There is something compelling and frankly right-on about a student sending a letter directly to a journalist in an effort to make change for the better by putting ideas out to the public.
Recently I received two such letters from two juniors at Oceana High School — one from Corrina Angeles and the second from Jessie Lindt. Both Angeles and Lindt are participating in the Junior Exhibition which will be held tomorrow night, 6:45 p.m., in Oceana’s cafeteria. The students’ respective letters not only expressed their individual topical concerns but also served as an invitation to come hear what Oceana juniors have on their minds in regards to the current status of education in the United States.
Oceana humanities teacher Laurie Hughes explained the event’s objectives.
“The purpose of the Junior Exhibition is for students to use the knowledge that they have gained this year to prove their ability to research, to analyze and to reflect on an element of the current status of education in the United States,” Hughes said. “Since many consider public education to be today’s social justice issue, it is the chosen focus of this project. This project asks each student to understand how the subject of their research connects to education, to make a proposal that would improve the quality of education and to conduct an interview with an expert on their topic.” In addition each student must complete a community service project that will improve the quality of education at Oceana.
Corrina Angeles did her research on charter schools, a topic of particular interest to her as she attended a charter school in Hayward during her freshman year.
“This (charter) school was so different from the other schools I had attended in the past,” Angeles wrote. “The first thing I noticed was how our school was running in a small, old elementary school site. There were no lockers, there was a playground, my teachers were quite young and the first graduating class was only sophomores at the time.” “I got used to the small, packed school and learned to love the little community emerging within the walls of that charter school,” Angeles went on to write. “Now that I have the chance to know why that school is going through those conditions, I decided to choose it as my topic for my junior exhibition.” Angeles interviewed her former school’s vice principal and learned that teachers in charter schools are not part of unions, and that regardless of the years they have served working with a charter, they still run the chance of being laid off. This information led Angeles to look into tenure and unions and the fact that new teachers, no matter how talented, are the first on the “job” chopping block when school budget cuts come knocking. Admittedly an admirer of many tenured teachers, Angeles believes that an educator should be in the classroom not because of the rules of tenure but because they are the right person for the job.
“Knowledge is the first step in the process of change,” Angeles said. “I believe that raising awareness about this issue will make a difference.” Junior Jessie Lindt wrote that he is “big on the military, not necessarily the politics part but the training and tactics.” His exhibition topic is JROTC/ROTC.
“JROTC and ROTC are very different yet very similar,” Lindt stated. “JROTC has to do with high schools and their programs. ROTC has to do with college and their programs. The main similarity that brings JROTC and ROTC together is leadership training. JROTC is for people to go through the program and basically become a better person. ROTC is when you want a career in the military.” Lindt believes that JROTC would provide high school students with a choice of more advanced and interesting physical education programs. He also believes that regardless of whether one chooses the military for a career, JROTC offers a training that nurtures focus and discipline, which in turn would stop fighting in schools and disrespect in the classrooms and ultimately benefit test scores.
“At Oceana High School we have a few students who want to join the military and we have some students who question if they want to or not,” Lindt said. “We have different branches of the military come out and talk to us about it and say it’s fun, it makes a good career and it’s challenging. But we need more than that. I need more than that.”
Oceana High School Junior Exhibitions, 6:45 to 7:45 p.m., Thursday, May 12, in the cafeteria. 401 Paloma Ave. The event is preceded by Oceana High School Sophomore Exhibitions, 5:30 to 6:30 p.m., same date and location.
