It ’s not as if
the case came onto my radar for the first time that week, as it did for
most of the country, once it gained
headline. Troy Davis had been executed. I thought it wouldn’t happen. Not
Take a stand A
BY HANNAH REISS
hannahreiss@csdecatur.net
few weeks ago, I glanced over at the TV to see the scrolling
that I had lifted a finger to help his cause, but I figured somebody or some process would have been able to stop it.
Maintain our identity
BY SAM MCLEMORE
samuelmclemore@csdecatur.net
D
ecatur is a small school. When I walk down the halls, I know nearly
every person. I can talk to my teachers comfortably. I can concentrate, and I like it that way. So knowing that our school system has grown by ten percent, as discussed in “
Chaos...in kindergar- ten?” on pages 20 and 21, is slightly concerning. Could we lose our identity? For me, this won’t be a problem. I am
a junior, so my class size won’t change. I’m worried about people like my sister, who had class in a trailer at Winnona Park because of limited space. Not quite an ideal elementary school experience. Imagine 30 to 40 students in a class-
room. It just won’t work. Tat’s not De- catur. We’re the school where everyone knows and grew up with each other. We
national attention. I go to church in downtown Atlanta, so I’d seen pro- testers outside the capitol building for weeks. I stood out there one afternoon a couple of years ago, but beyond that I had taken no action. I guess I figured I had done my time. I’d been exposed to the Troy Davis
for years, but I didn’t actually research the back-story enough to become a huge supporter of his until days before his execution. Once the execution was scheduled,
nearly a million people were passionate enough to sign the Amnesty Interna- tional petition and draw attention to the protest.
have small class sizes, and it should stay that way. I don’t mind if more people come here, I just want everyone to have a small school experience. I work efficiently in small environ- ments with few distractions. I can promise you I am not the only one. Ten percent might not sound like a lot, but if this trend continues, we will all suffer the consequences. We need to allocate more space for this influx of new students because, currently, we don’t have enough room. Last year, some teachers migrated be- tween classrooms because they did not have a permanent one. Tis shouldn’t happen again. Tis year, we were saved by the classrooms under the gym, but if the Decatur population continues to rise, we must expand the school so classrooms aren’t overwhelmed with students. Let us make sure we stay a small
school. If that means additions to the school building, reopening Westchester
I had somehow witnessed so much
of the protest and managed not to take any tangible action. As I watched the news, I was disgusted that the death penalty had been used on a case with so much ambiguity and disappointed in myself that I did nothing about a cause that I claimed to feel so strongly about. My actions alone wouldn’t have
changed anything, but I hadn’t added my voice to the many who had tried to stop such inhumane killing. I’ve always rolled my eyes at the cliché “actions speak louder than words,” but why didn’t I do anything? It is our responsibility to act when
justice fails to be served. If we stand on the sidelines, we’re just as inhumane as the judge who sentenced Davis to death.
or classrooms in other buildings, then so be it. I don’t want people like my sister to suffer academically so the school can have more students.
Illustrations by Adele Thomas
ED BRIEFS OCTOBER 2011 • CARPE DIEM 45
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