SPJ and the Continuous Fight for Press Freedom

San Jose City National High School’s fight for press freedom has just intensified when it established a journalism-centered curriculum.

This school year, SJCNHS offered the Special Program in Journalism to incoming grade 7 students with an interest in and skill for journalism. The curriculum is open to all incoming grade 7 students from private or public schools who are interested, capable, or willing to improve their journalism abilities.

The school’s aims for offering the program are as follows: (1) to strengthen free and responsible journalism in San Jose City; (2) to ensure the sustainability of campus journalism in the division; and (3) to produce better and more passionate student journalists who can not only compete in journalism-related contests but also serve the school and community through the skills they will acquire in the program.

SPJ is a great opportunity for students who aspire to become journalists in the future. It can serve as their stepping stone in achieving their dreams in the field of journalism and mass media. While this curriculum has taken a long time to establish, offering the program now still has a variety of advantages:

First, learners will gain a deeper understanding of journalism. Joining student publications or seasonal contests may give learners some writing skills, but SPJ students have specialized trainings on a daily basis. That is because journalism-related topics are taught regularly and progress is monitored through a series of graded assessments.

Second, they learn more than just one aspect of journalism. A student who joins seasonal contests or the student publication may only focus on one skill or two, but an SPJ student can learn and practice analysis of current issues, journalistic writing, radio and television broadcasting, desktop and online publishing, and other relevant skills within four years. Moreover, they can identify and combat fake news and communicate information with more clarity.

Third, they will have better noses for news. As these skills will be observed during their journalism subjects, SPJ students can easily identify what school or community activities are newsworthy.

Fourth, the skills they will acquire can be used in a journalism degree or related courses. Communication skill is one of the most soughtafter skills in a job, and with four years of learning experiences, SPJ students can have an edge if they are going to apply for jobs that require such abilities. The technical skills in page layout and design, web design, radio and television broadcasting, are also a plus factor, as many industries today are using these skills for marketing and promotion purposes.

Because SPJ is only the first year of implementation, pointers for improvement are normal. For instance, the program can benefit from a good marketing strategy to increase its number of enrollees; the school could provide an annual training of trainers to ensure that they are teaching the proper knowledge and skills to the learners; and the school could form partnership with other stakeholders to invest on building, equipment, and facilities, which are crucial in ensuring meaningful and conducive learning.

SJCNHS still has a long way to go in developing successful journalists. If the school continues to offer SPJ despite the abovementioned issues, then the fire of press freedom truly presses on.

Ice Sage

Unsafe Entry

Unnecessary. Unessential. Unsafe. The painful initiation in order to be part of an organization should not be done as it only brings harm and breaks the true essence of ‘brotherhood’.

Through the years, many students, particularly college, suffer from awful preliminaries or hazing when they try to join organizations like fraternities and sororities. The latest reported victim of hazing was John Matthew Salilig, a college student and member of Tau Gamma Phi – Adamson Chapter who died in the hands of his ‘brothers’.

It is unnecessary to undergo a painful initiation to be a member of an organization because it is not just through a physical test where you can prove your willingness and grit. Initiation rites should stop going overboard to avoid more deaths related to hazing.

Our country has the Republic Act No. 11053 or the Anti-Hazing Act of 2018, the amended version of RA 8049 or the 1995 version of the law. It is an act that prohibits hazing and regulation of other forms of initiation rites of read more on p5 solution to address congestion in City High, but don’t they think that it is important to consider that a large student population can provide more resources needed to support academic and extracurricular activities or programs, which leads to more opportunities for students to discover their interests and enhance their skills.

SHS aims to have its own school identification, as they claim that it provides more financial support and better regulation of funds, leading to a distinct school identity. Nonetheless, it is worthless since the SHS building continues to stand within City High’s property. Additionally, they plan to rename the school from San Jose City National High School-Senior High School to San Jose City Senior read more on p5

Bridging the Gap

Education must continue amid the health crisis, with the support of all stakeholders.

Undoubtedly, the pandemic has caused learning gaps as shown in the assessment results when the face to face classes resumed. Based on the learning deficiencies, San Jose City National High School-Junior High School launched its learning recovery and continuity plan that includes programs, projects and activities that aim to bridge those learning gaps.

Moreover, the regional diagnostic assessment was one of the initiatives that identified the weaknesses of the learners in different learning areas. With this, teachers became more aware of the learners’ needs that they have to address. According to English teacher Ma. Angela G. Yagin, the diagnostic test helped them determine the entry level of the learners. They were able to identify where they will start again and what

Speaking up for yourself is not easy for everyone. That is why discrimination should be abolished once and for all. San Jose City National High School has opened its doors to many forms of inclusivity, encouraging students to speak up for others.

The Grain asked learners about their thoughts and opinions regarding inclusiveness and equality. Here are their thoughts...

“Nararapat lang po sila bigyan ng pansin at boses.” -Erenea

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“The changes really include those who are LGBTQIA. Because of that, many students get closer to one another, knowing that there are others like them.” -Gryaeden Duyon

“As a student, I think it’s great that our schoool welcomes them, helps them feel welcome, and treats them equally like the rest of the students.”

Dainty

“It is such a relief to to know that our school welcomes everyone, and does its job to help them reach their dreams and goals.” -Fiona Alexa Ramirez, basic natural moral law.

“Sa nambubully po, maybe mayroon din po silang pinagdadaanan kaya po ganoon yung treatment nila sa iba.” -Denise Balanza, 9-Expounder

Adelheid

Darren M. Ballesteros

Full-Scale F2F Classes: Defying All Odds

As of August 28, 2022, San Jose City National High School has officially entered a full-on face-to-face implementation of regular classes. To some people, this may seem like an odd choice, since the pandemic has not completely dissolved yet. But to me, with regard to how the local and national government handled the situation, I commend them with how well the whole operation turned out.

the School Truly Our Second Home?

I heard some very unpleasant things in school, particularly about bullying and gender-related offenses. Fights break out between students of any gender. A fight breaks out at an alarming rate of a couple fights every month. Regarding the fact that these fights are not picking genders anymore, boys will fight other boys and girls will fight other girls. Thankfully, and rightfully so, there have not been any fights between those of opposite genders, as this serves as a major violation of

Some students see fighting in school grounds as a morale and status boost for themselves to look better than other students. When in reality, they are just proving the fact that they have no sense of reason. I feel disappointed at the sight of other students fighting among themselves, as they should be brothers fighting side by side and working together. Seeing them in this state surely isn’t a sight to see. Not only do these results come from bullying someone physically; they can also result from mental and verbal bullying, which can occur as much as physical bullying. I don’t know for what reasons

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Ice Sage... from page 4 fraternities, sororities, and other organizations. RA 11053 outrightly makes hazing a criminal act with more penalties for those who will be proven guilty. Therefore, fraternities should start to uphold and follow it. I know that they are aware of the law, just like what the suspects on Salilig’s death have said in the senate hearing. They just refuse to observe it since the initiation rite is like a tradition to them.

Everything seems to be going smoothly. Even though the abrupt shift caused many ripples in my family’s, and my own schedule and lifestyle, it sure does seem like they all got it figured out.

If worse came to be, this implementation would’ve been catastrophic for everyone involved. Once again, since the state of the pandemic amidst this implementation was still questionable, the possibility of it worsening the virus would’ve been an even worse hassle for the government. And that is why I salute them for the work that they did in getting students back on track with their education.

So, what’s with the abrupt shift? Just last year, everything was a question mark with the possibility of F2F classes returning. And yet, here we are now. From what I have observed so far, it looks like the schools did a good job resolving these question marks.

Greetings, Editor!

Thank you for giving me a chance to share my sentiments here in your publication. As a student with different extracurricular activities, time management is not a new concept for me. However, even though I have these different activities connected to the school, the school itself only considers all of our hard work as a voluntary effort. Even though I need to stay up late at night studying and preparing for these contests, I, the student, have nothing to gain but a “thank you” or “congratulations” from the administration when I win these contests. They did not even help me in my training, and there are also no funds for us to use in our school. Regarding the lack of exemption or extra credits in different extracurricular activities, what should be the school’s action in dealing with students so that they have an equal standing and their hard work pays off?

-Koro (Senior High School)

I understand the reason why there is a painful opening for the neophytes or people who wish to be a frat member. Based on a Red Alert documentary several years ago, they have interviewed a frat man regarding the fraternity initiation rites. And the frat man said that it is taken seriously as it measures the determination of the person that is being challenged.

The interviewee added that the initiation rites are not just the physical test, but the whole process including the orientation and introduction to the other ‘brads’. However, if you think more about it, doing painful initiation

Deirdre... from page 4

High School.

Greetings, Koro!

Thank you for reaching out. Regarding your concern, the school administration should repay your hard work and sacrifices by adding incentives or exempting you from the activities that you weren’t able to do because of preparations for the contests you competed in or even activities related to the school. Also, teachers should be considerate of students like you when it comes to extracurricular activities. The school should show support because students like you don’t just represent yourselves in these kinds of activities but also the school itself. The recognition that the school has received is because of you.

The Grain Editor

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The question remains whether this is indeed necessary, given that ‘San Jose City’ will still be part of the name.

Furthermore, SHS and JHS having their own principals are going to be too insignificant to disintegrate an established institution. For me, having the same principal who manages both levels of education can help ensure greater continuity and consistency throughout the students’ education.

There is currently no evidence to suggest that separating the Senior High School will improve financial support. The Alumni Federation has expressed concern that this move may result in the loss of checks and balances, and the proposed “quick” fund system could be vulnerable to fund mismanagement. Bureaucracy, on the other hand, is a part of the government’s system to ensure proper, transparent, and responsible use of funds. For me, the reasons they want to get rid of it seems suspicious.

I observed that they had attended to all of the concerns that I personally had as the face-to-face classes were going on. They worked with what they had and fixed all the holes in the operation amid its implementation and slowly made it better.

One example is the availability of canteens in the school. In the first couple of months, all of them were not available. Students were mandated to bring their own food for the time being. But, as we went along with

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Personally, I may learn a lot from senior high school students. Having good communication with their juniors is a good idea. I can’t believe that we are arguing as one school, one name, one property and one power. What a sad reality it is. It is not beneficial for all students as we have adapted to this learning environment already.

Both SHS and JHS are focusing on improving the standard education and separating us loses opportunity to learn, to inspire and to motivate one another. Juniors and seniors are supposed to be brothers and sisters, aren’t they?

City High is the door for preparing our future and can be the school that students want to be in without being separated. I believe that the separation of the two departments will remove our identity. We are stronger as one. Together with the Alumni Federation, I stand with affirmation that what we need is an integrated City High; the strength in unity and harmony.