher’s average salary was $36,000. It is obvious that state gov ernments do not value the teaching profession because of the low pay they give teachers. Many teachers have to work other jobs just to get by. For example, my social studies teacher last year worked at a ice hockey rink for four hours everyday after school just to have the necessi ties she needed to live. Is it accept able to continue to pay teachers the amount that they are getting paid because what they are doing is not important? Teachers are educating the lead ers of tomorrow. Elementary teach ers play a vital role in the develop ment of children. They teach the ba sics of mathematics, language, sci ence and social studies. They try to instill good study habits and an ap preciation of learning. What students leam from teach ers shapes their view of themselves in the world, affecting later suc cesses or failure in school and work. The important job of teaching children to be better people is the re sponsibility placed on the teaching profession. Consequently, teachers should get paid as much or more than any other profession in the country, including doctors and lawyers. Al though doctors and lawyers go to school longer, teachers laid the foun dation for the young person to be come a doctor and instilled in him the desire to study hard and work. Teachers continue to play this role daily. One of the most difficult chal lenges is finding the resources to pay the teachers. Many people say that the state government simply does not have enough money to increase teacher salaries. A solution would be to eliminate the inefficient programs in state governments all across the country and transfer the millions of dollars to teacher salaries. Our society needs to respect teachers the way it respects doctors and researchers and scientists. We view these people with respect for their long effort spent in college and their dedication to helping human ity but it is the teacher who is help ing humanity far more because they are teaching the future doctors and researchers of the world. Seniors dread college apps schools are invariabfy stressful. We suits. By this point I was ready to grab the first suit remotely in my size and leave, but ftis would not be the case. As it turned out, the suit which my companions picked out for me was not in my size. I pleaded with them to let me leave. Inst^, they typical females who enjoy topping, decided to have it altered for me. made it their mission to look at ev* IMs, I learned, would take from four ery dress in every store. It didn’t to six days. However, I was leaving matter if the dress was four times in three days. Thus I returned to what they were willing to spend; they looked at everything. This would be comparable to me look ing at e very $750Armani suit I saw. (I did look at a couple, and they did look nice, but for the price I would rather have 50 CD’s or 6000 gold fish, depending on which were on sale.) The strangest thing about the mall was the sheer number of people there. What was scarier was that ev erybody dressed the same, as they were all at the mall to go to the same trendy stores. I saw nobody who I NCSSM without a new suit for the upcoming semi-formal. What have I learned from all of this? Next time I need anything which I might not be able to pick out myself. I’m sending my girl-firiends for me. If I give them my sizes. I’m sure they’ll do a better job at find ing clothes than I will. Besides, they’ll probably have fun shopping. It’s cither that or wait for the next male-only mall day. I think that I’ll vote for staying at hon» and letting the giris ^ my shopping. TOHN BOWMAN Fall has arrived and those dreaded events of the Senior year, college application deadlines, are fast approaching. Colleges ask us for nothing less than our souls con densed neatly onto four typed sheets of paper. They want us to tell them “who we are” so they can decide whether to accept or reject us. Un der these circumstances, applying to college is understandably nerve- wracking. Even so, 1 think keeping a few things in mind can make the process less stressful. Everyone worries about getting in to the “right” school, but most colleges offer a solid aca demic program for students willing to take advantage of it. You don’t have to go to a school that admits one in seven applicants to get a qual ity education. Less selective schools offer plenty of opportunities in the classroom and out. If past years are any indication, many Seniors will attend UNC- Chapel Hill or NC State. Both schools have strong national repu tations. They are relatively inexpen sive and close to home. Still, some students and parents think heading to State or Carolina after NCSSM means not living up to one’s full potential. This assumption is false. College, like NCSSM, is what you make it. Students who take full ad vantage of the opportunities here will likely do the same after grada tion, whatever college they choose. College acceptance is a hard game to lose. Many schools are glad to take NCSSM students simply be cause they are attending one of the best high schools in the nation. Many of us, though, are applying to more selective colleges. After go ing to school with some of the state’s brightest students, we hope for the same kind of experience in the next four years. Applications to selective know, as we write our essays and list our extracurriular activities, that we will be compared with thousands of other talented students. For whatever comfort it’s worth, colleges want to know us as people. Their applications give us a chance to tell them how we see our selves. I believe the best strategy for getting into college is honesty. I have known myself for seventeen years, and I have a pretty good idea of my strengths. Applying to col lege started to seem less painful when I realized that, instead of try ing to decide what colleges want to hear, all I have to do is tell them what 1 have known about myself all along. I want colleges to accept me for who 1 am. I wouldn’t want to attend a college that rejected me, in any case. I will give my applications an honest effort, and, hopefully, 1 won’t lose too much sleep. I wish the class of 1998 the best of luck. Constructive solutions for nocturnal homework ROSHAN BAUGA Many seniors and juniors ques tion whether in-room curfew is fair. Many students believe that it is nec essary to study with others after mid night. I feel that with certain excep tions, in-room curfew at midnight should be removed. Even after midnight, students often attempt to finish group |Hojects individually. With all the clashing schedules, it is often hard to work on group projects in the afternoon. As many juniors are finding out, commitments to other activities force students to break up group projects and do portions individu ally. However, many times one stu dent takes the burden of responsibil ity and ends up doing the majority of the project. Without in-room, at least students who lived in the same dorm could work on projects when they both have some time. To help some of these situa tions, SLI’s offer study passes. Study passes allow some freedom, but have a few faults. These passes are only valid for one hour, and you must be in a room. In addition, passes are not given out on Sunday nights. This is when students may need passes most; often a group member goes home for the weekend, and must fin ish group projects on Sunday night An ideal change would be to keep 10:30 in-dorm check, yet allow students to be in anybody’s room after midnight. This alternative would still keep students from con gregating in the halls late at night, yet allow them to study in groups. In addition, students could also be allowed to study in lounges after midnight A complaint was reported to me about not being allowed to study in lounges after midnight; “My roorrunate and someone in his class had to study one night for a chemis try test They ended up in my room until two, making it very hard for me to get any sleep. If students were al lowed to study in lounges after mid night this wouldn’t happen.” • Allowing students to study in lounges after midnight is quite a fea sible solution. Since quiet hours are in effect already, the noise would not be a problem for students trying to sleep. I certainly agree that students should not be free to do whatever they want to after midnight. It is im portant to make the distinction be tween the need of students to study and those who simply want to un necessarily converse and socialize. The only reason that in-room curfew is kept is to make students go to sleep. However, in-room only prevents students from socializing after hours. This new in-room policy would allow students to be out of their room for studying purposes. In- room doesn’t make students who have work go to sleep. Instead, it pre vents many students from studying and completing work efficiently. With the amount of work re quired at NCSSM, students deserve to study after midnight. The admin istration should give this matter se rious consideration if they are truly concerned with the quality of life at NCSSM.
North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics Student Newspaper
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Dec. 1, 1997, edition 1
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