Picture this: A 17 year old Senior high school student is walking down
the familiar halls of a school that he has all but lived in for the past four
years. As this student plods his way through a mob of other students
jockeying for spots on the balcony rail, he sees a slab of daylight off in
the distance. But then realizes that it is nothing more than a bright
yellow Tommy Hilfiger jacket that has caught the rays of the sun in such
a way that it became blinding. Finally, as he reaches his class, he sits
down with all other twenty-three “Advanced Students”, and begins to
talk about the other overcrowded advanced classes he is taking. Also
how he is incredibly hungry, but will have to wait until he gets home to
satisfy his needs, because of the inadequate lunches. All that he has to
look forward to the rest of the day are lectures in oversized classrooms,
poor school lunches, and football practice with outdated football
equipment. Now, teachers wonder why senior prank week got started.
Maybe, it’s because the senior’s were a little upset with the working
environments. But there is still a ray of hope for this poor bored soul;
there is an assembly after lunch about ways of changing the school for
the better. Unfortunately, the moderator of this little shindig is Dr.
Deegan. Which means six more months of the same, and then
graduation. Why is Bellevue West, as well as many other schools across
the country, so reluctant to change it’s ways for a better education, and
what can we do to help this situation?
First of all, we need to ask ourselves: What is the problem? Then we list
in neat and orderly columns the first one hundred or so problems that
come to mind. O.K., so it isn’t that bad, but we do need to consider
these three main ideas. First of all, are the school lunch programs
containing terrible tasting food, small portions (Which may be a good
thing on account of the taste), and not enough time to consume food in
a lunch period. Then we look at class size, and realize that advanced
classes, while having great teachers, almost outnumber regular classes
in class size. This leads to less personalized learning environments,
which can lead to higher drop out rates, and students not reaching their
full potential. On occasion I envy Steven Zuchowsky when I think about
his opportunity to have a 2:1 student/teacher ratio in his super-
advanced calculus class. I know that I would learn much more, as well
as more quickly in a smaller class setting. Having too many other
students in your class can easily make you feel lost in the mix. That
may sound insignificant, but I have felt slighted by teachers when other
students are constantly being focused on. Even when the student is not
the brightest student, and is being showered with attention because no
one expected him to even spell his name correctly, I still feel that
whatever I do doesn’t matter in a way. Next you must consider school
funding, and how some groups receive it and some don’t. An example of
this is the fight between the wrestlers and the Athletic Booster Club over
the money that the wrestlers raised this past summer at Rosenblatt.
Another example is shown in the cheerleaders and the thunderettes, and
how the cheerleaders are almost fully funded while the thunderettes
must buy all of their own equipment and outfits, with little or no help
from the school. And finally, you must consider the source of most, if
not all of these problems, the administration. These are the men and
women of the educational system that make up and enforce these rules.
Obviously, saying that the administration is bad is a wide generalization.
I in no way mean that all the office and school board officials are big
bad wolves, but in several circumstances they are. For example, Dr
Deegan’s many promises to the seniors about open campus, increases
senior privileges, and more lunchtime. Unfortunately, none of the above
named items have happened, or will ever happen. Now, if I sound like I
am hounding the administration, I am…to a point. I really do appreciate
the efforts that, especially Mr. Rolfs has made, but even he has his weak
spots.
Now that I have stated the problem, maybe it’s time for some solutions.
First, comes the school lunch program. Where to start is the question. I
personally believe it to be in the best interest of the students of Bellevue
West to get a catered lunch program. This is when outside businesses,
like Burger King or Pizza Hut, rent space from the school system in each
of the high schools, and offers its product to the students. I believe that
would cure all but one of my lunch concerns by improving the taste, and
increasing the portions. The school would also profit by the rental fee.
Maybe that money could be used for the funding problems that I have
discussed. I still haven’t tackled the time restraint place on eating so
here goes. I believe that we could create an extra ten minutes at least
by removing the ten minutes added to 5th hour, shortening passing
periods to four minutes instead of five, and starting/ending our day at
the original times (7:40-2:45). All I ever hear are complaints about the
padded 5th hour and later dismissal time anyway. Next, we deal with
class sizes. And unfortunately this is another funding problem that
really has no easy solution. Whenever I think of the perfect class, I think
of private schools. Then I realize they have the money to be that small,
and I sigh a deep sigh, and hope to go to a private college. The best
suggestion that I have is to give teachers that ordinarily only have 3 or 4
classes a day, more classes. I know that puts extra strain on our
teachers, but I think they could handle it in the end. After all, students
have seven periods a day, and endless extra curricular activities, so
maybe it’s only fair to load the teachers schedules a little. Next we
focus on the funding issue. I haven’t had time to research the fortune
500 top schools in the nation, but I guarantee that if I did we, would
come up with a multitude of ideas for raising funds. Organizations do it
every year, so why can’t schools. I know that Papillion, for example, has
an incredible book store that sells everything from tickets to the school
productions to cat-in-the-hat hats to school binders. That would be a
great way of providing students with products that they need anyway,
and make more money for the school in the process. Another idea is
being more critical in the use of funding. Why pay $400,000 for an
addition when the departments that requested it only need a $300,000
addition. That other $100,000 could go a long way for covering
expenses for the Thunderettes, or giving All-State students a meal
stiphen, or buying the wrestlers new mats, or the swimmers new
equipment. This last item leads us in to the people that could make
these things happen. They are the administration. These are not mind-
boggling concepts that would require putting the public in a trance to
accomplish. These are appropriations that if accomplished may
seriously improve the learning environment for every student that has to
walk down the halls of Bellevue West. Unfortunately, I don’t see many
other solutions to the Dr. Deegan problem. In my minds eye, we could
run him out of town, or make him see the light, but it would probably
involve pummeling him with our fists until he was too short to make a
difference anyway. Oops, too late, he’s already too short!
Now, I know that we have a lot of positives going for us already.
Enough to write a whole other paper about in fact, but I am
concentrating on things to make us better, and that will improve my
own education along the way. I believe that if we follow my plan, as well
as the ideas of others, we have the ability to create an incredible
learning environment. One that will surmount any other in the country,
and will produce more of the leaders of tomorrow that any school would
be proud to claim as their own. As you can see, Bellevue West as well as
other high schools in general, have a long way to go to create that
perfect learning environment, and I am the type of person that I won’t
be happy with it until we have accomplished that environment.