G r a c e
K i n g
H i g h
S c h o o l Dependency on Digital Media Living in virtual worlds
See pg. 6-7 Volume 44 Issue 4
Upcoming
Events
4301 Grace King Place, Metairie, LA 70002
Friday, February 17, 2012
Early release program offers opportunities for seniors By Bianca Shrestha Staff Writer
Feb 20-22 No school
Feb 20 President’s Day
Feb 21 Mardi Gras
Feb 22 Ash Wednesday
Feb 27-2 StuCo Week
Feb 29 Leap Day
March 2-3 King vs. Riverdale, East Jefferson, Bonnabel @BMA 6 P.M. 10 A.M. 12:30 P.M
Mac Attack
March 5-6 Irish Idol Tryouts
March 16 Irish Idol
March 21 Report cards issued
March 29 King vs. Rummel @BMA 7:30 P.M.
March 30 Spring Fling
The idea of graduating early and early release has come to the appeal of many students nationally. There are certain students who are able to graduate within less than three years. In order to graduate, students must check their credits with their counselors. If they are eligible, they must sign various paper works with their guardians’ approval. However, the process was not always like this. “Up until two years ago, students were required to stay four full years in school,” senior counselor Joyce Lauto said. “Now that students only need 24 units, instead of 28, it allows students to get a head start on college.” In order to receive Core 4 for TOPS all students are required to take 24 credits of math, science, English, social studies, foreign languages, physical education, health, and !ne arts. “If you’re graduating at a mature enough time in your life with the right purpose in mind, I see no problem,” Principal Meg Griffon said, “However, most of our students need that additional year of socialization, acquiring good study skills, and discipline to achieve a full diploma in a four year track. ” In another aspect, some disapprove the idea of students graduating early. “I don’t recommend students to graduate early because they’re not maturely ready go out there and live the real
SOPA: By Anna Whitaker Editor-in-Chief
In the wake of growing opposition, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) will be postponed in consideration of the legislation until there is a wider agreement on a solution. SOPA, introduced on Oct. 26, 2011, is a U.S. House bill proposed by House Judiciary Committee Chair Representative Lamar S. Smith and a bipartisan group of 12 initial cosponsors. The intentions of the bill are to fight online trafficking in copyrighted property and counterfeit goods. Proposals include the barring of advertising networks and payment facilities from conducting business with allegedly infringing websites, barring search engines from linking to such sites and requiring internet service providers to block access to these sites. Any person committing an act going against the bill would be faced with a maximum penalty of up to !ve years
Bianca Shrestha
Senior Allyssa Winn signs out after Block 2 in the front office. About fifty students are released early.
world,” sophomore counselor Contrina Thomas said. “They’re also going to miss out on everything like graduation and prom.” Although the decision to graduate early is a major step for a high school student, some students
feel that it is necessary. “I think the kids that get their work done should be allowed to do so because they push themselves to a whole other level to succeed,” sophomore Bryan Kilcrease said. “Work comes before play.” Instead of graduating early, some students choose to be released from school early. This way, students get to experience their senior without taking additional unnecessary classes. “Some people get burned out after being in high school for three years that they just want to have fun the last year,” early release student Katherine Cruz said. Early release students must complete the required credits and are typically seniors. For example, if a senior just needs four credits, they can take two classes per semester and get early release with the approval of their guardians and counselor. “They can still be here and enjoy all the activities senior year offers,” Lauto said. Also, students no longer need to have a job to attend to after being released. According to Lauto, approximately 50 Grace King students have early release. “I either work, run some errands, or nap depending on the day after I get released,” Cruz said. “I miss being with my class friends, but in the end, you’re not going to see most of them again.” Graduating early or early release is the student’s decision. “My concern is that every student is successful and for some that does mean early release and for others it means graduating early.” Griffon said.
Controversial internet piracy bill put on hold in prison. Concerns have been expressed about shutting down sites, such as YouTube, completely if the bill becomes a law. Opponents of the bill state that the legislation would enable the removal of an entire internet domain due to something posted on a single blog, arguing that an entire online community could be punished for the actions of a tiny minority. Proxy servers and the Tor project would essentially become illegal. In the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which includes the Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act, a “safe harbor” (a regulation that reduces or eliminates a party’s liability under the law) is provided for websites. Under that provision, copyright owners who felt that a site was hosting infringing content are required to request the site to remove the infringing material within a certain amount of time. SOPA would bypass this “safe harbor” provision by placing the responsibility
As protest to the SOPA bill, English Wikipedia “blacked out”, leaving the protest message “Imagine a World Without Free Knowledge”.
for detecting and policing infringement onto the site itself and allowing judges to block access to websites “dedicated to theft of U.S. property”. Concerns have risen over whether or not the bill would be effective. “I do not believe SOPA would have been successful in preventing piracy even if it had passed. The reason why is because the bill proposed a DNS block on all foreign websites that were labeled by our government
as piracy websites. The DNS is the internet protocol that redirects you from www. google.com to its true IP address: 74.125.227.144. If a website you wanted to go to was blocked, all you would need to do is !nd its IP address and type that into the URL bar instead of google,” said senior Justin Lehman. Lobbyists for companies that rely heavily on the revenues from intellectual property copyright state that it protects the market and
corresponding industry, jobs and revenues. Representatives of the American Library Association state that the changes could encourage criminal prosecution of libraries. Other opponents of the bill state that requiring search engines to delete a domain name begins a world wide arms race of unprecedented censorship of the web and violates the !rst amendment. See SOPA, News 3