Opinion

A little insight into the lives of high school students...

Articles Shown:

"The SAT" -Currie E. ('15)

"The Conflict in the Ukraine" -David K. ('15)

"The CCDS Art Collective" -Katherine L. ('16)

Standardized Testing Woes by Currie E. ('15)

Junior year. One of the most notorious years of high school, filled with stress, lots of homework, AP/IB classes, and worst of all, SAT prep. Endless hours of math packets and filling in small bubbles, hoping you circled the right one so you won’t get the “I’m disappointed in you” look from your tutor or prep program. We fill our heads with strange words that we end up studying so much that they pop out in random conversation.

“Hey what did you think about the project for English class?”

“I had to cajole my teacher into allowing me to do an easier topic.”

Late nights of homework after sports turns into an even longer night with the hours of SAT homework you have to complete before the next session, which happens to be the very next day. I can’t count the number of times I have hastily eaten my dinner while attempting to do my math packet at the kitchen counter, eventually circling the last couple of answers randomly because I just gave up.

Then comes the actual test day. The 6:30am alarm goes off and you tumble out of the bed in time to grab some toast and sharpen your two non-mechanical number 2 pencils, because waking up to take a four hour standardized test is EXACTLY what a seventeen year old wants to be doing on a Saturday morning. After waiting in a tremendously long line to enter the testing building, the anticipation mounts as you wait to see if your picture will pass inspection. Friends cling to their entrance ticket and license, praying they don’t get whisked away to the Room of Doom (aka the room where they tell you that you can’t actually take the SAT because someone’s elbow happens to be in your picture). Students file in wearing their college gear, trying to motivate themselves to greatness by wearing shirts with “Yale”, “Harvard”, and “Princeton” written on the front. Sitting quietly in your designated room, occasionally a friend will make an appearance, and you’ll share a knowing, exasperated glance from across the classroom with a “God help us” look. The test begins and the punching of calculator buttons and deep sighs fill the room. If you’re lucky, there might even be someone in your room who has a cold, sniffling and coughing every five minutes right on cue. Then while you are in the “SAT zone”, you are jolted from your stupor by a piercing voice yelling “five minutes!” and your heart begins to race as you try to finish as much as you can with the time left.

Three and a half hours later, your pencil lies stubby and beaten from the terrors of the test and you sigh, closing your book, praying that this will be the last time you will have to take the test. You pray to the College Board Gods, hoping that sending good vibes will somehow increase your scores to that magical number that your college guidance counselor tells you that you need to hit. It is a journey we all go through, but also one that will be changed in the upcoming years, impacting the Class of 2017 who will take a new and improved test. A link to the article about the changes can be found below.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/05/living/sat-test-changes-schools/

Brief Summary and Speculation on the Conflict in Ukraine by David K. ('15)

Political conflict has continued on in Ukraine, which originally started in November of 2013 when Ukrainians took to the street in protest of their government’s decision to bail on a European Union Association Agreement. Civilians protested the supposed corruption within Ukraine’s government, arguing that the Ukrainian government had abandoned the association agreement due to Russian pressure. Protests raged into the New Year, when then-President Viktor Yanukovych fled the capital, later appearing in Russia. The Ukrainian parliament proceeded to elect Olexander Turchynov as interim president until elections could be held. Shortly after gaining control, pro-Russian forces seized key buildings and airports within Crimea, an autonomous republic of Ukraine that has a Russian ethnic majority. Putin was granted the power to use military force in Crimea by Russian parliament. After the Crimean government voted in favor of a referendum for the region’s joining of Russia, annexation of the territory began.

While the actions of Russia have been met with stiff protest from the West, actual military conflict due to the annexation of Crimea is highly unlikely. The EU and the United States have since imposed sanctions on Russia, but further action is unlikely. However, conflict could occur if Russia continues its current agenda of annexation, for several European countries have already pledged to defend Poland, a country well known for its relative flatness and inconsistent existence throughout history. While further Russian annexation of Ukraine is unlikely, Russian forces have reportedly been observed massing on Ukraine’s eastern border, where ethnic Russian populations are higher. This could hint that further annexation of Ukraine’s eastern provinces by Russia is a possibility. The future events between Russia and Ukraine are unclear, but the West should continue to closely monitor the conflict.

The CCDS Art Collective by Katherine L. ('16)

The CCDS Art Collective is coming; it’s time to get creative with us! Interested in film? Possibly sculpture? Maybe poetry is your thing? Is there a budding fashion designer inside of you? Are you a musician or dancer? Then the Art Collective is for you. All interested students are welcome to participate in the club, and there are no skill level or course requirements The Art Collective’s mission is to promote the arts at CCDS, provide a safe place where students can work in a collaborative and open environment, and feel free to bounce ideas off one another and foster friendships between peers that share an interest in the arts. We are preparing to start formal meetings next school year, and are planning coffeehouse style meetings where Art Collective members can share their talents and interest. Interested students should contact myself at klogan16@charlottecountryday.org and be on the lookout for an upcoming e-mail survey asking which of the arts they like to focus on. I look forward to receiving your responses and appreciate your participation in the survey. Art is for everyone!