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Show O nTmnTT7i"n t i i ; i i Heather R. Stallings, editor in chief Phone: 626-7121 11 Inadequate curriculum? High schools across the state are supposed to aim curriculum towards preparing students to attend college. How well are Utah high schools accomplishing this goal? Not well, not well at all! During my experience in high school, I found more enjoyment in trying to beat the system rather than stick with it. Not to say I didn't receive an education, but to say I learned more about changing the system than adapting to it. The problem with the majority of high school students is Signpost VIEWPOINT school officials are looking for it in the wrong places. Administrators are looking for ways to keep students in class. The Board of Education seems to think if students are exposed to a teacher for 990 hours of classroom instruction and 180 days of school, students will receive a decent education. They don't take into consideration the accelerated learners, or the students with learning disabilities. The most recent changes in the past five years have been the adoption of attendance policies where schools set an amount of days a student may miss, and how many times a student may be tardy to class. No changes have been made in teaching instruction. When such issues have been presented to school administrators, the response has been: "Look at how our (standardized) test scores are increasing!" The fact is the test scores have only increased a total of 1 percent since these policies have been adopted. Earlier this year, the Utah Taxpayer's Association evaluated all 40 of the Utah school districts. Of the local districts: Box Elder, Davis, Morgan, Ogden and Weber, all but one district (Ogden) scored over the state and national average. However, the performance seemed to vary from grade to grade, and from district to district. Ogden City schools have always set low expectations for test scores to show great improvement when the results come back. On the other hand, Box Elder School District set its expectations relatively close to the national average, and exceeded them by as much as 15 percent. When it comes right down to it, test scores and grade point averages are not the final product. The student as an individual is the final product. Weber School District's motto for the 1995-96 school year read: "Leave no child behind." What about the students who are overachievers? "Leave no child behind, BUT if a student gets ahead, hold them back, because we don't have a means of challenging them." Universities need to set guidelines for high schools and explain exactly what is necessary for college bound students. My proposal to school officials is to create a more versatile curriculum. Students will not learn if they are not challenged. I believe universities need to enforce better educational practices in the public school system. Otherwise, it's all downhill for everyone. opinion written by Micah Day, Signpost guest writer The Recipient of the UPA General Excellence award Editor in chief Managing editor News editor A&E editor Assign, editor Sports editor Copy editor Features editor Graphics editor Photo editor Production mngr. Advertising mngr. Secretary Adviser Publisher Heather R. Stallings Taylor S. Fielding Alisa Rasmussen SueShipman Melissa Karren Brandon Rodak Lisa M. Jensen Heather Wallentine Broc Porter Frank Dankwa Tyler LaFon Emily Berry Georgia Edwards Dr. S. Josephson Dr. Randy Scott The Signpost is published Monday, Wednesday and Friday during Fall, Winter and Spring quarters. Subscription is S9 a quarter. The Signpostis a student publication, written, edited and drafted by Weber State University students. Opinions or positions voiced are not necessarily endorsed by the university. The Signpost welcomes letters to the editor. Letters should not exceed 350 words. Letters must include name, address, telephone number, relationship to staff and the signature of the writer. The Signpost reserves the right to edit for reasons of space and libel and also reserves the right to refuse to print any letter. Bring letters to the editorial office in UB 267 or mail to: The Signpost, Weber State University, Ogden, Utah 84408-2110. Attn: Heather R. Stallings, editor in chief. they are not challenged enough. The curriculum is not suitable to a large amount of students. Schools seem to always be looking for a happy medium, and ppost The Signpost Phone numbers Editor in chief Managing editor News desk Arts desk Sports desk Assignments Production Advertising Adviser Fax 626-7121 626-7105 626-7507 626-7105 626-7983 626-7983 626-6358 626-6359 626-6164 626-7401 If plants could Seeking inspiration on the college "ghost-campus" is a little bit like traveling to India to search out a Maharishi who will tell you the meaning of life. Of course, there are hundreds of petty to major gurus in India, and since each believes his own discipline is the ultimate pathway to enlightenment, you're wise to choose your gurus very, very carefully. The balmy breezes blowing across freshly-mown fields of grass and brilliant floral perfume wafting its way westward off the Wasatch Front at Weber State University inspired me to seek one such discipline of wisdom here this summer: botany. Professor D.M. Gatherum, I had heard, was unusual, as I found out quickly on the first day of class when he passed out peas from his home garden and started waxing eloquent about his grandmother and canning jars full of peas in southern Utah. "Pisum sa ti vum," he said, was the scientific name of this botanical wonder, which you can buy for 69 cents a pound at Smith's Food King or grow in your own backyard soil (not "dirt," mind you that's the stuff under your fingernails, he said. Plants generally grow in soil.) , They were delicious. I was inspired. We all were! And not merely because the class convenes at 7:30 a.m. and finishes at 8:40 a.m. with all 50 of us fully conscious at last. According to . Professor ZD 6 6 The path to ruin is lined with expectation. 99 anonymous L talk, what would be learned? CI Consider the Source Sue Spillane-Bramlette . Gatherum (what a great name for a botany instructor), the plant is a "primary producer, a living organism," which, he suggested, may have some sense of awareness of the insensitive mammoth woolly beast-man-which lumbers across its grass and chain, saws down its Ponderosa Pines with impunity. "It's just lucky," he said, "that Plantae Kingdom members don't have vocal chords and can't speak out, or they might have an awful lot to say about the way they're trea ted on this campus and worldwide for that matter." "Wow, " I thought, "this is stuff I've never actually considered." "Plants making whoopy," as our "Yoda" of Botanical Science called it, with their gametes (stamens and pistils) flying at each other all around us, invisibly, was just too wonderful for me to envision.Then there is "vegetativepropa-gation," where geneticmaterial can be grafted into some "root stock" material and made to reproduce itself in exact duplicate from a "start" or "scion." This was awe-inspiring stuff to me.. .but, but... "Why does the tomato at Smith's Food King have no taste nor color, Master?" I inquired timidly of Professor Gatherum. note of the day ""IT WAS W TH5 STUPCJ "Ah, it is a good question which you ask, my daughter," smiled the good Botanic Master. "For you see, agriculturally, and for the good of all consumers, it was decided in the great laboratories of life that creating tougher skin for machinery picking and ship-. pingSolanum Esculentum unripe from Mexico and California was more fiscally advantageous for the cashcrop growers. Thus they have agreed to sacrifice the wondrous taste and rich red color of the tomato for these more preferred quali ties of the mass marketplace. Do you understand this?" "If it is so, Botanic Master, then we'd ought not to participate in this conspiracy to control Solan-aceae, our most flavorful red salsa-maker and spaghetti sauce staple. "The only alternative, my daughter, is to grow the tomato for yourself, as men and women on this planet once did. Remember, if you allow others to do for you what you can easily do for yourself, then you will suffer many such indignities at the hand of their whims and fancies. Do you understand this?" "Yes, good Master, and I thank you," I said. Such was my introduction and first lesson from WSU plant guru, D.M. Gatherum last week. I would return to him again and again to learn the lessons of the forest and field. Enriched by my first choice of inspiring yemen, I journeyed on to the next my photographyinstructor... |