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Dewey To ItJohn Dewey High School Issue #5June, 2008

September ChangesBy Tina Gill and Anton Andrusenko

Imagine how crowded our lunchroom would be if all the Freshmen ate lunch during D Band!Q

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Stunning Ignorance

By Anthony Vega and Cherie Huang with additional reporting

by Anastaysia Martinova

Do you know when the Civil War was fought? How about when Columbus sailed to the New World? You would be surprised at the number of teens who got these simple questions wrong!

Americans, especially teenagers, live in “stunning ignorance.” of history and literature. According to a telephone survey commissioned by Common Core, 1,200 17-year-olds were asked to answer 33 multiple-choice questions about history and literature. Fewer than half of American teenagers knew that the Civil War was fought between 1861 and 1865, and one in four said Columbus sailed to the New World some time after 1750, not in 1492!

Another shocking stistic:about a quarter of the teenagers were unable to correctly identify

Stunning Ignorance .....continued on page 10

Pg.1-September Changes

- Stunning Ignorance Pg.2 - Let Them Eat Pie - AP Spotlight Pg.3 - Tribute to Dance Pg.4 - The Gun and the Gavel - Mr. Doyle on Gun Control Pg.5 - Global Food Crisis - Report: Vietnam, Myanmar Pg.6 & 7 - Galavision - Taiwanese Movies - Media Violence - Eating Healthy Pg.8 - Cloverfield - Summer Movie Review Pg.9 - Bowling Pg.10 - Cooking up the Comic Spirit - Writing a College Essay Pg.11 - What to Look for in a College - A Teacher Who Loves His Job Pg.12 - Devoted to the seniors

Index

There’s a saying, “The only thing that’s constant is change,” and there’s certainly no shortage of proposed changes at John Dewey High School.

Recently, our admin- istration, faculty and staff have mulled over a multitude of possible changes at our school, including the following: combining two cycles into a one semester structure, eliminating free bands for incoming freshmen, and requiring that all freshmen be both programmed for lunch and have their attendance taken and during D Band. In addition, all faculty and support staff recently voted on whether or not to have full time scanning at JDHS.

We met with Principal Fried and our A.P., Guidance, Ms. Saturno, who graciously took time out of their busy schedules to offer their views on these important matters.

Combining Two Cycles into a One Semester Structure

We asked Mr. Fried to tell us more about combining two cycles into one semester. He explained that although we will be implementing a two semester structure, we really are keeping a four cycle year in many respects. For example, there will still be midcycle progress reports.and end cycle report cards.

Also, courses will be paired together. There will continue to be automatic moves, such as offering “Global 3” in Cycles 1 and 2, and “Global 4” in Cycles 3 and

4. In other instances there will be paired classes, and in instances where there is not a natural pairing, efforts would be made to find “the best possible pairing.” Mr. Fried stated that such pairings would be left up to the discretion of individual departments. For example, the English Department could decide to pair “Women’s Voices” in Cycle 1 with “Women in Literature” in Cycle 2, if the department thought it was a pairing that made sense.

Mr. Fried also pointed out that another benefit of maintaining cycles is that it would help upperclassmen who need to take only a cycle’s worth of work.

Mr. Fried then explained the rationale behind combining two cycles into one semester. He told us that it would cut down on program changes in the 2nd and 4th cycles, which would result in fewer programming issues. Another benefit is that there would be a more structured environment. This structure may help incoming freshmen adjust to the unique nature of Dewey and maintain this adjustment more responsibly through the initial five-month period. Generally, studentswould keep the same teacher,and classes would be heldduring the same band for thewhole semester. Studentswould not have to readjust toanewclassandanewteacherinthe2ndand4thcycle.Also,Mr.Friedbelievesthisstructurewould provide an “added

securitymeasure.”

Unassigned Bands, D Band Attendance, and Lunch

When we asked Mr. Fried about the possibility of eliminating free bands for incoming and continuing students, he said that this matter is still under discussion. However, he noted that part of the Dewey philosophy is that students should see free bands as “unassigned independent study time” in which there are “acceptable places to be and acceptable things to do.” Therefore, it follows that as part of the Dewey philosophy, if students are involved in responsible decision-making, they will choose for themselves what to do with free bands, whether it be having lunch, visiting the RC, or going to the library.

Although the Department of Education suggested Dewey have a “captive lunch,” it is an idea still in the discussion stage. Mr. Fried pointed out that there are many issues which would have to be resolved in order to make captive lunch a reality. First of all, while 800 students currently fill the auditorium during D band, our cafeteria only fits 350 - 400 students. Therefore, the idea of programming all freshmen for a D Band lunch is not practical. Mr. Fried also noted that it is during D Band that Dewey’s classroom space is being maximized.

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Dewey News Dewey NewsLet Them Eat Pie

We’re sure John Dewey students know that Pi equals 3.14159 (you knew that, didn’t you?), but did you know it’s also cause for celebration once a year in the Math Depart-ment? That’s right, and we asked our Math A.P., Ms. Revinskas, to give us all the pertinent information about it. She said, “We started Pi Day four years ago; it’s held on March 14th at 1:59, because March 14th is Einstein’s birth-day, and because Pi is 3.14159. Pi Day is held in the Math Resource Center, and it’s by invi-tation only.” Ms. Revinskas went on to elaborate more about the event. She said, “We have a Pi contest – 20 questions about Pi – and we give out awards, take pictures, have refresh-ments (pie included), and basically have fun. We invite the Math Team, students from the poster contest, students who scored well on

the American Math-ematics Competition, and the Mouse Squad (they help fix techno-logical equipment at the school).” Ms. Revinskas told us that Pi Day also celebrates events in the Math Department, in-cluding the Poster Con-test and the nationwide mathematics test. She explained about the poster contest, saying that “the theme was ‘Math is All Around Us – 3D Math.’ The post-ers were judged by art and math teachers, guidance counselors, Principal Fried, Assis-tant Principal Kaplan,

and some of our other Assistant Principals. There were three winners: Joshelyn Vivas won for mathematical content, April Joy Riv-ers won for artistic presentation, and Philip Gorokhovsky won honorable mention. These posters are on display outside Room 311.” We also learned about the nationwide math test administered at Dewey on Wednes-day, February 27, during A and B Bands in the student cafeteria. Ms. Revinskas told us it’s called the American Mathematics Competi-tion; it’s open to all students, and the pur-pose is to identify students who are excel-lent in math. There are 25 challenging math questions, and the level is significantly high-er than the SAT. Intrigued, we took our cameras into the Pi Day celebration and found the RC stuffed to the gills with students, faculty,

By Katherine Cox

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People eating pie at the celebration for “Pi”.

We sat down with Ms. Revinskas, the A.P. of Math here at John Dewey High, and although she has a busy schedule, she generously gave us time to know more about the activities in the Math Department and to tell us about herself.

What is most challenging about being A.P. of the Math Department at Dewey?A: Making sure everything functions smoothly and working with the wonderful math teachers.

Q: What do you find most challenging?A: The most challenging is the curriculum and the Re-gents.

Q: What was your favorite subject when you were going to school?A: Obviously math, because it came easily without my having to study it, and I enjoyed the thrill of solving difficult math problems. The other subject I liked was art because it is relaxing after all the stress of solving math problems.

Q: What is your teaching background?A: I started in Hillcrest H.S. in Queens, then Jamaica H.S., and then I came to Dewey and started teaching here in 1976.

and, of course, yummy pie and other refresh-ments. A good time was had by all – and boy! Was that cherry pie ever good!! Check out pictures of the event, and be sure to read all about Ms. Revinskas, be-cause she certainly leads an interesting life. We also want to thank Ms. Revinskas for her time, and the entire Math Department for a spectacular event!

Pi goes on, and on, and on, and on...

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Q: Which person was a great influence in your life?A: My parents, of course; and a math teacher at Tilden H.S. by the name of Mrs. Bynoe. One of the things that made me so proud of her was that she was organized; she was a bright, intelligent woman math teacher, and one of the few women in math I knew at the time be-cause most teachers were men.

Q: What are some of your hobbies and inter-ests?A: I love scuba diving and I have been all around the world, including Fiji, Tahiti, the Galapagos Islands, England, France, Mexico (many times), Hawaii, the Ca-ribbean, Egypt, Israel, Turkey, and Greece. I loved the Galapagos because of the amazing diving; it’s loaded with shark fish and underwater life, and I loved Tahiti because of the color of the water, the island structure, and the beautiful people.

By Katherine Cox With Additional Reporting by Danielle Reid and Ayesa Setu

A.P. Spotlight

Ms. Revinskas at Pi day.

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I am a complex individu-al. I eat, sleep, cry, and breathe like any other person on Earth, but I am unique in my own way.

There are certain things I do that I love, and what I love the most would have to be modern dance and ballet. Dance has slowly become

my new obsession. I began when I was about nine years old with Afro-Caribbean. I participated in my elementary school’s African dance program for two years be-fore it was cancelled. I then did hip hop during 8th grade, but I wasn’t very comfortable with it. Finally, I met my calling my freshman year of John Dewey High School. I was given physical education, but I changed my pro-gram to get Beginning Modern Dance. Since then, it has been a godsend. I’ve stayed out of trouble (for the most part), and I try to do all my school work. My mother says “If you do not do your work and come home with R’s, I will

Have you ever heard the saying, “Those who can’t do, teach?” I’d like to tell you about a teacher at Dewey who is both professionally accomplished, and loved and re-spected by his students. That teach-er is Mr. John Goring, the founder of the Dewey Dance Ensemble and a venerated figure at our school for the past 25 years. This spring, the Dewey Dance Ensemble honored his contributions for the past quarter of a century with a special dance con-cert on May 30 and 31st. Many of Mr. Goring’s associates and students, both past and present, paid tribute to him; and some even performed in the show! Mr. Goring has been study-ing the art of dance for many years; he started in the Barbados National Dance Theater, earned a scholarship to the University of the West Indies in Jamaica, and later came to Wash-ington, D.C. and New York City to further his dancing career. Mr. Gor-ing studied at the Alvin Ailey Dance

Theater for ballet, modern dance, tap, Afro-Caribbean, and jazz, and danced with the Ailey Modern Dance Company and Washington Ballet. Mr. Goring’s perseverance and hard work ethic paid off, be-cause he has appeared on Cable TV, performed on the television show The Jeffersons, danced at the Louis Johnson Dance Theater, and ap-peared in the movie The Wiz,which also included Diana Ross, Richard Pryor, Lena Horn, and Michael Jack-son. When I asked Mr. Goring who had most influenced him, he mentioned Louis Johnson and Eleo Pomare. He said they both took him under their wing and coached him. Not only did they teach him to dance, but they guided him to become an incredible black dancer. He remem-bered Eleo Pomare saying, “I want to train you”; he described Eleo as a dancer with tremendous technique who coached the young Mr. Goring to perform the steps on stage and to “think and dance from the inside.” Louis Johnson sent him to a teacher in Switzerland who was strict and al-ways told him “that he wasn’t land-ing right.” When I asked Mr. Goring why those people had such a huge influence on him, he replied by say-ing, “It’s the fact that I came from a small country, and went against my parents’ wishes to study something academically.” He thought that it was nice to go back to Barbados, and

see all of the people that look up to him. Seeing his students grow and perform as dancers stood out to Mr. Goring as he reflected on his ca-reer as a teacher. Sandy Alvarez, Jay-son “Mouse” Vasquez, Nicole Smith-Alvarez, and Kemi Ogun were among students that participated in Dance Ensemble and continued to have ca-reers as dancers. Some of Mr. Gor-ing’s students went on to perform in the Broadway show The Lion King, or went to the famous dance school Julliard. Two of his other students went on tour with a hip-hop dance company, and now make their living as performers. Mr. Goring started teaching here at Dewey in 1983 and took cer-tain students under his wing to ad-

vance their dancing, just as those who had coached him did. The con-cept of the Dewey Dance Ensemble was twofold: to have the masters of dance working with the dancers of Ensemble and to create a place where students had the freedom to “learn by doing.” Mr. Goring is an amazing teacher who has been through a lot to be where he is today. He works hard with his students as well as Dance Ensemble, and when the audi-ence sees all the hard work put into the sets, costumes, and lights, he wants them to leave saying, “Wow, that was a high school?” Mr. Goring has contributed greatly to our school for many years, and his spirit and drive will be missed.

take you out of dance.” My favourite style of dance would have to be either modern, jazz, or ballet. Jazz is lively and energetic. Ballet is full of grace and is very fluid. Mod-ern is like a mix of the two with a deeper meaning below. All three require a passion that makes it beautiful. Mr. Goring is the best dance teacher EVER. He’s been teaching at Dewey for about 25 years and is also the artistic di-rector for Dance Ensemble. He’s patient, and he encourages you. When Mr. Goring helps you, you don’t question his expertise. You treat him with the respect he de-serves.

Mr. John Goring: Artist and Educator Extraodinaire!By Dana Wade

Mr. Goring, GodsendBy Ashley Superville

Naomi Leconte, 16, Sophomore: I joined dance ensemble because I love to dance.

Anthony Buck, 17, Junior: At first I didn’t know what to expect, but after a while, I began to like it.

Verna Brown, 15, Sophomore: I like to dance

Deandra Southwell, 16, Sophmore: I joined dance en-semble because I love to dance!

One of Mr. Goring’s works: Shango

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Ashley dancing.

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After a year of training with Mr. Goring, I feel as if I’m a better person and dancer. I’ve become more patient and more alert. My dance technique has improved, and I am now a mem-ber of Dewey Dance Ensemble. With more training, I hope to minor in either Modern Dance or Ballet and teach dance classes. With dance as a perma-nent aspect in my life, I have more confidence. Dance requires a massive amount of skill, and the fact that I can do it makes me feel like I have achieved some-thing with my life. Hopefully, one day, I can help other people feel exactly how I feel right now.

Goring Students SpeakBy Ashley Superville

Mr. Goring at tropical Barbados

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National News

By Elvis Rodriguez and Jacqueline Lu

The Gun and The Gav lBy Danielle Reid

Mr. Doyle Says Yes To Gun Control

We have interviewed Mr. Sean Doyle on a number of issues that deal with gun control, and these were his replies:

Q: How would you interpret the Second

Amendment?A: I think it is fairly clear and I believe the right to bear arms goes to the militia. The chances of a burglar cornering a person in their house are very slim; therefore, they don’t need to possess a gun.

Q: What do you think the founding fathers had in mind when they wrote this amendment, and is it relevant to our

world today?A: Well, when they wrote it they were in the middle of the Revolutionary War so it was okay for citizens to own guns for self-defense, but today it’s an anachronism (something that no longer deals with modern day life). So I think it’s not relevant to our world today.

Q: If you were to divide guns into three classes: (1) automatic weapons such as AK-47s, UZIs, and Kalashnikovs; (2) hunting rifles; and (3) handguns - would you prohibit ordinary citizens from owning any or all of them?A: I wouldn’t prohibit hunting rifles because it’s an American tradition especially in rural areas. There is definitely no reason to have automatic weapons, and handguns aren’t necessary at all. Just to point out: 30,000 people died due to suicides; accidents, and

homicides, 10,000 each. The suicide rate is higher for policemen due to the availability of guns.

Q: Do you think guns should be registered (as we register cars, for example)? Why or why not?A: Guns should be registered because if they are used illegally, it can be traced back to the perpetrator.

Q: Do you think we should implement ballistic fingerprinting?A: Yes, because if something goes wrong you can trace it back to the source.Mr. Doyle also gave us statistics about gun violence among school children:1. Japan: 0 deaths2. Great Britain: 19 deaths.3. Germany: 57 deaths4. France: 109 deaths5. Canada: 153 deaths6. U.S.A: 5,285 deathsMr. Doyle remarked, “As it goes to show you, gun violence is starting to become global, and America is mostly to blame. The Supreme Court should issue something - for our sake.”

Social Studies Teacher Mr. Doyle.

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Columbine and Virginia Tech are well known, but not for their academic achievements. They’re in the public eye because of school shootings that have claimed innocent lives. We’ve even had incidents at John Dewey High School that were gun related. A report of an alleged gun last March resulted in a two-hour lockdown; and prior to that an alert security guard nabbed a student trying to enter the building with a loaded .45 caliber gun. Paradoxically, John Dewey is not a violent school. In fact, 78% of 100 students surveyed by the Publications Institute said they thought Dewey was a “safe” school; so if this sort of thing is happening at a safe school like Dewey, imagine what could be going on in other schools in the city, and around the nation. There is no question that school safety is an important issue for students, parents, and educators. Now that the Supreme Court is about to issue a ruling on gun control – an issue they haven’t tackled in almost 70 years – it’s important to see how such a decision might impact on our city environment.First of all, what is gun control? It is a term used to describe the culture war battle over the control of guns: should ordinary citizens be allowed to own guns and keep them in their homes, or should gun ownership be prohibited? The Case Recently, the Supreme Court took interest in a case over the District of Columbia’s strict gun laws, which not only forbids guns in homes, but also forbids all gun ownership. Some observers have expressed surprise that

the Supreme Court even took this case.The Justices may have delayed looking at this issue because it would mean they would have to issue their interpretation of the Second Amendment, which states: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a Free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.”

What the Amendment means is subject to interpretation. Does it mean that individuals may own guns, or is the ownership of guns a collective right because of the phrase, “A well regulated militia…?” I interviewed Social Studies teacher Mr. Paul Kadish to get his insight. He said gun control

supporters stick to a literal interpretation of the Second Amendment. They believe in the words, “A well regulated Militia.” They feel individuals should not have the right to own guns. In contrast, gun control opponents believe in a loose interpretation of the Second Amendment. Mr. Kadish said “They simply ignore the words ‘a well regulated militia.’”A Regional Divide In my view, in the Southern and the Western states, guns are very important. With its Wild West history, people in these regions are very conservative, and believe the Second Amendment gives them the right to own guns. Additionally, such organizations as the National Rifle Association argue that guns support the sport of hunting, and guns are necessary for protection when citizens feel their safety or property is being threatened. In the Northeast states - especially in big cities with large populations, many people are against guns and advocate for gun control. These citizens, for the most part, see guns as dangerous and deadly, and with gun control laws they can regulate and track gun ownership.Why Should We Care? A recent event in our school involving a fellow student with an alleged weapon makes us aware that something must be done to stop this. This Supreme Court case is important because it will increase awareness for both sides. However, no matter what the outcome, it won’t lead to anything drastic or immediate. The reason I feel this way is that there are already too many guns on the streets, and the Supreme Court ruling they are legal or illegal won’t make a bit of a difference. Guns are a big part of our society and people can always get one and use one. Don’t you agree?

If Guns Were Legal...By Elvis Rodriguez

“GIVE ME THAT!” “No, I had it first!”“I’m hungrier!” Imagine going to a country and see-ing people fighting for food in order to get it. Americans are lucky because they don’t have to fight for food, but in some countries of the world, there is a limited amount of food, which has led to starvation and riots. There are many causes for this shortage, and there are some solutions that can solve the problem. There are many causes of food crisis. One cause is the demand for food, especially from emerging markets such as China and In-dia. People from China and India have rising middle classes who want what Americans have. For example, they see Americans wearing Aber-crombie & Fitch, they like how it looks, so they want it. They see Americans eating McDonald’s, and they want that too. A second cause of the food crisis is the rising price of oil. It is impossible not to use fos-sil fuel in the production and delivery of food,

Imagine walking in the streets, seeing a little child asking you for food. You look at her; you see her flip flops worn and tattered, her clothes full dirt of and her hair a mess. She whispers quietly, “Excuse me, could you spare me a small amount of food or some money so I can buy food?” Due to a food crisis in Vietnam, children from poor families can’t afford rice because of the recent price increases. The food crisis is overwhelming; it is so bad that my family in America must send money to help my relatives in Vietnam. According to an article “Food Crisis Squeezing Vietnamese Poor” (in The Toronto globeandmail.com), families are struggling to get some rice into their children’s stomach to avoid malnutrition. Farmers in Vietnam have such a small spot of land that they cannot grow enough rice to feed their own families. They’re losing money due to high rent fees for farms and the high prices of fertilizer and pesticides. One farmer named Nguyen Thi Van said, “Our life is more difficult than last year.” She is a rice farmer that usually harvests rice for her family, but now her costs almost doubled and

Another place where the food short-age has had an effect is Myanmar (former-ly Burma). My dad (whose family emigrated from Myanmar), said that in Myanmar, many people had no food to eat, especially the old and children. The reason was because Myan-mar was hit by a cyclone which destroyed many crops, resulting in a lack of food. America had tried to help them by sending food, but that didn’t help at all, be-cause Myanmar is run by the military. When the United States sent food over to them, the military took all the food from the old and young, and they were left to starve and die. After the U.S. found out what happened, they stopped sending food, but then, even more people died because they didn’t have any chance of getting food at all. However, after a while, the U.S. negotiated with the soldiers telling them if them stopped stealing food from the people, they would start sending food again. The soldiers agreed, and now America is beginning to send food to My-namar.

Dewey International

Report on Vietnam

By Vinh To

Report From Myanmar

By Amy Lee

so that increases costs. Some people can’t af-ford oil anymore because the prices are rising every week, and it’s just too expensive. A third cause of the food crisis is using crops to make biofuel (food made from living matter). If more than half of the field of crops is used for the production of fuel, there is less space for farming food, which leads to a food crisis. The crisis not only affects the poor but also affects the working and middle class. In some countries, the rising price of food has led to riots, starvation, and anarchy. Certain countries are experiencing a food crisis. One country is China. People in China have moved from poverty into the global economy. They eat two times a day instead of one and their demand for food and other luxu-ries, like meat, is pushing up prices. Another country is India. People in In-dia are trying hard to look for food and milk for their children. People are giving up meat because they can’t afford it. In addition, food prices have doubled in two months. In addition, supermarkets in Thailand are limiting the amount of rice people are al-lowed to buy, while in Haiti, people are selling patties made of mud, oil and sugar. That is a real food crisis. I interviewed my relative from Taiwan who said that food prices also have risen there. Foods are more expensive than they used to be. Instead of going to the supermarket, they go to the street markets because food in the su-permarket is more expensive. Sometimes, the street market doesn’t have what you need, so you might have to go to the supermarket and pay a little extra to get what you need. Now in New York, oil prices and food prices are rising. My family limits the food we buy every time we go to the supermarket, or grocery store. My family always used to go to Costco and buy a lot of foods and other things. Now, however, all the foods are so expensive that we limit the amount of food we buy. We

don’t buy as much as we used to, and we try to look for the cheapest and lowest priced items. One solution to the food crisis in the world is using sugar based ethanol in the Unit-ed States. We could import it from Brazil, but the United States places a tariff of 54 cent per gallon on it. Sugar based ethanol burns cleaner than fossil fuels and more efficiently than corn based ethanol. In a State of the Union message in 2006, President Bush said that we could use wood-chips and stalks of switch grass to run a car. Another solution is - in some way - to bring down the cost of oil, which would serve to make food more affordable. Also, if people pay less money on gas for their car, they could spend more on food. Now that you know there is a food crisis in some countries, you should do more to save food instead of wasting it. Remember, there are places where people just eat mud and dirt. Don’t think it’s never going to happen here because when it does, you’re going to think back and say, “I should’ve saved food instead of throwing it out!”

her difficulties have doubled too. She spends most of her money on fertilizers for her farm to grow rice and she doesn’t even have enough money to pay the school fees for her daughter. A daily bowl of rice, is almost unaffordable for Nguyen Thi Van. Vietnam is not the only country that is suffering from this food disaster. Rising food prices have made simple food like rice and corn unaffordable for many people, making the poor unable to eat and suffer from hunger. My fam-ily members in Vietnam are not earning enough money for themselves and their jobs yield low saleried. They are depending on my family in America to send them money to help them sur-vive in the future. As you can see, people in Vietnam are suffering from this terrible food crisis, and even owning you own farm is no answer. Even though we don’t feel this problem in the United States yet, it may not be too long before we do experi-ence this food crisis as those in Vietnam do.

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Dewey Lifestyle

How numbed to violence do you think you are? Throughout history, it seems as if violence has been around even longer than hu-mans have. Whether used as self-defense or as a strategy to obtain food, it’s not a secret that violence is part of our lives. Today, violence is every-where around us, but the contro-versial question we face is if the media is responsible for violence in our society. Violence makes up a large part of our media, either in video games, movies and shows, or in entertainment such as box-ing, wrestling and ultimate fight-ing; and it’s no secret that violence, much like sex, sells and sells well. First, let’s take a look at a very popular part of today’s youth, video games. Since its arrival in the 70’s, it has been an ever-grow-ing franchise that almost sells it-self, but with every great invention

comes controversy regarding its function. Video games and vio-lence have grown in the past years. Although it has not been proven that playing video games can trig-ger a violent nature, there have been reports of violent acts caused by imitating acts seen in video games. For example, on Thursday, January 31, 2008, it was reported that a man killed his daughter af-ter she broke his Xbox 360. As re-ported by Mark Raby from TGDaily.com, “According to media reports, Spellman’s daughter Alayiah pulled on the cords of the Xbox, causing the system to fall down and break. Spellman then struck his daughter so hard that he cracked her skull, said prosecutors. He may also have thrown her across the room, according to initial claims.” Another example would be a story from December 2007, tak-en from numerous gaming web-

sites such as IGN.com, where “Two teens, Lamar Roberts and Heather Trujillo, [had] been charged with killing the 7 year old sister of one of them by beating her with imi-tations of moves from the “Mortal Kombat” video games.” These are two examples of violence linked to video games. Whether the in-dividuals were truly brain-washed by endless hours of slaughter or just trying to imitate something they saw, it’s safe to say that video games were linked to violent acts. The next category is violence on television. Wrestling, ultimate fighting and boxing are also widely popularized forms of entertain-ment, and at the core of all three is violence. But there have also been cases of deaths reported due to these forms of entertainment. For example, as reported by The Indi-ana Times, “a 17 year old kid killed another boy of the same age with an elbow shot to the throat. The article calls it ‘true WWE style,’ as the boy was a fan of wrestling on TV.” There has also been a case in Florida where a 14-year-old boy killed his neighbor while perform-ing a “piledriver” as seen on WWE tapings. As I stated, the core of these shows is violence; therefore, fans of these programs (and there are many of them) are exposed to violence. These programs have storylines that capture a wide vari-ety of fans. Although highly trained professionals perform these violent moves, somewhere down the line, people get confused and assume they can perform the moves they see on TV with a friend. The truth is that the overly dramatic storylines

Media Violence By Merna Elwakil

influence impressionable younger audiences, who tend to imitate a lot of what they see as “cool.” The link between violence on TV and violent behavior in chil-dren was made clear by a land-mark study conducted at Stanford University. In the study, students in two similar San Jose elementary schools agreed to take part in a 10 day effort to turn off their televi-sions or watch only a minimum of 7 hours per week. The children were monitored by parents. Researchers found that after 20 weeks, there was a 40 percent reduction in physical aggression and a 50 per-cent reduction in the level of verbal aggression. Given all of the above in-formation, we can assume that en-tertainment obviously does play a role in the violence that we see in society. However, there have been precautions taken to isolate those who are easily influenced (namely the younger fans). The ESRB (En-tertainment Software Rating Board) has taken action and rates video games from “E for Everyone” to M 17+ for those 17 and older. Movies have their own rat-ing system for young people, such as G for General Audiences, PG for Parental Guidance, PG-13 for Parents Strongly Cautioned, and R for Restricted. I urge parents to become more active and moni-tor their children’s viewing habits. I also urge Dewey students to cut down on TV viewing. We can all en-joy anything we wish if we do it re-sponsibly and keep entertainment to just that - entertainment.

Eating HealthyBy Vinh To

Watching too much TV? Surfing the net, chatting on those social websites? If you are, you might be eating too much junk food. And that can lend to obesity! What is obesity? Well obesity

means that you have an unhealthy amount of body fat. You should have the right amount of fat in your body, but when you have too much, your body will have health problems. There are many of causes of obesity. The

main causes of being over-weight are eat-ing too much food that con-tains fat, and not being active enough. If you eat food that contains too many calories that your body doesn’t need, those calories will turn into fat. Too much fat results in being overweight or obese.

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Use the food pyramid wisely!

There are other causes as well; one that affects your weight is the genes you inherited. Another cause is your metabolism. People that have a slow metabolism tend to have an obese body because their body processes food too slowly. A person that takes in fats and cholesterol every day should maintain a healthy diet. A healthy diet is one of the important ways that teens can maintain an active lifestyle and pro-tect against health problems. Teenag-ers that want to have a healthy body should exercise at least 60 minutes a day and drink 6-8 glasses of water. Teens should eat with regard to the food pyramid: They should eat whole grain foods, vegetables, fruits, meat and beans, and milk and dairy. The body needs carbohydrates mainly for energy. The best food that is rich in carbohydrates is whole grain foods such as oatmeal, whole wheat bread, and brown rice.

Why not white rice? Yes, white rice is whole grain food, but white rice contains more sugar more than brown rice. The increase in blood sugar can cause weight gain, diabetes and heart disease. Next on the pyramid is the vegetable and fruit category. A diet with vegetables and fruits can de-crease the chances of having a heart attack or stroke. Another category is meats and beans. Foods from this group can give the body important vi-tamins and minerals. Also, don’t for-get the dairy and milk, which contains calcium that helps build bones and keep them strong. Eating the right variety of foods everyday can improve your body’s health, and teenagers won’t die prematurely from health problems. So my advice is to maintain a healthy diet, start focusing on what your body wants, and start eating healthy.

Tawainese MoviesBy Amy Lee

The main actors in My Bratty Princess

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Did you ever have a prob-lem trying to watch a movie made in a different country, like Taiwan, Japan, or Hong Kong? Are you too lazy to go out to buy the movie or borrow it from the library? Well now you don’t have to look any further. Thanks to a little some-thing called the Internet, you could access a great deal of information about Taiwan and China – espe-cially through their movies.

To help you begin your search there are a few websites you can check out: crunchyroll.com, YouTube.com, and mysoju.com. On some of these websites you must make an account to watch the series, but they are all free. One major difference be-tween American movies and Tai-wanese movies is the language. Unlike American movies where ac-tors speak in English (The Godfa-

ther being a notable exception), many Taiwanese films use different dialects, such as Mandarin. Other differences are the setting and his-tory. While most American movies are set in modern times, Taiwanese movies have a variety of settings. This is because Taiwan’s history is closely tied to that of China’s. My Bratty Princess is a great ex-ample of that. The costumes are what Chinese people used to wear in the past, and the actors speak in Mandarin. The scenery in most of Taiwanese pictures is filmed in the city of Taipei, Taiwan, or in the countryside of Taiwan. Also, another difference between American movies and Tai-wanese movies is their culture. The culture is different because most of the Taiwanese population believes in Buddhism, while in America they mostly believe in Christianity. In some Taiwanese movies, charac-ters go to temple, while in American movies, characters go to church. Besides the differences be-tween American movies and Tai-wanese movies, there are also some similarities. Both may have stories about young people, with plots about high school life or bas-ketball. Also, many focus on ro-

Do you have any idea what the Iraq war costs? According to Nobel Prize winner Joseph Stiglitz, the overall cost of the war will reach $3 trillion dollars! If you watch American TV or go to MySpace, you might not know that, but I do. How? I get my news from Mexico! I have direct TV, and I watch “GALA-VISON”, the Mexican news station. This station talks about all the soldiers that have died and the fact that there seems to be NO POINT for this war. Obviously, the news I get from Mexico is very dif-ferent from the U.S. news. WHY IS THIS SO? It’s be-cause of media consolidation. The networks are owned by major cor-porations. The following are some of the corporations that own the major networks:• NEWS CORP, owns FOX, • DISNEY owns ABC, • AOL TIMEWARNER owns CNN, • VIACOM owns CBS, • GENERAL ELECTRIC owns NBC. If it is not in the interest of these companies to talk about this war, then that information would be suppressed! How did all this happen? A

lot of it goes back to the FCC (Fed-eral Communications Commission) ruling of June 2, 2003. According to the article “FCC Adopts Media Ownership Rules” on CNN.com, the ruling allowed a major company to own television stations “which could reach 45 percent of the na-tional audience, up from 35 per-

cent.” The ruling also allowed a major corporation to own both a newspaper and a television (or ra-dio) station in large markets such as New York City. This allows News Corp., for example, to own both the New York Post and FOX TV sta-tions in New York City. By the way,

Galavision By Katherine Cox

“The news I get from Mexico is very different from the U.S news”

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did you know that MySpace is also owned by News Corp.? Two members of the FCC panel voted against the ruling that day. They are both Democrats. According to the article, they felt that the ruling would “concentrate ownership in the hands of a few, reduce the diversity of viewpoints and stifle reporting of local news.” One of those two commis-sioners, Michael Copps, said, “To-day the Federal Communications Commission empowers America’s new media elite with unaccept-able levels of influence over the ideas and information upon which our society and our democracy de-pend.” Now that I’ve informed you about this, do you think we are los-ing our freedom of speech? Is this country, the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - the country of freedom - becoming not so free? If News Corp., for example, suppresses in-formation, are we losing our free-dom? Or are we so distracted with our own lives we don’t even care about what’s happening?

Emperor Zhuyan is having a spe-cial moment with the ex-princess Situ Jing in My Bratty Princess

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mance and comedy. Now that you’ve learned a little about Taiwanese movies, why don’t you go online and check out the website? It’s a new experience. You might just end up liking Tai-wanese movies, and you could also learn about a whole new culture while watching the films.

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Entertainment Dewey Sports

By Joanne Leung and Cherie Huang

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Have you ever logged on to YouTube or MySpace and seen a video that changed your view on an issue? Have you ever seen amateur videos of police car chases or subway fights? Today, ordinary citizens can create media like never before. This idea is called citizens’ me-dia, and one movie that captures this idea is Cloverfield. A few Fridays ago, a friend and I went to see this movie. Cloverfield is about a mon-ster that attacks New York City. The movie starts with the main characters hosting a going away party for their friend Rob, who’s going to Japan for a job. Cloverfield, shot through the camcorder of a friend videotaping testimonials for Rob, gives a detailed account of everything that happens. When Rob’s ex-girlfriend, Beth, shows up with another guy, things get really weird, but there’s no room for awkwardness when the ground suddenly starts to shake. The partygoers go up to the roof and see a ball of fire in the distance; then they all rush down-stairs to see what’s up. Outside, as people crowd around waiting, the Statue of Liberty’s head comes flying into the streets and there appears to be something attacking the city. It turns out to be a big ugly monster that pops out of nowhere attacking and pushing down anything and everything in its path. As build-ings go down, people start running in fear and panic, debris is sent flying, yellow cabs and parked cars are crushed by the impact, dust is everywhere and the scene is bizarre. Though the movie calls for the stranded survivor ap-proach, it presents an alternative. Rob and three others from the party - instead of fleeing the scene - go to rescue his beloved Beth, who left abruptly after Rob got into a standoff with her male party guest. To me, Cloverfield stands out. This movie is unique, unlike some big-budget movies with overpaid actors and actresses. It’s shot through the eyes of ordinary citizens, not heroes, special agents, or vigilantes. In addi-tion, this movie, even with big bad monsters, is still realistic, displaying human emotions and instincts, such as fear, greed (people looting stores), courage and chivalry (the main char-acters going back to save a friend).

The way the film is shot is also realis-tic. In this day and age of technology and giz-mos, you can upload and download videos, a technique the film uses. In the beginning of the movie, the screen displays in bold text that the video we’re about to see is property of the United States Government. This means that the government would consider citizens’ media to be a reliable source of information. Today, the average citizen can play a part in creating and shaping media, with such websites as You-Tube or MySpace as examples. Now, average people can post videos about important and seri-ous events that TV news and newspa-pers can actually use. Cloverfield is not about t h e monster but about a group of friends trying to survive during a monster attack. The special effects are vomit inducing, the act-ing over the top (in a good way), and the script (what script) - just slick jokes and screaming - is appropriate. My only criticism is that the movie doesn’t provide needed info that can strengthen the storyline. The ending of the movie is not a conclusion. It raises more ques-tions as to why and where this monster came

Finally, the students won the Stu-dent - Teacher Bowling game! The students and teachers got together at Shell Lanes on April 7th after school. The students thought it might be tough to beat the teachers because the teachers had never lost a bowling compe-tition before. The students also thought that the teachers would win because some of the teachers were really good bowlers. For example, Principal Fried’s high score was 230! However, student Sean Bruno bowled 267 to lead the students to vic-tory. Both the teachers and students said it didn’t matter who won because you

don’t bowl for com-petition, you bowl for fun. We saw students and teachers smiling, laughing and hav-ing fun. They joked around, and the best part for us was that no one made fun of how anyone bowled,which is a good thing, because some people were bowling very weirdly… and it was a fun time for all!!

By Samantha Purrone

By Danielle Reid

from, what happens to New York City and all those people, and who wins, the monster or the humans. This film leaves its audience with more questions than answers, though I guess that’s probably how the filmmakers and di-rectors want the audience to be left, wanting more. I mean what happened between Beth and Rob? Is Rob only leaving for a job in Japan, or is there something more? What about the mon-ster? Did it just happen to come out of nowhere and attack the city, or is there something fishy

going on, like a con-spiracy? How do the characters feel about this monster (other than that it’s big and scary) and this attack? Do they have any the-ories themselves? All questions that may lead to a sequel in the horizon. Even with this lack of character de-velopment, I recom-mend this movie to Deweyites or viewers

over twelve who don’t mind motion sickness and enjoy seeing a sci-fi horror movie. This movie is not in theaters anymore, but you still can receive the action on DVD in the comfort of your own home.

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Have you noticed that there haven’t been any good movies in the theaters lately? Then all of a sudden Iron Man came out, and it had a really great opening week, as well as a strong following week Then “Bang!” the movie industry started throwing out a slew of movies, espe-cially the long awaited sequels. To me, it seems that movie studios pushed aside comedy for the sum-mer, and pushed ac-tion front and center.Movie fans might say the same thing like everyone else, “This movie looks like it’s going to stink.” But between now and the end of the summer, every new movie will offer us new “eye can-dy” and a chance to be surprised at the movie we’ve judged. Hold the phone, sequels! Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the long awaited sequels have finally arrived to our the-aters this summer. A few sequels include Teens movies like The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2. For adults, there are X-Files: I Want To Believe and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Sequels that both adults and children can enjoy are Batman: The Dark Knight, Hellboy 2: The Golden Army, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, and The Incredible Hulk.

In my opinion, I think that there are go-ing to be a few huge hits. My guess will be that the sequels will rule #1 at the box office. If you are a fan of the book series, like me, The Chron-icles of Narnia: Prince Caspian and The Sister-hood of the Traveling Pants 2 is your movie. If you followed the story of Indian Jones starring

Harrison Ford, you will want to see The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull; and if you’re a fan of The Mummy series, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor may suit your taste, even if it doesn’t have Rachel Weisz. If you love mov-ies based on comic books, Hellboy 2: The Golden Army and The Incredible Hulk (watch for Iron Man Tony Stark,

played by Robert Downey Jr., in a cameo) are the movies for you. Here are the most awaited moves com-ing to theaters:

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian- May 16Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull – May 22Hellboy 2: The Golden Army –July 11Batman: The Dark Knight –July 18X- Files: I Want To Believe – July 25The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor – August 1Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 –August 8

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Cloverfield: Bowling

One h i gh-light was the partici-pation of Assistant Principal Joel Pin-sker. Mr. Pinsker’s official title is A.P. of Programming, but he points out that these days he is

busy crunching and analyzing data. Mr. Pinsker is an avid photography buff, and he has become an integral part of the Publica-tions Institute. His fine photography captures all of our extrcur-ricular

ac- t i v i -ties and graces the pages of our newspaper; for ex-ample check out the photos on the left side of this page. Mr. Pinsker took pictures today using his Nikon COOLPIX. He told us that even though the COOLPIX is portable, it is not his camera of choice because it’s not that easy to hold steady. Mr. Pinsker really loves his Nikon D80, a larger, single lens reflex camera with an interchangeable lens. Mr. Pinsker considers pho-tography to be a hobby, and in the past he has primarily taken pictures of his family. Taking pictures for the school newspa-

per is a new experience for him, but he is very enthusiastic about it. Mr. Pinsker said he used to bowl when he was younger. In fact, he averaged 130, but that was “way back when.” He felt that at the event today it seemed like everyone was hav-ing a good time, and that bowling afforded a wonderful opportunity for students and teaca-hers to spend quality time witheach other . We couldn’t agree more !

Summer Movie Review

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Cooking Up The

College Prep College Prep

College is one of the most impor-tant choices in your life. It helps and deter-mines what career you’ll have and what you want to do in life. Other than saying you’re “I Do’s,”having and raising kids, growing old and eventually dying, going to college is a very important milestone in your life. While it would be easy to say choosing a college is simple, in reality it’s not. It’s a lengthy, dif-ficult process that takes a lot of soul search-ing, research, advice, and gut instinct. So this is for you, college bound Dewey students.Getting Started: Take out a piece of paper, divide it in half, and create a graph with “Now” written as a heading; draw a line of separation, then write “Future.” For “Now,” write what you’re interested in, what careers you’d consider, where you want to be in four years, and what you see yourself doing in life. For the “Future” category, be creative; use your imagination and be honest with your-self. For example, write down what your life story might be 10 years from now. Have you accomplished anything? Are you where you want to be? What do you want to be? By do-ing this you’ll see written down on a piece of paper the self confidence you have, and that can help determine where college fits in with your future plans. Not everyone wants to go to college and college is not necessarily for everyone, but it helps to know. On the other side of the paper, write what you want in a college. If you’re clueless, go read the Fiske Guide to College to consider the following when looking for colleges: size/setting, lo-cation, majors, type of college, financial aid, and activities/social life. It’s a lot to take in, but the information provided below will help simplify things.

What To Look For In A College By Danielle Reid

Location: Is a particular place, state, re-gion, or country. Do you want to go to college in a different state, country, and a particular region? You may think this a no-brainer, but you don’t want to go to a college where you become depressed and homesick. Would you want to go to a college close to home, where in reality your parents are within driving dis-tance to your college and could show up at anytime, anyplace? Location is also important - do you want to go to a college in a warm

climate, cold? In the South, the Northeast? A college surrounded by wildlife, buildings?Size/Setting Size: In college goes by small, moderate, or big. Do you want a school that’s small, where you can have one-on-one teacher attention and make close, lasting friendships with classmates? A moderate col-lege, where you have the best of times with a bunch of friends? A big college, where there’s something always going on? What about set-ting? Big city, small city, urban, rural, small town, college town?

Types of Colleges:_Liberal Arts, Community, Research, Women’s, religion-based or Art college. Do you want to go to a college or university with a certain focus or type of major, or one open to different types of majors? What about public or private col-leges? All of these can determine the quality of education you’ll receive. Majors:_ Do you want to study law, dra-ma, journalism? Majors are a certain field which you want to study in a highly focused manner, and which generally lead to a de-gree. So when choosing a college, this is an important factor because majors show what a college has to offer with regard to the course of study you might want to pursue.Financial Aid: College can be expen-sive; though there are ways to get around it, such as colleges that offer financial aid. Consider colleges that offer financial aid, but remember: grants and scholarships don’t have to be paid back, while loans do.Social Life/Activities:_Something else to consider is social life. Do you like to party? Watch plays? Go to restaurants? Social life is what students want to do after school. However, it all depends on the social set-tings. Big cities offer millions of things to do. Small towns offer small intimate places, while college towns have mind stimulating activities. Something to consider in a college if you don’t want to be bored. These tidbits are a few of many fac-tors to consider when looking for a college. College is a valuable opportunity for gaining and utilizing skills that you will need in your future career. Why waste possibly the best four years of your life in some place where you don’t want to be? Instead, think about the options mentioned above, and get the real deal on choosing a college.

Q: How long have you been working in Dewey?A: 18 years. 15 years as a math teacher and three years as a guid-ance counselor.Q: Where did you teach before?A: I’m proud to be born in Utah, where I

taughtfor four years.Q: Why did you decide to become a guid-ance counselor?A: I wanted a career change and I figured that I was teaching for a while and that I would be great for the job.Q: How long were you teaching this col-lege prep class?A: This is my second year.Q: What is your class called?

Do you know of a once-skinny teacher who first came to Dewey as a pastry chef? He first started teaching at Dewey as a special edu-cation teacher for history. He’s been teaching at Dewey for ten years and is now an English teacher. He also teaches College Now. Who is he? Well, he is no other than the talented and fantastic, Mr. Carito. Mr. Carito went to college to become an actor. He wanted to become an actor because his family was involved in the theater. When Mr. Carito was five years old, he went to see his cousin in the musical Oliver, and that inspired him to become an actor. His mother also took him to see a lot of Broadway shows when he was little. After his acting career, he became a pastry chef. Ten years ago, Mr. Carito came to Dewey to do a demonstration in the cooking room for the students, and the principal observed his cu-linary skill. Shortly thereafter began a career

Mr. Aronow: A Teacher Who Loves His JobBy Taisa Carter

Writing With Mr. RolofBy Joanne Louis

By Cherie Huang

A: College Prep.Q: What students are able to take it and what is the code?A: Third year students and the code is SD10 and SD11Q: Are there college credits given?A: Yes, 2 credits are given.Q: When are the classes available?A: It’s an every semester class and it is for 12 weeks.Q: Do you think your class is beneficial?A: Yes, because “it gets the ball rolling” and it helps with the process of applying for schools.Q: What types of assignments do you give to the students?A: I always make them write a college essay, of course, but I also make them do an oral presen-tation that basically sells the one college of their choice. They have to research the school so that they know the cost for tuition, financial aid, the area, the race percentages, and the require-ments of the college. This project gives them a sense of where they want to go and why. They get a feeling of what catches their eye and why. I also make them research a career that they are interested in, and make a resume. I usually invite guests to speak to the students about the

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Comic Spirit

for Mr. Carito as a teacher at Dewey. Besides his love for theater, acting, and performing, he also loves music, art, his two dogs, movies and plays. He says that music and art are his passion. Mr. Carito loves opera. He said that his ipod is like a photograph album; each song is a photograph that reminds him of events that he experienced, whether happy or sad. His music collection is also an autobiogra-phy of his life. Mr. Carito has so many favorite plays and movies that he can’t even name them all. He said, “Naming my favorite play is like asking a mother who her favorite child is.” Mr. Carito teaches a course, the Comic Spirit in our College Now program. He said it is a course focused on one main topic - comedy in culture and literature. It is a course you can connect to right away. In this course, you talk about why we laugh and what makes us laugh. Mr. Carito says he loves teaching College Now because he enjoys making people laugh and feels that students want to be there. He thinks this course gives him the opportunity to bring many students to the theater, and exposes stu-dents to plays they never saw. Mr. Carito likes how students are amazed and excited when they walk into a theater for the first time.

As you may know, John Dewey High School recently won the Silver Medal from U.S. News and World Report, in part because of the way we prepare students for college. The articles below on College Now are part of our ongoing series highlighting how JDHS prepares students for higher education.

Do you want to take a College Now course? Are you looking for a veteran teacher who loves his job? Then look for Mr. Aronow. Mr. Aronow loves teaching and says he loves to incorporate his love for performing arts into his teaching. Mr. Aronow thinks of College Now as a bridge between high school and college for John Dewey students, and derives great satisfaction

from bringing students up to the college level. “I help students develop critical thinking skills; that’s when they get an issue and they look at it from all sides,” he explains. He tries to teach them polished writing. His secret? He feels “that clear thinking leads to clear writing,” and then the writing takes care of itself. The approach he uses to prepare stu-dents is slightly different from his regular high school classes. It’s not just another half credit ELA class with a hand-full of John Dewey stu-dents learning typical grammar and writing skills. In Mr. Aronow’s College Now English B.W. (Basic Writing) class, students learn in a variety of ways. For example, Mr. Aronow uses music and films to stimulate students’ minds. Two films Mr. Aronow loves to show are What’s Eating Gilbert Grape starring a very young Johnny Depp, and an even younger Leonardo Di Caprio; and Raisin in the Sun star-ring Sidney Poitier at his peak. Both films deal with family and responsibility, and Mr. Aronow regards these themes as a springboard for writ-ing. Mr. Aronow also organizes the College Now Film Festival. College Now classes meet in the auditorium, and professors from Kingsbor-ough Community talk to students about what they will see and what they should look for in a movie. Mr. Aronow’s hobbies include writ-ing, traveling, reading, and yoga. He says yoga

“gives me the energy to be a better teacher.” When he retires he says he would like to travel even more, and continue to be associated with a program which involves teaching and men-toring, but also connected to the performing arts and writing. Look for Mr. Aronow in the ELA depart-ment. He is an expert at preparing today’s high school students for college, and he can help furnish students with information about the College Now Program. Mr. Aronow is a teacher with forty years of experience, has taught the College Now pro-gram for 22 years, and still enjoys his work. What was his comment about his career at the end of the interview? He said, “I would do it all over again!”

Mr. Carito is a man with a lot of talent and experience, and you can learn a great deal from him. He has been through several career changes but is still good at what he does. Mr. Carito says he still wants to be at Dewey teach-ing ten years from now. He also says he imag-ines himself thinner ten years from now.

different fields that they specialize in, so that students are introduced to different jobs.Q: How important do you think a college essay is and why?A: A college essay is important to the colleges that require one because not all of them do. However, it is important because there are the grades and the score, but those are just num-bers. Your college essay allows you to speak to the person reading it, and it gives you a voice. “It brings you alive.”Q: What advice would you give to a stu-dents writing an essay?A: Focus on the introduction because the ad-mission people read an average of 50-70 es-says a day, and if your essay does not interest them, they will automatically become disinter-ested and throw it in a pile.Q: What makes up a good college essay?A: It should be a page long and you should just get better by writing all the time. “The more you do it, the better you become.” You should go online and look at the previous questions that colleges have asked and practice writing. DO NOT use a cliché because they want to see something original and they want to see that you use of something unique.

Hitler as Germany’s chancellor in World War II. As for literature, teens did even worse. For example, only four in ten could pick the name of Ralph Ellison’s novel about a young man’s growing up in the South and moving to Harlem - Invisible Man - from a list of titles. Also, this was not the only survey that brought out the idea of stunning ignorance. Ac-cording to a 2006 National Geographic poll that was commissioned, nearly half of 18-24 year olds don’t think it is necessary or important to know where countries in the news are located. Also, only 23% of those with some college edu-cation could locate Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Israel on a map. What’s the cause of the dumbing down

of America? Students themselves are partly to blame, as their values come into play. Many

teens these days become high school drop-outs. Some teens don’t even care about school. They don’t care if they fail their classes, get bad grades, or even get left back. Most teens are addicted to the computer and the Internet. They like to go on MySpace, Facebook, and chat with friends on AIM until late at night, even on school days. Teens are also influenced by their friends to cut class and just hang out in the halls. Some teenagers don’t value education. Instead, they value relationships, friends, fash-ion, and money. In addition, teenagers have too much freedom; they do whatever they want and go wherever they want to go. However, there is no question that the

Stunning Ignorance continued from page 1 media is also to blame in this argument. The media engages everyone with everything from ridiculous reality shows to overdramatized soap operas. Take one Kelly Pickler, a popular singer from American Idol. She appeared on the popu-lar game show, “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?” during Celebrity Week. The $25,000 question, in third grade geography, was: “Bu-dapest is the capital of what European coun-try?” Ms. Pickler was totally dumbfounded as she continued to say, “I thought Europe was a country.” She decided to play it safe and copy her “classmate’s” answer: “Hungary.” “Hungry?” she asked, quite perplexed.

“That’s a country? I’ve heard of Turkey. But Hungry? Never heard of it.” The aforementioned are just some ex-amples of lack of knowledge about basic facts. There is no question that the media draws at-tention to itself by providing instant gratifica-tion for everyone. The media does not encour-age self-discipline and the search for knowledge and facts. A teenager would prefer to turn on a computer and chat through IM (instant mes-sages) than do homework. So if you don’t know the capital of Tex-as - or any other state or country, for that mat-ter - then you should probably start learning! After all, You DON’T want to be publicly humili-ated like Kellie Pickler. It’s smart to want to be knowledgeable and cultured.

Mr. Aronow is a wonderful English teacher and a great College Now teacher as well.

Rac

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ouis

Mr.Carito, in his College Now class

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Stunning Ignorance continued on page 11

Stunning Ignorance continued from page 10

The Back Page

Congratulations, Seniors. You Made It!

Jenya Walters

“HEART”

Jenya, you have definitely shown

your heart in everything you have

done this yeara on the S.O. It has

been a plelasure working wih you

and I am very grateful you decid-

ed to run for S.O, last year. Stay

focused and you will accomplish

anything you desire.

-Benpensata

Binta Diallo“Strength”

Binta, no one can deny your inner strength..

Working with you this year has been both the

most rewarding and fustrating experience

of my career. You are definitely not afraid to

stand up to me and you have earned my re-

spect. I will miss you and although you don’t

like me saying it, you have the potential for

greatnes and i expect it.

-Benpensata

Destiny Howard“I hope you have a good time after

you leave Dewey. You will surely be

missed. Be sure to come visit me next year!”-Hadiya Speller

Freddy Mendoza“Dedication”

Freddy, I admire your dedication to

the S.O and JDHS this year. You were

definitely someone I relied on a lot

this year. Although this was your

first year on the board, it felt like

you were here for years! Yo have a

very bright future ahead of you and

you will be missed!-Benpensata

Nicole Suissa

“Leader”

Nicole, you are definitely a born

leader. It has been a pleasure work-

ing with you over the last two years.

You have a great future ahead of you.

I appreciate all you have done for me

and the S.O. You will be missed.

-Benpaensata

Christopher Davis“Reliability”

Chris, I don not know what I would have done without you the last two

years. You are my right hand man and I

felt confident anytime i gave you a task.

You will greatly be missed on the S.O,

but you have a great future ahead of you. Stay positive-Benpensata

Jose Rodrigez

“Leadership”

Jose, we practically grew up together

in the S.O. We have seen it all, even

three different COSA’s!! I appreciate

your fine leadership over the years

and your advice. I wish you all th

e

best even though you’re a Yankees

fan!! Thanks for all your hadwork and

dedication.

-Benpensata

GO DIVAS!!!!......You better WORK!!!!-Mr. Goring

Amber Mackie Marcella Dillard

Raven Graves

Aquilla WalkerAntwon Robson

Tianna Roberts

Danielle Sidoti

We wondered if having a split session would help matters. Mr. Fried said he would want to maintain the integrity of the Dewey programming structure of ten bands, which allows for the “natural flow” of students who need to come or leave early. One approach to lessen the number of “free bands” might be to schedule students to start later. For example, scheduling students to start at B Band would mean one less free band they could take once their school day begins

Should we become a full time Scanning School?

The entire school community voted on this issue, with the resulting tally being 133-93 against full time scanning. Mr. Fried thought it was important to have input across the board, and to get the opinions and feelings of the faculty and support staff. However, he pointed out that he will be the one who ultimately makes the request for scanning.

There are many reasons to support both sides of this important issue. The arguments supporting scanning are as follows: staff members feel safer, and the fear factor is diminished. Also, scanning is preventative. Its purpose is to discourage weapons from entering the building, not to “catch” them.

There are several arguments against scanning. First of all, not only might we lose space on the campus, we may not be allowed to use the campus at all during the course of the day. Moreover, it may subject all of us to scanning: faculty will be assigned to specific entrances, and those of us who leave the building during the course of the day may be subject to scanning upon our return. An

example of this might be if teachers leave but return to see a show or concert at the school.

Mr. Fried noted that we would not have scanning during open school in the afternoons and evenings.

There might be other problems associated with full time scanning. There might be an adjustment period for all

concerned. Students might be late for class. There would have to be a separation, or isolation of those students who have been scanned from those who have not. We would need additional support personnel to monitor the exits at all times. There would be a change in the environment; students might feel as if they are “locked in.” Finally, cellphones are a serious concern to students and some staff, as cellphones will still be

confiscated as per the Chancellor’s Directive.Scanning could be viewed in both

a positive and negative light. It might discourage students from coming to Dewey, or it might make students and parents feel the school is being responsible for providing safety and security.

We asked Mr. Fried for the roots of the scanning issue. He cited a variety of factors: first, a writing threat initiated an unannounced scan, which resulted in an alert school safety agent preventing a student with a loaded gun from entering the school; and an incident in which there was a report of an alleged gun that resulted in a two-hour lockdown.

Mr. Fried said that times change, and the world and systems change; and it is time to look at Dewey as objectively as possible. Students are now coming from their junior high school to a less structured environment, but if we can gain control, “We can have them believe what we believe.” He added that all change is important and although some people fear change, there is also a need for change. If the measures we adopt work, then “we have a new baseline.” If they don’t work, then we’ll pick up something from the things we tried and move ahead.”

This paper would like to acknowledge an error we made in the previous issue. Although we had given the impression that the extended day was restored through Mr. Fried’s efforts alone, it was restored through the collaborative efforts of the administration and the UFT. We take this opportunity to set the record straight on that issue. It is clear that if we continue to move ahead as a community dedicated to our students’ education, it is only a matter of time before our students “believe what we believe.”

September Changes continued from page1

“Scanning could be viewed in a negative

and positive light.”

Class of 2008

To the Publications class of 2008

and all my Mac Lab students.

Thank you for your hard work and

creativity! Best wishes to you all!

-Ms. Hooker