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Wednesday
October 19,
2005
Students are problem, not educators
MAD
with Jesse Bishop
I often blast educators
and administrators for not
doing as much as they
could in the classroom. 1
still think that we should
be teaching more and
administrating less, but
I experienced life as an
educator last Friday at
Carrollton High School.
I was asked to teach
a section on poetry to a
group of students that were
rumored to be “the best of
the bunch.”
Well, if the students
I met were the best, we
are even worse off than
I predicted before. I did
meet some bright, maybe
even brilliant, students, but
Error fault of source,
not fault of reporter
By Dave Word
News Editor
daveword@bellsouth.net •
.1 ... >
After all the
squawking about
inaccurate information in
last week’s issue I think
that some clarification of
the matter is in order.
There is also one
person to whom I, and
the newspaper, owe a big
apology.
Brett Miles wrote a
story about homecoming
activities, which
appeared in the Sept.
28 issue of The West
Georgian. The article
was well-written, but the
time she gave for the pep
rally was incorrect.
Not having any
reason to doubt that
what she wrote was
correct, and not having
heard from anyone to the
contrary, I published the
incorrect time again in
the Campus Calendar the
following week.
Someone wrote a
letter complaining about
the error and we published
it in last week’s issue.
If I, as news editor,
had taken the time to ask
Brett about the source of
her information, after I
received the complaint
about the paper
publishing the wrong
time for the pep rally,
she could have shown
(Tlic West deorgian
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Opinion
on the whole my day was
filled with repeating myself
to the mindless stares of
piles of breathing carbon.
Before 1 launch into
a tirade that’s sure to get
panties/boxers in wads, let
me say that the very first
group I taught that day
was amazing. They will
have successful collegiate
careers if for no other
reason than the fact that
they were engaging. These
students were thoughtful
and responsive; it was
almost as if I were teaching
a college class again.
Alas, this could not
last. The second and
third groups, with some
me where she got it.
After the paper came
out- on 'Wednesday >Bre>
told me where • she 1 goit
the information: ft came
from an information
packet she was given by
the Student Activities
Council at the time she
wrote the story.
According to the
schedule in this packet
the time for the pep rally
was 7:30 p.m., just as
she had reported.
Unlike the young
lady who wrote the
complaining letter in
last week’s issue, I fully
understand that mistakes
are often easier to make
than they are to catch and
I’m sure that the people
who put the schedule
together put their best
effort into it. It was
wrong, but stuff happens
and we move on.
Brett Miles has had
to take the heat for this
error, both via the letter
to the editor and from her
newswriting professor.
She has done this
gracefully and without
protest at the shabby way
she has been treated.
So I think it is time
for me to make amends
and offer Brett a public
apology for not asking
for her side of the story.
I hope someone else on
campus will also send her
an apology.
exceptions, sat mindlessly
staring out of the window,
doing homework for other
classes and blinking.
That’s right blinking.
Nothing more, nothing
less. Blinking.
Now, I feel sorry for
high school teachers. I hate
that they must go through
this each day. Think about
how very depressing this
could be.
1 realize now that
no grand delusions of
education could save
teachers from being sucked
into the mindless vortex
that i being an American
teen. To think that this is the
generation that will carry
us forward ..sheesh, now I
sound like my grandfather.
But maybe he was
right. Maybe ours is a
generation of slackers. I
wanted to be angry about
this, but 1 can only muster
tragic pessimism.
I watched as the twenty
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locSSnf I 0 I °r . 1
Daniel Bell, Editor-in-Chief
Stephanie Smith, Advertising & Business Manager
Dave Word, News Editor
Bobby Moore, Sports Editor
Samantha Bishop-Bell, A&E Editor
Sunay Tamashev, Photo Editor
Samantha P. Bishop, Copy Editor
Amy Lavender, Copy Editor
Elizabeth Bounds, Webmaster
Doug Vinson, Advisor
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establish
ment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;
or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the
right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition
the Government for a redress of grievances.”
First Amendment, United States Constitution
plus blank faces blinked
and drooled and I thought
to myself that this had to
be the effect of some ill
fated group living on a
toxic waste dump.
Then 1 find out that
Carrollton students are
considered to be “bright.”
God, I hope they mean
bright in that Chernobyl
way. Again, there were
some kids in those classes
that were willing to try
something new, to think
about language, but on
whole for every one student
that asked a question, ten
sat lifeless.
I think that I’ve sadly
accused educators of not
teaching, but I’ve begun
to rethink the “art” a bit.
For high school students,
I think it’s something like
this: We ask teachers to
carve “students” from
blocks of granite, but we
only give them play-doh
for hammers and chisels.
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