Plugged In Issue One • the official school newspaper of Speedway Senior High School • September 26, 2014 Adding up the numbers Why is there a participation gap between guys and girls? Allyson Burns Plugged In Staff Writer It was hot, as early August tends to be. The girls soccer team had completed their routine half field jog and commenced their established line of stretch- es . At that time, a few football and boys soccer players began making their way to their fields. By the middle of practice, girls soccer seemed almost like an island, with boys soccer on the other side of the field, football across the way, and boys tennis on the nearby courts. I began to feel outnumbered as we began scrim- maging each other. The boys soccer team almost tripled the girls team and the football team might CROWNING ACHIEVEMENT. Megan Turk and Jefferson Hall were named Homecoming Queen and King for 2014. Also representing as well be a small army. The girls soccer team can the senior class were Blake Arevalos, Cole Elam, Will Jackman, Megan Hawkins, Kellie Sparks, and Brianna Wyatt. The junior representatives were Evan Tiffany and Caitlynn Long. The sophomore prince and princess were Yousef Azis and Mia Benge. Finally, the Class of 2018 was barely afford two or three substitutions in a game. represented by Peyton Hartman and Rylee Wade. It was a perfect night for the ceremonies but a disappointing night for the football Plugs who Why is there such a wide gap? lost to tenth ranked Monrovia. Photo by Natalie Owens. I decided to go to the athletic department to seek out some data from the previous year. The numbers goes as follows: • 38 freshmen males participated in a sport as How do you define bullying? compared to 41 freshman females • 31 sophomore males to 26 sophomore females • 35 junior males to 27 junior females What do Speedway students think about it? • 45 senior males to 16 senior females I found it intriguing that female participation ‘‘It’s hard to get a gage on that,” stated McRob- decreased dramatically by grade when senior male erts. “State reports say no, because not many stu- participation increased at a similar rate. Are males dents report it. I feel Speedway kids are pretty well simply bound by their anatomy to progressively behaved here.’’ develop confidence between ages 14 and 18? Do What types of bullying are reported the most? women feel as though they are too mature for sports England Smith ‘’Cyberbullying because of the technology age,” as they become upperclassman and adults? Plugged In replied McRoberts. “It’s normal,” says Brian Avery, Speedway athletic Staff Writer What do you do to reduce the amount of bully- director. “To have more guys than girls in sports, ing at the high school? not just our high school but most.” More than 9,400 bullying incidents have ‘’Everyone (staff members) goes through an With this expectation in mind, I thought it been reported by Indiana’s public schools in the fol- online training ... and they have to pass a quiz,” practical to ask a younger pool of students what lowing month according to data that was released. stated McRoberts. “We educate kids about bullying they thought about athletic participation. I visited Out of those 9,400 the most reported was verbal and bring it to their attention.’’ the junior high to hand out a questionnaire to Mrs. abuse. Being a high-school student, I wanted to What do Speedway students feel about bullying? Cronin’s 8th grade concert band with six basic ques- know more about this topic, and was interested to See a sample on page four of Plugged In. tions: know what was being done about this bullying issue. “I feel Do you participate in a sport or many sports? So I chose to randomly talk to people around the Are you planning on playing a sport in high school to see what they thought, teachers and higher Speedway kids school? powers were included. are pretty well Do you feel like sports play a large role in who is How does principal Tim McRoberts view bul- behaved ...” considered popular or more liked? lying? I chose to ask him three clearly defined ques- -- principal Do you think this differs from male to female? tions about bullying, but there was one question I Tim McRoberts Do you have a parent or guardian who plays asked that I really feel had a good response to. Why sports with his/her job or a group? do you think that people bully? Do you think you’ll be more confident in high “Student’s insecurities, sometimes people are just Responding to school? mean or vengeful, they treat others how they are or whether or not were treated,” replied Mr. McRoberts. bullying is an How big of a problem do you think bullying is issue at Speedway See WHY DECIDE on page six for Speedway High School? High School. 2 Opinion F is for Ferguson It’s time to be reasonably suspicious of big brother Network newscasts illustrate sto- had weapons pointed at ries describing a government treating him, was restrained and the People as livestock. This pattern was later released without is commonly followed by the removal charge for the lies of some Snowball of peoples’ freedoms and a state of discreditable sources. It is Plugged In totalitarian control. I have written imperative to question the Senior before about the need of the people laws that justify the police Columnist to be granted the right to firearms in to operate upon suspicion defense of life, liberty, and the pursuit and nothing more. Ferguson MO has caused quite of happiness. Now, in Ferguson, we This “reasonable sus- a stir not just amongst the Ameri- see police pointing the real assault picion” clause has been can public but also the developed rifles (the ones that are classified such around for a number of world. The surprise that makes this by the National Firearm Act (FDR), years. It has been the cause such a phenomenon is that a country the ones that fire more than one bullet of many instances of racial that seems infallible and perfect has per actuation of the trigger (not one)) profiling, so much that The dissented into the embattlement of without regard to target threat. This is NYPD and Arizona State nations like Ukraine, North Korea, quite disturbing and should make one Police have been sued and USSR, and Venezuela. The question fear for their safety. declared racists. The law of trust is once again thrust into the On August 27th, at approximately allows an officer to forgo common mind as the government 12:30 pm Colorado time, an innocent a warrant if they deem the seems to be acting unjustly. Regard- Youtuber was “swatted” by a small information or the hunch less of the obvious debate on race, number of “pranksters” who phoned they have as enough to I would implore you to rather pause the Colorado Police of a shooting at cause “a small disturbance and keep a keen eye on authority. We the office building that the Youtu- to those who are inno- Were the events that took place in Ferguson what Orwell predicted might happen if society was left must remember that people must ber worked. The man, who was only cent.” The Fourth Amendment to The unchecked? remain the last check on power. playing a video game (live streaming), Constitution of the United States pro See BIG BROTHER on page five Grading the Graders Is evaluating your teacher backwards or beneficial? Recently , I have been reminded students can identify, with an almost uncanny ability, their most/least-effective by my counselor of a required activity teachers. designated to those in the senior class’ It’s fairly obvious why; these are the same kids that spend a hundred or so Top Ten for the Top Ten Dinner. The hours with the very teachers that are being evaluated; it’s no wonder they would Jenny actual event isn’t scheduled for quite have a definite edge in accurately judging said teachers’ abilities and potential. Fletcher some time (read: sometime in May), but Such is the reason that this procedure is much more reliable than any other Plugged In it came up in regular conversation, and known measure of teacher-evaluation, including classroom observations and Columnist she advised me to start preparing for it. test-score correlation studies. This activity is not tedious, nor really So, then, why don’t more schools try this out? demanding. In fact, it is quite simple; all Well, the first protest a lot of opposers will state is that with students evalu- each member has to do is to choose the teacher whom has been most influential ating their professors’ performance, there are bound to be those that judge and in their school career and who has had the most impact in their learning, and critique their professors unfairly, as they may be biased towards one or more give a short, little oration addressing why this specific professor has affected the teachers, due to a long-time grudge, revenge for a bad grade, or some other student more so than any of the others. unreasonable grievance. In short, it’s kind of like a teacher performance report. Given by a student, But, looking at this realistically, these types of students - and not to mention but still, just a teacher report. the ones that wouldn’t take the questionnaire seriously - are quite rare when On my pondering of this, it got me thinking about a few things - one of compared to an entire student body.