Opinion

Forget teaching students biology or algebra, it’s time to go back to basics, back to when teachers had to remind students not to take other’s belongings and to tell the truth.

Venturing into the library, one is confronted by a vast array of students attempting to access standard sites on school computers, but to no avail. YouTube? Blocked. MySpace? Forbidden. Facebook? Access denied.

The district has gone overboard in its quest to, according to the filter that appears when students attempt to access the aforementioned sites, ensure that students “should only be using school computers for educational purposes.”

The recent Mumbai bombings have brought long-harbored feelings of animosity between India and Pakistan back into the spotlight, compounding the fear of another clash between the two nuclear powers.

The attack, which occurred on Nov. 26, consisted of Islamic terrorists bombing and raiding several different locations around the city, killing, according to the New York Times, nearly 200 individuals, wounding roughly 300 and taking a number of hostages. The attack was performed with devastating efficiency and spanned nearly two days until Indian authorities managed to regain control of Mumbai. The testimony of captive Azam Amir Oasab confirmed conjecture that the attackers were trained by a Pakistani militant group originally formed by Pakistan’s spy agency, Inter-Services Intelligence, to fight Indian influence in the Kashmir region.

The mere fact that such a large-scale act of terrorism was successfully carried out on Indian soil and unable to be stopped, or at least inhibited, by the Pakistani government is unconscionable. But Pakistan’s refusal to hand over suspected members of the Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorist organization allegedly responsible for the attack when the country itself claims to have detained at least 15 members of the organization reeks of ulterior motives on the part of Pakistan.

10. He has catchy phrases and all the young people love him.
There isn’t much difference between him and Miley Cyrus.

9. He’s so tall and skinny.
If he weren’t, he wouldn’t be able to walk on water.

8. For the next four years it will be pronounced “nuclear.”

7. Obama even smokes occasionally.
Especially on Election Day, when he smoked McCain.

6. He is going to end the war in Iraq.
Right after he invades Afghanistan.

5. He’s so young.
In McCain’s defense, he’s 335 in dog years.

4. He will be our first black president.

After a long night of incessant partying and heavy drinking, a student finds himself with two options: spending the night on the host’s front lawn or risking death by hopping in a car with an alcohol-influenced driver, two decidedly less-than-pleasant choices. Soon, however, if a proposed plan to reinstitute the Safe Ride program at Saratoga High goes through, the student may have the far more preferable third option of chartering a volunteer to pick him up and drop him off at home, no questions asked.

Drama 4 Honors: 2 Asians, 11 Caucasians. AP Chemistry: 78 Asians, 13 Caucasians. Newspaper staff: 57 Asians, 12 Caucasians, as determined by a Falcon headcount.

Statistics obtained from the school registrar show that in comparison to other public high schools in the area, Saratoga High School, sporting a 41.0 percent Caucasian, 40.9 percent Asian, and 11.9 percent Indian student population, according to the SHS Student Distribution Report, is relatively diverse. However, despite a near-equal ratio of Caucasians and Asians, an increasingly large racial imbalance has developed in some classes over the years.

America is notorious for many things, but perhaps best known for its leading status as the most obese nation in the world. With over 13,000 McDonalds franchises, the United States is a bastion of unhealthy eating.

The crowd waits, quiet. The spotlight falls on a group of five boys, clad in too tight shirts and clothed in outrageous colors—almost as loud as the music that starts playing in the background. As the lyrics come onto the speakers, the boys open their mouths and begin to sing and the crowd erupts into laughter and applause.

This humorous event is the annual senior class fund raiser. Doesn’t sound too familiar? You may not remember since it hasn’t taken place in two years.

The community of Saratoga High is somewhat of a paradox in and of itself. Our state is obviously heavily Democratic, yet there's a reason our Republican governor Arnold Schwarzenegger visited our humble school for a fund-raiser a few years ago.

If you walk into some teachers’ classrooms this time of year, you can see a steadily growing pile of toilet paper, canned foods, toys, children’s books, toiletries, clothes, hangers, school supplies and any other donations students have brought in on the back table of their rooms, ready to be sent to charities. These donations have piled up for one main reason: extra credit. But is it OK to use extra credit this way?