The Lion's Roar

Parent Control: Overkill

According to the current attendance policy, students with at least three unexcused absences per quarter receive an “N” for that term. After students skip class twice, teachers notify housemasters and either e-mail or call a parent to inform him or her of the situation. A new pilot program for next year, however, would instead inform parents of unexcused absences with an automatic e-mail message. This electronic program is an option on ParentConnect, a system that connects to the SMS system currently used by South teachers to enter term grades, midterm comments and attendance. Parents would have a username and password that would allow them access to their child’s attendance, as well as term grades and midterm comments.

Though the current system does not provide a perfectly seamless method of informing parents about their child’s absences, a new, more stringent system is still not necessary. Before piloting this program, the administration should first try to alter the current system to make it more effective. As of now, the system often permits students who skip more than one class to stay below the radar and not seem to merit a call home. To remedy cases such as these, teachers should become more diligent and careful in taking attendance. Additionally, teachers should notify housemasters or guidance counselors following a student’s first skip, so that a second skip would be noticed by the administration.

There is a possibility that in the near future, ParentConnect cou…

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Editor's Desk: Reflections on the trip of a lifetime

Two months ago I returned home from San Juan del Sur, a small town on the Pacific Coast of Nicaragua. I brought home some cheap souvenirs, a camera full of photos, a fantastic tan and a profound appreciation for just how good we have it here.

For a little more than a week, five other South students and I worked and lived completely immersed in this new, strange world. At first I was unable to process everything I experienced.

We stayed in groups of three with host families, who provided us with daily meals and a place to sleep. During the day we would ride in the back of a pickup truck for hours along dirt roads to rural, one-room elementary schools. Many of the kids were shy at first, but they smiled when we made an effort to speak Spanish with them. We delivered pencils, notebooks and other supplies to the schools, taught a little English and played with the kids for a while, before packing up and setting off for another school.

By simply walking into the schools you could gain an immediate appreciation for how different public education is in a third-world country. The school buildings themselves were simple, exposed structures with metal grates for windows and no air conditioning. The kids were seated in small, uncomfortable-looking seats; in some schools there weren’t enough to go around.

The schools weren’t arranged according to a grade system, so there was a wide age range within most of the classes. Because so many younger children were mixed in with older ones, the t…

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