Op-Ed
What the heck???
The stigma that surrounds community college is inaccurate and does not account for the multitude of benefits of a community college. This
stigma causes students unnecessary embarrassment and humiliation.
Getting rid of four
the stigma around
year college.
experience the same suc-
SARAH BANHOLZER
Page Editor
With the ever-decreasing
acceptance rates of UCs
and CSUs, we see many
students taking advantage
of California’s community
college system. However,
attending one of these col-
leges often carries a stigma.
This stigma is detrimental
to students’ self-esteem
and self-worth and is quite
frankly, very invalid.
There is a common
misconception that
community colleges aren’t
“real” colleges or that their
academic rigor is subpar.
However, this could not
be farther from the truth.
The academics and course
load at community colleges
can be just as rigorous as
four year colleges. The time
spent at community college
will focus on completing
many of the same classes
that you might take to
complete your General
Ed at a four year school.
Community college is a
great option for anyone
still deciding on a major
or career, has limited funds
for college or someone that
just doesn’t feel prepared
to move away and attend a
Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down for Alexandria Ocasio Cortez
SONALI CARUMBAYA
Page Editor
In the last few months,
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
has gained a significant
amount of popularity. At
only 29 years old, she is
already a congresswoman
of New York and is now
sworn into the U.S. House
of Representatives.
She then delved into
the world of politics at a
young age and became the
youngest woman elected to
congress. Her popularity
is ever-increasing and she
isn’t planning to stop that.
During her questioning
in the Cohen trial, Oca-
sio-Cortez was quick and
straight to the point. Her
questions were clear and
well researched, and, her
overall performance was
extremely impressive. In
a few short minutes, she
pushed Cohen to admit
that Trump committed tax
fraud.
community
college
ing on the college, are
This stigma seems to
be especially high here in
Pleasanton. When Amador
and Foothill have students
attending some of the
most prestigious schools
in the country, such as
Harvard and Stanford,
it can be intimidating to
measure up to the feats of
these few students. This
is why students often face
embarrassment when elect-
ing to attend a community
college. This humilia-
tion can be so great, that
students will leave the area
and attend a community
college elsewhere to avoid
the shame of staying home
to attend a local communi-
ty college.
Although it is not
widely discussed, it is
believed that approximate-
ly one third of Pleasanton
students go on to attend a
community college. Little
is ever spoken of Pleas-
anton’s dirty little secret.
This silence is due to the
deafening stigma around
community college and the
damper it would put on
our community’s image.
There is another myth
surrounding communi-
ty college - community
college students will not
“Despite her young
age, she was very mature
and concise. She asked
questions better than
her coworkers with more
experience and I think
she is going to be a very
strong representative in the
future,” said Jillian Fahey
(‘21).
Through her strong
opinions and social media
skills, Alexandria Oca-
sio-Cortez can very possi-
bly make drastic changes
in our government. She is
drawing the attention of
people across the nation
and continues to gain a
considerable amount of
support.
There have been many recent debates over Alexandria Ocasio Cor-
tez’s political tactics and questioning in the Cohen trial.
cess as those that go direct-
ly from high school to a
four year college. But who
would argue that Steve
Jobs or George Lucas are
not successful? As gradu-
ates of De Anza Commu-
nity College and Modesto
Junior College, Steve Jobs,
creator of Apple, and
George Lucas, creator of
Star Wars, became two of
the most significant figures
in modern day technol-
ogy and entertainment
industries.
“I spent three semesters
at American River College
(ARC) in Sacramento
after leaving UC Berkeley
after one semester. I did
receive my Associate of
Arts degree from ARC
before transferring to Cal
Poly SLO,” said Amador
parent, Jason Novi.
After college, Mr. Novi
has gone on to lead an ex-
tremely successful business
career in the biotech field.
Novi is currently the CFO
and COO of Unchained
Labs.
Thanks to the Transfer
Admission Guarantee
(TAG), all students who
graduate from a California
community college with
a required GPA, depend-
SONALI CARUMBAYA
Page Editor
Over the past year,
Alexandria Ocasio-Cor-
tez’s place in government
has also been a subject of
controversy. A surprising
number of people are less
than amused with her
proposals.
She has made some
arguments with seriously
false information, like
when she discussed low
unemployment rates and
argued that “unemploy
Photo By: Deleware Online
Photo By: Sarah Banholzer
automatically allowed to
transfer to any campus in
the UC system, with
the exception of Berke-
ley, UCLA, and UC San
Diego. This creates a great
opportunity for community
college students who may
not have been accepted
to one of these universi-
ties out of high school to
attend their ‘dream school’
to graduate with the same
university diploma as the
person that went directly
to that four year university.
“I really had no clue as
to what I wanted to do
after high school or how
I was going to pay for
college. I spent two years
at Moorpark [Community
College], then I transferred
to UC Berkeley. I earned
my BA in English from
Berkeley, then I went on to
earn my MA in Education
at Stanford,” said Amador
English teacher, Mrs.
Teczon.
Hopefully in the future,
people will become more
knowledgeable of the perks
of community college and
we can end the stigma that
community colleges hold
in our community.
ment is low because every-
one has two jobs.”
Her claim received a lot
of backlash because it
highlighted the fact that
Ocasio-Cortez didn’t un-
derstand what the unem-
ployment rate really means.
Some fact-checkers proved
her statement wrong,
finding that only 5 percent
of Americans actually work
two jobs.
It is natural and expected
for a politician to slip up
and make a few mistakes,
but Ocasio-Cortez has
been, for the most part,
criticized to a very high
degree. Her small mistakes
have heavily influenced her
reputation, and her gender
may be a factor in its effect.
All politicians, should be
held accountable for what
they are saying. People are
allowed to make mistakes,
but with such a public ca-
reer, backlash is inevitable.
Ocasio-Cortez has made
false claims, but it is any
politician’s responsibility to
know what they are talking
about and understand the
questions they are asked.
Please vaccinate your kids! Mea-
sles outbreak kills in Washington
HORATIO WOLFFE
Page Editor
Due to a highly effective
vaccine, measles was de-
clared eliminated in 2000.
But now in 2019 there has
been a large outbreak in
Clark County, Washington.
By February 20th the
outbreak had grown to
63 people with at least 3
exposure sites. Now these
sites and a local school
have been quarantined.
The idea that vaccines
cause autism was fabri-
cated in 1998 by a British
doctor who faked a link
between autism and the
MMR (measles, mumps,
and rubella) vaccine.
“People just blamed
vaccines for rising autism
rates because they didn’t
know what caused autism.
The real reason that autism
In 2019 there have already been 127 measle cases over 10 states. The
largest outbreak has been in Clark County, Washington
Should AV Journalism be
streaming Amador events?
live broadcasting.
CASEY CHANG
Staff Writer
There are many popular
school events that conflict
with students schedules,
making it ideal if everyone
had access to these events
on their mobile devices.
To make this possible,
Amador Journalism should
stream school events.
It’s the 21st century and
everyone enjoys watching
programs on their laptop,
therefore school events
should be no different.
Over the year stream-
ing sites have become
increasingly popular.
Platforms such as Youtube
and Twitch draw tens of
millions of users daily, who
on average, watch around
1.7 hours every day.
Another reason to
stream is to promote
student involvement in
broadcasting journalism.
Although AVTV reports
Amador news, it is not live
and therefore misses the
opportunity of practicing
Amador Valley Journaism is considering streaming school events to
allow students to watch the events on their mobile device.
rates are rising is that we
have gotten better at de-
tecting autism and people
with autism are living
longer,” said Alexander
Häga (21).
The facts are, vac-
cines don’t cause autism
and measles is a highly
contagious and potentially
fatal disease that requires
a vaccine to eliminate the
potential of catching it.
“There is no proof that
vaccinations are harmful.
My family has been vacci-
nated. Measles will result
in rash and fever, however
complications can lead to
fatal pneumonia or other
conditions,” said Anatomy
and AP Biology Teacher,
Renee Ogle
Read the rest of the story on
Amadorvalleytoday.org
Photo By: Newstalk ZB
School events would
become much more popu-
lar if everyone could watch
them from the comfort of
their home. Also, because
the camera crew would
need to be front and center
to record, students would
get the best view and have
an automatic front row seat
to all events.
Although accessibility
is a positive, the funds that
school programs gain from
these events would be lost.
“I would rather people
attend the event because it
takes a lot of time and ef-
fort to plan school events,”
said AV English teacher,
Mrs. Marek.
This is true because if
people would rather watch
on their phones, hard-
ly anyone would attend
events.
If Amador Journalism
creates opportunities to
stream school events it will
allow students to enjoy
them even if they cannot
physically attend the event.
Photo By: Alex Paul