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March 30, 2010
Nicole Pham
Those dissatisfied with the school system can leave early by taking the California High School Proficiency Examination (CHSPE), but few Washington students know about it.
Most students drop out, complete independent study or attend an alternative school, such as Robertson. Some students learn about the CHSPE through word of mouth, but the school has not communicated this option to all juniors and seniors.
According to state law, high school principals are required to distribute an announcement explaining the CHSPE to each student in grades 11 and 12. The superintendent is responsible for informing the principals.
Students who pass CHSPE earn the legal equivalent of a high school diploma by obtaining a Certificate of Proficiency, even without the required units for graduation. Those interested must be between 16 and 18 years old. The exam includes math and English language arts sections. Taking and passing CHSPE, however, does not necessarily require a student to leave high school.
“I believe students should be made aware of this option by school staff,” superintendent Milt Werner said, in an e-mail.
Principal Linda Fernandez relies on career technician Michelene Wittmer and school counselors Carol Brahmst, Britny Stewart and Carrie Merfeld to relay information about CHSPE to students.
In her eight years as a counselor, Stewart knows of two students who took the test.
“For most people, it’s not the alternative they want to take,” Stewart said. “They don’t want a full exit.”
English teacher Teri Hu prepared “How Would You Like to Finish High School Early?,” a presentation about CHSPE, at a Gifted and Talented Education (GATE) meeting Dec. 7.
“It is not up to counselors, teachers or administrators to determine if a student would possibly want to take CHSPE,” Hu said.
“At most, maybe a dozen or so kids will take it, but that will be a dozen kids who would otherwise be miserable in high school.”
The test is administered three times a year: March, June and November. Though the March 21 test date passed, those interested can apply for the June 19 test by May 21.
The fee is $92 for regular registration, $120 for late registration and $145 for special registration. Results are mailed July 23.
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March 30, 2010
Anterpreet Kaur
For the second year in a row, AP English teacher Teri Hu submitted the novel Bastard out of Carolina (Dorothy Allison) to be reviewed by the Fremont School Board. Last year, the district officials voted 2 for and 3 against the book. The three that had voted against the book had not read it, while one of the two who voted for it had.
“Supervisors didn’t vote from a position of knowledge. Three out of the four officials straight up admitted that they hadn’t read the book,” Hu said.
“As a parent, I just feel this is not appropriate,” District Board member Ivy Wu said.
Wu is concerned about her daughter who would read this book in AP English next year if it is approved.
Board Vice President Bryan Gebhardt believes otherwise.
“Originally, I was not in favor of this book, but I did change my mind just from my perspective, and that is, when a book is brought forth to the twelfth grade AP, it really essentially is a college book,” Gebhardt said.
To approve a book, it must first be read and approved by two English teacher. It then passes through an English department, after which the textbook committee reviews it and the final decision lies upon the District School Board. Last year the book failed to make it past the District Board.
The textbook committee will review it May 5. If passed, the District Board will review it in June.
The same five officials who voted last year will be voting again. The District Board members have not changed because elections have not occurred.
The verdict for “Bastard Out of Carolina” will be announced at the June 2010 District School Board meeting.
This article originally appeared in print on March 30, 2010. It has been modified to correct style and grammatical errors.
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March 2, 2010
Noelle Fujii
Symbolism, tone, style. Some students can’t even comprehend the meaning of the work, which makes enjoying, much less analyzing, the work impossible.
“Every day, it’s a teacher’s job to get students interested,” English teacher Sharon Jones said.
Yet sophomore Melanie Miller is often bored by the assigned reading. She had difficulty understanding Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. She read Art Spiegelman’s Maus because it was a captivating, easy-to-understand graphic novel.
“I was motivated by Maus because it was in the form of a comic book, which set it aside from all of the other books,” Miller said.
Freshman Maureen Madrid believes a good story and climax can motivate students to read. Madrid is unimpressed with a majority of the current academic literary selections, but she continues to read in order to do well on the tests.
“I don’t know what English teachers would really let us read but I guess [I would] like [to read] stories that can relate to a typical teenager’s life,” Madrid said.
Freshman Natalie McCluskey would like to read books containing adventure and life lessons.
“[The books I’m reading in English class] are about the older times, which is harder to relate to and [they also] use older language, which I don’t see the point of learning,” McCluskey said.
On the other hand, senior Michael Jones enjoys the assigned dramatic works. Although he did not enjoy every classic, he liked Lord of the Flies by William Golding and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain.
“Often in everyday life you see references or quotes from classic books like the ones assigned in class,” Jones said.
If pop culture is not enough to encourage students to read classics, they will be pleased to learn that more contemporary books are approved annually.
English teacher Stewart Perlman submitted The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini to be reviewed and successfully approved by the district. However, purchasing the novels and developing new curriculum is also an issue.
English teacher Teri Hu submitted eight contemporary books to the district for her AP English Literature class, and six were passed.
“We teach enough literature by dead people, it’s time to read books by people who still have a pulse,” said Hu, in an e-mail letter.
She submitted more dramas, such as “Six Degrees of Separation” by John Guare and “Wit” by Margaret Edson, because she can make copies to distribute to students.
“I don’t know if every student who doesn’t read would be more inclined to read if the books were more relevant, but for SOME, that would make a difference,” Hu said.
Meanwhile, teachers continue to motivate student readers through interactive projects, group work and class discussions.
This article originally appeared in print on March 2, 2010. It has been modified to correct style errors.
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February 15, 2010
Htoo Htoo Lu
As more teachers use extra credit for simple tasks such as buying materials for the class, its purpose deteriorates. Teachers should give extra credit opportunities for the benefits of students.
“I don’t offer extra credit to students for simply buying things because I don’t see how that’s related to what [students] are learning,” English teacher Stewart Perlman said.
Often times, students rejoice at the chance of receiving extra credit for simply buying things for the teacher. We give little thought to as to whether it is the right thing to do or not. Even those students who believe it is wrong find themselves dashing to the store to get those few extra points.
Who cares if it is right or wrong? It’s better than staying up until 2 a.m. to study hard to do well on a test; it is better than having to put in any amount of effort at all, right? There is nothing to lose by buying that box of tissue, is there?
Most students, including me, have this mindset instilled into us. However, after giving much thought to this, I realized teachers should not give out extra credit for such a simple act. Teachers should encourage students to work harder and expand their curiosity. Everything a student does in a class should be related to the class. Each student’s grade should clearly reflect his or her understanding of the subject.
However, some teachers argue that they are doing good deeds to the community and others by using this extra credit method. English teacher Teri Hu gave out extra credit to her class for bringing gift-quality childrens books. The students had a chance to share their favorite and most memorable children books with other children. She donated these books to the Union charity program.
“I want to encourage young people to read. Some books may even be life-changing,” says Hu.
Nonetheless, extra credit should only be given out to students for “extra” work that digs deeper into a certain subject they are learning. For example, government teacher Elizabeth DeWitt gave extra credit to her students for watching documentaries and news, reading non-fiction government-related books and other activities that would enhance the student’s understanding of the government. By making the students work harder for their grade, students would no longer slack off because of the thought of not being able to raise up their grade by simple extra credit assignments.
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January 29, 2010
Htoo Htoo Lu
Often times, students rejoice at the chance of being able to receive extra credit for simply buying things for the teacher. We give little thought to as to whether it is the right thing to do or not. Even those students who believe it is wrong would find themselves dashing to the store to get those few extra points.
Who cares if it is right or wrong? It’s better than staying up until 2 a.m. to study better than having to put in any amount of effort at all, right? There is nothing to lose by buying that box of tissue, is there?
Most students, including me, have this mindset However, after giving much thought to this, I realized that teachers should not give out extra credit for such a simple act. Teachers should encourage students to work harder and expand their curiosity. Every thing a student does in a class should be related to the class. Each student’s grade should clearly reflect his or her understanding of the subject.
“I don’t offer extra credit to students for simply buying things because I don’t see how that’s related to what [students] are learning,” English teacher Stewart Perlman said.
Nowadays, the idea of extra credit is losing its actual purpose as more and more teachers are using them for other purposes I believe that it is important for both the teachers and the students to realize this and begin to use this extra credit opportunity for the benefits of the students.
However, some teachers may argue that they are doing good deeds to the community and others by using this extra-credit method. AP English teacher Teri Hu gives out extra credit to her class for bringing gift-quality children’s books. The students are given a chance to share their favorite and most memorable children books with other children. She then donates these books to the Union charity program.
“I want to encourage young people to read. Some books may even be life-changing,” Hu said.
Nonetheless, extra credit should only be given to students for “extra” work that digs deeper into a certain subject they are learning. For example, AP Government teacher Elizabeth DeWitt gives out extra credit to her students for watching documentaries and news, reading non-fiction government-related books and other such activities that would enhance the student’s understanding of government. By making the students work harder for their grade, students would no longer slack off the thought of not being able to raise up their grade by effortless extra credits.
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December 1, 2009
Judy Wu
There are some teachers who love spirit week and others who can’t wait until the week ends.
English teacher Sharon Jones is one of the teachers that love spirit week. Jones participates in the teacher skit every year.
“Spirit week is a great time for students to work and come together as a class. The teacher skit is a good chance for students to see teachers in a whole new way and show that teachers have spirit too,” Jones said.
Still, Jones believes education is important and does not change the amount of work she gives to her students. Other teachers like English teacher Teri Hu dislike spirit week. Hu believes spirit week is very time-consuming.
“Teachers are encouraged to not give much work during spirit week. It’s not teaching students to be responsible. Fun should not deny education,” Hu said.
Hu believes competition is secondary at spirit week and classes should not battle each other but come together as a school all week.
” Instead of every class doing their own thing, all the classes should do it together. There could be different themes each year to mix things up a bit,” Hu said.
Despite her objection against spirit week, Hu thinks Spirit week is fun and cute. She wished she could dress up in pajamas, but she only teaches seniors.
” Everyone deserves a pajama day,” Hu said.
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October 12, 2009
Matthew Jimenez
The school’s literary magazine, “The Scrivener,” includes pages of endless creativity. Ever since the first edition hit the school in December 2008, students have been submitting their creative pieces. The literary magazine was originally a brainchild of English teacher Teri Hu’s Creative Writing class, but it was the Media Analysis Club, led by former WHS alum Mika Kennedy, that made literary magazine happen.
The name of the literary magazine, “The Scrivener,” was democratically selected by Hu’s Creative Writing class of the 2006-2007 school year from a list of 15 other names invented by Hu’s Creative Writing students.
Current Media Analysis Club president and senior Cindy Wang, and other club officers help organize “The Scrivener.” The goal is to allow students to submit their creative pieces, such as pictures, drawings and written pieces (short stories, poems, essays, etc.). From there, the staff selects the pieces that will be published. However, their budget only allows them two print editions a year, but with an increase in sales, they may some day be able to publish more.
Most of the money they have is from pre-sales and previous fundraisers. At the moment, money is an issue, but they are confident that they will meet their mid-November deadline.
“Receiving ‘The Scrivener’ is the most exciting thing about ‘The Scrivener.’ Holding it in your hands really hits that we did it. We published another one,” Wang said.
Creative pieces written by Hu’s Creative Writing class and other WHS students may also be found at the magazine’s website, thescrivener.org. If you are interested in submitting any artwork or written pieces to “The Scrivener” for the next issue, please e-mail your submission to maroline.whs@gmail.com. The deadline is Oct. 31.
Pre-sales for the next edition of “The Scrivener” start November at $10. Older editions can also be purchased at the same price. Please go to room E229 for more information about the literary magazine.
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July 20, 2009
Anterpreet Kaur and Nicole Doan
The Fremont board of education excluded Dorothy Allison’s Bastard Out of Carolina from the AP English curriculum by a vote of 3-2 at a June 10 meeting. The semi-autobiographical book is about a girl who is beaten, molested and raped by her step-father.
“AP English students may be intellectually ready for college level studies; but emotionally, I think they are still too young to handle certain issues,” board member Ivy Wu said in an e-mail.
Board member Bryan Gebhardt’s view contrasted that of Wu.
“It is a superbly written book, and a fantastic example to all students of what great writing is,” he said in an e-mail. “Dorothy Allison did an excellent job of capturing the shame, confusion, and guilt an abuse victim feels. It is important for everyone to understand this, as unfortunately abuse is much more common than we would like in this world.”
Also a member of the Secondary Schools Textbook Adoption Committee, he, along with other supporting committee members, recommended the book only to English 12 AP students.
“In general I believe students can handle much more than we realize, especially with a trained professional teacher facilitating the discussion,” Gebhardt said.
Initially, AP English teacher Teri Hu believed the mere title of the book shaped the board’s decision. Her own son and daughter read the book at the ages of 14 and 12, respectively.
“I would never give my students anything I wouldn’t give my own children,” she said.
Hu submitted the book for approval by first reading the book, filling out a specific form and finding two other supporters, who were also required to preview the book. The English curriculum committee, consisting of secondary school department chairs and an administrator, examine the book and form. The Secondary Schools Textbook Adoption Committee, whose members are teachers, administrators, parents, and Gebhardt, then met to approve the book. The district’s board of education is the final determining factor in the book’s endorsement.
“To my knowledge, nothing that’s passed the previous two levels has ever been rejected here. I was genuinely surprised when I found out it was voted down,” Hu said in an e-mail.
If students are interested in reading Bastard out of Carolina, they will have to stop by the library to pick up a copy. After all, the Young Adult Library Association has it on its “outstanding books for the college bound” list.
“As parents and educators, it’s condescending and ignorant to prevent [students] from reading about difficult subjects,” Hu said. “The more enlightened and responsible approach is to guide them through the reading, giving them a chance to ask questions and discuss it openly with adult supervision. That is how we teach. That is how we prepare young people to enter a complicated adult world where they have to make informed decisions on difficult topics.”
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