The Highacres Collegian
Education:
A Proposal to eliminate racism, ignorance and hatred
By! Ben Turrano
What do most humans fear
above all else? In general it is
the fear of the unknown.
Anything unfamiliar, new or
different. New people, new
houses, new schools, almost
anything for which we do not
have a set of preconceived
response patterns.
We all have had a
frightening first experience
with something. Perhaps it was
that first day in school or the
first time we learned to drive a
car or the ever popular first
time away from home. All of
these things probably elicit
some sour memories for us, but
it is these events which helped
us grow into better people. At
that moment when we crossed
the threshold from the
comfortable known into the
awaiting unknown, we exposed
ourselves to many new stimuli
and that takes a certain kind of
bravery. The kind of bravery
that, in part, makes us human
beings.
Yet, the question still
remains as to why we need to
have this bravery in the first
place. I believe that it lies in
A Letter
Dear Ex-President Bush;
It was bound to happen,
George. You knew you
couldn’t stay in office forever,
though you did try, didn’t you.
I guess you thought you’d be in
the White House for at least
four more years.
Well, frankly, George, the
American public was tired.
Tired of your lies, tired of
"reading your lips" and tired of
hearing about a thousand points
of light that have faded long
ago. Yes, I know you promised
to be "the education president"
and "the environmental
president", but promises aren’t
enough. (And since we’re on
the subject of education,
George, what did you do to help
me get into college?)
The truth, George, is that
Bill Clinton will be a better
President. He’s actually
concerned about the sorry state
our upbringing. It has been
inbred in us to stay close to
familiar surroundings, in this
manner our parents can watch
us and protect us more easily.
Unfortunately, the lingering
effects of this self protection
practice remain with us
throughout our lives and when
we are able to make decisions
for ourselves, we often choose
not to deviate from the familiar.
It is this lasting impression that
narrows our view of the world
so that we see only those people
who are like us and those who
are not, and we almost never
even want to get to know the
latter.
I ask you the readers to now
contemplate very thoroughly the
proposal that all school children
be exposed to a multi-cultural
lesson in addition to the regular
school curricula. For example,
in the school district that I
attended, the enrollment was
98% Christian and 100% white,
which naturally made us all
very ignorant of any other
religions or other cultures and
customs observed elsewhere in
our ever shrinking global
to George Bush
By: Todd Bitter
of the government and, as an
added bonus, he seems to care
about the people. (Caring about
the people. What a concept!
Too bad you didn’t think of it,
George.) Yes, Clinton
understands the importance of
the real issues such as health
care, jobs, education and the
environment.
But you did put up a good
fight. That stuff about Gennifer
Flowers, marijuana and draft
dodging was really effective.
Bill Clinton isn’t perfect-so
what? You only wish you were
half as moral.
Well, I guess this is
goodbye, George. I’ll miss
Barbara and Millie and I’ll
fondly remember Dan Quayle.
But you, George, I won’t miss.
In fact, I’m looking forward to
the next four years and the four
years after that and the four
years after that and the...well,
you get my drift.
Page 2
village. I have since tried my
best to learn as much as I can
about other peoples of the
world, and have since gained a
great respect for them all, as
well as feeling a hightened
sense of belonging to my own
culture.
If we expose very young,
impressionable children to
small amounts of the diversity
their world holds for them, I
believe we could drastically
improve how they see
themselves and others later in
life. I believe we could achieve
this by pointing out certain
important dates to the children
by saying to them: "today is ...
the first day of Chanukah, the
Hindu festival of lights, Boxing
Day, Rosh Hashana, May day,
Philippine Independence day,
Mardi Gras, etc.” Then the
teacher could relate as much
information as possible about
that particular day to the lesson
on that day. Perhaps let the
children taste a food, read a
relevant story, show them a
map, a brief video, let them
hear a song in another
language, have them act out an
Cancer Telethon
By: Gina Hammond
On Sunday November 8,
seven students from the
Hazleton Campus Video Club
traveled to Berwick for the
National Cancer Association
Telethon. From 11:00 a.m.
until 9:30 p.m. these students
worked cameras for the
event. The telethon consisted
of having one star football
player from each of the local
high schools placed in jail to
raise money. Other people who
were in jail were Joe Zone, the
local sports newscaster and a
school coach. While these
people were in jail, a variety of
entertainers performed.
Pennsylvania polka singers,
Italian singers, piano soloists, a
excerpt from what the day
represents... anything to help
them get to know their
neighbors in the world.
I have had five and six year old
kids come up to me when I am
at work and say things like: "I
can count to ten in Japanese", or
"I can say I love you in:
French, Italian, Spanish,
German, etc." They love being
able to demonstrate a newly
acquired piece of knowledge to
anyone who will listen, and
even to those who won’t.
Children, our one greatest
asset, our shining hope of the
future, our immortality; what
better gift can we give them
than the ability to appreciate
those around them - and the
respect for that which they don’t
understand. If nothing else, we
will at least give them tolerance
for each other and each other’s
beliefs.
Idealistically, it would be a
wonderful sight, if someday our
progeny suddenly remembers an
elementary school experience
and realizes a certain date and
wishes someone a "happy... "
or "warm... greetings", etc.
Maybe if we started turning our
diversity from a cursed
disadvantage into a form of
education we could at the same
time, turn it into an advantage.
That is one of the most difficult,
most rewarding things one can
accomplish in life.
German band and a duet, just
to name a few were all present.
These seven students took
turns using the three video
cameras to tape the different
acts. Two cameras were
located in the entertainment
room. These students had the
opportunity to work with
zooming in, (bringing the
entertainers closer or farther
away from the cameras) and
panning, (moving the camera
from side to side following a
subject or viewing a set) thus
being able >. to scan all the
performers. The telethon gave
these students the chance to
experiment with different shots
on live performers, as well as
helping the cancer society to
raise money for cancer
research.
November 1992