Positive And Negative Points.

I have something to confess. I am a "head of department" in Student Life. The school gives me tasks and missions to do, and like a clueless puppet, I do them.

Usually....

Well... more like rarely.

...

Umm...Never?

Anyway, the main reason I do this is for the universities, simply because they generally don't like a huge statement on your report card saying that "This student needs to participate more in Student Life Activities".

How this system works (or fails to work, rather) is through "positive and negative points". Each detention and failed exam is considered a negative point. To "delete" these negative points, students are supposed to spend one hour of their time in an exam hall, whether it be in a lunch break, afterschool or on a weekend. Most of this time is generally spent staring at and scribbling on a desk, all the time having unplugged surveillance cameras staring at you from all corners of the room. Choueifat figures that leaving the students isolated for an hour will teach them that what they did was wrong.

Positive points are gained after a student signs up for a club, activity, peer tutoring or as a prefect. After this, no matter how much work they do, they will gain a certain number of positive points every week. It's ridiculous how useless the system is if it rewards anyone who signs up, rather than those who work.

After all these points are tallied at the end of a term (when the student gets his or her report card), one of two generic comments is given. Either the first "This student needs to participate more in Student Life Activities" or "Excellent involvement in Student Life Activities". Sadly, neither truly reflects what's happening.

They Took Our Sports Away. (Part 3)

Want to know why I haven't posted for over two weeks? Well, it's because I've been happier than usual. Want to know why? The regional tournament is coming up and everyone's working harder to find time to practice sports and athletics. This is the only time of the year that Choueifat somewhat promotes sport and physical activity, solely to beat the other schools and bring back trophies to display along with all those university acceptances that they treasure so.
Back to the point, I've been happier than usual. I've been scoring higher on exams and I feel a lot more motivated in general. I'm now a lot more determined and confident in everything I do. In class, I can manage to stay awake longer than usual. I don't feel like a lazy git any more. Somewhere in the back of my mind, it feels like a wisp of school spirit is actually forming. Why? Because of sports.
Sports should be a huge part of school life. Staff and students alike should be rooting for the home team against rival schools, all for the sake of healthy competition. Sports releases endorphins in the brain, creating a sense of well being. It's completely necessary for a successful school to make sure that their students engage in physical activity frequently. Again, I stress the fact that school, as well as life in general, isn't all about academics.
Most of my classmates and teachers believe that PE should be compulsary in schools in grades 11 and 12. In Choueifat, it's obviously not. Hell, it's not even optional. PE is slowly removed from our timetables in Grade 10 and by Grade 11, it's gone. It's not even available as an elective subject. Along with Arts and Music (and anything else that has anything to do with liberty), Sports is not recognised as a "real subject" in the school. It's sad because after the regional tournaments, We're going to have to revert back to our lusterless Choueifati lives.