OPINIONS
Feb. 5, 2015
Blueprint Staff Joe Stellato Editor-in-Chief Print Kirsten Gard Editor-in-Chief Online Gabrielle Bartkevicuite Entertainment Editor Tessa Brown Co-News Editor Jared Burrow Business Manager Michalea Burton Social Media Director Marcela Calderon Copy Editor Grace Chaplin Opinions Editor Wes Davenport PR Manager Gina DeCarlis Staff Reporter Unna Fernandez Staff Reporter Michelle Hroma Copy Editor Hannah Maes Features Editor Jack McGann Sports Editor Autumn McSwain Staff Reporter Clarissa Moreno Photo Editor Rupa Palla Staff Reporter Eileen Tyrrell Head Copy Editor Asma Zaman Co-News Editor Faculty Advisor: Mary Long Co-Advisors: Kari Alore, Mark Indreika Student Submission: Replies to articles may be emailed to the reporter or submitted in room A310. Letters must be signed, but names can be withheld upon request. E-mails with contact information should be sent to south.blueprint@gmail. com
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Why passive aggressive statemements are lies in disguise By Wes Davenport, PR Manager Passive aggressive behavior is something that is very common in a teenage setting. But whatever, it’s fine. I’m not mad at passive aggressive behavior at all. So yeah, if people could stop being passive aggressive, that’d be great. In today’s world, it seems as though students use passive aggressive phrases nearly as often as they drink coffee -- which is a lot. So can we not? Is it hard to just say what you mean and mean what you say? Seems pretty simple to me. In fact, I’d venture to conclude that the world would be a better place if everyone was more direct. Phrases such as ‘I’m not mad’ and ‘Whatever’ have their place in in idle, useless conversation, but not in regular conversation -- I think. It’s just not productive or helpful to anyone involved when two people are having a conversation and someone says things they don’t mean. Passive aggressive statements are,
would be to let go of getting the last word in an argument. It doesn’t matter who gets the last word on a subject or argument, what matters is solving the issue at hand. However, the issue is that passive aggressive behavior does not solely fall on the person being passive aggressive. The rest of the world can help the linguistically impaired passive aggressive person. Again, simple, tell the person they aren’t helping. Be brutally honest and lead by example. Some people who can’t speak directly about issues need to hear those issues directly spoken to them. If I had two wishes this Valentine’s Day, first I would wish for all the little children of the world to join hands and sing songs of love and peace. My second wish would be for all the passive aggressive people in the world to tell the people around them exactly what they mean; that way, that person knows what is Drawing by Gabrielle Bartkevicuite wrong and how to fix the issue so that their relationship doesn’t break apart for lack of a person not only states what they are thinking as well as backs up what communication. Or not, that’s fine. they are saying with action, that person becomes more trustworthy. Another simple yet amazing thing Contact Wes at a passive aggressive person could do wdav0758csd99.org to improve this habit, if they want, in essence, lies. They are not a true expression of what a person is feeling in that moment and lead to major miscommunications in the future. Could passive aggressive people be the change the world needs, or should I? Some simple ways to slightly alter passive aggressive behavior are to simply say what we mean and mean what we say. It’s not easy, but when
Career success determined by more than the core class it’s taught under By Rupa Palla, Staff Reporter Growing up in an Indian household I have only been raised with the option of being a doctor or engineer when I’m older. Everything else was unchartered territory. So when I told my parents and family that I wanted nothing to do with math or science in the future and wanted to be a broadcast journalist, they just couldn’t understand it whatsoever. My family began questioning me with remarks like, “What if you don’t succeed?”; “How are you going to make any money?” or my personal favorite, “Do you want to live with your parents forever?”. After having these questions thrown at me, I realized that my family wasn’t questioning the field I wanted to go into; rather, they were questioning the lack of security it would give me, specifically financial security. Sure, in the past there was a better chance of getting a job in science or math, but that is not the case anymore. Therefore, the reason math and science are valued more than literature and the arts is because of the security that it provides, which in turn, leads to future success. My family was raised on the notion that studying math or science leads to a high paying job which leads to money. While this is somewhat true, many people are stuck to the same ideologies. This mentality starts with the idea that math and science offer safety, as opposed to reading and
the arts, which are riskier. In math and science there can only be one correct answer as opposed to literature where an answer is not that concrete. Literature works to invoke another answer through creativity. In the same way the field of math and science comes with This photo represents how the importance of the scian insurance policy ence and math is greater than the importance of the unlike literature. arts. Science teacher Photo by Clarissa Moreno Theresa Quain addressed this issue. “Science and math classes are chal- topics, my experience has been that lenging for many students because people very rarely change their they require a way of thinking that mind and admit they were wrong. does not come naturally to everyone If they are presented with evidence -- evidence-based reasoning. It is contradicting their belief, they may much easier to test whether what you reject the evidence outright, or twist believe about science is true than it it so that it conforms to their belief,” is to test whether what you believe Quain said. about politics, literature or art is Therefore, science and math are true. In science and math, you can’t valued more because many believe usually hide from the truth for very it leads to success. Although this long,” Quain said. ideology is still alive and well, it does Math and science are important be- not mean it is a good idea to buy into cause they revolve around evidenceit. Rather than simply accepting the based reasoning, which depends on notion, that only math and science cold, hard facts. In real life many lead to success in the future, we must people tend to believe that they are realize that success is not defined by either right or that they are wrong. a subject. But, in English the lines are a bit Contact Rupa at more blurred. rpal0410@csd99.rog “In discussions of non-scientific