The No-Hats rule has been highly contested. Students often find this rule ridiculous, as we are allowed to wear bracelets and hairbows. What is so wrong with hats? They allow students to express themselves and can be worn in so many intriguing ways: front, backward, curved, and even sideways. After school, a variety of students put on their hats anyway. From beanies to ball caps to cowboy hats, the possibilities are endless. 

“I really like hats!” said Isaac Shoopman, a sophomore; he explained that he would wear a beanie everyday if the rule was taken away. “There’s no reason to have this rule it doesn’t make sense,” he added as he shook his head. It’s not just men that this rule affects, girls want to wear hats too. “I do not agree with it, kids deserve the right to wear what they want,” said Jayde Trammell, a sophomore, who every day after school puts on her red ball cap. Even some teachers would prefer to wear a hat. 

 I questioned numerous teachers and students, and no one can really explain why we even have the rule. 

“It’s just Knox County policy,” said Head Principal, Mrs.Messer. 

Some individuals argue that it is a distraction in the classroom, that students gain an attitude while wearing hats, and that they can even become disruptive and draw attention away from the lesson. Yet disruptive students will continue to find a way to be disruptive, hatless or not. It is not the hat’s fault that the student chooses to act like an imbecile. Why must others who have done nothing wrong suffer?

If this rule is so controversial, we shouldn’t have it. 

With the multitude of changes made this new school year, it is natural to assume anything different is an inconvenience or a disruption to the average student’s day. However, many of the recent adjustments made within school can have a positive impact on our student-education. Teaching high schoolers ACT prep. during the school day, as Carter High School has recently begun doing, can increase the potential for those students to achieve higher composites or practice strategies to develop better test-taking methods.

The classes focus on the four different sections within the ACT (Math, English, Reading, and Science) and consist of practicing common problems within each subject and going over how the correct answer is reached. Outside of having no risks/negatives, the provided classes also grant students half a credit per year for their time.

While applying for college can already be kind of difficult, the competition for good grades and a phenomenal score can make it even harder, especially if unprepared, so it is essential to put in some extra effort to be able to reach goals in the future and the ACT preparation courses help assist that. Many students may also argue that it takes away their time to do homework or make up tests, however, much of enrichment time isn’t regularly used and valued to do homework anyways and Wednesday’s Hive provides a time to make up tests or assignments that’s gathered from the week. With the provided additional education and effort from within the Carter Community, I believe there is potential for the seniors and juniors of 2020-2021 to succeed with flying colors and with higher composites.

Being an exchange student in a country completely different from yours is scary, I am not going to lie. 

Every day is a challenge, and things that people believe are ordinary are not to you. People will talk to you about stuff that you have never heard about, and sometimes you will find yourself nodding in agreement even though you have never heard about any of the things they are telling you. Your first week in high school will be the craziest week of your entire year. You don’t know where you are going and you feel like every day something new is going on. One of the craziest things that both Lina and I, an exchange student from Germany, had to face was enrichment. Nobody told us that students have to go to a different class depending on the day of the week. So, for a week, I found myself going to the office every day trying to figure out where to go. 

Another thing that really shook me was the dress code. In Spain, you can wear whatever you want to class, and nobody would mind. So on my very first day, I got dress-coded because I did not know that it even existed. Cultural differences are also something that surprised us both exchange students and students of the high school. Every time I talk to a student about my country they are surprised about all the things that we don’t have and that for them are normal l like food, certain food chains, types of clothes. But even though being an exchange student can be scary and hard at times, I would not change this experience for anything; all the people that I have met, all the different things I am experiencing. I am really glad I took this opportunity and I am really excited to experience even more new things.  

Are vending machines alright in school or are they being abused?

The vending machines are a great resource for the school. The vending machines at Carter High School are accessible to everyone in the school, Even visitors can use them if they please. No, not everyone has to use them, but they are available to your services. Carter High School is a lucky school to have vending machines because some kids do not eat the school lunch that is provided so they tend to get some things out of the vending machines and snack on that. Vending machines didn’t exist in the schools up until the 1950’s. While Some people may not think they are good because some may think they are only eating junk foods. However the federal regulations have gotten rid of junk foods in school vending machines and only are allowed to put in things that have calorie, fat, sugar, and sodium limits to them.They are very useful for when someone doesn’t eat lunch or breakfast so it keeps them going. All things range from a dollar to a dollar and fifty cents. Some profits from the vending machines go to the school so that the school also gets some money out of the students or visitors money they spend on them. Some of the snacks from the vending machine ranges from fruit snacks, water, soda or even beef jerky and chips. Vending machines are useful in schools so kids can find something to eat.

The material of AP classes sometimes feels out of place to the curriculum they will need to advance in their high school career, but AP classes in general provide a great opportunity for students looking for future success in college. AP (advanced placement) classes, are offered at most high schools across the country. These classes are often more challenging intellectually and take more time dedication for students to keep up. Mr. Martinez, the AP European History teacher, says that “AP classes are very important for students who want to go on to college; it prepares them for the workload and discipline.” In these AP classes, students often have the opportunity to take a final exam in order to gain some sort of credit in their future college career.  This is one of the many reasons why AP classes are a great resource for college-bound students to put themselves ahead. AP classes offered at Carter High School begin at 9th grade with AP Human Geography. In this class, one learns about geography, population, agriculture, etc. The alternative to the course is the regular placement World History class. Many students have argued that the World History class would be more beneficial in future classes to provide background information. For example, the next line of AP classes are AP Government and AP European History. Therefore, a more history-oriented class, like World History, would prepare students better for future classes than a geography oriented class, like Human Geography. Overall, there are flaws with the material choices for AP classes; however, going through a college level class will prepare students for college and provide a great experience either way.

Driver’s ed is an elective course that Carter High School, along with many other schools in the state, but no longer does, allowing students the option to learn to drive at school. The course offered information on road rules, alcohol use while driving, road safety tips, and at some schools a chance to get behind the wheel. However, the past decade or so, many schools have dropped the class. This was due to a variety of reasons: some due to funding, lack of students interested, not enough of the qualifications. Along with this though, the interest teens have in getting their licenses and driving themselves has decreased. I believe that this course should be brought back and encouraged students to take their sophomore year. For a lot of teenagers, they don’t have reliable and safe ways to learn to drive at home. They might not have a car they can learn in, or their parents/guardians might not have time to fully teach them. A lot of teenagers don’t know how to safely and legally be out on the roads and Drivers ed would offer them that chance. I think funding and investing into bringing the course back to Carter High School and many other Tennessee schools would benefit teens and parents both. 

Carter High School has recently replaced enrichment with ACT prep courses for all seniors. This has taken away the time seniors  have to work on their class grades. The ACT prep is a class that seniors take in order to better their ACT scores. The prep classes take place in enrichment time for the seniors, enrichment time is  3:00 to 3:30. The ACT class takes the extra time that the senior class has to boost their grades in real classes. We could solve this problem by cutting a few minutes out of each class to make up for the thirty, but each grade level would have to take the ACT prep crash course this way. Another idea is to cut down on activity time or just  have the seniors who take the ACT prep classes take their ACT at that time rather than in enrichment. It is also statically proven that cram crash courses do not make much improvement for students. It is pointless to have a redo policy if all the students can not even take advantage of it. Students need the enrichment time to make-up work, redo quizzes or tests, and to complete homework. Many students ride a bus so there for they can not come in any earlier or stay any later after school therefore they need that extra thirty minutes to correct or redo any work to help their grade in their academic classes. While the prep classes may boost some of the ACT scores it may lower the academic classes for the students.

Carter High School hallways have seemingly gotten too busy, which has caused a few problems. As students move class to class during appropriate times, our hallways fill tremendously, making it very difficult to manoeuvre. Carter High School has become a hazard zone during class block change.  Every day, students and staff are seen fighting their way from classroom to classroom. People are not on time for their scheduled class, mainly because people in the halls have become too occupied in conversations. However, those students who are stopping to socialize become so engaged they do not realize they are causing a blockage in the flow of the hallway. This is causing individuals to shove through the crowd. Students become rude and lack courtesy. The crowded hallways are very unhealthy. Jordanna Rutherford says, “The crowded hallways can be prevented if people would walk.” English teacher Mr. O’Malley says, “It is irritating because it could easily be prevented.” Some would say that class period change is the only time to mingle, but we could easily prevent the high-risk of fighting, shoving, and ill-mannered behavior. Students and staff who want to socialize should just move to the sides of the hall to make a clear walkway and be mindful of those around. If this happens our halls will become easier to traverse.

Carter High School students have the opportunity to take a ten day trip to London and France next summer. From June 1-June 10 with Mrs. Myers, an English III teacher and the volleyball coach will be taking students to London and Paris for 4 days each.  During each of these four day visits, students will be going on tours, exploring a different culture, eating new varieties of food, and having fun. 

Mrs. Myers says, “The students will be going on a plane flying into an airport on the other side of the world and then spending 4 days in London. Then flying on another plane to stay 4 days in Paris. There will be a tour guide with the group at all times to help with directions, make sure everyone is where they need to be and keep the tours on schedule so the trip stays on track.” The students will see major landmarks such as the Eiffel tower and the London bridge.

The senior students at Carter High School are currently taking ACT prep after fourth period during enrichment. These classes were designed to hopefully improve the future ACT scores of Carter seniors. When asked if a students previous test scores affected their ACT prep class placement, Ms. Atchley said, “Your previous scores do affect what class you’re in.” This is so that you are in a class with people with similar scores that made similar mistakes. She also says that the school isn’t doing these ACT prep classes because our scores were bad, she explained that there is always room to improve. When asked about ACT prep, Maranda Davis, a senior, says, “We stay in each class for 8 days.” She also mentioned that we move as a group to the next class.