Handling the Fear Factor
March 27, 2013
By Michael Johnson The beads of sweat coalesce on your forehead and your heart is pounding an SOS in your chest. Surely, there must be a fire in the building or an approaching tornado. No, it’s just another standardized test. These common school situations induce terror in some students while... Read more »
Witnessing Inauguration Inspires Students
Reneise White, Staff Writer
March 4, 2013
Experiencing the inauguration of the second term of the first African American U.S. President was like being a part of history in the making and provided the highlight of the Washington D.C. trip for students. Most could not believe they were actually there. “It’s hard to describe,” said senior... Read more »
Arming Teachers
Michael Johnson, Editorial Writer
February 26, 2013
After the recent shooting at Sandy Hook, some political voices have called for arming teachers. The solution to stopping gun violence in schools is not to add more guns. Having an armed resource officer in some schools as a deterrent to day-to-day violence may be reasonable in certain well-considered... Read more »
Banning Bandwidth: Foresight or Folley?
Michael Johnson, Editorial Writer
October 29, 2012
The directive couldn’t have been clearer: “All electronic devices are prohibited during school.” Research supporting this stance couldn’t be murkier, however. Other than data from surveys on cell phone use at school, almost no studies have addressed the impact of students’ use of electronics... Read more »
Not your Parent’s Prom
Michael Johnson, Editorial Writer
April 24, 2012
Spring is upon us and brings with it the high school tradition of prom. Prom should be a fun-filled social gathering but the hype and expectations that revolve around this event are often overshadowed by anxiety and a sense of failure for some students. I challenge the progressive student body of U.... Read more »
Media Bombards Teens with Sex
Asia Garrison and Madeline Lewis, Guest Writers
January 17, 2012
It is the year 2011, and we face a problem that wasn’t even a topic of discussion twenty years ago. The topic is sex. Sex is something we can’t escape or get around nowadays. Its presence in the media is prevalent in popular music, movies and TV shows that emphasize sexual relationships and teen... Read more »
Ending Violence in our School is Worth the Fight
Michael Johnson, Editorial Writer
January 10, 2012
In these times when reports of the “knockout game” are consuming the headlines, how are we to view episodes of physical violence at school? Is school violence a fact of life, an inevitable product of teenage hormones and immature frontal lobes? What should we, as students, expect, and how do we feel... Read more »
A Case For Uniforms
Caroline Martinez, Editor-in-Chief
October 14, 2011
Uniforms are not created as a quintessential solution for all school problems, but they do help create a better environment with more pride in schools and an appreciation of a person as a whole. We live in a materialistic world where schools sometimes become a fashion show, instead of the relaxed learning... Read more »
A Case Against Uniforms
Michael Johnson
October 3, 2011
The looming threat of school uniforms has reared its ugly head at University City High School. What crisis is this visible display of conformity supposed to solve? The empirical evidence does not support the delusion that uniforms accomplish anything positive and the institution of uniforms in public... Read more »
Is the Cost of Education too High?
Ethan Farber
March 21, 2011
Let’s face it—we’re in a recession. It is a recovering recession, but a recession nonetheless. Since the stock market crash of 2008, prices have been down, companies have filed for bankruptcy, loans have been scarce, and unemployment has been high. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics,... Read more »
