by Constance Chien ’10

The lack of proper communication in this school is deeply disconcerting.

Blackboard, everyone’s favorite scapegoat at this point, is not helping. What does “New Content Item” mean? Why is my class folder empty when it says there is a new assignment in it? Why must each class have its own separate inbox?

To many students it appears that the only sure way to know what is happening in this school is to stand in front of the many televisions and watch as the PHP-driven messages pass through their cycle. This is silly. Yes, there are the morning announcements, but not every teacher reads them and none of the science teachers do due to lab periods. I know that the weekly announcements are posted on the board by the main office and I can go there to read them, but who really knows this?

The coming of the “Good Morning Staples” broadcasts may ameliorate the situation with their odd sense of humor and absurd situations. But not every club lists announcements. And there is a delay in information due to processing time for each episode.

It appears that the only way in which to correspond with each other is to outsource our communication. We cannot rely on the school’s methods any longer. Or, perhaps, one central source of communication must be established. Perhaps this may be in the form of a large table on a prominent board (as opposed to several sheets of paper discreetly pinned to a board with a small, insignificant title). The meeting dates of all the clubs in the school would be posted on the board in a removable and easy-to-post or move format. Sports practices would be posted, as would special events such as club rush (of which I did not hear until days before the event). Everyone would visit it in order to confirm the times of their goings on about school.

Communication is always a problem in any social construct with a large amount of people. But with one central system that is simple and easy-to-follow, I think this problem can be solved.