By Noemi Martinez, Staff Writer
Read about the opinions of many students across campus in this article.
There are too many opinions in this world to count. Looking singularly at the student body here at Poly, there are well over 2,500 students total, all with their own unique, individual backgrounds. Whether it be in religion, ethnicity, culture, or the environment surrounding us, everyone’s background has created a completely different way of thinking-a distinct mental thumbprint. Despite this mix, students do not have an area dedicated to expressing their unpopular and unheard opinions to the student body. In an intake form, I gathered numerous perspectives from many opinionated individuals, not only to shed light on their thoughts and ideas but to challenge and push their conceptions of the world around them to a new level. From small, silly arguments to heated social and political commentaries, there is a current of intelligence lingering in the minds of the students at Riverside Polytechnic High School.
Roberto Aguirre, a senior, claims that haters of mint-chocolate ice cream claim it tastes like toothpaste because they don’t brush their own teeth. Mint’s purpose is to “alleviate bad oral odors”, and people who are averse to this taste do not partake in brushing their teeth, becoming subjected to the unfamiliar freshness of mint and responding with disgust. He even goes so far as to compare it to hip hop artist Tyler, The Creator’s song ‘Sugar on My Tongue’ by saying “mint-flavor haters do not put fluoride on their tongue.”
This is an interesting perspective. I agree with the premise that a mint flavor should be fresh and not disgusting to anyone consuming it, but I think that’s a flaw of the flavor and not the consumer’s hygiene. Ice cream should be refreshing because it’s cooling during a hot summer day and a burst of sweetness to fulfill a craving. It shouldn’t be refreshing because it tastes like Colgate. Another issue that was not disputed in this claim is that the flavor of mint is completely overwhelming in comparison to the sugary sweetness of chocolate. Think of the Andes chocolates you get when you go to Olive Garden, you have two decadent layers of milk chocolate and a thin hint of mint in the center. The mint is complementary to the chocolate rather than the other way around. Disagreements aside, a nice and refreshing perspective, pun intended.
Andie Linehan, another Poly senior, presents the critique that acting nonchalant is “so embarrassing” and pretending like you don’t care about other people or anything that happens in your life is odd. She tells the student body, “you’re living life, actually live it.” Linehan presents an additional opinion, claiming that ninth grade should be a part of middle school because “what do you mean I’m gonna be 18 soon… I’m in the same school as 13 year olds,” claiming the mental and maturity gap between the two ages is too great to be merged.
An interesting perspective that I initially agreed with, particularly on the section about nonchalance. A lot of students in our generation feel this overwhelming sense of embarrassment whenever they enjoy and engage in the things around them, out of this strong fear of rejection or ridicule from their classmates. While I don’t feel the need to shame people for forcing themselves to be completely neutral, I do think stepping up for the people around you and pushing them to be honest with themselves, even when it seems harsh, is a good thing to do. However, the second point is definitely interesting. As a senior, some freshmen and sophomores have a balanced, semi-mature head on their shoulders. The opposite is also sometimes true for seniors; some of them are incredibly immature individuals. The gap may appear big, but the variation in maturity has no strict attachment to the ages of all the different students. The variety of people is so diverse, and I truly believe that we are benefiting as people to be surrounded by people of all ages and mindsets.
Finally, Zander Hix, a Poly junior. He believes that third-party voting is the only moral option in elections because both of the main parties have caused “great amounts of harm” while upholding their desire for an “imperialist grasp on the world.” He claims there is no clear way to find the lesser of two evils and the moral choice is trying to “break the two party system” by voting third party.
This opinion is especially complex, and while I don’t outright disagree with it, I think it lacks realism. An unfortunate fact of large societies such as the U.S. is the tendency for groups of people to flock together when they have similar points of view and create an imaginary ‘enemy’ against the other citizens who disagree. Even if people suddenly began voting third party, there would be some group that overtook the democratic or republican spots, and continued to uphold the two-party system. While it undoubtedly has severe flaws, trying your best to actually contribute to upholding good in modern society, even if it means choosing between two evils that have minute differences, is the most moral thing to do. Choosing to uphold morality in the actuality of a situation, even when it seems hopeless, is better than upholding morality in an ideal. Change can happen; it just has to happen within realistic margins. An unfortunate reality is that those margins are very small in the world we live in today.