Letter to the Editor

Seeing as how I have become increasingly disgusted with the school newspaper, I finally resolved myself to write a letter to the editor to voice my opinion about the eroding standards in the American educational system. As I leafed once again through the mistake-ridden pages of the Olympiad, I was both shocked and appalled to find that the Letter to the Editor section has been removed. This just further underlines the slow shift from a democratic society to a totalitarian government, which has finally seemed to resonate here in our school. By removing the only section where members of the huddled masses may voice their opinions and concerns, you are taking away the peoples voice. The blind faith that seems to be expected from people on a local, and national, level horrifies me. My parents raised me to be a freethinking, independent, individual, and to look beyond what is being fed to me in a spoon.

To be quite honest, the state of this newspaper is at an all-time low, and declining rapidly. The very fact that reporters cannot inform us of national news or political goings on makes that fact indisputable. By depriving us of news of substance, you are doing little more than keeping us happy idiots. The very fact that this display of hypocrisy is coming from an educational institution doubles its intensity. This paper does not do what a newspaper should: write to expose the truth. Instead, they write to conceal, or dismiss information that advisors do not feel are appropriate. The Olympiad does no favors by dismissing the world's actions with a clever, or in this case not so clever, phrase. It is indeed a sign of the times when people can masquerade as educators, and exploit their power by doing little more than reinforcing their charges ignorance.

However, it would not be good of me to lay the blame on at the doorstep of one institution. Giving misinformation to an ill informed populous is the American way. The survival of democracy rests squarely on the shoulders of a certain kind of person. As such, democracy employs the educational system to produce that certain kind of person. They strive to produce a person who possesses the knowledge, the tastes, and the character to carry on the democratic regime. To do this, certain moral standards are undoubtedly put in place for the youth, the hope, of the American people. God forbid a pupil does not fit that moral mould, or measure up to that strong democratic standard. Then, the educational system, and democracy as a whole, deems said person as an unworthy, unfit, or unsavory human being.

So, it is shown in today's world that the ideal of democracy has mutated. It is no longer a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. It is now a government of certain people, by certain people, and for certain people. From a young age we are taught to turn a blind eye to the goings on around us, and because we never rub the proverbial sand from our eyes and view the world as it truly is, we allow these certain people to remain in power, in control. The gradual shift to a totalitarian government has begun, and the naivety of the masses has allowed it.

Let me conclude this longwinded letter with one thought. Do not go gentle into that good night. Do not let the world change for the worse. Wake up, take a part in this school, in this nation, and tell the man, the institution, that we will not be robbed of our rights, our liberties, or our freedoms. If nothing else is taken from the reading of this epistle, please, reinstate the letter to the editor column. Having a voice is something that I refuse to compromise on.