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Opinion<br />
the Stagg Line<br />
2 09.24.10<br />
EDITORIAL<br />
Penalties teach responsibility<br />
A<br />
nervous student runs through the<br />
hall looking for campus security<br />
monitors lurking in the shadows.<br />
The student is almost to class when he<br />
is snagged by the front <strong>of</strong>fice and asked<br />
where his identification card is. The student<br />
rifles through his backpack, knowing that<br />
he doesn’t have his ID, hoping to fool the<br />
campus security monitor.<br />
Shaking his head and making a confused<br />
expression, he finally gives up the charade.<br />
Instead <strong>of</strong> being dragged <strong>of</strong>f to the book<br />
room to get a temporary ID sticker, <strong>this</strong><br />
year students will have to pay $5 to get a<br />
new ID.<br />
While $5 may seem like a lot <strong>of</strong> money<br />
for one day without an ID, we’re betting<br />
that any student who has to pay the fine will<br />
never forget their ID again.<br />
We think <strong>this</strong> new punishment is a great<br />
idea and is a good way to teach students<br />
responsibility.<br />
The whole idea <strong>of</strong> having to pay for<br />
forgetting an ID just once may seem harsh,<br />
but what about when the student running<br />
through the halls grows up and gets a job?<br />
Many jobs, nowadays, make their employees<br />
carry IDs or they are not allowed in<br />
the Stagg Line<br />
Amos Alonzo Stagg <strong>High</strong> <strong>School</strong><br />
1621 Brookside Rd.<br />
Stockton, CA 95207<br />
(209) 933-7445 ext. 8487<br />
The Stagg Line newspaper is a member <strong>of</strong> the<br />
National Scholastic Press Association and the<br />
California Newspaper Publishers Association.<br />
Awards and recognitions include the following:<br />
X 16 consecutive NSPA All-American rankings<br />
X NSPA Hall <strong>of</strong> Fame, 2005<br />
X NSPA First-Place Best <strong>of</strong> Show five times<br />
X JEA Impact Award, 2002<br />
Stagg Line student journalists have won<br />
many awards and scholarships over the years,<br />
including California Journalist <strong>of</strong> the Year,<br />
National Story <strong>of</strong> the Year, and<br />
National Photo <strong>of</strong> the Year.<br />
the building. Many businesses have cards<br />
with barcodes that allow workers access to<br />
the building. If a worker were to forget her<br />
ID then she would have no way <strong>of</strong> getting<br />
into her <strong>of</strong>fice, let alone complete her job<br />
for the day.<br />
It is not that hard to remember an ID.<br />
If a student would just throw the ID with<br />
something that she will never forget to bring<br />
to school, like a backpack or cell phone, she<br />
would never forget to bring it. This would<br />
completely solve the forgotten ID problem.<br />
If that student forgot her homework or<br />
textbook, she would be punished by a drop<br />
in grades or detention; <strong>this</strong> is basically the<br />
same thing.<br />
For some it may seem extreme, but<br />
maybe it needs to be. According to Sandra<br />
Johnson, the textbook clerk, the number<br />
<strong>of</strong> people forgetting their IDs has been a<br />
staggering decrease since the new policy has<br />
taken effect.<br />
Not only is the ID relatively easy to remember,<br />
it also teaches each student responsibility.<br />
Having to remember to bring their<br />
IDs everyday will make each student look<br />
more closely before leaving the house, making<br />
sure they have everything they will need<br />
STEREOTYPES:<br />
Wide-eyed and adorably innocent, my<br />
friend’s 5-year-old sister looks up<br />
at me from the “Glee” rerun we’re<br />
watching. She asks me a (not so) simple question.<br />
“Are you an emo?”<br />
<strong>My</strong> friends and I laughed, wondering where in<br />
the world she picked up the term in the first<br />
place. It’s a question I’ve fielded several time<br />
before (though not quite as frequently as <strong>of</strong><br />
late), something I’ve always responded to with<br />
an exasperated sigh or a patented eye roll. This<br />
exasperation stems from a simple hatred: I hate<br />
being stereotyped.<br />
It used to happen all the time, usually by<br />
those people… With their baggy pants down<br />
by their ankles and their several-sizes -too-big<br />
white T-shirts,<br />
and that awful<br />
rap music…<br />
Oh,<br />
gosh… Sorry.<br />
That’s embarrassing…<br />
You know,<br />
to start <strong>of</strong>f a<br />
column about<br />
the perils and<br />
inaccuracy <strong>of</strong><br />
stereotypes<br />
and then end<br />
up stereotyping<br />
people,<br />
right after<br />
complaining<br />
about being<br />
stereotyped.<br />
Jeez, well,<br />
that won’t<br />
happen again…<br />
For as much as I may detest being stereotyped<br />
and labeled, instinctively I judge people<br />
based <strong>of</strong>f a single glance. Using <strong>this</strong> likely inaccurate<br />
information, I make judgments <strong>of</strong> people<br />
I don’t even know, to keep my distance.<br />
Without any truly conscious thought, we<br />
form judgments <strong>of</strong> people, and it is with these<br />
judgments that we either isolate others or allow<br />
ourselves to be isolated. While it is true that we<br />
endeavor, and not wrongfully so, to surround<br />
ourselves with like-minded individuals, it is<br />
how we filter our company that leads to problems.<br />
By forming judgments <strong>of</strong> people on the spot,<br />
we close ourselves <strong>of</strong>f to countless possibilities<br />
in friendship. This is what leads to the creation<br />
<strong>of</strong> cliques,<br />
something I<br />
didn’t believe<br />
in until<br />
recently.<br />
For whatever<br />
reason,<br />
likely a large<br />
oversight, I<br />
felt that our<br />
school was<br />
exempt from<br />
the classically<br />
cliched image<br />
<strong>of</strong> high school<br />
portrayed by<br />
nearly every<br />
teenage movie<br />
or television<br />
show ever created.<br />
Take MTV<br />
for example, a<br />
art by Mikeala Axton<br />
Chelsea Collura<br />
Editor-in-Chief<br />
for the day.<br />
Forgetting homework and projects will<br />
not completely disappear, but if <strong>this</strong> new<br />
punishment can teach one student responsibility,<br />
then isn’t it worth it?<br />
So next time you go running through the<br />
network with<br />
many shows<br />
supposedly<br />
grounded in<br />
reality, based<br />
around their<br />
selling point<br />
<strong>of</strong> young<br />
adults.<br />
A new<br />
show began<br />
airing recently,<br />
the succinctly<br />
named<br />
“If You Really Mikeala Axton<br />
Knew Me.”<br />
The show is centered around a team <strong>of</strong> people<br />
who travel from high school to high school,<br />
attempting to breakdown stereotypes, and, (like<br />
every other MTV show) reveal the surprising<br />
stories behind everyday teenagers.<br />
The show typically concludes with a room<br />
full <strong>of</strong> teary-eyed teenagers who vow that they<br />
will never look at their peers the same way<br />
again.<br />
However, as I learned in a substance abuse<br />
prevention program over the summer, the effects<br />
<strong>of</strong> an emotional event like <strong>this</strong> only last for<br />
a few days at the most. True change is rare.<br />
Even when it comes to “True Life,” a program<br />
that showcases the typically overlooked<br />
but difficult lives <strong>of</strong> today’s youth, how long do<br />
those stories really affect the way we look at the<br />
people around us?<br />
The answer is not very long.<br />
And yet, probably due to the obvious reasoning<br />
<strong>of</strong> money, these shows keep being put on<br />
the air, like “Teen Mom,” “The Hills,” and the<br />
new “World <strong>of</strong> Jenks.” While these reality shows<br />
claim to break down stereotypes and get to the<br />
Lissette Rodriguez<br />
Editor-in-Chief<br />
Don Bott<br />
Adviser<br />
The Stagg Line newspaper is published monthly and<br />
distributed free <strong>of</strong> charge to students and faculty.<br />
Our newspaper is a long-standing open forum<br />
for free student expression. Student editors and<br />
reporters make content and style decisions with<br />
the adviser <strong>of</strong>fering guidance. Editorials reflect the<br />
view <strong>of</strong> the entire editorial board and therefore are<br />
unsigned. Opinion columns reflect the view <strong>of</strong> the<br />
writer. Readers are welcomed to write letters to<br />
the editor. We will make every effort to print any<br />
letter as long as it is not libelous. Letters longer than<br />
250 words may be edited. Unsigned letters will be<br />
printed only in unusual circumstances, and only<br />
when we know who the writer is. Letters may be<br />
brought to the newspaper room, A-8, or emailed to<br />
dbott@stockton.k12.ca.us<br />
Claire Scheffer<br />
News Editor<br />
Mikeala Axton<br />
Opinion Editor<br />
Missy Rae Magdalera<br />
Features Editor<br />
Alisya Mora<br />
Entertainment Editor<br />
Taylor Hurles<br />
Sports Editor<br />
Michelle Pheav<br />
Graphics Editor<br />
Erica Trevino<br />
Photo Editor<br />
Xe Xiong<br />
Web/Multimedia Editor<br />
Kristin Acevedo<br />
Copy Editor<br />
Jeremy Dela Cruz<br />
Blog Editor<br />
halls desperate to dodge the CSMs because<br />
they will make you pay $5 for a new ID, ask<br />
yourself why you couldn’t remember it that<br />
morning, why you couldn’t throw it in your<br />
backpack the night before.<br />
Maybe it isn’t the CSMs fault.<br />
raw emotion <strong>of</strong> things, they undermine themselves<br />
by perpetuating the very thing they are<br />
attempting to disprove.<br />
“If You Really Knew Me,” in the show’s<br />
opening sequence, advertises its goal <strong>of</strong> getting<br />
down to the real essence <strong>of</strong> people, tossing aside<br />
their affixed label.<br />
However, as the show’s cameras follow around<br />
students from different social groups, captions<br />
above their head read “punk” or “cheerleader”<br />
beside the students’ names. As if these are the<br />
words that define them.<br />
“World <strong>of</strong> Jenks” follows a young filmmaker<br />
on his quest to capture on video disadvantaged<br />
people and their “unique stories.” The show<br />
advertises itself as raw and real, but in actuality<br />
glams up the simplest moments, to give them<br />
the illusion <strong>of</strong> drama and significance.<br />
If an autistic kid being helped to climb up<br />
rocks on the beach is a truly touching scene,<br />
then allow it to speak for itself. There shouldn’t<br />
be a need for the insertion <strong>of</strong> dramatic music or<br />
other effects.<br />
<strong>My</strong> point here is that even the shows devoted<br />
to breaking down stereotypes and discarding<br />
labels stereotype and label. Maybe stereotypes<br />
truly can’t be broken through TV shows, making<br />
their claim <strong>of</strong> interest completely invalid.<br />
In trying to break stereotypes, the shows must<br />
first stereotype. They take “the jock” or “the<br />
loner” and attempt to make them label-free, but<br />
in doing so, they first have to label them such,<br />
defeating the purpose.<br />
In the end, we shouldn’t need these shows<br />
to do the talking for us. If stereotyping is a<br />
problem big enough to need television shows<br />
to fix, then it should be taken on as a personal<br />
endeavor. If it’s a matter <strong>of</strong> people hurting other<br />
people, then it’s people that need to create a<br />
solution.<br />
Annamarie Cunningham<br />
Harmony Evangelisti<br />
Faith Harris<br />
Damon Heine<br />
Nicole Lawrence<br />
Jera Machuca<br />
Gabriella Miller<br />
Tiffany Pech<br />
Annamarie Rodriguez<br />
Reanna Rodriguez<br />
Seyma Tap<br />
Chesiree Terry<br />
Mia Torres<br />
Art by Seyma Tap<br />
Even television shows that attempt to<br />
disprove labels promote close-mindedness