The Chronicle, 7.3

Page 1

News: Blood drive turns away homosexual student

Chronicle Sports: Head football coach Dave Sedmak resigns, Castner to take over

The William Mason High School

Volume 7

NEWS BRIEF

December 4, 2009

Issue 3

Compromising integrity for GPA

Part-time students will come to Mason Pressures frequently result in cheaters in advanced courses Jordan Berger | Staff Writer When students feel grades are the sole contributor to success, devaluto obtain credits Kris Ogungbemi | Staff Writer ing the significance of education, a much deeper issue lies within the A newly approved policy regarding parttime students at Mason will help homeschooled students hone special skills, such as music, according to Connie Yingling, president of the Mason City School Board. Yingling said a parent in attendance at November 17’s board meeting voiced her concern for her homeschooled daughter’s musical education, leading in part to the change in policy. “It gives the ability for homeschooled students to take up to two classes at Mason schools,” Yingling said. “What brought about this change was a parent of a sixth grader who wanted her daughter to be able to take clarinet at Mason.” Yingling said students should begin to see homeschooled students mixed in along with them in their classes, though the homeschooled students will be placed depending on room in Mason classes. “If there are three classes, if two are [full of] full-time students, they have to accommodate another time slot,” Yingling said. “[But,] they still will be in the same class.”

Perfect is impossible. But every year students are caught comprising society’s commonly accepted moral principles to meet this unreachable goal. Cheating is common among students at Mason High School, according to senior Carmen Bizzarri. “I’ve seen people cheat around me, and I’ve seen people I like and talk to in my classes cheat,” Bizzarri said. “High school is a somewhat easy environment to cheat in, so people wrongly take advantage of it. It happens way too often.” Different motivations for the action to obtain an A are prevalent in every student: cheating is often the result of the differences in students’ reasoning for working to obtain an education, according to Bizzarri. “School is pretty much about gaining your own knowledge, so there is no point in cheating,” Bizzarri said. “It shouldn’t be about grades; learning is more important.” While many understand the importance of learning as opposed to merely getting grades, students still feel the societal and personal pressures for perfection, according to Bizzarri. “I pressure myself to get good grades because I feel like I can compete with all the other smart people,” Bizzarri said. “I think I deserve to get good grades because I’m smart enough. So, I’m disappointed when I don’t, because I know I can do better than that.”

student for his or her motives for cheating, according to AP U.S. History teacher Darin Little. “I think cheating is a character issue,” Little said. “Are you willing to take short cuts in life to get ahead? Students feel they have to do whatever to get the grade and don’t value the importance of a well rounded education.” Often, pressures for cheating increase with students challenging themselves in higher level and advanced classes, expecting to maintain a perfect grade point average with the large workload, according to Bizzarri. Many high school students have been groomed to accept only perfection, which is why some students attempt to achieve a perfect grade by any means, Bizzarri said. “A lot of people say they cheat because they are busy,” Bizzarri said. “First of all, you chose to be busy, and you should know your limits. If you know you can’t take five AP classes, but you expect to get all As, you know you won’t have time for that. There is no point [in taking AP classes] if you’re just going to cheat.” Senior Michael Zhou takes five AP classes including AP Computer Science and AP Physics. See CHEATING on page 2

TODAY

Christmas in Mason tonight The annual Christmas in Mason festival is tonight from six to nine p.m. in downtown Mason. The festival will offer craft booths for children, free horse-drawn carriages, food, beverages and an appearance from Santa. Downtown will be decorated for the festivities with holiday lights and a Christmas tree on the plaza. There will be free parking.

Chicago at the Aronoff tonight Broadway Across America presents Chicago The Musical tonight at eight p.m. in the Procter and Gamble Hall of the Aronoff Center. Other performance times are December 5 at two and eight p.m and December 6 at one and 6:30 p.m. Ticket prices range from $20 to $62.

The Chronicle William Mason High School 6100 S. Mason Montgomery Road Mason, Ohio 45040

photo art by Caleb Schowalter


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