Volume 3 Number 1 Tuesday, September 2, 1997 http://members.aol.com/ksykang/tsc.htm
The Student Council, in an informal strategy session in August, went over some basic groundwork for this school year. Listening and absorbing a whole truckload of information, the members that were there learned about the "three R's:" Rights, Respect, and Responsibility. Mr. and Mrs. Lapolla also outlined most of the first semester's key areas such as community service and the allocation of time in the new rotating schedule. Further council discussion centered on Spirit Week and Homecoming on November 1st.
Community service, arranged by Mr. McNalley, a student service day for the 6th, 7th and 12th grades on November 20th. Other programs that were identified were Voter Registration, tentatively set in April, Special Olympics on April 4th, a Can Food Drive, and a Clothing drive. One point of particular importance was the coordination of these activities to prevent 3 clothing drives during the same school year. It was suggested that all club volunteer activities be referred to Mr. McNalley before they are executed.
Mr. Lapolla also clarified the usage policies on the new schedule. The daily schedule has a two weekly block periods that have been marked Advocacy/Clubs on Mondays and Assembly/Peer Leadership/Class Meetings on Wednesdays. The Advocacy time will vary in length but will most likely leave about one half the blocked time to clubs. The Wednesday assembly time will be used by an assembly then by Peer Leadership for freshmen and peer seniors will alternate between sophomore and junior class meetings. Senior class meetings, following tradition, will meet during English class. It was further reiterated that the gray period will only be used for designated classes which include AP science classes and select honors level courses.
With the traditional spirit week off at the end of October, Emil Dizon, Student Body President, decided to get a head start and better organize traditions like Ugly Man, Powder Puff, and Dress Up days, well publicized, and well organized. Because of this long wait for Homecoming, Council is sponsoring a Back-to-School Dance on September 6th and also will wait a bit on the announcement of the Homecoming theme. It was also suggested that a school song or cheer might boost Menlo spirits. However, the previous year's ex post facto debates on spirit points were merely glossed over with the words, "friendly competition." As a footnote, the odd Homecoming day results from the league athletic schedule and cannot really be fixed. The November date was chosen by the Calendar committee which has a vacancy for a student representative.
To cap off this relatively productive council meeting, Marriott provided samples of their new dishes that will be served on Tuesdays and Thursdays. With their contract up for renewal this year, surveys on the food were distributed and filled out by your elected council members. There is room for student representatives on the Marriott committee which, with agreement from the college, decide whether or not to renew the food service contract.
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Reacting to various accusations that the SAT program is biased against minorities and women, the College Board has elected to add a new verbal section to the PSAT. This section will be comprised of 39 questions to be completed in 30 minutes. The questions will ask the test taker to identify where the error is in a sentence, decide which phrase would best improve the sentence, and will ask how to improve a paragraph. The section is split with 19 identify the error questions, 14 improve the sentencequestions, and six improve the paragraph questions.
These questions basically revive a smaller version of the TSWE, Test of Standard Written English which was removed from the SAT during the 1993 major revision. It also takes questions from the SAT II Writing Test. To all those juniors out there who wish to try for National Merit Scholarships, try visiting the College Board Web Site (http://www.collegeboard.org/). Several pages will provide sample questions and answers. The SAT will probably implement these changes next year. For those sophomores who actually are reading this column, good job on keeping up on SAT news, but don't worry about it quite yet, just sit back and get the hang of the SAT by taking the PSAT.
Remember, none of the PSAT scores actually show up at college time so you don't have to worry. Just for the curious, here is a sample problem:
Directions: In each of the following sentences, some part or all of the sentence is underlined. Below each sentence you will find five ways of phrasing the underlined part. Select the answer that produces the most effective sentence, one that is clear and exact, without awkwardness or ambiguity. In choosing the answers, follow the requirements of standard written English. Choose the answer that best expressed the meaning of the original sentence.
[Answer (A) is always the same as the underlined part. Choose answer A) if you think the original sentence needs no revision.]
Geronimo, a chief of the Apache tribe, lived to the age of eighty years old.
(A) the age of eighty years old
(B) the old and ripe age of eighty
(C) the ripe old age of eighty years old
(D) be eighty years old
(E) be a ripe and eighty years old
The correct answer is D because the construction the age of and years old fulfill the same function; the use of the two together is redundant.
Sources: College Board Web Site
Question taken from Deptula, Edward J. Preparation for the SAT. Arco Test Prep; Prentice Hall, 1992. p357, 374 #34.
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After changing the schedule for the second year in a row, I wonder if this constant change will ever stop. Over the past couple years, the Registrar and Academic Dean have been fiddling with the passing times, rotations, and class lengths. When this hayride started, Menlo School had a straight seven periods, albeit a long stretch of 5 classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, it served the school well during its multidecade life. Those were the happy days when the period number or letter corresponded with its position during the day.
The first rumblings of schedules started as Menlo approached a space and facilities problem with the ever burgeoning freshmen class who were admitted according to an outdated admission ratio. The threat of portables on the Upper School loomed. The creation of rotating 5th, 6th and 7th periods. This rotation was not that bad even though there was a period of initial confusion among the teachers and students. Later during that year, the period designators: 5, 6, and 7 became so intermixed with the actual order of the classes that E, F, and G were used to designate classes. The passing time was also reduced from five minutes to three minutes, barely enough time to power walk from Curtis Hall to Menlo Hall. This schedule had its benefits of breaks during Tuesday and Thursday, but the closed door Scheduling Committee found other problems to tackle.
Specifically, the sinister zero passing time was introduced with the intent that teachers will let their classes out consistently five minutes early. The committee proposed a six day rotation which was deemed impossible by the limited facilities on campus. Gray periods started to dawn and a full rotation was adopted. Student Council and the Representatives from various departments did not vote on the final revisions.
There were some questions on the use of gray periods, test schedules, and several concerns about the zero passing time. Previously, AP Science classes had started using double periods during the 1994-1995 school year; thus severely limited an AP Science student from taken any other classes. This gray period would allow those course to continue with only a slight reduction in class time. Test schedules were not systematically designed but left alone to be regulated by students and teachers. The departure from the department based test and paper schedule with a two test a day maximum gives more flexibility to the teacher and student but the possibility of papers and tests overwhelming a student still exists as teachers approach critical junctures on the syllabus.
Many issues remain for the schedule like club rotations which tried to eliminate club meeting conflicts during the day. With a slight decrease in club time due to shortened lunches and the impossibility, along with the banning of club meetings during break, clubs, which had the break period last year, must now try to fit in the Monday club period and lunches without causing significant overlaps.
Issues such as shortened days and the traffic due to the Middle School and Construction will all arise as this schedule flexes its rotating starting period and gray periods. I hope this year will be the last of the schedule changes, but with "The Hall" formally known as Douglass Hall being renovated and the complaints that are bound to arise from the unresolved issues of this schedule, it may be that the class of 1999 will graduate as the class that has changed class rotation schedules four years in a row.
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This new year marks a significant change in the TSC. With a new leadership, the TSC will continue its tradition of upholding free speech and liberties of the students. In addition to the expression of free speech, TSC will carry information pertinent to the forward looking leaders in the student community and keep them informed about their surroundings.
In the past, we have kept financial separation from Menlo School so that disguised censorship in the form of monetary withdrawal of support on debatable grounds would never happen. All opinions, except for the unfounded and libelous kind, deserve to be voiced and stir debate amongst students. Only by conflict and careful examination of both sides of any issue will the truth and moral fortitude emerge. Indifference and constant pacifism only builds complacency and idle waste.
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The Subterranean Crusader
Editor: Kenneth Kang