Severely handicapped class arrives - The Lowell

S. 198}
Ever find younclf- swamped by
homework wlti very little lime to complete
It?
h's not all too uncommon for students
to fed prewired by the large amount of
homework that trachea assign daily.
There never seem to be enough hours in
. tha day to do all of ti. This dilemma may
be the result of poor lime budgeting on
the student'! pan or over-assigning on the
teacher's pan.
"Teachers and
students should
realize that there is a
discrepancy between
teacher and student
expectations."
Both teachers'and students should
realize that there is a discrepancy uclween
teacher expectation} and student expectations.
Many teachers have high cxpecuUons
of themselves and iiigh expectations
of their students. Teachers, confldeni
in the academic capabilities of their
students, may sometimes not even realize
IhM they are placing a lot of pressure on
them to accomplish more.
On the other harJ. students probably
"vcr give much consideration to the
•"•«« of time and effort that teachers
/n into planning a leuon. assigning
homework, or making up a lest. Weighed
down by their work load, they don't
realize the work thai a teacher may go
through.
'"Many teachers
have high expectations
of themselves as
well as their
students."
Do teachers have homework?
Many teachers spend just as much lime
correcting papers and preparing Icuun
plus as students do doing: home wot I and
studying for tests. If you thought that
your eight-page essay tool I.. if time
I'M effort, imagine what. - be like
lo have to read, correct all. - ,iuncnt u-i
30 cight-pngc css»ys.
Some honors and advanced placement
teachers do not even receive ad?qU3U:
preparation time for all their classes they
are legdly entitled lo. They spend many
hours every night preparing diverse and
relevant lesson clans and correcting tests
so that they can return them promptly.
A.P. and honors teachers are motivated
lo teach ai a more rigorous and challenging
pace in preparation for the Advanced
Placement lest.
•'...sometimes
teachers do assign too
much homework.''
—Other teachers are motivated by their
enjoyment of their subject and their enjoyment
of teaching, this is why some
teachers use their free time to leach aIdi-
•looal classes and to sponsor extracurricular
activities.
However, sometimes teachers do
assign too much homework. Tills may be
done oil', iic idea of helping students
(tin more experience in flu ubject, but it
doesn't always do so. Larfr asiijmmenu
can hinder student progress and cause
students to lower their goals because of
feelings of inferiority.
The intent behind heavy work loads
may be a good one with no harm intended,
but the manner of getting lo ttul ideal
is not always beneficial to the student. In
other words, giving more homework;
doesn't necessarily insure more learning.
Despite difference* of opinions, a
warm thank you is in order ro ul the
teachers who work just as hard for a slu -
dcit's sake as students do fur themselves.
Students should thank their teachers lor
uking th» time to nuke learning.' interesting,
fun. and successful. After all.
these teachers arc trying lo help prepare
Lowcllitcs for challenges outside and
beyond Lowell.
In defense of Dweebs
We know who the dweebs arc. They
abound at Lowell High School.
Dweebs are the little people who raise
the curve in ourclas&cs; the ones who only
think of "D" and *'F" as being the
fourth and sixth letters of the alphabet;
the solitary people Tor whom a "C" is
unthinkable and the mention of "B" in
relation to their name makes them faint.
Dweebs always sit at the front of the
room, usually taking notes as if their lives
depended upon it. They're never late for
class, and they're home by four every
kftcmoon in order lo read a few chapters
ahead in Madame Bovary, or to finish
their clxrmiMry lab in three colors, or trewrite
the essay that they just received a
95 on and for which they arc very upset
with thenuclvcs.
Lowell breeds dweebs, but dweebs can
be of different type*. There are the
straight "tech" dweebs, many limes just
oiled nerds, who fight for the lop three
places in Mr. BcttcncourTs classes ami
have read Einstein's Universe five
times. They walk around wi'h their
brothers' pants on and, yes. various attachments
are an integral pan of every
belt that they have.
An offshoot of the "tech" dweebs is
THE COMPUTER PEOPLE. Electrical
engineering majors from birth, they hive
memorized the ASCII code, which is to
them the real alphabet. Thry know how
many bytes there are in a bit (don't say
cigh;) ?nd it is said that they keep their
diaries, or rather journals, or. elephant
disks.
"Dweebs are the
little people who raise
the curve in our
classes."
However, dweebs arcn't only into the
hard sciences. While the male species
usually comprise the "techs." the
females have a tendency towards English
and history. Who else thinks of Mrs.
Lewis as an easy teacher and ; Var rod
Peace as weekend reading? These
dweebs gel A's from the teachers who
never give A's. and they are the ones
who, in spite of their "excellent command
of the English Language." never
say two words in the same breath.
"While the male
species usually comprise
the 'techs,' the
females have a
tendency towards
English and history."
Yes. dweebs arc a part of Lowell that
cannot be denied. In fact, nen-dweebs
take full advantage of the existence ot
dweebs. We blame them for our bad
grades: "I would have had a 'B*. except
you-know-who had lo get a 99 percent on
the final."
We =4ll ihem "teacher's pels" and
tur.es which cannot be printed. We laugh
at their lack of socially redeeming atlrioutes:
"So hu said. 'Gee. 1 didn't know
tliat iherc were dances at Lowell!* "
We wonder how they can go through
life thinking atom school work alt the
time, their only CMracuiricular activities
perhaps being the Atomic Physicists Club
or Shield and Scroll. ("They always get
in on their first try because of their 4.0
GPA's")
"But wail a minute! What would
Lowell be. without dweebs? Hey. the rest
of us could all get decent grades and cnj you know
what? I was happy to do so well! I felt
like I really knew wjai the teacher was
talking about and. maybe if I managed to
do well a couple more times. I could pull
that "B" up to an "A." Yes, I could do
it! I -.txikl be a dweeb!
But I don't really consider myself a
dweeb. I'm one of the normal people, 1
think. In fact. I've come to two conclusions
abodt dweebs.
First, there is no such thing aj a pure,
100 percent dweeb, not in real life at
least. Tnc straight "A" Slavic history
major decs ride her bicycle to schtx>l
every day, and, yos. in ;wcatpanu'. Abo.
the nerd in the physics cla*s has aerially
said some piclty interesting monosyllabic
words. To tell the truth, my old girl.
fricnJ mentioned something iboa him
having a nice smite. Dweebs arc peoule,
loo.
"Nobody can be a
true Lowell student
without having a little
dweeb in them."
Second, nobody can be a true Unveil
student without having a little dweeb in
them. It is good to tarn a few thing* noo
and then. "After all. let's not forget tie
primary purpose M cir institution."
Dweebs aren't so bad. They are a big
pan. a Urge unavoidable pan, of Lowell.
So think twice before you tell your
friends abac that dweeb that makes you
sickT by always doing the extra credit ma'-h
problems. Remember thai your English
teacher praised you for your insightful
essay on the life cycle of a pizza bread.
because it's possible that English
dawntes may be calling you the dweeb.
We know who the dweebs ire. Tbe>
abound at Lowell High School.
>
Lowell >
, Callforaij
SenFnnrtf
rung,
superior r
The Tout
perform
before i.
rated the r
ciccntinn. I
p
fieuln/r.ri
mew. and t{
set
recotlyl
an adue
that
ship
tfcfioS
"I •
Itnxua t
Ifctak I i
pmaedd
.The
73.000 b
19O I
of their |
acmUin
Some 1
tbauta.1
over two 1