Jonathan+D’s+OpEd+Article

=**"School**"= =By Jonathan D.=

Why do people go to school everyday? Is it because it is required by the law, or do they want to learn something new and enhance their knowledge? For some people it is because the law requires while others it is not. The reason I go to school is because I want to get somewhere in life, and these days it just does not seem possible to get far without a strong education and strong willed mind. School has helped me to have a strong education in English, History, Math, and Science. I have learned about basic English grammar and how to form simple and complex sentences. I have learned about Mathematics and how to add, subtract, divide, multiply, and solve equations. I have learned about History and the American Revolution, WWI, WWII, and the Cold war. I have learned about Science and kinetic energy, gravity, and the sliding muscle filament theory. How will all this help me to get somewhere in life? I have no idea at this point. I do know that where I apply myself in college, whether it is towards a bachelors of science, a Masters of Science, or even a Ph.D. that all my time in school will come together to help me overcome a problem that I have to solve. I may not know when a problem will come, or maybe I will, I simply know that when the time comes I will be ready. I believe that school will have prepared me for the “real world.”

There is one small thing I do not like at school, which is the level of creativity. The school is like a dictator, especially Foothill Tech. for that matter. It is not so much the teachers as it is the Administration. The teachers allow for maximum creativity within their classes. This blog for history right now is expressing the creativity of the class. However, for extracurricular things such as ASB elections or a club activity on campus, the Admins get all, excuse my terminology, anal. For all I know, I could get in trouble for what I am about to write. But I feel that I have the right to free speech even though I am only 17.

Anyways, one of the examples of the Administration doing a bad job was the election of 2010-2011 school year for ASB president. The candidates were Ariana Johnson and David White. The classic idea for candidates is to have slogans which rhyme with their names. So both candidates did that. Nothing went wrong until a day on Facebook, when David White posted a supposedly racial remark having to do with his campaign. I do not know his true intentions but I do not believe that it was for racial purposes, I think it was simply to poke some fun at his campaign. Even though he posted it on Facebook, the teacher overseeing ASB saw the comment and felt that he should be removed. And so he was. So what was the point of the election if the teacher can simply choose who gets it?

That’s just one scenario. The second one is that of the newly established Quidditch club. They had established teams but were doing tryouts to see who would be the best snitch. As they were running across campus, the boy leading the group was told to stop and he responded with, “I can’t.” and the result was three days of suspension. Now I will say, the boy did disobey a direct order, but he technically was not doing anything wrong. Also three days of suspension seems like a little overkill on the punishment to me, just because he simply kept running.

Overall I think that the Administration is not allowing kids to have a little fun, especially since they do not mean any harm to anyone. I also think, even though school can be a little cruel at times, that it is providing me with a strong foundation for life as well as preparing me for what is to come.media type="file" key="jonathond-muckraker-0910.mp3"