Category: Opinion

  • Another Michael Jackson Article

    Another Michael Jackson Article

    Yay, I get to write another article about Michael Jackson! Anyone who knows me knows that I love Michael Jackson.

    I love him more than the casual listener, and more than I probably should. That being said, whenever anything new comes out that is MJ-related, I’m one of the first to know. On memorial day, Lifetime premiered the film Michael Jackson: Searching for Neverland. It was based on the book Remember the Time by Jackson’s former bodyguards Bill Whitfield and Javon Beard.

    Now, I read the book and it was fine. I’ve read a lot of books written by people who’ve claimed to be close friends of Michael. When reading or watching things like that, I always take it with a grain of salt.

    Everyone thinks that he’s the one who was closest to Michael.(Even Conrad Murray in his stupid book that nobody asked for!) Everyone claims he is the only one Michael could turn to.

    It’s funny, a lot of people said this and yet, he died alone and went through his court trials with almost no support from his so-called friends. I’m sure that parts of the story were true, but most of it seemed like complete BS.

    When I heard that Michael was getting a Lifetime movie, I knew they were going to try to get the audience to feel sympathy for him. It was going to be very dramatic and I was going to end up crying. I mean, it’s Lifetime for goodness sake. They casted the Michael Jackson impersonator, Navi, to play him.

    I’ve heard of Navi and had watched some videos of him online, and Lifetime casting him as the love of my life brought about three problems.

    Navi is British. He is British and he cannot hide his accent. So when he’s performing, he barely talks for this very reason.

    Navi is NOT an actor. Michael Jackson was way too emotional for his own good. How can we expect someone to properly portray one of the iconic musicians of all time during his most controversial periods when the guy playing him isn’t even an actor!?!

    Michael wouldn’t approve. A movie was made about Michael in the 90s and they were considering a non-black actor to portray him. Upon hearing this, Michael became furious and reportedly shut down the production. If this movie was really about honoring Michael, they should have respected his wishes, or even better, not have made it.

    The movie itself wasn’t all that, but it really wasn’t too bad either. And if you don’t know that much about Michael Jackson, it is definitely worth the watch.

    The Michael Jackson estate didn’t really approve, and his family hasn’t publicly said anything positive or negative about it. But I can’t fully support anything the family doesn’t.

    I suggest reading the book instead to really see the side of Michael they try to show. Michael Jackson was an amazing person and people should just stop trying to squeeze every last penny they can out of him. The man has been dead for over seven years!

    Let my husband rest.

  • Educational Companies Have a Thing or Two to Learn

    In order to complete certain problems in the new Larson and Edwards calculus book, Calculus of Single Variable, the students in Poly’s most difficult math classes have to go to a buggy website that looks like it has not been updated since before Space Jam came out. This textbook was published and purchased this year.

    This is a pretty common trend in education companies. They skimp on updates and functionality and rely on their pseudo-monopolies to earn them money.

    The College Board is one of the most egregious examples. In order to get into a decent college, a student must take the SAT to demonstrate his intelligence. Poly pays for a student’s first PSAT and SAT, but beyond that the student is on his own to come up with the forty-five dollars (plus an additional twelve if his school of choice wants him to take the essay). Then, because it is their test, the College Board will also receive the revenue from this student’s preparations such as attending SAT tutoring sessions or purchasing an SAT study manual. Then, when the student receives the score he was hoping for, he pays twelve dollars to send the scores to each of the colleges to which he is applying. To clarify, that was twelve dollars per college.

    The same process applies to the APs, which are also College Board tests. At Poly, the fees for these tests are covered (except for the fifteen dollar deposit, ten of which is returned after the student takes his tests) but elsewhere they cost ninety-three dollars.

    So if the average American high school aged student takes a PSAT, an SAT, and one AP, she’s likely to be charged close to two-hundred dollars. All to the College Board for tests that frankly are not that great.

    But what alternatives do these poor students have?

    These problems in the education business are not confined to California. In a recent AskReddit thread where the question “Which major business would you like to see fail?” was posed, Pearson Education and the College Board were named almost as often as the infamous Comcast and loathed Time Warner. The issue has even been the subject of a twenty-minute rant on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. He railed against the spread of standardized tests and did his own version of the above rant with Pearson instead of the College Board. In California, we are lucky. We do not have to deal with that multi-headed hydra of terrible tests. In the states they control – I mean “operate in” – their tests are used for everything from kindergarten assessments to GED (adult education) credentials. And of course, like with the College Board in California, students prepare for all these tests with Pearson distributed materials.

    And these tests are awful. Multiple teachers have come out against them. One Florida educator by the name of Rick Roach took a test designed for tenth grade high school students and was labelled a poor reader, despite his multiple Masters Degrees. In Texas, a poet  found she was unable to answer questions about her own poems on a standardized test. It is a mess.

    And students are all but powerless in this situation.They just want to get to college, so they tolerate the crumby websites with poorly written code, crumby tests with poorly written questions, and crumby companies with poorly written morals. Maybe Mrs. Devos can do something about… oh, who am I kidding?

  • Boys Need Love Too

    Boys Need Love Too

    Lately I’ve noticed a wonderful thing happening: women demolishing the stigma of body imperfections. All around me in school, at work, and in the media, I see women who have struggled with the embarrassment of not having a “perfect body” learning to love themselves and each other. One of the ways they do this is by dismissing the crude verbal abuse of misogynistic men. And it’s nice because I see a lot of disrespect from men and it makes me wonder, Why the hell are boys like this? Then, after close observation, it occurred to me: they do this to cope with their own poor self-image.

    It’s easy to put a girl down by pointing out her weight, body hair, bra size, how her makeup looks, etc.; and it is just as easy to put down a boy (especially a teenage boy) by pointing out how short he is, how fat he is, how weak his muscles look, or the modest size of his reproductive organ. Every guy can relate to at least one of these issues, you just won’t hear most of them talking about it because they’re afraid of expressing emotion. One thing you need to understand is that masculinity is a very fragile thing. Young men face so much ridicule when they show emotion, and it comes mostly from other guys.

    That’s the difference between males and females. The reason many girls are becoming less concerned with their looks is because they support each other. Males, however, ridicule one another for showing that kind of concern, or any kind of emotion. I know because I have been a victim of this ridicule my entire life. A sensitive child, I was incessantly abused by my peers and scorned by the older men in my life. They were always frustrated by their inability to pose as strong role-models. Apparently I’m not masculine because I show emotions and I don’t mock females.

    I’m fine with that. If being a man means you aren’t allowed to have emotions or show respect, who the hell wants to be a man?

  • What Happened To Driver’s Ed?

    Everyone drives. Driving is essential for transportation. Driving is essential for living in LA. But when do you have time to learn how to drive? When are you going to set aside your studies and focus on operating a whole different entity aside from yourself?

    Driver’s education is the first step in learning how to drive. But why is such an essential set of skills not learned in schools? Driver’s ed should be taught in school so it allows students to equally improve their academic and their life skills. Years ago, most districts canceled driver’s ed classes as a victim of budget cuts or because of an increased emphasis on college admission requirements. The behind-the-wheel portion was eliminated mostly because of liability reasons. A few might still offer online classes.

    Poly used to offer driver’s ed as a class, however The Varsity Driving Academy (VDA) of Long Beach Poly officially closed its physical location and transferred to Irvine, California. Now they only offer online courses. How are we supposed to learn to drive if Poly’s driving academy moved to Irvine? Drive to Irvine? I don’t think so. For students of Polytechnic High School, the VDA does in fact offer free pick-up and drop-off for behind-the-wheel training sessions with direct pick up from school, study groups, practices, you name it. This has allowed some students to complete their driver’s ed, but  it has been limited to students with online access. What about the ones without? Or students who learn better in person?

    In some schools, driver’s education is required to be offered, but the local school district governing board may, according to the California Education Code (EC) Section 51225.3, determine if it is a required course for graduation. A driver’s education elective course may be applied toward meeting minimum graduation credits without requiring driver’s education for graduation.

    For living in the state of California, where driving is a vital skill, driver’s ed should not only be offered at Poly, but should be emphasized. Many students complain that school does not teach effective life skills. Well, here you go— an everyday skill every student should have access to.

    Poly hasn’t had driver’s ed in the curriculum for some ten years due to budget cuts. Adding in driver’s ed as an elective to Poly’s curriculum will only ensure a safer highway for everyone. The state law suggests that driver’s education as a course should be offered in grades nine to twelve, seeing that this is the range for students’ licensing age. Many districts are offering driver’s education instruction along with health education, since some course topics, such as alcohol, drugs, and driver fatigue, are discussed in both courses. Understanding this interrelationship is important since the leading health and safety issue among teens is associated with traffic collisions; the number one killer of teens in the state.

    Any opportunity we have to educate students about the responsibilities of driving, we should take. Hands-on experience will only benefit your skills in the long run.

  • Pathway Equality

    I absolutely hate the way that a lot of PACE and CIC kids can be treated completely different than kids in other academies. Because I am in PACE, I’m going to mostly focus on that for this article. I remember when I was a freshman in PE, hearing that PACE kids who didn’t dress didn’t have to worry about getting picked up by ACE.

    PACE kids usually end up being more informed about college and APs than other kids. Once there was a non-PACE senior in my AP Spanish class who had never heard of the AP test until the teacher explained it to him. Once when I was talking about college to a friend, another friend asked us, “How do you guys know so much about college?”

    It also bothers me to my soul the way that I see many PACE kids treat and talk to non-PACE kids. I remember one student in my PE class saying, “Honestly, if you aren’t in PACE or CIC you aren’t smart,” or another kid once saying, “PACE kids deserve to have their own building because they are the smart ones.” I remember freshman year I had a BEACH girl in my group of friends and one of the PACE girls made a comment to her telling her that she wasn’t smart.

    I have never been stopped when I was walking around school without a pass during class. I feel like in my classes with non-PACE kids I get preferential treatment.

  • The Bachelor: Season Finale

    The Bachelor: Season Finale

    On March 13, the Bachelor Nation eagerly awaited who Nick chose to give his final rose to and if he was going to propose.

    We were all hopeful that Nick would FINALLY find love on his fourth go around on reality TV. The finale was shown live when it was actually filmed a while ago, so whoever was actually proposed to had to keep it lowkey.

    The final date took place in Finland where the two final contestants, Vanessa Grimaldi and Raven Gates, officially met his family and got to have one-on-one time with them. Raven did so well with his family, she just fit in and it had nothing to do with the fact that she had already met them briefly. His parents said she seemed genuine, which I 1000% agree with.

    Raven is the sweetest and most deserving gal ever. Vanessa just seemed guarded and awkward the whole time. On Vanessa’s last date, they went horseback riding, then she got to meet Santa, and she voiced some of her concerns with Nick where she just annoyed me. She questioned if it would work while Raven was confident and sure of their relationship. I would kill for a date like Raven had. Nick and her went ice skating, then he brought her three, I repeat, THREE husky puppies. I wanted to snatch them right out of the screen.

    At last, the long anticipated decision time had come. Raven was positive that Nick was going to propose and Vanessa was weary and unsure. Nick had a tough decision to make, especially since he has felt three times how devastating it is to make it all the way to the end just to get turned down.

    He ended up choosing Vanessa, but it pisses me off that he led Raven on the way he did. He probably broke up with her in the worst way. He kept saying, “I’m not IN love with you” which probably ripped her to shreds. In all honesty, I’m glad to be done with this stupid season and excited to watch Rachel as the new Bachelorette and watch Raven have another chance at “love” at “Bachelor in Paradise.”

    At least Vanessa and Nick had adorable engagement photos together and I hope they do stay together, which is totally unrealistic for most Bachelor/Bachelorette couples with all but probably two exceptions.

  • Modern Feminism is Overrated

    Okay, so before people start chasing me with pitchforks and sticks of fire, let’s set something straight: I am not an anti-feminist and I don’t hate women; I love women and love being a woman. I am very much for women’s rights. People assume that every woman needs to be a feminist, and that those who aren’t feminists are sexist, but that’s just not true.

     
    Take a look at modern day American feminism. What real difference, as a group have they accomplished? I do thank the original feminists, like Jane Austen, who through her novels expressed that women were more than objects for men to own, that women could do more that what society expected.  They could read, they could be independent, they can say ‘no’ to a man they didn’t want to marry. And Lucille Ball, who was the first true female comedian. She was shown, not as a side character, but as a goofy leading woman (who was also the first woman to wear pants on national television).

     
    However, I don’t see women like that anymore, and nowadays feminism is a joke. I agree that there is still so much to be done for women, but are third-wave feminist really doing the job? First-wave feminism began in the 19th century and focused on women’s suffrage, giving women the right to vote. Well, white women, anyway. It involved women speaking without being spoken to and having their own opinions (how scandalous!).
    Second-wave feminism started up in the mid 60’s until the 80’s and had a main focus on the freedom of sexuality. Women began to dress differently, wore bolder looking makeup, and most memorably fought for and gained abortion rights. Woman forced their way into the workforce on their way to equality and gaining respect as more than just housewives. Inspired by the Black Power Movement, women began women-only meetings. Well, rich, white women anyway. Several accounts at the time from women of color refer to them attempting to join these meetings, only to be turned away due to their race and financial situation.


    So this brings us to today’s third-wave feminism, which is about what? Slut-shaming? Fat-shaming? #freethenipple? It’s so unorganized and so unfocused, I don’t even think feminists know what they’re fighting for. I understand that not all feminists think this way, but a big majority do. I just don’t want to be associated with a group that is so self-centered and hypocritical. At the Women’s March, the one that was supposed to be so revolutionary, a large number of women were not allowed to march. Their entry was denied because they are pro-life.

     
    “Although organizers say anti-abortion women are welcome to attend the Women’s March, their inclusion in what the event represents could become more complicated if the platform laid out by the organizers is a sign of the feminist movement in the Trump era… that feminism is a political term and that the idea that women should be able to choose what they do with their bodies is fundamental to feminism,” stated Elizabeth Velez, professor of Women and Gender Studies at Georgetown University, to The Washington Post.

    So women should have the freedom to say what they believe in, but only if they agree with you? This isn’t feminism, this isn’t equality. Third-wave feminism isn’t the way. We can’t find peace if there isn’t true unity between all women. I agree that America isn’t perfect, but it’s a whole lot better than other countries. While women are fighting and getting killed for the right to read, we’re here, protesting magazines for having skinny models.

    I agree with modern feminism, just not the plan of action, or lack thereof. If we really want equality, peace, and unity, we have to accomplish it together, as a sisterhood, across the nation and the world.

  • Nasty Couples are Nasty

    Nasty Couples are Nasty

    Let’s get one thing straight. When I’m walking to class, the last thing I want to see is some nasty couple making out in the hallway. I’m not one to shy away from PDA, but when I can see your tongue in someone else’s mouth, you have taken it too far. Have some self-respect. You want to to be cute and disgusting with your dearest? Save it for a place that’s not around other people.
    If I can hear you kissing from the other end of the hallway, please re-evaluate your life choices.
    There was this especially gross couple two years ago on the third floor of the science building. Everyday during lunch they would be jumping all over each other, and grinding, and just generally being nasty. No offense, but I don’t need to see that when I’m trying to eat. I’m tempted to go full Dolores Umbridge and say “Boys and girls are not to be within eight inches of each other.” I’m not that cruel, but still. There is no need to be kissing each other in front of other people.
    This is not only uncomfortable for me, but also for the couple. Being seen by others while you’re kissing your partner must not be fun. If I were the girlfriend, I would be uncomfortable when everyone passed me with a disgusted look on their face. And not only do people have a habit of looking, they also have a habit of talking, and you might get a lot of unwanted “publicity”. If you’re into that sort of thing.

  • The Everyday Stresses of Being in High School

    Yes, teenagers experience stress. We as teenagers know that it is not easy being a teen.     As high school students, there can be various reason why we have stress, especially because we are also so close to adulthood. We cannot always control everything ourselves.

    If a person is feeling stressed, seek help. One should not feel afraid to ask for help or be afraid of what other people might say. Stress can lead to anxiety, which we would not want right.

    Stress can come from trying to control things that we cannot, or from something traumatic. Always remember that we can only control our attitude and our actions in life.
    Some real life examples are schoolwork, tests, exams, moving, sports, violence, etc. There are also some very common reactions to stress which can just suck the life out of you, like not being able to remember things or having trouble sleeping or even having trouble concentrating at school.

    The Care Center’s Michael Grey said, “ A great deal of stress is relieved when we quit trying to control everyone and everything around us.” If you would like more information on stress, feel free to read Mr. Grey’s book, “The High School Guide to Significant”. The last few pages are all about stress and how to deal with it.

    We’ve all probably felt stressed at some point and one of my best ideas to relieve stress, is to do something you enjoy doing, for example a sport. It helps a lot, trust me, it’s helped me to clear my mind from things.

  • Black History Month

    Black History Month

    I remember in middle school and elementary school when we used to spend time in February learning about important Black Americans and their impacts in American innovation, culture and society. I never realized that we would no longer discuss any of this once we “promoted”  to high school. The only ways for Poly students to discuss or learn about even the most minute piece of Black Americans’ role in America is to take Black History or Ethnic Studies as an elective, or be lucky enough to have Sarah Schol for English.

    It is beyond annoying that as an African American  I spend most of my life learning only about the accomplishments of people who look nothing like me. I feel like many people of color feel the same way that I do. In all honesty, I can’t even remember a time when we learned about Hispanic Heritage month in class.  Even when the High Life staff discussed writing about Black History Month, one staff writer didn’t even know February was Black History Month.

    For this reason I feel like public education system is failing students of color in the history department and it is time something is done about about it. The district should put more emphasis for students to learn about minorities and the influence that they have in American culture.

  • The Bachelor: The Pros and Cons of Corinne

    The Bachelor: The Pros and Cons of Corinne

    Pro:

    This season of The Bachelor features Nick Viall, age 36, who has been on two seasons of the Bachelorette – twice as a runner up (how unfortunate) –  and a contestant of 2016’s Bachelor in Paradise. Now Nick is ready to find love as the Bachelor. But this is only the beginning.
    The first episode started with 30 women and the number has now dwindled down to a mere four. It’s so bizarre… each one of these women considers herself the Bachelor’s girlfriend. So many women have been sent home heartbroken and the tears are quite overwhelming. The show needs a theatrical factor, and that’s where Corinne Olympios comes in.
    Disregarding some of the things she does in her “relationship” with Nick, Corinne, who is a twenty-four year old co-owner of a billion dollar company, is hilarious.
    She naps after almost every time she talks with Nick because she’s completely over it, but can we blame her? She can be found eating and drinking as much as possible at the cocktail parties before the rose ceremonies and is, in my utmost opinion, the most honest contestant on the show.
    Corinne keeps it real and said she feels “like I’m not being myself, but I am trying really hard to be myself, but because I am trying really hard to be myself it’s making me even more not myself.” Yes, this is an actual quote from the twenty-four year old herself.
    Watching Corinne cry for sushi is what makes Bachelor 2017 memorable. Although it is a reality TV show where love is molded and synthetically created for an audience, Corinne is the actual entertainment, what would you really  expect more?

    Con:
    As I was scrolling through Hulu one night trying to find something new to watch, I noticed a new season of The Bachelor had started up. I figured I would pop my Bachelor cherry and I watched.
    I was shook by the fact that initially 30 women were all fighting for affection from one guy, granted Nick Viall is bomb fire delicious. I became super invested in the first couple women in the show, like both of the Danielles because they are just such pure beans,  because they seemed to have good intentions and were super likable, then Corinne Olympios popped up.
    She is the epitome of everything I hate. She thinks she is all that because she runs her own business and has a nanny. She is super disrespectful; she once slept through a rose ceremony because she had already received a rose (immunity). She is constantly napping at the most important time – I guess she really needed some beauty sleep.
    In one episode, a group date consisted of a wedding photo shoot. She was jealous of Brittany, who was chosen for the Adam and Eve wedding and her “wedding dress” was nothing but a leaf bikini bottom and her long hair covering her bare breasts. In order to catch Nick’s attention, she decided to take her top off and have Nick cover her boobs with his hands for her.
    She won the photo shoot and earned extra alone time with Nick, even though she already has plenty because she snatches him away from the other girls constantly to increase her alone time.
    I believe her winning was totally unfair and sends the wrong message about how to get a man to like you. She disgusts me in everything she does. She is making everything about sex and she’s SOO whiny and I just can’t deal with her. Her personality is your typical Regina George Mean Girl.
    It makes it seem like Nick just wants someone to fool around with when he is on The Bachelor for the third time because he wants to settle down. It’s unfair to all those women who are there to get into a serious relationship.
    I cannot believe Corinne has lasted and made it into the final four. Since the beginning I have been rooting for Raven, a sweet Southern girl who once walked in on a boyfriend cheating on her and who honestly deserves better. Corinne is the reason that people bash the Bachelor and is only there to be the butt of the joke.

  • Everyone Deserves Respect, Including Our Teachers

    Everyone Deserves Respect, Including Our Teachers

    Sadly, the reality nowadays is that many students do not have much respect for teachers. Since the day I entered middle school, I witnessed many students who came to class calling their teachers some derogatory terms and talking back for no reason.
    Talking back to a teacher doesn’t make a person look cooler.

    Sometimes teachers are acting “extra” and getting us in trouble for no reason, but that does not give anyone the right to talk back because I think that we are educated or at least we can be. But some people start talking smack and it even seems like they want to get that teacher mad just so they can start an argument. This is really stupid, why argue with someone that you know can kick you out of class or even worse, depending on your behavior.
    Teachers deserve respect. Some teachers come up with tons of ideas about why some students act so disrespectfully, such as conflict at home, lack of upbringing, and other excuses. So think before talking back to teachers, because it destroys parents’ images, too.
    They are the ones that raised you and I do not think that they raised you in that kind of environment involving violence, screaming and arguments. They showed you love and you should learn to do the same. So respect your teachers and remember you might end up relying on them to get into college.