WHITBY FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, MAY 21, 1986 PAGE 13 HIGH SCHOO-LNEWS WEEK ANDERSON H.S. I detest being given an assignnment to write on a topic of my owa choice. TeEgih teacher will Tmhe en l n as the assignment is given, acting as if she's doing me a great favor. "You can write on whatever you're interested ln " she exclainiacheerfully, as ifthis is the oppor- tunity I've been waiting for. I wonder if she truly j bleves thpt it is an easy aasignnient, or if she secretly knows about the hours I spend, agonizlng over what to write about? 0f course it appears the siniplest of tasks to anyoae flot doing it: xnerely talklng about one of your many in- terests, or one. of the several current events j about which you feel strongly. But I, for one (reading back it ap- pears that I've been speaking for everybody), have a terrible timne racking mny braina for a topic. The very mention of the phrase "choose your own"l gives me a sinklng feeling in my stomnach. I wlll sit for ages in front of a blank piece of paper, thinking about my hobbies and in- teresta. whlch I disrniss FROM PG. 10 one by one as being too .boring, too ern- barrassing, or not havlng enough to say. I go through rny usual hours of tedious wiahy- washy debate and' finally corne up with a subject that I can live with. But one'other idea dawns on me whle I arn trylng to brainstorm, ending up with brain- drizzle, which is to use the "anti-topic", or writing about nothaving a topic. If you add "Why I hate" to the front of it, then it almoat sounds like a plausible topic (I hope). The old "speech about how I hate giving speeches" is a popular example. This easy way out can only really be used oqce every year, so, 1 hope I'm not playing my trunp too soon here. 0f course the. only problem las filling up an entire essay when you have nothlng much to say. (How'm 1 doing 80 far?) After I write the first essay, -I decide to go ahead and write another uaing this topic, for a bonus. This la because I arn tickled pink to ac- tually emerge from my dilemma with not one but two topics. However, the next week in English class I arn ut- terly flabbergasted to find that we have been casually assigned to write ANOTHER per- sonal essay on any topicl It is almost more than I can bearf We have actually been given the exact sanie assignrnent two weeks in a rowl Alrny plans for a bonus essay are shattered, unless I (groan) corne up with another topic before the week is up. There is a small, scherning part of my brain which sees this setback as more material for my topic bass essay, but I arn stili extremely annoyed by auch injustice. The main significance of getting open-ended essaya two weeks in a row is that it leada me to a startling insight: English teachers hate thinking Up topics for essaya as much as 1 dolI Thlnk back to when the last specific, definite folder topic ls given, one that has nothing to do with what la currently being atudied. I believe mine la the firat folder topic of grade 12, a discussion of abortion, which the. teacher felt atrongly about. Most of- ten the topica are vague at beat, ones that in- volve no imagination on the,teacher'a part, auch as "write a poem", or "4write a book report", or "wirite an autobiography", or "'write a narrative essay". The few that are slightly more specific obviously corne out of some teacher handbook, such as the old classics, "4write about a chlldhood memory", and "write about your summer vacation". But these lateat topic-free assigninents are an open admission of English teachers' relue- tance or inability to corne up with good folder topics. Instead, they just pass the horrible task on to the hapless student. If r- CONTINUOUS COMPUTER - REGISTER &DATA PROCESSING FORMS someone who has dedicated his profesalonalie to the atudy and teaching of Engliah can't think of a goodasubject for writing, then how can he expect me to? Comment froni Nick's English teacher: Who says there isn't excellent in teaching? Moral: He (or ahe) who is challenged enough by his (or her) English teacher will learn to think for himself (or herseif) with resour- cefuinesa that can only be termned "excellent"l1 Reporter: Nlck Hlggs. Co-ordinators: Sandy Lyon, Laura Soleto and Nancy Waterrnan. By TRACI MELCHOR Denis O'Connor H.S. Bribery, pay-offs, speeches - sounds like a federal electionI Have no fear - it is tume again for DO'C's Student Council Executive elec- tions. For the past week, norninees have been competing with each other for space on the wall to hang those s0 important carnpaign posters. The positions that are open are: President, Treasurer, Social Convenor and Secretary. Those students who occupy the positions at the moment_ - Josie Peschisolido (President), Tracy Fernandez (Treasurer), Ed Devlin (Social Con- venor), and Traci Meichor (Secretary) - are ready to hand over their offices for the achool year 1986-87. The norinees gave their speeches on Friday and it certainly is going to be tough deciding who to vote for. Congratulations to Larry Kageyama. who won first prize in the On- tario Industrial Arts Contest. Larry's project was selected as the best of ail grade 10 entries SEE PG.22 PHNE68-16 eson rinfii 218HARWO V.. S LMTERNIAOS ENVELOPES -FLYERS BUSINESS CAROS BUSINESS FORMS RESUMES-UBROCHURES CARIONESS FORMS PROGIAMS -TICKETS COMPUTERtiziD TTPESETING DON ON PUmisIJI * Oea ' ' ' e.. -4 Seniors concert June 22 Bell will do the com- mentary. Because a big turnout la anticipated, registration for the show wll take place on Monday, May 26 from 9:5tii) 12 a.m. and again from 1 till 3 p.m. Tickets are $350 each and wiil be sold on a fir- st corne, first served basis. On Sunday, June 22, the Oshawa Legion Pipe Band and the Whitby Seniors' Jubilee Choir wil be performing in the gazebo in Rotary Centennial Park. Bring along a lawn chair and enjoy a good old fashioned concert in the park. Afterwards, everyone is invited back across the street to the Centre where a display of oil paintinga by some of the members will be on display. w m ww FULL CAPASILM'YFOR PRODUCTION 0F: " LARGE OR SMALL ORDERS " QUALITV PRINTING " PICK-UP & DELIVERY AVAILABLE -m