Anti-Transgender Bathroom Laws: A Step in the Wrong Direction

Kevin Yen and Michael Sieffert
May 30, 2016
Filed under Issue-8, Opinions

The nation was shocked in March when the state of North Carolina passed an obviously anti-transgender bill into law. This law bans citizens from using any bathroom that is not designated for the gender that appears on their birth certificates. The state decided against addressing the backlash, which ...

Is It Worth It To Duck and Cover?

David Lisbonne, Senior Writer
May 30, 2016
Filed under Issue-8, Opinions

Every Tuesday students are granted 30 minutes to meet with teachers, catch up on work or review for tests. Tutorial is a necessity, and the numerous occasions upon which the administration has commandeered it for situational drills is upsetting. In the fast-moving, work-heavy schooling environment we live i...

On Disbelief, Ignorance and Rape Culture

Jim Hollingworth, Staff Writer
May 23, 2016
Filed under Issue-8, Opinions

Last month, a childhood hero of mine was accused of rape. His name is Toby Turner, a YouTube sensation who made his way into my eleven-year-old heart with a collection of video-game parody songs. He was accused by an ex-girlfriend called April, who detailed his sexual abuse in a three thousand word T...

School Traffic Safety: Underlooked and Underappreciated

Keith Bohrer, Staff Writer
May 17, 2016
Filed under Issue-8, Opinions, Showcase

When I was 6 years old, my oldest brother was hit by a car as he biked home from Egan Junior High School. After being rushed to the emergency room, our family received news that he was going to be fine thanks to one special thing — a helmet. However, as my brother left campus that day, he wasn’t we...

Scheduling Conflicts with SBAC Testing

Booker Martin, Staff Writer
May 2, 2016
Filed under Issue-7, Opinions

Last year, high schools in California introduced the newest iteration of standardized testing: Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium, also know as SBAC. The school’s primary issue with SBAC testing no longer revolves around the content on the exam itself. The problem nowis scheduling conflicts, which...

Corporations are the Real Common Core Culprits

Spencer Dembner, News Editor
May 2, 2016
Filed under Issue-7, Opinions

It’s easy to forget that before the Common Core became the one thing everyone can agree to hate, it was the one thing everyone could agree on. Created in 2008 by a partnership of idealistic education reformers and the National Governors’ Association, the Common Core State Standards initiative originally...

Taking Too Many AP Classes is Overrated

Chris Dadok and Rachel Lu
May 2, 2016
Filed under Issue-7, Opinions

Throughout the years, the intent of AP courses has changed dramatically. However, one constant remains the same — the content for AP level courses are meant to prepare students for college, and many colleges do accept high AP scores as college credit, which saves tuition and allows students to get...

How to Handle Junior Prom at LAHS

Emily Aoki and Jessica King
May 2, 2016
Filed under Issue-7, Opinions

In past years, juniors have expressed disappointment at the lack of a junior prom, and Jordan Auerbach and his friends are no exception. Over the winter break, Jordan and his friends, juniors Cooper Cornell, Tyler Grant, Kyle Godfrey, Lee Staufenbiel and Ryan Young, came up with the idea that the junior...

AP Human Geography Diversifies Social Studies Department

Savita Govind, Staff Writer
May 2, 2016
Filed under Issue-7, Opinions

With already rigorous course options and limited choices, all students deserve the chance to study the world in a new light, from interpreting maps to using satellite images and aerial photographs. The AP Human Geography course offers each one of these opportunities and much more to its students. Next...

Harvard is “Turning the Tide” — naively

Spencer Dembner, News Editor
May 2, 2016
Filed under Issue-7, Opinions

When it comes to shaking up the college process, there’s a new leader in town. Forget the Colleges that Change Lives, forget the Hidden Ivies, forget affordable public education. No, if you really want to be on the cutting edge, you’ll have to visit the obscure, scrappy school which has established...

Jim Takes a Break: Interlude

Jim Hollingworth, Staff Writer
March 21, 2016
Filed under Columns, Issue-6, Opinions

There’s not much to talk about on the college front besides the cacophony of thumb-twiddling that’s taking place as we wait for late-March admissions. There’s also the happy truth that college is currently a bit “out of sight, out of mind” and I’d rather not dwell on something that’s better...

“Turning the Tide” on College Admissions

Anisha Desai and Julia Santos
March 21, 2016
Filed under Issue-6, Opinions

There is a possibility that community service, contributions to family life and accomplishments based on quality will be valued by college admissions just as much — or even more — than GPA, the number of AP or Honors classes taken or standardized testing scores. Harvard University and 88 other colleges...