We at The Bruin Voice have decided to share our favorite Voices excerpts from each year, starting from its inception in 1993.
November 1993
When most of us came to Bear Creek in 1991, we were told to be patient, facilities would come soon. Little did we know that after three years of struggling to create tradition, to establish ourselves as a real school and to keep up with the Lodians, our efforts would remain unmatched by the district. We are still told to be patient.
Patience, we've heard, is a virtue. This must make Bear Creek holier than hou, virtuous enough for sainthood. It's been three years! Three long years without a pool, theater and, most importantly, a stadium!
January 1994
The PTsA should have, when finding the "Secrets" presentation geared toward students, changed the name and focus of the evening to a "Parent/Student Education Night." When you watch "Sesame Street" with your child, it is obvious that you are not watching it for your benefit. You are watching it to help your child learn. To learn with your child. "Secrets" could have been one such instructional tool.
But, then again, most parents of PTsA would rather drop the fight long before it begins. Besides, as long as we keep tissue on our toilet seats, and steer clear of mosquitoes, we'll never catch AIDS.
May 1995
The administration calls them "course adjustments;" students call them a necessity. We call them unfair. Grade changes are a problem here at Bear Creek, so much that hard working, serious students are constantly infuriated by less ambitious students who feel the need to take the easy way out of their education.
December 1996
This is not the editorial we wanted to write.
We wanted to write about a school district which demands that students meet certain academic standards.
But as we prepare coverage of the freshman class, we found a district that tolerates failure and gives students too many second chances.
We found a district that apparently believes age--not grades--is the deciding factor in whether or not an eighth grader should be promoted to high school.
At least one in five freshmen didn't truly pass eighth grade, according to counseling office estimates.
We are not pointing the finger at middle school teachers because some students fail. We know there are a number of reasons why failure occurs, including broken homes, unmotivated students and peer pressure not to do well.
All students are given a clean slate when they come to high school. But what good is a clean slate if a student reads at a fourth grade level?
The problem of too many students failing can be fixed. Lodi Unified merely needs to have the strength and conviction to depart from tradition and pave new roads in the world of education.
October 1997
The opinion states that when a student is considered for expulsion, the school board must reveal the name of the student and the offense. Also, each Board member's vote for or against expulsion must be made public.
We, the staff of The Bruin Voice, believe that this policy should be extended to include cases involving adults involved in public schools. When a school official, employee or parent volunteer faces penal action, the entire district becomes silent on the issue.
The district should be responsible for informing the community of its procedures, especially for cases involving such alarming accusations.
Although a district might be reasonably delayed until after a court ruling, the district should still offer a public statement asserting a response will be made pending legal action.
It is important for Thompson and the district to provide a safe campus, but how are students and parents to know if a goal is being accomplished if we are not informed of the district's actions?
January 1998
Today's teens need causes to fight for--real causes. Last year, students at Bear Creek staged a walk-out. No, they were not fighting for equal rights. No, they were not trying to stamp out oppression. They were protesting a change in the lunch schedule. The spontaneous speeches made by angry students about how their First Amendment rights were being stifled because Bear Creek was going to have two lunches instead of one will likely find a place in the history books right next to King's "I have a Dream" speech. Dream on.
It is not too late to change the stigma. The Passive Generation has potential to become so much more than a group of arrogant, apathetic snobs who care more about socializing and whining than about making real changes in their world. The year 2000 will mark more than the turn of the century. It will mark the end of a millennium. Today's youth will set the tone for the next thousand years to come. Let's make it a positive one.
November 1999
This year was supposed to be the year--the year the bond finally passed. The year students could look forward to a traditional school calandar. The year The Bruin Voice could stop writing its now annual column wagging a finger at the "no" voters. But alas, the annual tradition is carried on, as unchanged and predictable as two plus two equalling four.