The Bluffer - Red Bluff, CA
Issue link: http://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/679704
Page 2 May 13, 2016 Staff Editorial Graduation decisions... Opinions Editorial Policy: Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the district, staff, or student body. We welcome signed letters to the editor. Names may be withheld upon request. We also reserve the right to edit submission based on length and/or clarity. THE BLU FFER STA FF Tymberlyn Bealer Editor-in-Chief News Editors Tymberlyn Bealer Ceighlee Fennel Kourtney Sanders Shania Prieto Opinions Editor Britney Miranda Julissa Villalobos Features Editors Lexi Pritchard Joe Mills Sports Editors Becca Frey Sophia Cumpton Topics Editors Ceighlee Fennel Editor-in-Chief Julia Liebert Advertising Director Alisa Pelanconi Adviser Cartoonists Katelyn Stewart Staff Writers Brianna Tackmier Amy Becerra Abby O'Sullivan Taylor Nguyen Skyler Drew Trinity Stehno Brooke Blythe Hanne Mae Dittner Brianna Zotea Gabe Hale Colton Epperson Claire Miller A-&-E Editors Brooke Blythe Staff Writer Abby O'Sullivan Staff Writer The end of the school year is finally here at RBHS. The Bluffer will not have a staff editorial in our next edition. The time has come to prepare for finals, summer activities and, for our seniors, graduation. Graduation day has been seen as a tradition for our seniors to finally venture out into the world, astray from the warm atmosphere of our school. It is a day that is filled with joy, tears, sadness and change. Our seniors are already preparing for this event, auditioning to be speakers at the ceremony, gathering the cap and gown and planning post-graduation celebrations. However, our seniors are prospective about change for future ceremonies. They do not understand why the ceremony must take such a long time to pass. It already starts at 8:30p.m. on Thursday, June 2. They'd much rather have their speakers say their parting words and then have the handing out of the blank pieces of paper representing their diplomas. The senior class already has to go to the main office the following morning to turn in the paper for their actual diplomas. At the same time, however, they wonder why our school doesn't present the class valedictorian at graduation. Not just the seniors, but all of our classes at this school have become intensely competitive. It drives the graduating class insane knowing they will never know who came out on top of the class competition. These people attended high school together. Almost all the people in all of our current classes, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019, grew up together. After all, Red Bluff is not exactly the definition of a diverse community. We all should have the final privilege of acknowledging our overall top student of the class before taking that last victory walk across the football field. It is only fair to a senior class that isn't even allowed to decorate their caps, who knows they will most likely never see each other again after graduation or after Sober Grad. They are heading out into the wide world, and at least should be allowed to make their choices about their class graduation regarding the valedictorian and class speakers, because it's their last time doing just about anything about high school. They have worked to the best of their abilities for the last four years and should be allowed the privileges now that they have arrived to their final moments. RBHS will not provide these for athletes this year. SPARTAN THUMBS Every 15 Minutes Spring sports wrap No sports physicals End of AP Testing The students desperately need a breather. Juniors and Seniors witnessed a lasting lesson. The end of the year is near. Finals Everyone needs more time to study for them. Bluffer/ Brianna Tackmier ***These Thumbs were acquired by Mrs. Durfee's third period class. Amy Becerra Staff Writer Clinic risks alienating patients Cursive struggles T he Red Bluff Lassen Medical Walk-in Clinic Urgent Care is where most all of the Red Bluff community and even more go to when they are ill and don't have an appointment at Lassen Medical. Lassen Medical Group has been helping Tehama County residents since 1956, when it began as a family practice partnership located at 343 Oak Street, Red Bluff. Most everyone, including myself, try to avoid the Red Bluff Walk-In Clinic because usually it is an all-day arduous adventure. Throughout my experience of going to Lassen Medical's Walk-In Clinic, it has been quite lengthy. There is usually a very long line to check in and then once you finally get up to the front desk if you haven't checked in to the Urgent Care within the past year you have to fill out a new packet updating all of your information which is even more time consuming. Once you finally finish the paperwork, you have to stand back in line to give it to the front desk. Then you go wait for the doctors to call your name to see you, which usually takes an hour or even longer depending upon how busy they are that day. From my experience at the Red Bluff Walk-In Clinic, when the doctor calls your name to go back and get your examination, you go see the doctor for 10 minutes or sometimes more and then you wait for your results. I believe the Red Bluff's Urgent Care Center will be much more successful if they hired more employees to decrease the time of the waiting process when someone does get sick and needs the "urgent care." Another way to increase efficiency at the Walk in Clinic is to be a more organized system in regards to the entire Lassen Medical experience. If Lassen Medical's Walk-In Clinic continues this trend they risk alienating future clients. F ield trips were, are, and always will be the most anticipated part of every elementary student's year. The trips serve as an educational thing, but you also get to have fun on them. The fun is over once middle school starts. The field trips that make each grueling year in school worthwhile have gone down to at least one every 2 or 3 years. They might not have been very important, but they sure were fun. We should get a break from the stress of school and have a day to go on tours to important historical places while hanging out with classmates. Yeah, we have senior trip, extracurriculars, and college tours, but it really just isn't enough for most students. Teens are filled with wanderlust; we want to leave, get away from all of our worries. We should have field trips to places that pertain to the subject that we are learning about in class. Couldn't there be a way to satisfy a child's needs by making it fun and educational? Field trips were always a big part of school and it would be nice to still be able to go places during school. toward comeback C ursive, once a well-known art, has become the latest issue of debate. Schools are opting to teach typing rather than cursive. One reason is that the newly adopted Common Core curriculum does not require teachers to show students how to read and write cursive, but they are still able to in their free time. However, most of the so-called free time is spent by preparing their kids for standardised testing, so cursive is almost always eliminated. Some states, California included, have laws mandating cursive instruction. Principal Tobias Harkleroad of St. Francis International School said, "It's for their benefit to be able to write well. It's tempting to cut it, but no one has given me a compelling reason for why it's worthless to teach cursive." It was reported that when Common Core standards were enforced, penmanship classes were dropped. Now, seven of the forty-five states that adopted the common core standards are fighting for cursive to make a comeback. Common Core decided that since kids are going to be growing up in a technology heavy decade, it would be better to teach them typing skills. Cursive is a way to show endearment in letters; it shows someone you took the time to thoughtfully write to them, even if you could just call or text them. Some of America's famous documents like The Declaration of Independence are written in cursive. Sure, you could always look online and read them, but wouldn't it be nice to see the paper that founded America and be able to read it? In 2006, a report was taken on the SAT that showed that the fifteen percent of kids who wrote their essays in cursive scored better than those who wrote in block letters. Even though we are going into a new technological era, wouldn't it still be nice to see kids carry out a tradition like cursive writing? Students miss field trips Courtesy photo