EXIT EXAM
STAFF EDITORIAL
Thousands of California high school students were denied diplomas after failing to demonstrate adequate math and English skills during their exit exams.
But a number of students are challenging the system and have filed a lawsuit claiming the exam was unfair.
Although it is students attending resource-poor schools who unfortunately have to pay this price, the exit exams are valuable because it is an injustice when ill-prepared young people are sent into the world without sufficient skills. While the quality of education varies from school to school, that does not mean teachers should pass those who have not reached a set standard of basic knowledge.
The exit exam is a necessary challenge students must face if they want to go to the next level of the educational ladder.
Despite the alarming results, community colleges are still willing to accept those who have failed, giving them a second chance to prepare for entry to a four-year college or the workforce.
The exit exam can also be a helpful tool in showing which schools are not properly preparing their students. Preparation courses should be offered for high school juniors and seniors to eliminate this problem, especially for those who attend schools with lower scores.
We cannot send the message that it is acceptable to have below average math and English skills, two fundamental tools needed to function in society.
e-mail: editorial@theguardsman.com
HEALTH SHOULD NOT HAVE A PRICE TAG
BY DANI GOMEZ
EDITOR
COURTESY OF MRT CAMPUS
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Universal health care in San Francisco is not a new idea.
In 2005, city voters overwhelmingly supported Proposition 72, which required large and medium-sized companies to cover 80 percent of their employees' health care costs. Unfortunately, due to the high costs involved in its implementation, Proposition 72 did not pass.
Mayor Gavin Newsom tried to provide long-term health care in 2006 for more than 82,000 of San Francisco's uninsured residents. Passage of the plan requires the Board of Supervisors' and the state government's approval — which is unlikely to happen, considering the city’s out-of-shape budget.
True, the economy is experiencing a crisis, and many businesses are being forced to leave California; on this point, I must agree with Governor Schwarzenegger's remark that Newsom's health-care proposal is an “idea from the past.”
But while Schwarzenegger and other politicians are wasting time on empty debates with no sufficient conclusions, thousands of citizens are being denied access to simple necessities like dental or vision plans.
City officials admitted that the cost of their proposal would be approximately $200 million annually. Yet with so many of us in desperate need for medical care, something must be done even if it is expensive.
I am not sure where their estimate comes from, but there is one thing I am most sure of: Our government has a responsibility to provide a real solution for each and every uninsured citizen.
By "real solution," I mean affordable visits to physicians and reasonably priced medications.
That, or the only choice Americans will be left with is to take matters into their own hands and get fake Canadian IDs.
e-mail: editorial@theguardsman.com
ARAB-JEWISH TALKS PROVE FRUITFUL
BY ELI MILCHMAN
EDITOR
 Yasmin Sigel, a senior at UC Berkeley, mans the Israel Action Committee table in Sproul Plaza in Berkeley. Recently, tensions have risen between students groups for Israel and Palestine.
COURTESY OF MRT CAMPUS
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Not too long ago, this newspaper was privy to heated debates between two editors at this paper -- one Palestinian, the other Jewish -- as they discussed, argued and generally harangued the heck out of each other about the situation in the Middle East.
Just a few miles away from this newsroom, at San Francisco State University, Muslim women and a group of College Republicans butted heads n November 2004, with the conflict quickly escalating into something that subsequently warranted disciplinary action from the school. Each side says the other was to blame, but what happened was clear: a confrontation spurred by hate.
In that same year the East Bay Express reported that rampant anti-Semitism was on the rise and that the UC Berkeley campus was host to a spate of a spray-painted anti-Semitic messages and swastikas.
These two pictures reveal a dark, negative image to the sacred idea of an open-minded Bay Area.
But can the same thing happen at City College?
Maybe not. The blogosphere gives us a clue to the answer:
Follow the conversational thread of replies to a recent, fairly well-balanced story in the Stanford Daily's Web site about Arab and Jewish students' reactions to the recent conflict, and the feeling is different. There is vociferous discussion, but there also seems to be an attempt to understand the other camp.
If we can discuss our differences -- with passion, yes, but also with understanding -- maybe we'll have a chance to start building fragile bridges.
As for the two former editors from City College's The Guardsman, they still argue about the Middle East, and they're still very good friends. e-mail: chiefcopy@theguardsman.com
COMING IN
Faculty Poll
Will City College students face racial tensions due to Israelli-Hezbollah conflict?
Yes: 2 out of 7
No: 5 out of 7
“I think it's possible, unfortunately. Especially thinking back to 9/11, after which several of my Arab students faced discrimination by US born students.”
— Crima Pogge, biology
“No, I do not forsee racial tensions at this campus. This is a commuter campus, and I have yet to see our student body become highly politicized over anything. The students here are so busy with their academic load, along with trying to sustain themselves financially, they unfortunately have time for little else.”
— Kyle R. Thornton, radiologic technology
ON THE RECORD
Do you think high school students should have to take an exit exam?
Sean Vasquez
“Personally, to me the test was not important. It was just a right of passage. I think if you pass the class you should graduate. I say no test. It's pointless.”
Maisha Lintz
“One test to pass and go on is not good. It's going to make kids feel horrible and not want to make anything out of themselves if they fail."
Raymond Tan
“The test wasn't that hard. It would be funny for the native speakers to fail.”
Paul Arnott
“I think it can be good and bad. It just depends on the person taking the test.”
Victoria Trinh
“I don't think they should have the test. It does not show what you know. Some people do well on tests, others don't. Hands-on classwork tells more than a test ever could.”
Karlyn Desteno
“If schools werer smaller and more students oriented, everyone would be on the same level and the test wouldn't be needed.”
MILESTONE
BY MILES HARWELL
Editor
August brings a stampede of curious first-time and returning students to City College’s Ocean campus.
Hanging around at this illustrious school for the better half of five years has made me an expert at figuring out why some people are here.
See that group of guys headed toward the gym? They either play a sport or came to clean the jockstraps. What about the group walking up the trail behind Batmale Hall? Needless to say they won’t be attending classes today, due to chronic temptation.
The girl walking with about 50 add slips will probably get into just one class because she didn’t register online, and the group of guys in the car circling around the campus has no intention to enroll in any courses. They just came here to look cool.
In reality, the sea of people you see during the first few weeks of school will have evaporated into a small pond by the time finals come around. Welcome to City College, where some students come to learn, but most come to socialize and waste time. Others hang in there for half the semester, drop all their classes and return the following semester to retake the same classes, repeating the cycle.
Last semester, I was not chosen as a columnist. As a result, for four issues readers suffered by having to read about a columnist’s bizarre personal life while staring at a horrible picture of him winking at the camera. I will promise to leave my personal life out of this one, and I’ll only wink at the photographer if I get something in my eye right before the picture is taken.
e-mail: managingeditor@theguardsman.com |
