La Vista

By: Kyle Allen, Zack Rosenfeld, Eric Zheng, Duncan Gregory, Robin Janotta

La Vista Staff

As all of you know, last week’s series of games between La Vista and Student Government (also known as ASB…we think?) came to a dramatic close in Thursday’s dodgeball tournament, with SGASB seemingly winning the war. This, however, is not accurate. You see, like other sports, half of the tournament was broadcasted and open to the public.

The hidden competition began Monday with the Costa Hunger Games. Compared to students from each organization in a massive arena, armed with various tools of destruction and food scattered throughout, even dodgeball seems pure.

The winner, of course, was ASB President Travis Taylor, who said later that he “dropped his competitors like it’s yacht.”

Tuesday brought the “Change your life in the biggest way” competition. Some contestants were incarcerated for manslaughter and arson and decided not go to college, but it was Joani Gillam who changed her life the most by deciding to skip one of her classes. Our sources say that it is still on her conscience.

Wednesday brought “Act like Ben Dale” day; the student who is able to stay in-character the longest wins. Michael Powell pulled ahead, dropping into every classroom, standing against the door, and nodding a few times, but he was disqualified when he actually explained why he was there.

It was Alex White (known to his fans as A-White, and Emma White’s Brother) who was able to keep Ben Dale’s persona up for the longest, a feat that he attributed to his “perseverance” and “the mad amount of push-ups I do every night.”

Thursday was “Make a mess of campus” day, in which the objective was to make an utter mess of campus. Student Government members were excited for this event but were hindered by making signs out of all of the trash they dropped. However, it was La Vista that won by simply calling up our boy Snoop.

For those keeping score, this brings both groups to a score of 4. A tie, if you must. On Friday, a tie-breaker was called. As we at La Vista crawled out of Kyle Allen’s office and Student Government out of its Patriot bounce house, it became apparent that all campus organizations were not on the same team. The game? Buy Coachella tickets. Both teams are still on the standby page.

By Kyle Allen
Editor-in-Chief

Obtaining a quality education has long been considered the pathway to upward social mobility and better career options.

As the United States heads deeper into the 21st century, there is no more critical issue than the declining state of our education system.

School districts in wealthier communities like Manhattan Beach benefit from education foundations that raise money to supplement limited state funding. This effectively creates a system in which public schools in wealthy areas offer far more opportunities than those in poorer ones.

According to a 2005 study conducted by the Education Trust, districts in the highest poverty areas have $907 less available per student than those in the wealthiest areas.

Access to a college education is increasingly limited to those who lack the resources to pay tuition, room and board without the help of financial aid or student loans.

The cost of attending a private four-year institution is nearly 10 times higher than it was in 1980, while the average cost of living is only 3 times as high as it was in 1980, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures.

Attending a public university is not getting any easier financially, either. State systems like the University of California continue to raise in-state tuition prices at a faster rate than out-of-state tuition and are accepting more out-of-state students to make up reductions in state funding.

As state governments continue to cut education funding in the name of sound budgets, the quality of education becomes increasingly predicated on personal wealth.

If we continue this course, the economic mobility central to the American Dream will disappear, and success will be limited to those who can afford to learn.

The federal government must act to increase funding given to public schools and lower the cost of attending college by paying for any student to attend a public university if he or she agrees to spend the next five years in civil service.

Think of it as a social GI Bill that would provide an influx of talented and educated individuals to public service and create an opportunity for anyone to attend college.

Although the gulf between education opportunities is widening, this isn’t to say a proactive change can’t be made. By reconsidering the current, narrow monetary definition of tuition, students can live to see unbridled educational opportunities, and the American Dream can be revitalized.

Editor's Note

By Kyle Allen
Editor-in-Chief

As Americans watched the collapse of their economy and their livelihoods, many asked: what happened to the America of lore? What happened to the America our ancestors created, the greatest and most powerful nation in the world?

What happened? We stopped playing as a team. Beneath the surface, that’s what Occupy Wall Street is all about. While some may call it class warfare, “Occupiers,” as they’ve become known, see their movement as a way to revitalize the American Dream. This movement, at its core, is a call for Americans to live for the success of one another, in the way that we did during America’s golden age.

As we all know by now, these “99-percenters” claim that the top 1% of income earners control a hugely disproportionate size of the national wealth. Occupiers have good reason to fear; according to data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, over the past 30 years, the top 0.1% of earners have seen their income grow nearly 385%, while the bottom 90% of earners have seen their income drop by 1%.

Due to a tax code that increasingly favors the economic elite, a vast majority of Americans rightfully feel they are being left behind.

Beyond the economic issues, Occupiers have in Zucotti Park in New York City set up a system of government that shuns voting in favor of consensus-building. They’ve created an experiment in 21st century civics that is organized, tame and benefits everyone. Can their model work on a national or state level? Probably not. It can, however, inspire people to live their lives a little bit differently, to abandon a focus on amassing personal wealth in favor of doing what is right for their friends, family and neighbors.

This is our generation’s calling: to work for each others’ success. Some might strike this idea down as socialist or Marxist, but more than anything, this is an issue of morality.

While Occupy Wall Street may vanish in name with winter’s onset, its central ideas cannot if Americans want to return to the economic glory of the mid-20th century.

It is imperative to realize that at the essence of this movement is a demand for brotherhood and sacrifice, for Americans to do what is right for their fellow Americans, not what is right for themselves.