Venango Christian High School - Saga Yearbook (Oil City, PA)

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Written and illustrated! 1 by Theresa Everman ll Little Petey Heatherton walked to the kitchen window and peered out into the back yard. He wanted to see if his dad had fixed his swing yet. There were two swings, but the one on the left, the broken one, was his favorite. Every morning he looked out to see if it had been fixed and every morning he saw the two chains hang- ing down with the seat attached to only one of them. This morning there was something wrong, something new was hanging from one of the chains. ''Daddy, look at the scarecrow.” Mr. Heatherton looked up, a little surprised. He had been expecting Petey to say, You didn’t fix it.” Oh, daddy, come and see it.” See what.” I told you. The scarecrow.” There isn’t any scarecrow out there.” Is too.” Look, Petey, remember the trouble you got into the last time you told me there was something out there.” Mr. Heatherton was undoubtably referring to the time Petey claimed there had been two big boys that broke his swing in the back yard. The swing was broken, all right, but it turned out that Petey did it. But, daddy. . .” Petey, how many times have I told you it’s not nice to tell stories? Good little boys only tell people what is true. If you’re not a good little boy, Santa Clause won’t come.” This cliche always worked around December—and it was December. It was snowing and there was a light

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Student Forum-. Should the Grading System Be Revised? 'To improve the quality of education, yes. Timothy Walsh Are you “learning” more but un- derstanding it less? Or are you under- standing more but presumably learn- ing less? Don't be surprised if your answer echoes in the affirmative. You’re not alone. The high school students of this generation have been swept up in a growing tide of fact learning. It seems that the minds of this coun- try's young people have been and are being corrupted by a multitude of un- related, superficial fact, formulas, and incident. Don't get me wrong; there's nothing immoral about fact. The present educational system, however, all too often emphasizes for fact's sake. Little consideration is given for.in-depth learning on any given subject. True, our “democratic institution” allows every person complete freedom to research any topic as extensively as he wishes, but such work is not accredited to , his educational development. A person’s literacy may hang on his knowledge of the birth and death dates of famous personages, the day and month of historical events, or the C»NP for the last 17 years. If a person knows such “vital” statis- tics, he may well be deemed bril- liant. No one seems to care, how- ever, whether or not that same person knows why or with what impact these events occured. What’s wrong with our system? Who’s really to blame? The right an- swers are not easy to come by, fbr, as in any complex situation, there are no simple answers. The fact remains that many “B” and “C students are much better students than some so-called “brains.” the reason: it's one thing to memorize facts and dates for an exam, but it's quite another to ack- nowledge and understand a body of related fact. A photographic memory does not necessarily indicate schol- arship. True we must know the facts presented us by educators, related or otherwise, out our scholastic grade should not be determined in total by our absorption of them. A greater consideration should be given for both research and understanding. As a possible solution to our cur- rent dilemma I would suggest a grad- ing system based on two criteria. First, the numerical grading would cease and a “pass-or-fail” system would be adopted. Second, a more intensified teacher evaluation system would serve to narrow the field of thosestudents whopass, thus making possible a means for determining such things as college entrance. I feel that our grading system is about due for a change involving, greater emphases on understanding and in depth research; unless, of course, we want a nation of super- ficial geniuses. 'The grading system is not at fault.’ Terrence Schneider The primary function of a grading system is to attribute a numerical value to the work of a student and then to pass or to fail him on that basis. Moreover,'a grading system should serve as a measure of one’s knowledge. In our present system the grades are given in numerical va- lues ranging from zero to one hun- dred. Seventy is considered as the lowest possible passing mark. Ac- cordingly a ninety-five or above would signify excellent work on the part of the student in acquiring know- ledge which has either been presen- ted to him or required of him, where- as, a seventy or below shows little effort or acquired knowledge on the part of the student. Our present sys- em is serving as a “yardstick” of knowledge, so to speak. It is, more- over, efficient in encouraging the acquiring of knowledge. It also serves quite efficiently for the pas- sing or failing of a student. The quality of education, it is said, would improve with a revision. In-depth study would be encouraged by systems based upon grading to such simple extremes as satisfactory and unsatisfactory. In answer to qualifications of a student for col- lege work the seekers of revision propose, in one instance, that the majority of the burden of determina- tion of qualification for college rest solely upon the opinion of the teacher as to the character and initiative of the student. With such “representa- tions” as satisfactory and unsatis- factory this would definitely be ne- cessary. As for “in depth” study a student would be encouraged under the “change” to devote time to that particular subject or subjects which he favors. What the proposers of revision fail to see is that the present sys- tem is and always has been impro- ving the quality of education. They fail to see that the grading system is not at fault. And what of the pro- posed media of grades? Now will they determine what is satisfactory or unsatisfactory and how satisfac- tory or unsatisfactory it is. A basic knowledge must be acquired by the student. It is a knowledge of pure fact. When this knowledge has been acquired there is time for in depth work. 3

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short story complete on these two pages SANTA WON’T COME film of the stuff outside. This was especially dangerous in Heatherton’s back yard, for it was on an incline. It was good for the kids though, be- cause they could use it for sled riding. If the snow kept falling, there would be plenty of kids coming over and Petey could watch them. He didn’t go out much. He was a normal child—but an only child. His mother hadn’t re- alized yet that all kids need to romp and play and have friends. She much prefered to have Pete indoors where she could keep an eye on him. It's a funny scarecrow, daddy, it’s arms move. Did you ever see a scarecrow that moves?” No not really,” Mr. Heatherton was absorbed in his paper and coffee. I wonder who tied him to the swing. Guess who he looks like.” Petey, come here and eat your breakfast.” Mr. Heatherton felt that Petey had been absent from the table long enough. I want to watch the scarecrow.” Come here!” I want to watch him.” Santa Clause won’t . . I’m coming, daddy, don’t tell him.” And Petey, there is no scare- crow out there.” Yes there is.” And I suppose there is a pump- kin in your cereal too?” Petey looked at his cereal and up again. There wasn’t even any milk on it. He didn’t really want to eat his cornflakes, but his dad was al- ready angry. He grasp the milk carton with both hands and paused. He was lucky—he didn’t get too much on the table. Look what you did.” I’m sorry daddy.” Petey ate q uickly and went over to the window. The scarecrow’s not moving any more. Maybe he’s tired.” Scarecrows can’t move, they’re not alive.” This one can. He even looks like ' a live person. You know who he looks like?” This was apparently not heard for Mr. Heatherton continued,” Scarecrows can’t move, only people and animals can because they’re alive. Scarecrows aren’t Maybe we have a live scare- crow.” Petey, this is enough nonsense, there is no scarecrow out there. Just like there is no Morgan!’ Mr. Heatherton had always failed to see why Petey made up friends when there were such nice kids in the neighborhood. There is to a Morgan, he’s my friend. He comes and plays with me when I want him to.” There is no scarecrow out - there,” said Mr. Heatherton. He want- ed to stay as far away from the sub- ject of Morgan as he could this morning. He didn’t feel up to it. But he didn’t feel upto much this morning. He added as a second thought. It’s winter. Who would want a scarecrow in the winter?” Maybe the big boys put it out there. The ones who broke the swing.” Don’t be ridiculous. You broke the swing.” The big boys did.” You did!” Well mavbe they didn’t. But...” Petey had one of his father's large hands in his and was pulling him over to the window. If there isn’t a scarecrow. . . Oh my God!” Mr. Heatherton added that last remark softly. It was Crazy Deamer. Mr. Deamer or Crazy” as he was known, had somehow gotten tangled up in the loose chain and was hanging there. See there is to a scarecrow, isn't there?” Shortly the place was crawling with people.