Kaylise Trahan
August 26, 2008

Bus Altercations

Lafayette Parish School Board is trying to save money by making changes in school transportation. The School Board has limited the amount of transportation for private and public school students. As a result of these limitations, many problems have occurred throughout the parish of Lafayette. Limiting the number of school buses leaves many bus drivers unemployed. After talking to a local bus driver regarding the changes, he exclaimed that in cutting approximately fifty school buses, many buses are exceeding capacity with more students on their routes. This makes it difficult to get to each route in a timely manner. Another problem from this change is that in most schools, duty teachers are needed to make sure students get on the bus and leave school safely. Some duty teachers have to stay late without extra pay because the buses are late arriving to pick up the students.

Elementary, middle, and high school students are also being affected from the reduction of buses. Buses have a safety capacity on the number of students they can have on a bus. Currently on the news, it was stated that some buses have close to eighty students when the capacity is sixty-five. Some students have to catch the bus extremely early for school. My little cousins catch the bus at six twenty-five for school. The elementary school they attend starts at seven fifty-five and is only four miles away from their house. This means they are on the bus for over an hour before arriving at school.

After speaking with several bus drivers, people in the community, reading the newspaper, and watching the local news, the only logical reason the school board cut buses appears to be to save money. Is it justice for bus drivers to be unemployed when they are actually really needed? Is it fair for students to have to catch the bus over an hour in advance to go to school located minutes away? Is it justice to put students’ overall safety in jeopardy? No, it is unjust and one-sided of the school board to cause predicaments in Lafayette Parish just to save money. Is saving money worth the life of a child?

Caitlin Richardson
19 August 2008

Justice

In today’s society, people have been spoiled to having things their way, so when something goes wrong, the famous phrase “That is not fair!” is heard. What those people do not realize is that there are others in our world who would love to experience a small amount of our fairness in their life. In the United States, Americans are given so many freedoms. They have the freedom of speech, the freedom of religion, and many more.

One example relevant to Lafayette teens involves segregated groups in a desegregated school system. There are many unspoken “rules” in the high schools of Lafayette. Students learn quickly as to which cliques are acceptable and which groups to avoid. Usually these groups are established by looks and assumptions. If you go outside the doors of the school, students as well as families determine whether or not a school is acceptable, based on opinion and not fact.
Another example on a national level is the treatment of Muslims in the United States. Since the September 11 attacks on our country, many Americans have turned their backs on the Muslims. Many Muslims are ignored, called unkind names, spat upon, and even some have been killed. These events have been triggered because individual Muslims have been involved in the attacks on our country. Although the terrorist acts are completely wrong, the response of some Americans to Muslims is equally unjustified. Thankfully, informed Americans have stopped antagonizing the Muslims in the United States.

One solution to this problem of justice is for people to quit judging others based on assumptions. If they will get to know the person for who they are, rather than what society says they are, progress will begin. Of course, we can only be accountable for ourselves. I have been guilty of judging other based on their popularity. By being misinformed based on someone else’s opinion, I have almost missed opportunities of true friendship.

We can take the first steps in making a difference in someone’s life by giving them justice. We can also try to encourage those around us to do the same. Hopefully in the future, our society will be more conscientious of others. We can choose to be the difference that gives fair justice.

Inheritance of Loss

title from novel by Kiran Desai

We remember where we were when the planes
hit just as a generation ago they remembered
where they were when Kennedy was shot.

I remember standing behind my sister in the living
room staring at the TV, her wet eyes blinking away
the loss. I could not understand her sadness then

nor when my brother was burned. How could she feel
such extreme emotion when the loss was seemingly
so distant? But we understand such loss even seven

years later—such extremity of emotion even at a distance.
Buried under the rubble of death lie the ruins of grief
waiting to be fused with the blood and honor left on those

crowded streets one September morning. We remember
just as survivors of WWII and the camps inherited that same loss.
And like any survivor, we strive to remember with pain as deeply
embedded as crystalline shards of broken towers.


Eva Guillot
8/3/08