VOICES

May 2014 | Prowler

Racking and Stacking IB

IB and AP Students
IB and AP Students
and
AP
Should Share
Should Not Share
Classes
Classes
PRO CON
by
staff reporter
Kori Cooper

by
staff reporter
Rebecca Stone

by Julius Alums

The Cycle of Life

SCHOOL SHOULD MAKE
RECYCLING MANDATORY

Voice

The Environmental Club

on campus encourages all
teachers to keep a recycling
bin in their classroom,
collected every Wednesday.
Teachers have the choice
to have the recycling bin,
preventing the recycling
effort on campus from being
entirely successful.
The school should
mandate that each teacher
keep a recycling bin in their
classroom.
Recycling is a global
effort that is united in its
cause to manage waste.
When teachers are allowed
to choose not to have a
recycling bin, they are
going out of their way to
detract from this process. For
recycling to be successful,
as many people as possible
should be involved in
the reduce, reuse, recycle
movement. Schools and
offices across the world
enforce recycling policies and
play a role in the overall wellbeing of the planet. There is
no reason why teachers on
campus should be detached
from this movement. The
school prides itself in being
a global-minded campus,
but until recycling becomes
mandatory, the school
remains isolated.
The ability of teachers
to choose whether or not
to have a bin undermines
Environmental Club.
Students from Environmental
Club walk around and
collect recycle bins. If less
and less teachers decide to
allow recycling, the goal of
the program stands little
chance in being achieved.
Environmental Club takes
time to pick up the recycling
bins so teachers should
hold up their end and foster
recycling in their classrooms.
There ought to be a sense

class for the teacher to teach,

opening up more available
teaching units. With more
teaching units, the school
could consider dropping
the student to teacher ratio
across the board, benefiting
all students rather than just
upper level students.
Stacked classes have
shown great results in other
schools, including Westwood
High School. Westwoods
administration has had
stacked classes for years, and
they have proven to work
in the schools favor. They
have led the school to have
a 100 percent graduation
rate and top grades which
helped to place Westwood
into the number 57 rank of
the top 2,000 high school in
America by Newsweek. Stony
Point could only benefit from
stacked classes on campus.
While some students say
it will be too hard to get
individualized attention if
the curriculums are taught
in the same class at the
same time, students will will
learn new study skills and
independence if the classes
are combined.
The school should
combine AP and IB classes
next year as it would teach
the students new ways to
work, leave more money for
other projects and push for
higher success. The AP and
IB students, along with the
staff, should move forward
with the decision as it has
the students best interests
in mind.

Senior
Edward Weston

Tase
Under a
Haze

THE USE OF TASERS

SHOULD BE BANNED
ON CAMPUS
by
staff reporter
Delilah Rivera

I would think it would

be a good thing
because it will help
the AP students get
ahead more and it
would tune down the
IB students so they
could relax more.

This year and in preceding

years, some International
Baccalaureate (IB) classes
have been small in class
size. As a result, the school
administration unilaterally
decided to stack Advanced
Placement (AP) classes on
top of IB classes. This decision
will take effect starting next
year for some IB standard
level (SL) and higher level
(HL) classes.
The school should reverse
their decision to stack AP
classes on top of IB classes
because this will cause
learning disruption for both
groups.
AP and IB test scores
will suffer because it will
be extremely difficult for
teachers to teach two
vastly different curriculums
concurrently. AP students
are taught to memorize
specific facts at a fast pace
for a multiple-choice exam
at the end of the year. IB
classes are conducted like
small seminars and students
complete a number of
written and oral assessments
throughout the year in order
to achieve the IB diploma.
Oftentimes, the curriculum
of IB and AP classes covering
the same subject does not
match up.
IB students and their
AP counterparts will no
longer have the academic
experience they signed up
for. The AP program is more
flexible, allowing a student
to take an AP course in the
subjects which interest them.

THE PROS

With combined
classes, new
thought processes
and work ethic will
be taught
Full classrooms
lead to smaller class
sizes overall
As seen at
Westwood, the
stacked classes
could improve the
academic success
on campus

THE CONS

AP and IB test
scores will suffer
because it will
be difficult for
teachers to teach
two different
curriculums.
AP and IB students
will no longer
have the academic
experience they
signed up for
Class sizes are not
a problem. The real
issue is getting
more people
interested in the
more rigorous
programs

PRO

YOUR

by
staff reporter
Zoya Zia

of responsibility in taking
care of the environment. All
teachers have to do to fulfill
their responsibility is keep a
bin in their classrooms. The
lack of extra work should
be sufficient for teachers
to accept that recycling is
worthwhile.
While the district
mandates green-bin
recycling of paper products,
the Environmental Club
has a wider impact. Instead
of paper, other recyclable
items are sorted through
and then recycled for money.
The Environmental Clubs
efforts not only benefit the
environment, but also the
school since money is made.
Those in favor of letting
teachers choose whether
or not to have a recycling
bin say that since it is a
teachers classroom, the
teacher should decide
what to have in it. However,
teachers already have
restrictions on the types of
dcor or posters they can
have in their room. Adding
a mandatory recycling bin
does not affect the teachers
classroom environment.
Others say that teachers may
have to stay after school
for the Environmental Club
to pick up their bin, but
many teachers have to stay
after school any ways. An
alternative is that the teacher
drops off the bin to the
Environmental Club sponsor
before school ends.
The school should
mandate that each teacher
keep a recycling bin in their
classroom to engage in a
global issue and support
the Environmental Club.
The students should voice
to their teachers that they
would like a recycling
bin in their room and the
Environmental Club sponsors
should advertise the benefits
of recycling and speak to
the school administration
about creating a mandatory
recycling bin policy.

For the past few months,

Stony Point administrators
have been discussing the
topic of combining AP and
IB courses for next year, all
except for English. If the
classes are stacked, then
IB and AP students will no
longer be separated, with the
students sharing the same
classes and teachers.
The administrators
should continue with their
decision because it is for the
betterment of the students
and staff, as it opens
new opportunities to the
programs.
With the combined
classes, new thought
processes and work ethic will
be taught to the students.
AP and IB students have
different ways of going about
their school work and classes.
If they share same classes,
they will learn from each
other what the best ways
are to handle work. This will
result in more efficient and
better quality work, with the
assignments having a fusion
of the best of both worlds.
There has already been
some crossover between AP
and IB kids in classes, so the
new stacking wont bring
any harm. It will give the
students an academic push
without having to deal with
the opposite programs tests
and diploma plans.
For some IB classes, there
are only a few students in the
class, such as IB Physics. With
the stacked classes, there
will be more students in the

CON

Junior
Gavin Crowder

I signed up for some

AP classes because
I think theyre a
good amount of
work for me. If they
mix IB with that
then I think I will be
overwhelmed.

Between 2001 and 2012, as many as 500 people have

died from the use of tasers. Many incidents are on not
on just adults, but kids and teenagers. In Texas, school
enforcements carry tasers, which end up being put to the
wrong use causing injuries, coma and even death. This
has been a growing problem in the past year in the Austin
area, including on our own campus.
Many civil rights groups, including the ACLU, have
requested the ban of tasers on school campuses.
The use of tasers on students should be banned, and
the security system should be better attained to ensure all
students safety.
Tasers are meant to be used on adults, not children.
According to statistics, tasers are a form of a torture
weapon using high voltage. They are not meant to be shot
on a freshman who is not fully developed. A taser shot to
the chest can cause cardiac arrest and impair breathing.
Prongs from the weapon can also become stuck on the
skin causing injury. The use of a taser can even affect

The IB diploma program is

comprehensive, but fairly
inflexible. Disparity of interest
is common in the average
classroom but students
joining the IB program come
with the understanding
that it is a commitment and
they expect to have a more
global-minded classroom
environment in all subject
areas. AP students join with
the understanding that, while
the course-load is heavy, it
is more fact-based and less
interactive. When these two
groups are stacked, IB and AP
will clash ideologically.
Some educators of the
school district who are in
favor of the classes being
stacked claim that there is no
way to justify the teaching of
classes with only a handful of
students. However, students
who graduate through the IB
program reap huge benefits,
including at least twentyfour hours of college credit
at public Texas universities.
Small class sizes are not
a problem, the real issue
is getting more students
interested in more rigorous
programs.
The school should reverse
their decision to stack classes
this because the clash of
ideology will harm both
groups ability to learn. IB and
AP are seperate entities and
should be respected as such.
Parents and teachers should
continue to call and e-mail
their school administration,
urging them to keep the
classes separate.

Survey says...

Should the two teachings of IB and AP classes be combined with each

other? Should IB and AP classes stack on top each other?
a. AP and IB should not combine because it will only 90%
cause more stress inside the class for students.
b. It Would be beneficial for AP and IB classes to mix. 10%
*40 students polled in Pre-AP English II classes on 4-26-14

people around by releasing CS gas which is used as a

riot control gas, something too serious to be dealt with
teenagers.
Security and disciplinary actions against a fight should
not even consider the use of tasers. Enforcements are
supposed to create a safe environment for students and
teach proper principles for handling violent situations.
Tasers are meant to be used in a street fight.
The use of pepper spray would suffice over a taser.
Pepper spray is not so lethal and helps to prevent a serious
accident.
Banning of tasers on school campuses should be
endorsed with better training and security.
Many enforcements may argue how it helps to get the
job done, and although it does stop a person from taking
anymore action, it can cause more harm in the end and is
unnecessary.
Tasers need to be banned on campus as they are
unnecessary and can cause serious damage to students.