Opinions

TEACHERS HOG HIGHLANDER TIME

Teachers use students’ only break during school day to teach

The staff editorial represents the opinion of the majority of The Highlander editorial board

High school can be extremely overwhelming, and in our generation, stress levels are at an all-time high. At McLean, a student’s only break during the school day is being taken away from them by their teachers, which is completely unreasonable and must be addressed.

“Highlander Time is a great way for teachers to review material, target specific skills to help students better understand content and provide support for students if they are struggling. It’s a great way for teachers to conference with students and check their progress,” assistant principal Jeffrey Barham said.

While Highlander Time is very useful in these respects, many teachers take this too far. The purpose of Highlander Time is to give students a chance to catch up on work, meet with teachers individually or relax and take a break from their otherwise draining school day.

According to Edutopia, students are easily distracted, but regular short breaks can help them focus, increase their productivity and reduce their stress. This is especially important at McLean, where many students take on overwhelming schedules.

Teachers who choose to teach through Highlander Time often claim that there isn’t enough time to cover all material in class, especially because of all the snow days we had during the winter.

“If I’m teaching during Highlander Time it might be because we need to make up time, or to review material that I might ordinarily go over during class,” biology teacher Catherine Hott said. “I like it to be a time that I can work individually with students, but sometimes we need to use it to review material as a class.”

If class time is used effectively, there should be enough time to cover all material. Fairfax County has built 18 snow days into the calendar, and less than half of them have been used this year.

Even though some teachers abuse this time, other teachers choose to let students use Highlander Time as they wish, but are still available if students need individual help.

“A lot of times, students go to other teachers to figure out when they can make up work or when they can get extra help, so if I’m teaching through Highlander Time, then they’re missing essential information in my class,” English teacher Bridget Donoghue said.

According to the Fairfax County Youth Survey, an average of 42 percent of high school students reported high levels of stress in the past month. In addition to stress, 29.8 percent reported depressive symptoms in the past year. A break could give teens time to focus on how they’re feeling and destress.

STUDENTS PUT PRESSURE ON THEMSELVES WITH ACADEMICS AND EXTRACURRICULARS. HAVING THAT SMALL 30-MINUTE BREAK...IS EXTREMELY HELPFUL.”

— BRIDGET DONOGHUE

ENGLISH TEACHER

“I have to go see teachers a lot, especially meetings with counselors and administrators about things we can do around the school. I do that during Highlander Time, and it’s extremely difficult for me to get those things done when the teacher is teaching and I can’t leave,” freshman Atticus Gore said.

A certain amount of material does need to be covered before SOLs and finals, but teaching during Highlander Time won’t solve this problem. If more material needs to be covered, then teachers can assign homework, which students can choose to do during Highlander Time.

“Students put pressure on themselves with academics and extracurriculars. Having that small 30-minute break during the day is extremely helpful to let you guys socialize with your friends and have some fun during the school day,” Donoghue said.

McLean students should stay on task during class in order to make sure teachers do not need to utilize Highlander Time to teach.

In other words, Highlander Time should be a time that students can use however they want. If they choose to catch up on homework, then that is their decision, but the period should not be structured by a teacher.

Comic by Jayne Ogilvie-Russell

Reporting by Emily Friedman

CANDIDATE CONFUSION

There are too many Democrats running for president

ERICA BASS EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

You probably didn’t know this, because it’s hardly news anymore, but a few weeks ago another Democrat announced that they’re running for president in 2020. This time it’s Michael Bennet, senator of Colorado and advocate for bipartisanship. I wonder if I’ll start receiving emails from him too… I don’t know if my inbox can take much more.

With a year to go before the next presidential primaries, 21 Democrats have already announced their definitive intentions to run for president.

As exciting as it is to watch the campaign trail play out like a particularly political episode of Keeping Up with the Kardashians. Having a large candidate pool for a presidential election is not a smart move for the Democrats as they look to beat Donald Trump’s likely re-election campaign.

The primaries are crucial to winning the presidency. Both Democrats and Republicans will strive to secure enough support to carry them into the final election and win the office. A large candidate pool with similar platforms in the primaries can divide the voters dramatically, perhaps making way for an atypical and controversial winner.

We all saw it play out that way last time.

I still have vivid memories of 2015, seeing the Olympic-sized pool of Republican voters, watching Trump go down that elevator to announce his candidacy, and laughing. The chances of him winning were so slim. Yet lo and behold, while the other more standard Republican candidates bickered amongst themselves and divided the democratic party, Trump inspired a niche group of Republicans with his unconventional ideas, eventually winning himself the Republican slot on the ticket.

Now, Democrats seem to be falling into that trap, an irresponsible decision should the party actually hope to get a candidate nominated with a chance of winning.

“The candidate that moves on will be the one that has the most media coverage,” senior Kimya Shirazi said. “And sometimes that comes from a place of being very outspoken and using a lot of words wisely to promote yourself, like Trump did.”

In the fast-paced competition for the craziest headline that draws media attention, having the loudest opinion is now considered synonymous with being qualified, and with at least 20 candidates all shouting, it will take a real screamer to be heard.

“People don’t take the time to look and see who has very logical plans—they just impulsively listen to things that feed into their ideologies. So I just suppose whoever becomes the most well-known figure [will win the election]. The more people there are, the less you’ll know them,” Shirazi said.

Due to the intense competition for the primaries, candidates may soon begin following the path of name-calling, slandering and mudslinging that our own president used to get his name as publicized as possible.

“I’m sure that we’ll see a lot of candidates trying to distinguish themselves from the others because they are so similar ideologically,” AP Government teacher Julia Braxton said.

Hopefully Democrats have learned from 2016, and they’ll realize the defamation of fellow Democrats is a bad idea.

The Bernie Sanders vs. Hillary Clinton showdown of 2016 was one for the ages, with neither person pulling any punches in their fight to the top, and it had its consequences.

“Bernie Sanders himself last [election] asked his supporters to vote for Hillary when it looked like he wasn’t going to be moving on. But even though it was coming from him, people still obviously didn’t get the outcome that he had asked for, or would have wanted,” Shirazi said.

The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement recorded that over two million young, college-aged voters voted for Sanders during the primaries, but after he dropped out, only about 1.5 million voted at all in the general election.

Lasting rivalries can influence the eventual decisions of voters, and a lot of resentment was built up by Sanders voters by what they perceived as his snub.

Clinton lost Democratic followers in the end because of the intense support for Sanders that the competition of a primary election brought out, assisting in her eventual loss to Trump. The competition that takes place within a primary can be very intense, including the vilification of other candidates. This ultimately hurts the party by dividing voters prior to the actual election.

THE CANDIDATE THAT MOVES ON WILL BE THE ONE THAT HAS THE MOST MEDIA COVERAGE.”

— KIMYA SHIRAZI

SENIOR

Perhaps this wouldn’t all be such an issue this year if Democrats weren’t such terrible voters. Don’t get me wrong, Democrats are still very politically active—the number of protests and campaigns and organizations led by Democrats in search of political change is impressive and inspiring, but they still have a severe voter turnout issue.

According to Newsweek, college-age voters (a demographic that usually sways liberal) consistently have a low voter turnout rate, with only 49 percent voting in 2016. However, Baby Boomers, who tend to vote conservative, repeatedly have some of the highest rates in the country, with a whopping 69 percent turnout in 2016. It also didn’t help Democrats that Latinos (who are also normally expected to lean left) showed up to polls at much lower rates than expected, falling four points, and that African American voters fell off significantly after the end of Obama’s second term.

With issues like this in voting results, any form of division within the Democratic party will damage Democratic voter numbers; a widely accepted, popular candidate untouched by hurtful slander from fellow Democrats is needed to inspire voter numbers to rise.

I’ve often heard that the large pool of candidates allows for voters to vote for an individual person over a party platform, which sounds theoretically nice, but practically doesn’t work in today’s political climate.

It can be generally agreed that the primary focus of Democrats in 2020 must be beating Trump—a goal that cannot be sabotaged by the egos of every politician in America deciding that they alone would be perfect for the role of Commander-in-Chief.

Democrats don’t like to admit it, but Trump was very successful in shifting the median of right-wing politics. He was able to rally a base that was strong and unified enough that the majority of conventional Republicans in Congress (whose previous policy patterns have differed from the non-traditional views of Trump) are unwilling to challenge him. This lack of Republican pushback is what allowed Trump’s unconventionalism to last as long as it has.

If Republican politicians are putting party over policy for this election, Democratic voters need to too. I’m all for varied opinions in elections for Congress, but the stakes are simply too high in this one.

Some Democrats seem to be understanding this, as at least three candidates who were seriously planning on running have dropped out.

“My goal for our tour is to make the dignity of work the centerpiece of the Democrats’ 2020 campaign because I believe that’s the way to beat Donald Trump,” former candidate Sherrod Brown said in an interview with The Atlantic.

In order to actually have a chance in 2020, Democratic voters need to learn from their mistakes and prioritize a candidate who can represent the entire party against Trump. Don’t fall into the trap of getting caught up in unnecessary political drama, and make an informed choice that will be best for this country.

SOME OF THE CANDIDATES

JOE BIDEN

Served for eight years as vice president to Barack Obama. Could he help guide the country back to a more unified time, or is he just a futile remnant of an era long past?

PETE BUTTIGIEG

Making history as America’s first openly gay candidate for president. He’s inspiring Democrats from all across the country, but no one really knows what his policy plans are, or how to pronounce his name.

BERNIE SANDERS

2016 phenomenon who managed to invigorate a new generation of voters with his socialist policies. Unfortunately, this feeling of the Bern spread like wildfire and may have ‘bernt’ down Hillary Clinton’s chances at the presidency. Could this happen in 2020?

ELIZABETH WARREN

An advocate for ending political lobbying. She’s known for reminding most of America of their 4th grade teacher. However, she did announce her candidacy by cracking open a beer bottle with her husband on a live stream...

BETO O’ROURKE

Famously lost his Texas Senate race against Ted Cruz, but sparked a movement nationwide, and broke a record for most campaign money raised in 24 hours.

KAMALA HARRIS

Former prosecutor and second black woman to ever be elected to the Senate, Harris wants to raise the salary for every American teacher.

AMY KLOBUCHAR

First female senator of Minnesota. If she was able to win as a liberal candidate in a moderate Midwestern state, could she do the same for the country?

CUTTING CLASS HAS ITS COST

Tardiness and skipping class cause issues for students

Photo illustration by Pran Kittivorapat

ALEX BANKS REPORTER

PRAN KITTIVORAPAT DESIGN EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

JAKE LYNES REPORTER

ZEYAD ZAEEAN REPORTER

Absences and tardiness have grown to be some of the most prevalent problems in McLean’s culture. Extracurricular activities and distractions like social media draw students’ limited attention away from their education, and a lot of students don’t see the potential problems that arise when they skip a class or an entire school day.

Absences not only impact how students understand course material, but they have other negative effects as well. Grades often suffer and interest in academics declines as students find other activities more attractive than their schoolwork.

According to the CRC Health Group, “Skipping school is a good predictor of other problems, including gang membership, drug and alcohol use, theft, high-risk sexual behavior and vandalism.”

While these long-term effects are scary, FCPS used to have policies in place with stricter immediate consequences.

“I went to Centreville High School, [and if] you had seven unexcused absences or tardies, you got an F in that class,” School Resource Officer Scott Davis said.

Although school rules regarding tardiness and absences have changed throughout the years, the cause for tardiness has also changed.

Due to a majority of students having access to smartphones, the amount of kids skipping class has increased tremendously. Students can communicate with their peers to meet and hang out in bathrooms, walk around in hallways or even leave school grounds to get food.

“If you want to go to class and your friend decides that he wants to skip and he texts you to come with him, when you see that message, it increases the likelihood that you may choose to leave with that student,” systems of support adviser Nicholas Corsi said. “If you’re looking at a Snap story in class and you see friends at Santini’s, you might decide you want to leave class to go have a sub over at Santini’s.”

Students at McLean also tend to skip class on days when classes have tests or quizzes. This gives them more time to study and the opportunity to gather information from their classmates about what is on the exam. This behavior likely stems from the enormous pressure from parents, peers and other adults such as teachers and coaches to succeed.

In response to these absences, the McLean security staff uses a system to notify parents of a student’s failure to attend class in order to prevent future ditching.

“Fairfax County Public Schools has a system where, if a student is marked unverified before a class period, it automatically generates an email, text message [or phone call] to alert the parents that [the student is] not in school,” Corsi said. “If you don’t go to third period, your teacher is going to mark you unverified. That triggers the system to notify your parents or your guardians that you are not where you’re supposed to be, so it’s a safety concern.”

With these absences also come consequences. Being unexcused for 10 days results in a mandatory parentstudent meeting. If that student is under 18, they will be referred to the attendance officer, who will then place the student on contract.

The county’s effort to decrease skipping rates has been working, at least when it comes to chronic absenteeism, or having unexcused absences for more than 10 percent of the school year. The total number of students at McLean who are chronically absent has dropped from 243 students in the 2014-15 school year to 133 students* in the 2018-19 school year. These numbers are heading in the right direction, but this issue has not completely disappeared. Students brush off the responsibilities of school without acknowledging the possible future consequences of their actions.

For many students, school is one of their biggest priorities. Learning more and gaining experience at school in preparation for adulthood is what students should focus on.

“Skipping now would definitely influence me in my future jobs—a habit would develop and my responsibility as a person would diminish,” junior Salah Mohammed said.

Students spend seven or more hours in school every day, and then choose to stay after school for various activities. Students’ lives revolve around school, and therefore their attitude towards it should reflect its importance.

“[You] have to put school first. You know, at 15, 16 17, 18 years old, you’re a student and that’s your priority. Y’all come here to learn and to get better. So if you look at it that way, it’s almost like this is your own job,” Davis said.

As we get older we start to realize what is most important: not our friends, but our education, because that’s the factor that will determine everything in the future.

WHAT ARE THE CONSEQUENCES OF UNEXCUSED ABSENCES?

3 DAYS

SYSTEMS OF SUPPORT ADVISER (SOSA):

—-SENDS A LETTER HOME TO PARENT OR GUARDIAN

— MEETS WITH STUDENT

— NOTIFIES COUNSELOR

5 DAYS

— AUTOMATED CALL OUT BY FCPS TO NOTIFY PARENTS AN ATTENDANCE PLAN IS REQUIRED

— SOSA CALLS STUDENT AND PARENT/GUARDIAN TO CREATE ATTENDANCE PLAN

— ATTENDANCE PLAN FORWARDED TO COUNSELOR

8 DAYS

— MANDATORY MEETING WITH STUDENTS’ PARENTS

— SCHOOL SOCIAL WORKER/ATTENDANCE OFFICER NOTIFIED TO DETERMINE SERVICES/INTERVENTIONS IF NECESSARY

10 DAYS

— MANDATORY MEETING WITH STUDENTS’ PARENTS

— IF UNDER 18: REFERRAL TO ATTENDANCE OFFICER: THE ATTENDANCE OFFICER PLACES STUDENT ON CONTRACT, CONTRACT MAILED HOME AND FORWARDED TO COUNSELOR, HOME VISIT

— IF OVER 18: STAKEHOLDERS MEET TO SIGN OVER-18 CONTRACT

ACCORDING TO McLEAN’S SYSTEMS OF SUPPORT ADVISER,

— FCPS SCHOOLS MUST HAVE LESS THAN 15% CHRONIC ABSENTEEISM

— FOR THE 2018-19 SCHOOL YEAR: 6.5% OF MCLEAN STUDENTS WERE ABSENT FOR MORE THAN 10% OF THE YEAR*

ACCORDING TO THE FCPS YOUTH SURVEY ADMINISTERED IN NOVEMBER 2015,

— 8.7 % OF RESPONDENTS SKIPPED AT LEAST ONE DAY OF SCHOOL DURING OCTOBER 2015

— 3.2 % OF RESPONDENTS SKIPPED THREE OR MORE DAYS OF SCHOOL DURING OCTOBER 2015

*According to systems of support adviser, as of May 8

WHITE SUPREMACY POSES A THREAT TO THE WORLD

The issue of white nationalism needs to be addressed

SAISHA DANI OPINIONS EDITOR

White nationalism has been an issue in this country since its discovery, especially since the creation of the Ku Klux Klan in 1865. This problem persists around the world, as was most recently seen in the horrific terrorist attacks on mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand.

White supremacy is the belief that white people are superior to all other races. Attacks by extremist groups have killed masses of people over time, just to establish dominance over other races.

Terrorist attacks executed by white nationalists are a serious threat to the world.

On March 15, 2019, an Australian man carried out two consecutive terrorists attacks at two mosques in New Zealand during Friday prayers. Forty-nine people were killed in this attack, spurred by feelings of white supremacy from the attacker. This tragedy exhibits how these extremists are still causing problems around the world.

In a press conference on March 16, President Donald Trump said he doesn’t think white nationalism poses a global threat, attributing such attacks to “a small group of people that have very, very serious problems.”

In reality, white supremacy is not a minor issue, as recent events have shown—it is a much larger problem than is acknowledged by many people.

“I think that any extremism no matter how big or small is a serious problem and should be addressed because a small problem can quickly turn into a bigger problem. If we don’t through our democratic principles do something to prevent that, we end up back where we were in World War II,” AP U.S. History teacher Cynthia Hawkins said.

In 2017 at the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, protesters chanted racial and antisemitic slurs while marching with Nazi and Confederate flags. Protesters clashed with counterprotesters, injuring 30 individuals. One of the white supremacists took his car and rammed it into the counterprotesters, killing one person and injuring 40 others.

It is extremely disgusting to see what this world has come to. We have extremists who are hostile to other races because of their belief that whites are the superior race.

People throughout the world, especially in this country, express Islamophobic views and categorize all Muslims as ‘terrorists’ based on acts done by a small group of Muslims.

“Not all Muslims are terrorists—it’s only ISIS, and they aren’t even Muslim. ISIS is just a whole different community versus what the Muslim community is,” sophomore Shifa Zalawar said.

These people put so much stress on hating Islam that they don’t realize white supremacy is a highly pressing concern.

In November of 2018, 11 people were killed in a mass shooting at a synagogue in Pennsylvania. The shooter accused Jewish people of bringing ‘evil’ Muslims into the country.

Before being Islamophobic and accusing an entire population of being terrorists, people need to consider the equally concerning matter of the awful actions of white supremacists.

It is surreal that if one Muslim commits an act of terrorism it indicates that all Muslims are terrorists. But when a white supremacist executes a terrorist attack, they are one of a small group of people with serious problems, according to Trump. White people aren’t generalized by the acts performed by other white people, so why are Muslims?

It is immoral to inflict hatred on people because of their race or religion, no matter what ethnicity or creed. When events like this occur, we need to take action.

We as a society need to address the issue and discuss how these actions should be curtailed.

By sitting back and not speaking up as white nationalists carry out terrorist attacks, and by not even identifying them as terrorist attacks, we are accepting these actions and letting these atrocious people unleash their hate into the world.

We all need to voice our opinions about the wrongfulness of white supremacy to make sure these events don’t occur again. White supremacy is a threat to this nation and will continue to grow if we don’t do something about it.

Major Events

Source: The Guardian

JULY 2011

Oslo, Norway—A bomb attack targeted the youth camp of Norway’s Labor party, where 77 people were killed. The attacker wanted to prevent "the invasion of Muslims."

APRIL 2014

Overland Park, Kansas—A former KKK leader shot three people at a Jewish centeR and retirement home as he believed Jews were “destroying the white race.”

JANUARY 2017

Quebec City, Canada—six people were killed at a mosque during Friday prayers and 19 were injured. The shooting was spurred BY Justin Trudeau’s tweet about welcoming all refugees after Trump's travel ban on several Muslim Countries.

AUGUST 2017

Charlottesville, Virginia—After neo-Nazi and white supremacist protests in one of the men drove his car into the crowd of COUNTERprotesters, killing one and injuring dozens of others.

NOVEMBER 2018

Pittsburg, Pennsylvania—A mass shooting in a synagogue caused the deaths of 11 people. The attacker posted absurd comments on his extremists’ social media site, accusing Jews of bringing 'evil' muslims into the country.

MARCH 2019

Christchurch, New Zealand—Nine people were killed and many more injured in a terrorist attack targeted at two mosques. This attack was driven by the belief that the white race is endangered and threatened by other races.

RELEASES CHECK OUT EARLY

Three-hour early dismissals are important to students and should be brought back

JOSH BASS & KAAN KOCABAL SPORTS EDITORS

"DROWNING IN STRESS" | Illustration by Jayne Ogilvie-Russell

During a board meeting in June 2018, a decision that was long in the making was finalized. Fairfax County Public School officials and school board members decided it was in the best interest of schools to remove early releases from the 2019-2020 school calendar.

In doing so, the school system has managed to completely disregard student opinion and morale. Students are appalled as a result of the decision and couldn’t disagree more with the school board’s decision.

BY HAVING EARLY RELEASES, I CAN GET OTHER THINGS DONE SO THAT I CAN STUDY FOR A TEST EARLIER.”

- SAAHIR RATTANI

FRESHMAN

Three-hour early releases are harmless and only present themselves a couple times during the school year. These early dismissals should not have even been considered for cancellation.

During early releases, students have time to study for upcoming tests and gather their thoughts in preparation. Having a three-hour early release once in a while gives students valuable amounts of study time.

“By having early releases, I can get other things done so that I can study for a test earlier,” freshman Saahir Rattani said.

Essentially, this excess study time results in more successful students with grades they can be proud of.

Three-hour early releases give students the flexibility to finish their homework and projects on time. They also help kids manage their time between schoolwork and extracurricular activities.

“Early releases allow me to finish my homework for the next day as well as homework due later in the week,” freshman Jacob Miller said. “It helps me manage my time between homework and sports.”

Students like Miller, a player on the JV boys soccer team, may have to play sports for hours and then proceed to come home with nothing finished. With an early release every now and then, students have the ability to get a head start on homework and the right amount of time to finish everything.

Furthermore, early releases reduce the amount of stress on teachers.

“I use the early release time to meet with teachers to plan our lessons or look for resources for students,” head librarian Joan McCarthy said. “I will miss [three-hour early dismissals].”

With three-hour early releases, teachers have more time to grade, collaborate with other teachers and plan out what they will do in their classes in the coming weeks.

In addition to using three-hour early releases for teacher planning, some teachers use the time to stay after to work with their students.

“In the library, on early release days, we did not close right away, so we would see students finishing up assignments or getting to the various resources they needed...so we did see students use [the time] academically,” McCarthy said.

As a result of the calendar change, the county has added two more student holidays, for a total of 12. In addition, the removal has allotted for two more potential snow days.

Although a substitution for early dismissals is thoughtful, they do not even come close to filling the gap of the thrill students feel when stepping out the doors at 11:55 a.m.

This adjustment to the school calendar is already being met with disapproval from the student body. The removal of early dismissals is ridiculous and the idea to remove them should be overturned or at least revised.

McLean’s stance on early releases

82% For

3% Against

15% Don’t Care

Data gathered from a poll of 100 McLean students

HALLWAY TVs INEFFECTIVE FOR STUDENTS

McLean should make use of alternative ways to announce the news

PRAN KITTIVORAPAT DESIGN EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

According to The Highlander’s March 2017 issue, the installment of TVs at McLean was part of a pilot program by the IT Multimedia Department of FCPS. These five TVs were installed in the hallways in order to inform students about school news.

Two years after their installation, the TVs are still not effectively informing McLean students of news around the school.

“I don’t really watch the TVs in the hallways because the information on them doesn’t really apply to me,” junior Max Mouries said.

The hallway TVs at McLean, operated by the student activities office, are meant to inform students about clubs or tryouts, as well as other reminders, including award recognitions.

“I think it is a good thing for [students] to always look at those announcements to see what is offered at McLean and to make sure that they are informed about other opportunities to be involved,” assistant principal Jeffrey Barham said. “[Hallway TVs are located in] a central location that students know where to look, and it also cuts down on interruptions to instructional time.”

Administrators see the TVs as an opportunity to easily get news to students and clean up the halls by removing posters, making the school more appealing to visitors.

“[With posters in the hallways,] the hallways are very cluttered and ugly—they just look trashy,” Principal Ellen Reilly said. “Posters would sit there for six months and nobody would take them down, and then you have outdated information. People would put up stuff last-minute and it looks awful. We have to go through an approval process. It was a pain.”

Contrary to administrators’ beliefs, using hallway TVs to spread news rather than posters or P.A. announcements actually makes it more difficult for clubs and organizations to share information.

“I think the TVs help, but they are not the primary source of advertising announcements,” marketing teacher Debra Fargo said.

The school allows only a select few clubs to announce their activities over the P.A. system, which reaches every student. Other clubs, who use the TVs, see this as an unfair advantage.

“If they would allow us to [use P.A. announcements and bulletin boards], we would definitely do that because we want more people to come to our club,” said sophomore and Asian American Association officer Emily Chen.

Clubs who do have their own bulletin boards have the responsibility to update them, but they rarely do so. The school should allow more clubs access to bulletin boards.

A poll of 103 McLean students found that less than 13 percent of students are interested in what is being announced on the hallway TVs every day, and 50 percent of students are not sure if the information they are looking for is on the TVs.

The poll found that students usually get their news through social media, P.A. announcements, e-mails and posters. It is counterintuitive that students get so much information from posters because the school has put restrictions on them. Most posters end up in classrooms or bathrooms.

“For our club, we didn’t put notes on the TVs—[we] basically just create different kinds of posters and post them in certain classrooms and bathrooms,” Chen said.

Most students prefer using social media to receive school news. Over 50 percent of students like to get announcements over Instagram or Twitter due to its accessibility.

“[Whether the students] are in the cafeteria, in front of the building, in the back of the building or looking at their phones, you have to put things where they are going to see it because they are the ones you are trying to [convince] to join things, go to games and join clubs,” Fargo said.

The TVs are not used by enough students to be an effective mode of communication. Methods must be revised to better inform students.

In addition to providing more clubs with a place to post their announcements, the school should develop a shared social media account where clubs can share information in order to create a more well-informed and cohesive student body.

HOW OFTEN DO STUDENTS LOOK AT HALLWAY TV SCREENS?

NEVER 43%

ONCE A WEEK 27%

TWICE A WEEK 17%

ONCE DAILY 10%

SEVERAL TIMES DAILY 3%

IS THERE ANYTHING STUDENTS ARE INTERESTED IN ON THE TVS RIGHT NOW?

I DON’T KNOW 52%

NO 40%

YES 8%

WHERE DO STUDENTS GET NEWS AROUND THE SCHOOL?

SOCIAL MEDIA 73

INTERCOM/P.A. 47

E-MAIL 28%

POSTERS 23%

AFTERNOON NEWS SHOW 21%

HALLWAY TV SCREENS 19%

WEBSITE 18%

WHAT DO STUDENTS THINK IS THE BEST WAY TO GET SCHOOL INFORMATION?

SOCIAL MEDIA 51%

INTERCOM/P.A. 19%

E-MAIL 15%

WEBSITE 8%

AFTERNOON NEWS SHOW 6%

POSTERS 5%

HALLWAY TV SCREENS 4%

(OTHER/I DON’T KNOW 20%)

Data gathered from a poll of 103 students

AMERICA IS BEHIND ON GUN REFORMS

New Zealand shooting gives rude awakening to U.S. on ancient firearm policies

GRACE GOULD FEATURES/COPY EDITOR

CC PALUMBO FEATURES/IN-DEPTH EDITOR

Two hundred years ago, guns only fired one bullet at a time. Two hundred years ago AK-47s and AR-15s did not exist. Two hundred years later, we abide by the same laws established when times were drastically different. Two hundred years later, mass shootings are a common occurrence and a daily fear.

In order to keep U.S. citizens from living in fear and prevent more senseless deaths, tighter gun restrictions need to be implemented immediately. To not do so is to allow the death of thousands of Americans in mass shootings. The longer this issue gets ignored and pushed to the back of the political agenda, the more people will become victims. As a society, we cannot afford to allow this problem to continue.

To put this in perspective, let’s review the mass devastation that has occurred in the U.S. due to a lack of gun reform. Forty-nine people were killed in Pulse Nightclub. Fifty-nine people were killed in Las Vegas. Seventeen were killed at Parkland High School. Twentyseven at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Thirty-two at Virginia Tech. Thousands of empty apologies and zero change followed.

The NRA, obviously, has some influential “solutions” to the gun control controversy in America. After the Parkland shooting, the lobby stood by their idea that reducing and banning the usage of guns only creates more of a problem, showing they believe more guns provide the perfect solution to gun violence.

“The quickest way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun,” Vice President Mike Pence said at the NRA’s annual convention in 2018, parroting a common gun lobbyist sentiment.

The problem with that is quite simple: saying that adding more guns into an equation in which they are the primary instrument in the mass murder of thousands is illogical and naive. The only impact more guns would make is the influx of money going straight to weapons distributors, benefiting the NRA.

According to the NRA-ILA, the official lobbying arm of the NRA, Virginia does not require state permits to purchase a rifle, shotgun or handgun. Citizens may also own machine guns, short-barrel rifles and shortbarrel shotguns so long as they register these weapons with the Department of State Police within 24 hours. This allows for weapons of mass murder to exist throughout the U.S. so long as the gun is registered, something someone willing to commit homicide is likely to disregard.

America’s loose policies surrounding gun ownership don’t seem to be helping murder rates. The U.S. gun-related homicide rates are 75 times that of New Zealand, a country that after just one mass shooting required only six days to enact new gun control laws.

The U.S., on the other hand, suffered over 300 mass shootings in 2018 and passed few effective resolutions to gun violence, a disease that seems to be plaguing us.

We need to learn from the example that New Zealand set with their quick policy change following the tragedy that scarred their country. Congress needs to put their political differences aside and work to create stricter gun control laws to prevent mass shootings.

It’s not only New Zealand from whom we can learn. Canada, which does not guarantee private gun ownership and requires a permit for ownership of all firearms, had 266 gunrelated homicides in 2017 as opposed to the U.S. which had a record 39,773 murders associated with firearms.

Japan, a country which boasts some of the strictest but also most effective gun control laws in the world, had only 271,000 gun owners in a country of 127 million people as of 2011. The nation suffered just three gun-related deaths in 2017, proving that strict gun control laws are much more effective than no gun control laws at all.

American citizens who believe it is their inalienable right to own a gun need to get over themselves and realize that the thousands of annual firearm-related deaths outweigh their personal belief that they can not survive unless their shotgun is hanging up beside their bed.

By allowing these weapons to remain prevalent in 43 percent of households throughout our country, lawmakers are essentially standing by and allowing people to be killed daily on American soil.

We need to learn from the examples of New Zealand, Canada and Japan and restrict the number of people who are permitted to own guns.

Not only do background checks to attain a gun need to be more extensive, but semiautomatic weapons must be banned in order to prevent any more mass shootings.

It’s true, the past has shaped the U.S.; however, times are changing. Our society is constantly evolving yet our gun control laws have not kept up. When the Bill of Rights was approved, mass shootings weren’t even a possibility, so abiding by the same gun laws as we did when the epidemic of gun violence didn’t even exist is extremely nonsensical. If gun control caught up with our evolving society and modern issues, mass shootings wouldn’t be such a common occurrence.

No longer do guns fire one bullet at a time. Firearm technology has greatly evolved since the amendment giving Americans the right to own them was passed. Gun technology has evolved. Deaths from firearm homicides have risen. So why has the legislation surrounding gun control remained the same as it was 200 years ago?

QUICK FACTS

There are88.8 guns per 100 people

70% of the deadliest U.S. mass shootings have occurred in the past 10 years

In 2015, there are 9,616 gun homicides

In 2016, there are 38658 death from firearms

In 2017 42% of households own guns

In 2017 there were 307 shootings from January 1st to December 5th

Sources: CDC, The Atlantic, Washington Post, Pew Research Center, CNN, BBC, FBI Statistics, Vox