10/4/10 — Free tickets to Knotts Berry Farm, dance passes, parking permits, candy, donuts at the front gate – What is going on at Cypress High School? The gold cards are here!
Dr. Ben Carpenter, the principal, has implemented a program this year that rewards students who score at the proficient or advanced level on all subjects of the California State Standard test by re-designing their identification cards with a shiny, gold background.
The idea first came from Mr. Yousef Nasouf, a former assistant principal, who wanted to find a way to get students more interested in doing well on the test. Many students, even high-acheivers, weren’t putting in the effort to do well on the state test.
“A lot of the students think ‘what’s in it for me, why do we have to do this,’ and get really burned out over time,” Dr. Carpenter explained. “It’s toward the end of the year, and nobody likes it, but it’s something we have to do.”
The changes in the education system through policies like No Child Left Behind and state accountability systems emphasize the need to achieve better scores every year. “The pressure always gets higher. Schools are being measured by their API scores.” Dr. Carpenter added.
The gold card has evoked varying responses from the student body. Many students welcomed the gold card.
“There are a lot of people who aren’t interested in getting into a good college, so having an incentive in terms of high school years is a better motivator,” junior Dean Choi said.
“The CST’s have always been easy for me, and the perks are pretty cool. It gives me a sense of accomplishment,” junior Kevin Se-Hyuck Kim agreed.
For Katt Baek, gold card program is working and motivating her.
“I actually studied for the CST’s that year so it definitely influenced me to work harder. I want the free stuff!”
On the other hand, some students say the gold card program is another barrier for students who struggle academically and should be rejected.
“I think that they discriminate against students, and we shouldn’t have gold cards,” junior Claire Wright said. “It’s bad for students who are truly bad at a subject because I scored basic in chemistry, but I did well in everything else!”
However, Dr. Carpenter and his staff are constantly coming up with ideas to improve the program.
“The day we did the doughnuts was a lot of fun. If somebody’s got an idea, I’m open to just about everything!” Dr. Carpenter said.
In fact, there may be a new idea emerging soon: the platinum card.
