Today, April 6, 2009, at Bloomsburg High School, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., I- Alane Presswood- am reinstating the -ism. Really, this blatant passivity has gone too far. This is the United States of America; our nation was founded on rebellion and activism!
What happened to the marches, the protests, the riots? How I wish that there still existed the willingness to lie down in front of a tank or chain oneself to a redwood, and I assure you it’s not because I miss the age of free love, prolific drugs, long hair, and rock and roll. No, I miss something much more intangible: the will to rally for a good cause.
   So today, I am reinstating the –ism. As I stand here on my figurative soapbox, I preach not of feminism, not of racism, but of one of the prevailing prejudices in today’s high school community: activity-ism.
   In this era of rampant political correctness, it seems ludicrous to imagine that such a vast area of prejudice continues to flourish. Allow me to elaborate. 
   Let’s flashback to fall sports season and examine a staple of the American system of secondary education: the pep rally. For years, I have been confounded as to why it remains permissible to suspend afternoon classes in favor of gathering to observe a cheerleading spectacle intended to induce a heightened state of school spirit.   
   Similarly, I recall during Bloomsburg’s epic play for the state championship football title two years ago that the team was greeted on its way back into town by firetrucks. I’m not condemning the athletic department, but why are these athletes more worthy of a parade than any of the other successful student competitors in our school?
   Bloomsburg students advance to the state levels of various areas of competition every year without fail. Where are the accolades for FBLA, Robotics, Forensics, band and chorus? Our athletes work hard and deserve whatever success they garner, but can any of them claim success at an international level, like Kirk Marshall’s students? How about this very publication, which has been ranked the best in the state for two consecutive years or our staff members who won state and national honors? No parades for these accomplishments; these students are lucky if they recieve an announcement on the loudspeaker in the morning or a blurb on the school website.
   Or, here’s a novel idea: save the praise for academics, which is theoretically the principal focus of an educational institution. Apparently class time can be spared for pep rallies, but not for the students who maintain enough discipline to be inducted into National Honor Society. 
   To my fellow students, I ask this: Why are you letting your accomplishments go unrecognized? I have long since come to realize that athletics are important in this region, but this is all the more reason why there needs to be a concentrated effort to award other student achievements, the ones that will never appear on the front page of the sports section in the local paper.
It’s not easy to assign blame for this phenomenon, nor is it necessary: so many opportunities have been lost. Perhaps the advisors, coaches, and parents of these events need to be as active as our enthusiastic athletic director in taking the initiative to demand recognition for their competitors. And, as there is no better outlet for student achievement than a student publication, perhaps my editors and myself need to assume some blame. Maybe we could improve as well.
Let’s start now. Here, from my soapbox, I am proud to extend my hand on behalf on the Red & White to all of our fellow exceptional students and say, Congratulations.
If we don’t, who will?