Respect is Disappearing

Posted on by The Portlight

By: Nancy Goodpastor

Nowadays you don’t see respect, especially when it comes to students.
The respect that one is supposed to have for their superiors is diminishing, and diminishing fast.
It is not okay for students to do as they please and be mean and hateful toward a teacher; it’s just wrong, plain out wrong.
Teachers love to teach and they love to teach kids.
If they didn’t, they wouldn’t come to school every day and help us get OUR education.
They aren’t helping themselves learn, they’re helping us learn so we can better ourselves.
Teachers don’t deserve the immoral treatment they get.
Chemistry teacher Zubeda Alam said that a student was not doing his work, he had headphones on listening to his iPod, which violates school rules. She asked the student to take off his head phones and do his work or she would call his parents. The student then called her the “B” word.
Alam was called a derogatory name just because she told the student to take out his headphones and do his work.
What the heck?
No teacher deserves to be called names. They just want to teach and help students, but instead they get treated like dirt.
Edith Asker-Chipman recalls when a student talked back to her because she told him to get off his skateboard. She then said that she would take his skateboard if he didn’t get off. He made a gesture as if he was going to hit her with his skateboard.
Whether its gesturing, talking back, making comments, or saying things under your breath, it is still disrespect.
Teachers don’t have a big target on their head that says, disrespect me.Kids seem to just not care about how they treat teachers nowadays.
Cedric Johnson says that he “couldn’t care less if teachers are being disrespected.”
Are you kidding me? That right there is just a lack of respect and care.
Destiny Escobar states,”It depends on the situation”. For example, if a teacher is being disrespectful first, or if you’re trying to say something and a teacher won’t let you.”
That may be true, but a teacher is still an adult no matter if they do disrespect you first.You shouldn’t retaliate no matter how much you want to.
However, there are those students like Carlos Arias who said that, “ Teachers should be treated with full respect, regardless of the issue. They are our elders, therefore deserve full on respect.”
Even if they disrespect us we must respect them at all times because they are our elders and deserve respect. We may be younger, but at times we will have to be the bigger person and hold our tongues.

Are Students In Danger

Posted on by The Portlight

BY Nancy Goodpastor

With the recent school shootings the district is considering allowing  teachers to carry their weapons on campus.
The focus of the proposed guardian plan isn’t on stricter laws, or who should be allowed to possess guns, but rather the question of whether teachers should be armed with a weapon or not.
We should not have guns in the classroom because it can be a danger to students and the teacher as well.
Kids, if desperate enough, may act and if there is a weapon at his or her disposal in class, then there will be casualties.
Teachers can be dangerous too.
 Teachers could be a threat to students lives and their safety. Instead of the student going on a rampage and shooting, it could be a teacher.
Just because they’re adults, it doesn’t mean they are exempt from being dangerous. It could take just a word or a gesture for them to blow up .
A teacher could be having problems at home and they are stressed out because of this and a student may say or do something and the teacher might snap.
Some might argue in favor for teachers having guns in class because it will protect students and others; that it will make the students feel safe and at ease.
But you’ll be putting kids at a more higher risk and threat because they will be afraid, if a teacher has a gun at their disposal.
Students are supposed to feel safe at school, sadly most do not. Why would you put more fear in them by giving a teacher a gun?
If you give guns to teachers, you will be endangering their lives, and the students lives, as well.

Prom stories

Posted on by The Portlight

by Barbara Ortiz

One of the most anticipated senior activities finally arrived. The stress of finding a date, the perfect dress or tuxedo, and the perfect hair-do is finally over. Prom was held at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach on Friday, April 26th.
Senior Crystal Rodarte said, “I think it was worth the stress of having to go pick out a nice dress and having to do my hair and make-up. I had a lot of fun.” She also mentioned her favorite activity had been the photo booth because she got to take silly pictures with her friends, and keep those pictures as a memory.
“Prom was really cool,” said senior Rayme Velasquez, “It was kind of like a BIG party that you had to pay a lot for, and your friends are all dressed up.” She also said she enjoyed dancing through out the entire night.
“I had such a great time that night. I would want to relive it every weekend if I could,” said Paige de Leon.

Greatest Hero

Posted on by The Portlight

By Ignacio Sancen

Comic book heroes have fought crime in their printed worlds for decades, saving the world from villains like Adolf Hitler or Brainiac.
But out of every comic hero, Batman is unquestionably the greatest of them all.
Batman has been around since the late 1930s, and has gone by many names including the Dark Knight or the Bat.
Unlike most heroes in DC or Marvel, he has no superpowers or high tech armor.
He goes around fighting crime with his own two hands and help from an array of different tools and weapons.
Though he seems like a brute, he has a high level of intelligence, with a slight level of paranoia.
Put together, these two things prompted him to create several plans to subdue any current or former member of the Justice League, in case they turned rouge, or were being controlled.
These plans were seen in action in the movie Justice League Doom, when Vandal Savage stole the plans and used them in an attempt to kill the Justice League.
In the new DC video game, Injustice: Gods Among Us, he was one of the few remaining heroes in the world. He was also the only hero to oppose the evil world government.
Despite these facts people constantly say that dozens of other superheroes would beat him without breaking a sweat.
They use Superman as an opponent for Batman, with most of their arguments involving the Kryptonian fighting dirty.
But they fail to see that Superman doesn’t fight dirty. He holds back most of the time.
That being said, he would never use his full strength, or heat vision, on Batman.
Batman on the other hand excels in fighting dirty. He is often seen ambushing people, attacking from behind, and throwing explosive batarangs. Against Superman, he would carry Kryptonite laced weapons, or a shard of Kryptonite in his utility belt.
The Kryptonite would weaken Superman to the point where his powers would be useless and Batman would over power him.
If the mighty Superman can’t beat him then no other hero can and the title of world’s greatest hero goes the Dark Knight.

SRLA Student Leads the Pack in Marathon

Posted on by The Portlight

by Karen Guessman

Senior Ricardo Rodriguez finished first among Students Run L.A. (SRLA) in the Los Angeles marathon last March.

“It was really cool to be the first one. You see all the coaches clapping from different schools,” said Rodriguez.

Out of all first place times since the start of SRLA, his was third.

“Even though I didn’t achieve my goal to beat the record here, I do feel that I am successful,” said Rodriguez.

He practices three days a week for an hour and a half without changing his eating or sleeping habits.

When training, running helps him clear his mind. On the day of the race, his heart was “beating like a machine gun.”

During the race, he visualizes himself crossing the finish line, telling himself, “I can do it, don’t stop, don’t turn around, keep going and try my best.”

He plans to continue to go to competitions and marathons after he graduates high school but has no official college plans for himself.

“I saw other people running and it inspired me,” he said. “Running is my thing, my passion.”

 

Oliver the Great Chemist

Posted on by The Portlight

Eduardo Rivera

Oliver Arredondo has gotten the highest average score here at banning on a chemistry test.

The test was given by the Chemistry Olympiad – American Chemical Society.

It was distributed by the Chemistry Olympiad to the highest level chemistry class in the school, AP Chemistry. Many students took this test, including the schools valedictorian.

“Well, I was amazed when I first heard this and I’m very proud of myself for achieving this. I actually thought that the school’s valedictorian would get the highest score instead of me,” said Arredondo.

AP Chemistry teacher Mike Laura was very happy to hear about this great achievement and was proud of Arredondo.

Laura said, “I’m happy for Oliver and I honestly expected him to get  a high score for being on the top of the class in AP Chemistry.”

The Olympiad is an association that brings together the smartest kids in high school to test them on their knowledge and skills in chemistry.

Some advice Arredondo gives people taking this test is,“be sure to prepare with a lot of studying but also make sure to have the confidence to do the test. You can’t let it intimidate you at all. These tests are only here to test your skill but it isn’t the end of the world just try your best. Always do what works for you, always. And don’t ever let anyone tell you not to.”

CAHSEE Hunt Down

Posted on by The Portlight

By Andrea Fernandez

To increase the participation rate of students taking the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE), a team of attendance counselors busted a mission. Their risk: Find the missing test takers.

A team of pupil service attendance counselors began calling homes of absent students.

Surprisingly, out of all the 10th grade students, only six absences for the English section and four absences for the Math section were documented.

Attendance percentages came out to 99.06% for English and 99.36% for Math.

On the first testing day, pupil service advisor Maureen Greeley hopped aboard a Boys & Girls club bus to collect students and take them back to school.

Greeley told testing coordinator Daisy Lee that one students had a doctor’s appointment, and would surely go back to school after the appointment.

“ These students must have had transportation issues,” said Lee.

Or did they?

One student was contacted and his excuse was that he was playing video games.

“ I didn’t feel like going to school.” says an anonymous students  “I just wanted to be home and lay down because of how lazy I was. A friend of mine came over and we were just hanging out at my other friends’ place,”

These students were required to attend school the next day with a parent conference awaiting.

Surprisingly, out of all the 10th grade students, only six absences for the English section and four absences for the Math section were documented.

Attendance percentages came out to 99.06% for English and 99.36% for Math.

Despite the fact that a few students did not participate, a majority of students were very cooperative.

“ You have definitely raised the bar in participation on the 10th grade CAHSEE,” said Mendoza. “ I am very proud of our 10th graders, hopefully you have proven to yourself with planning and determination you can succeed in all your goals.”