Soune+Ursani+Interview+Transcript

Soune Ursani Interview Transcript F-How did 9/11 affect you at west? U- I think I was a freshmen, yeah I was a freshmen in high school, and I was in Schmidt Craftons Honors Civics class and we watched it on the news. And other than that a lot of people kept watching the coverage but I never got picked on because I’m brown. My older brother, who I think was two years older than me had some people say some stuff said to him and the counselors pulled all the brown kids into a counselor room, except I wasn’t. So I don’t know. I don’t know. Other than that I guess after everyone stopped what they were doing to access the whole situation people got on with their lives. It wasn’t really a big deal. F- What was your favorite place at the old west? …….If you had a favorite place? U- Have you ever been there Tim? F-I’ve been there briefly but I haven’t walked around much…briefly. U- Well, the other auditorium has a third floor-did it stop recording?- well the other auditorium had all the foreign language classes there. Mrs. Schimliet, a retired French teacher, had this really awesome room with super high ceilings. That was a really good classroom to be in. That’s what I would pick. F-What was your reaction to the new Belleville west campus? U- Ummmmm….everyone thought it would be very prison like and I know I hear kids say that now. We do have a lot more room and it is a lot nicer and the classrooms aren’t run down and beat up. So there is a lot of pride that goes into a school that is this big. F- In your opinion would you have rathered stayed at the old west campus? U-The only reason I would have wanted to stay at the old West campus is because you could walk outside and have that sense of freedom. And I think that kids would be less crazy in the hallways if they could go outside and talk as loud as they wanted to. F- I know here they don’t let you go out at all -U- Yeah you are on lock down- F- Who was your favorite teacher during your 4 years at West? U-Say this quietly because some of my teachers are in here. Charles Roodmen, who is an English teacher that is now retired he is probably my favorite teacher. F- Why was he your favorite teacher? U- He played music for us and think he was the first teacher, I don’t know really. .he was a person rather than just a student. That was my angstey period for the record. F- How about your least favorite teacher? U-They could still be here Tim. F- In this room? U-No, not in this room F- NO…okay. U-So you’re going on record with this?- I will not give you his name. F- that will work U- He was a math teacher that is not here anymore. F- Not here anymore? U- Right… F- Was he just not a good teacher? U- uhm..i don’t know. There was just something about him that I just didn’t like. It was actually Ms. Thernau-just kidding. F- When you were at west did you go on any special field trips? U- I went on Art Club field trips and probably some field trips with class but I can’t remember. I’m sure social studies goes on field trips places. I was on Scholar bowl, not scholar bowl Saturday Scholars and we went to U of I. That was a cool field trip. F- Did you just meet up with a bunch of people? U-We went with a group of 10 or so people and we went to Champaign to see them dissect bodies. F-Do you remember what the most popular sports team was? If you were a big sports person? U- I wasn’t but I guess football…I think, that’s the one most kids go to? F- How was the school food? Bad, good? U- I never ate school food. If I did I would go to the deli line and get cheese sandwiches with cheese, pickles and ranch but I really didn’t try anything else because it looked disgusting. Is that bad to say about school food? F-A lot of times the food might look really gross but it is actually pretty good. Like the lasagna, it looks really disgusting but it is so good. U- I don’t think so Tim…I don’t think so. I’ve had some salad here and there. Otherwise, I brought my own lunch or I ate peanut butter and jelly, kind of like now. F- Describe the dress code- if there was one. U- There was one when I was there. My graduating class was the last year that didn’t have dress code. F- Do you think that Belleville West as a school looks better now or back then? U- In terms of how the kids dressed? F-Do you think it affected the behavior? U-I feel that as more years pass behavior seems to get crazier and crazier. In your group of high school age. I feel like since I was in honors classes I can’t really compare because you only see those 30 or 40 kids all your classes for all of your years of high school. So I don’t know….i really can’t compare. F- Even as a teacher now? U- I think we look better, because even girls back then would dress disgustingly and seem like they didn’t have any self respect because of what they chose to wear. I know you would get in trouble for straps being too small, but it wasn’t a big issue until actual dress code. F- Do you think teachers go/went overboard with dress code? U- Well, I think that if there are rules teachers should enforce them. I see that there are some teachers who enforce them better than others. I don’t think that it is necessarily bad because they are just doing their jobs. F- Did you take P.E.? U- I did take P.E. and it was awful. I ended up walking most of the time. I had Mr. Cappell, he’s really nice. F- What was so awful? U- I’m not a very physical person, so I didn’t like doing anything. I did like playing tennis and when we weren’t playing tennis I just walked the track. F-What kind of student were you at West over your four years? U- I was a pretty good student. I got along well with others, got good grades, and did not get in trouble. I wouldn’t say I was ideal because I did have my opinions and I did voice them, but I was a good student besides that… F- Did you enjoy it here? U- I did not enjoy being in high school, but reflecting on it, it is a good school to be part of and to have graduate from. F- Did they have Hobo week here? Was it important in 2005? U- It was but I always skipped the assemblies…I would get my parents to call me in (laughs). F- What!? Did people take Hobo week seriously? U- You mean like dressing up and stuff? F-Yes, did people dress up and get involved? U- Yeah, I don’t know if my memory is hazy but I feel that more students dress up now than when I was in high school. F- What was your favorite part of Hobo week, even if you didn’t dress up? U- Having my parents call me out of the assembly. Is that horrible to say? I mean that was my favorite part…. F- I mean I kinda wish my parents would call me out. It is probably really easy just to walk right out of school. U- Right, I was too scared to do that. I guess you could, I feel like they had people checking you back then. Like making sure you had a grounds pass. I think they did do that, you had to show them the ground pass before you leave. I don't know if they do that know... F- I think now since there are so many people coming in and out of the school you could be like oh...i have to go do co-op. U- You could probably say almost anything F- You could even go out to lunch now. They aren't always watching the cameras...take a quick trip to subway or something. F- Did any of President Bush's decisions in office affect you in school? Like his No Child Left Behind act? U- It didn't effect me personally until I was a teacher and focus on ACT prep so much but as a student, no. F- Do you think that they helped or are holding back students? U- I think that setting one standard for every student to achieve is not a good idea. I think that everyone has different learning styles and abilities and that one standardized test doesn't really request what a student is capable of. So I think it hurts more than helps. F- If you could, what would you want to replace that, just get rid of it? U- If that were an option yeah, but I think we do need something- I don't like the idea of comparing students to one another and I think that college admission should be based more on interview and what other activities the student has been involved in, what the student cares about rather than just the ACT score. F- It's like all they care about is the ACT, ACT U- Yep, that number and that's it. F- I've noticed at school all you do is take test with ACT prep for everything. F- Were the rules strictly enforced by the administration at West? U- Just in general when I was in school? F- or anything that you've had to go through. U- I've never gotten in trouble, so I'm assuming yes the rules were strictly enforced. I would imagine that it was a little bit harder to know where the kids were on an open campus rather now where you do know. So, I think that we have a really good set of administration people that do their job well and know what they are doing. So I'm sure they were. I just didn't have first hand experience with them as a student. F- What did you enjoy doing outside of school? U- Played a lot of video games, read a lot, and I did go vacationing several times to Pakistan when I was in high school, so that was always fun. F- Did you bring anything back from when you went to Pakistan? Like when you came back to school? U- Oh for school you mean? F- Or anything, did you bring back anything that you were not aware of? U- Like not just tangible stuff but anything...I think it's important for people to know where they come from and growing up as an America you don't really appreciate the cultures outside of the American culture. That was important to me, even though I wasn't born here(U.S.) I think that I have a greater understanding of not just my culture but other cultures from kids who come from different backgrounds. That is important for me now being a teacher. F- When you were in high school were your parents more strict on you because they were brought up a different way? U- Oh yeah, I think so, especially more on me than my brothers because the Pakistani culture is very-has this second hand to the servant role. No, my parents aren't like this but I could tell that they were a lot more strict with me than my older brother. I could tell that it was different. F- Were you in any clubs? U- Art Club, Renaissance, French club, Yearbook for a while, Book Club- I feel like there is something else but I can't think of what it was....those were the big ones. F- Did you accomplish anything big in those clubs? U- I don't know...I made friends, that's a big deal. I never held an office in the clubs like that but I mean being part of those clubs and interacting with people that liked what I did was nice. F- I know you mentioned Renaissance, was it as big as it is now or more interesting. U- I think that it has always been a big deal. It is a great program that recognizes students for what they are suppose to be doing. It is great that it isn't just grades. You can get the silver card if you improve your GPA and you have to have a certain amount of absences. I think that's pretty cool and a good program. F- Was there any year that you remember stood out? U- Oh...during high school. Junior year was fun because I had Mr. Rodmen and all of that. Freshmen and Sophomore year I was pretty quiet because going into a big school was shocking I guess. Senior year was great because I graduated early and only had a semester of high school..that was fun. So I don't know, I guess Junior year. F- Junior year? U- I guess. F- They didn't have all the ACT prep as we do know? U- I don't think we had any of it. We just talked about what the test was about and some test strategies. F- Would you recommend to anyone that knows already what they want to do to graduate early? U- If they have something planned like start school or work to earn money. I don't see why, some people think it's a bad idea and colleges look down on graduating early because they are only looking at your grades through Junior year and your ACT score. So if you already know what you're doing it s not a bad idea. And plus it would be nice to just work to save money. F- Rather than being here wasting your time. U- Wasting your time... F- I feel like a lot of Seniors this year, seniors period felt like they were here for nothing. U- No, there is a lot of apathy in the senior class for sure. I'm pretty sure plenty of teachers could tell you that and it is mainly because they have already been excepted into the school they wanted to go to. It matters because you're going to send your final scores eventually. I can feel that, I would have been miserable if I stayed another semester. F- Was there anything interesting going on in Belleville U- In high school....has Belleville ever been that interesting? F- I don't know. It's okay, I didn't grow up around Belleville, it's a Midwestern little- not little but a Midwestern town outside of St. Louis. U- I remember I would always go to St. Louis and go to concerts and stuff, but in Belleville there really wasn't much for me to do. I don't know...i can't remember that far back. Is that bad? F- Well, its not bad. If you really didn't enjoy high school then.... U- Right, it's kind of a blur. F-So what would you usually do in St. Louis? Every night? The weekends? U- What did you think I was Tim!? A party animal? F- Did you sneak out? U- NO! I would just go every few weekends I would go to a show and when I was 16 I would take the metro because I was to scared to drive on the highway. But eventually it was a long battle with my parents to let me go during the week to a concert. I would go to three or four concerts a month...i spent a lot of money on that. It was fun. F- I think that if you go to shows during school it helps you, helps get you through school. It's interesting. U- Right, it makes the school week go by faster and you have more to talk about......So yes....i saw Mr.Rodmen the other day, not the other day it was last semester. And I was doing hall duty and he walked by and the department chair Mrs. Madisyic actually one of my teachers too. When I interviewed for the job they asked me which teacher had the most influence on me? I said him, and she was in the interview and it was funny because it was our inside joke. I didn't really know her that well as a freshmen because I was so shy. F-Around Mrs. Madisyic? U- yeah, I ddin't really talk as a freshmen but those are the kids that I like-the ones who volunteer and share their opinions. So even though I would say I was a good student I wasn't the best student my first two years in high school. I could have gotten more out of my education if I was volunteering. F- Do you think students were more open minded to new things back then? U- I don't know, I think technology has a lot to do with not only opening people's minds to different areas of the world but it is also very limiting because those same closed minded people can post whatever they want on the Internet. So I don't know, I feel like now kids have this sense of entitlement that they deserve certain things. They deserve respect, and then don't have to do anything to earn that. When I was in school I don't think I ever heard anyone talk back to a teacher like I have at this school now. Not just me specifically but i've heard it in the hallways and from stories and things like that. So kids do have this weird sense of entitlement now. That is just baffling. F- Do you think in the end that will be their downfall as to why they don't succeed? U- Maybe, I mean kids who think that when they go out into the workforce their boss has to respect them because they are there and working for them. I think that could be a serious problem in the workforce. I don't know, I can't imagine who those people are going to be successful if they talk disrespectfully to those people who are authority figures. I mean as a teacher you can't talk to another teacher any way you want. F- No, you have to show them respect in order to get “stuff” from them....Like if you want them to be someone that you use for a job you want to be able to talk to the teacher. U- I think that a lot of our teacher are missing those communication skills that are really important. F- Okay...., thank you. U- haha, you're welcome F-Now I have to take a picture. U- AH!