Jarvis Collegiate Washrooms:
The Rooms We Love to Hate
Katie Gougeon
Why Won't the Dogs Shout?
Heather Fletcher
A Grade Nine's Perspective of Jarvis
Peter de Vries
Jarvis Collegiate Washrooms:
The Rooms We Love to Hate
Katie Gougeon
When you walk through the big unfinished wooden door, the smell immediately hits you. You can't put your finger on it, but it's fair enough to call it off-putting. Suddenly, you're blinded by the over indulgence of off-white walls, but that matter becomes trivial as you face 6 orange doors, stuck in grey frames. Instantly, you ask yourself, "Which of these six little stalls are in the best condition?" Unfortunately, the answer is always the same: none. Why would there be nice stalls? After all, you are in the Girls' bathroom at Jarvis Collegiate Institute.
"Not only do you have to worry about teachers and homework when you go to school, you have to fear the washrooms as well!" says Pauline Lee, a Grade 11 student at Jarvis. She's not really exaggerating; not one area is properly functioning.
Take the sinks for example. In theory, they are the most positive aspect of the washrooms because they are automatic; however 9 out of the 12 don't work and the ones that do have a weak little stream that probably doesn't have enough water pressure to drown a fruit fly. I won't even mention the ones that over flow.
"I would just like to comment on the 2nd floor sinks which are most commonly used, and how they did NOT work for the first 4 weeks of school. After making this discovery, I feared for my life due to the possible amount of disease circulating in our school," recalls Sarah Smart, a 16-year-old J.C.I. bathroom user.
Then there's the issue of the short stalls. You don't have to be very tall to see above them. A public washroom should pride itself on the privacy it provides, but the height of these stalls borders on voyeurism. What's more awkward than doing your business and then standing up to come face to face with one of your classmates?
When it comes to the colour scheme, it's safe to say the designer went into home hardware and picked out everything unattractive. The front entrance is done in white tile, but the main part of the room is covered (including the sinks) in strange off-white cement with abstract grayish shapes stuck in it. Then totally out of nowhere comes this 70's orange colour on the doors of the stalls. I wouldn't wish a room like that on Satan!But aside from its faults, Jarvis female "servicios" as they say in Spain, have character and intrigue. You'll never get sick of sitting down to read other's graffiti; it's almost a source of entertainment. You can find anything in those stalls: love advice, insults, and even information on alternative religions. Then there's the mysterious locker in the wheelchair-accessible stall on the main floor. No one knows why it's there, but like everything else in the bathroom, no one questions it. "What about the vents behind the toilets? What are they and what's behind them? I saw a light coming from one once, two years ago," explains Molly Gardner, Grade 11. Who would think that a washroom experience could ever belong on unsolved mysteries?
Now, you may be asking yourself why the girls put up with the strange smell, the ugly colours, the broken sinks, the broken mirrors, and just the general ugliness of it all. Apparently the male population has been doing the same. Cam Finlayson, a former J.C.I. student, now a twenty year old university man was happy to leave those bathrooms behind. "The washroom at Pizza Pizza is cleaner, and homeless people wash in there."
For strictly investigative purposes, I decided to take a peek into the boys' "toilettes". To my surprise, it was decorated in the exact same way, but the smell was definitely more off-putting. Aside from that and the urinals, the girls' and boys' washrooms barely differ! It turns out the lavatories at Jarvis Collegiate are a lose-lose situation, no matter what the sex.
Perhaps it's time the students take a stand, for future generations of bathroom goers at Jarvis. Maybe our voice will be heard, and our health will no longer be at risk! Just in case it doesn't work, we could all do our part. For instance, put a limit on funky odors, or maybe put instructions inside the stall on how to flush the toilet for those of us who seem not to know. We could crack down on the girls who seem to think that sink is another word for hair disposal, or those who seem to make an effort to be disgusting with what they leave in the stalls. To those of you who do, you're only making everything worse. For the guys, Chris Murray, 16, insists on one lesson and one lesson only: "We aim to please; you aim TOO, please!" For girls, it's a lesson in courtesy: "If you sprinkle when you tinkle, be a sweetie, wipe the seatie!"
Why Won't the Dogs Shout?
Heather Fletcher
All eyes are on him. Number 9 has never felt this type of pressure before. He dribbles the ball once, twice, and then fumbles. He looks out onto the bleachers, and sees a hundred shining faces staring back at him; faces painted with encouraging messages, hands holding homemade signs, and mouths screaming for him. All for him. Number 9 then gives them all a confident, mischievous grin, shifting into a swift jog, dribbling the ball back and forth between his hands. He stops. He shoots. He scores. And the crowd goes wild. They scream for him, they cheer for him, they love him. They run onto the gym floor, each lifting a member of the team onto their shoulders. This is highschool? This is something that Jarvis will never be.
While recently visiting an old friend at her highschool, I found her to be bubbling over with excitement and anticipation. She wanted to show me everything her school had to offer, and was ecstatic that my visit had been scheduled on the same day as one of her school's pep rallies. As we waited for the game to begin, we sat in the bleachers, involved in conversation. I was amazed to see how many students had turned out for the pep rally. "Jarvis never has pep rallies like THIS, " I said to her. "We only have one a year, and you're lucky if even half of the school shows up." She looked at me as if I had committed a criminal act. "What?!" she exclaimed, "P.E.C.I. has a pep rally every two weeks! How can you not have pep rallies, or cheerleaders? That's what highschool's about!"
According to teen angst films such as "10 Things I Hate About You", "Angus", and "Never Been Kissed", a school just isn't a school without a football team, or cheerleaders, or even a student clothed in a furry mascot suit. One thing that highschoolers must remember is although academics are crucial and important for your future, school spirit is an essential thing as well. Why? Have you ever heard the phrase, "Time flies by when you're having fun"? School would be more appealing if it was exciting. Not only will it unite the school as a whole, but will unite individuals. School spirit would likely reduce racial discrimination, improve the image of our school, and therefore making school a more enjoyable environment.
So why isn't Jarvis more spirited? True, with the provincial cutbacks this year, and teachers teaching 6.5 classes, pep rallies and sports teams seem more like a dream than ever. However, the spirit event "Fall-Fest" was held in a time perfect for students, was supported by teachers, was free, and still only a sad percentage of a 1/4 of the schools population showed up. Last years girls' volleyball games were quieter than a math classroom, where Jarvis "fans" were non-existent. And yet 88% of the 200 students surveyed believe that spirit is an important factor to have in Jarvis, and they would like to see more student run events.
I was surprised to find that 100% of the students surveyed knew the school colours, and 83% knew either all or some of the words to the school song. This proves that our students are interested in being involved in spirit events. The student organized walkout in September proved that Jarvis students DO care what happens in our school, and that Jarvis is not just a place to learn in. In fact, the walkout was one of the most popularly populated Jarvis events.
Some argue that if more pep rallies and cheerleaders existed in Jarvis, they would cause a definite boundary of social cliques. Matthew Stokes, a student in Grade 11 thinks, "If there's cheerleaders, I think it's going to simulate more like the U.S. school system. With cheerleaders and too much school spirit, cheerleaders would definitely make a cheerleading clique. We already have a jock clique already - the basketball players hang out together." On the contrary, Morgan Koch, also in Grade 11 believes that, "Just because cheerleaders exist, it doesn't mean that there will be a large boundary between social classes. Jarvis is so diverse, and contains approximately 1300 students. It's impossible for a sport's team to make such a major impact. Our school's too big for that."
I'll always remember the first time I attended a Jarvis sports event. It was a boys' basketball game, three years ago. While in warm up, they ran in a circle chanting, "Who let the dogs out?" The bleachers were slightly filled, and not even a cheer emitted from one person. I watched our boys dribbling and shooting, giving the game their all, running until they could run no more. They wore the same vintage Jarvis jerseys, while the other team had Nike-sponsored warm up suits, parents attending the game, and even students from their home school, complete with the painted faces, hand-made signs, and cheering mouths. I asked myself then the same question I've asked after each Jarvis spirit event: why won't the dogs shout?
A Grade Nine's Perspective of Jarvis
Peter de Vries
After a couple of ridiculous years of half-ass education with teachers who could barely control classes, you walk through the doors into the rotunda on the first day and find yourself in a maze of halls, rooms and staircases. Now thanks to Sir Harris's "plan," I've found that learning various subjects is often like this too. I also remember teachers and students talking about how drastic the new curriculum is. I haven't really looked very deeply into the facts; however, I do know from my learning experience thus far that something is not right. I've been hearing about material from the Gr. 10, 11 and sometimes even small pieces of the Gr. 12 curriculum being shoved into Gr. 9 compulsory subjects, specifically: math and science.
I have found math and science to be the two real killer subjects this year. I've also inferred that a lot of Physics has entered the Gr. 9 science curriculum; up until now, I've found the Gr. 9 science course to be a near equivalent to the Gr. 9 math course. Many of the concepts in the chemistry and electricity units revolved around mathematics and "chemistry" was hardly chemistry from what I could tell. I don't remember ever studying chemicals in the chemistry unit, just mathematical formula's to present two units on a line graph.
Let's not forget the insanity implemented in the Gr. 9 math course either, I distinctly remember my parents telling me that they had never studied the dreaded "equation of the line" in Gr. 9 math, and I've been hearing many warnings about how heavy the Gr. 10 math course is going to be. I recall Mrs. Cooper, the Head of Math's description of the Gr. 10 math course quite clearly: she had announced to the class that if you do not finish the year with a mark of 70% or higher, then it is highly recommended that you get some major tutoring over the summer; not even summer school would be appropriate preparation for the following year should you fail to grasp the total of 70%. I remember feeling rather uneasy about the thought of a math curriculum that would be implemented even more heavily than the one I'm presently taking and barely scraping through thus far. I've found this statement to be more like an evil decree than a "respectable" government standard, knowing that the Gr. 9 math course average was far below 70% in term one. I'm sure that many Gr. 9's have had trouble adjusting to the expectations of high school math, myself included.
Another thing that has been hard not to notice is the absence of extra-curricular activities. I'm sure everyone is aware of the "work-to-rule" situation that the teachers have undergone recently; however, as a result of these nasty politics, a typical day for a student at high school has been as follows: you go to school, eat lunch, talk to a few people and go home. Older students who have visited Gr. 9 home form classes for fundraising events have described to us their experiences at Jarvis before all the political stuff kicked in. These descriptions of what life at Jarvis was like in the past were hardly similar to life at Jarvis now. With the cutbacks and reduced extra-curricular activities, Jarvis seems to be more about working extra hard to study for government standardized tests than a positive learning experience for the average Gr. 9 student.
Overall, it's hard to really get a good impression of what Jarvis is like, since so little of it is actually being offered to the new students right now. I guess only time will tell how this whole mess resolves.
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