Dear Editor,
I’m a senior at Gilroy High School who is responding to Friday’s column written by Mrs. Cynthia Anne Walker, which criticized and snubbed the GHS administration. Yes, it is true that the school did not meet the expectations for Day on the Green. However, those that were absent should not decide the fate of an entire campus. The slothfulness of a few students should not decide the fate of 2,500 students.
I, along with hundreds of other GHS seniors, and some staff, submitted a petition, in which we pointed out that the Day on the Green is a tradition, a celebration for the seniors on their last day of school where they can get their yearbooks and have their friends sign them. We pointed out that it was unjust to punish the seniors for testing attendance, in which the seniors had no part. The administration considered our request, and found that it was a good point. Mrs. Walker, its not an issue of the administration having “no backbone,” but rather, a case where they recognized a good point, and were humble enough to correct their error.
You went on to criticize the district for allowing such “worthless” things as a Disneyland trip (for eligible seniors when they’re NOT in school), or Great America (for a group of advanced physics students).
Walker related the joys of home schooling, and bragged of how they were busily “scratching away” at their finals, taking field trips only after all work was done, or discussing literature over cappuccinos. I would like to point out that in a few weeks, one might find the entire GHS campus “scratching away” at finals, taking field trips that you need to be eligible for (2.0 minimum, no more than one N citizenship grade, and good attendance), or at the French club, where they meet once a month at least, to practice their French over sandwiches.
As she brags over the triumphs of her math students: “The real celebration comes when a graduate of algebra I is faced with the graph of a line … blah blah blah … competence- the root cause of self-esteem.” Is Walker suggesting that this isn’t true in our worthless public education? I am an algebra I and II graduate, and am currently enrolled in trig/pre-calculus. I am faced with the graph of a line every day, and remember what the slope and intercept are. I can complete a square, graph a parabola and I even know what insouciance means. I think of myself as competent, I’m a 3.8 AP student, in sports medicine, choir, marching band and anatomy. I have a job, and I’ll be attending BYU in the fall. And you know what, I got that from a system where such things exist as “The Day on the Green”, a day where GHS celebrates the accomplishments of the graduating class and the end of another year.
Jeremy Borgia, senior at GHS, Morgan Hill
