OpinionsPage 5 n November 19, 2012

thekirkwoodcall.com

2013 will mark the 160 anniversary of the invention of potato chips.

In the 1700s, chocolate was used to cure ailments such as stomach aches.

Dear Mr. Hoganson,I have a bone to pick with you

in regards to an article in the past issue of The Call titled “The Great Debate: What is Considered a Sport?” You claimed that a sport requires, “something in which two individuals or teams compete in a contest of skill, involving a ball, physical exertion and a final score.”

You also claimed that swim-ming, cross country and poms are not sports. How can something not be a sport when it is one of the most famous events in the Olym-pics? You also contradict yourself

in the article because swimming seems to fit in with your defini-tion of a sport. There are teams and individuals that compete, it requires much physical exertion and it has a simple point system with a final score. There are win-ners and losers, coaches and teammates, and exhausting prac-tices just like the “real sport” of football (even though that’s not even an international sport).

If sports need to involve a ball, then is the very first sport invented, wrestling, no longer one? And, you claim that hock-ey is a real sport, but it uses a

puck, not a ball, therefore, an-other contradiction.

Cheerleading is a contro-versial activity because there is a huge difference between inexperienced school cheer-leaders and intense national cheer teams.

If swimming is not a sport, then why do I need to get a winter sport practice card in or-der to participate? I guess since swimming isn’t a sport anymore, none of us are real athletes.

Pommies aren’t just sparkly dancers either. One must be flex-ible, strong, have impeccable

cardiovascular strength, have a good memory for all those steps, and keep a smile on their face for the entire routine.

Before you judge whether an activity is a sport or not, put your biases aside and try to do one of our practices. You would change your mind after you run uphill for two miles in 90 degrees, swim a 1,000 meter strength set or do the splits in front of KHS.

Sincerely, Agitated AthleteLucy Waldemer, sophomore

Letter

The Kirkwood Call encourages readers to submit letters to the editor to voice their opinions. However, we request the letters be no longer than 300 words and have the author’s signature. The Call reserves the right to withhold names. Letters can be submitted online on our website.

This is the age of choices. Teenagers are at a crossroads between childhood and

adulthood, constantly making decisions mov-ing them in either way. However, the majority of students did not get a voice in the adminis-tration’s decisions to switch the food offered in vending machines, denying students this pow-

erful learning opportunity.The administration surely had the best

interests of students at heart when they decided to switch to the healthier op-

tions. It was projected that money would be lost in the healthy change, so that could not have been a motive. Also, according to Anahad O’Connor, health and wellness blogger of The

New York Times, it has even been proven in California that the ban of junk food in schools has been successful in cutting calories from high school students’ di-ets, giving proof that this plan might work.

However, by not taking more students’ opinions into consideration, the adminis-

tration deprived students of an opportunity to make

their own choices. According to Mike

Wade, junior class prin-cipal, a committee of

The 2010-2011 school year brought new food items to the student-accessible vending machines. Health teachers and the district’s health committee were consulted to decide which items would be the healthiest choices, but only six students - three juniors and three seniors - were part of a committee to give their opinions on the impending switch. In light of this decision, The Kirkwood Call staff voted 46:4 that more students should have had the opportunity to voice their opinion on an issue that directly affects them.

Students should exercise the right to snack

six students, three juniors and three seniors, were consulted in 2010 on whether the ma-chines should contain all healthy snacks or keep the mixture of healthier and unhealthy snacks. They were split on the issue.

The administrators were not affected by this switch. The vending machine in the fac-ulty room still offers unhealthy items such as regular chips. Students were directly affected and should therefore have gotten more of a voice in the decision.

High school should prepare students for the real world. With hardly a voice in impor-tant matters such as the switch to healthier foods in vending machines, students will not be prepared to make decisions for themselves as adults.

The administration should not make these seemingly unimportant decisions for the stu-dent body or else they might take that power and extend it to more important aspects of school life, such as which classes are manda-tory or what budget cuts to make.

No one can fault the administration for try-ing to instill healthy habits in students. While a poll of the entire student body should have been done before changes to the vending machines were made, it is not too late to take students’ opinions into account.

Deciding for themselves on those healthy habits is the only way to help students learn from the change.

Putting all sports on a level playing field

-Call Editorial-

to the

91% (113/ 124)

Editor

of students want to have a say in vending choices

Blayne Fox artist