Brawl Erupts Over White Power

What began as a running joke soon became reality as a local teenager delved deeper and deeper into the white power movement. Earlier this week, he shaved his head, and later claimed it was a symbol of solidarity with the neo-Nazi movement so popular in Bakersfield these days. This did not sit well with another student.

The other student was of Mexican heritage and asked the boy why he shaved his head. "White power," he replied. They went back and forth for some time before they came to punches. They were quickly separated, with class already in session and students running from their classrooms to watch the fight.

I wonder if these white power kids realize that their hero, Adolf Hitler, would have wanted them dead too, as they aren't pure Germans. I doubt it.

Communism Growing Among Bakersfield Teens

On Bakersfield campuses there's a political movement brewing. It's definitely not conservatism. But it's not liberalism either. It's communism.

It may be a small movement now, but it will grow. Communism is usually a preserve of the young, who admire its noble ideals and have no memory of the damage it causes when it is actually implemented. In this post-Soviet generation, we've forgotten the millions killed in the name of communism and seen only it's facade.

This comes down again to a failure of education. We spend months on wars and nationalism, but on communism we hear nothing in the classrooms.

Local HS Teacher Decorates Classroom with Nazi Flag

To be fair, the classroom is home to a history class currently studying World War II. However, the move is a bold one. Not all of the feedback has been negative, however, with images of the flag flooding social networking sites and sparking repulsive comments.

"We need another holocaust," reads one. Another, "Yes! Heil!" There are reports of students throwing up Nazi salutes upon entering the classroom.

Was the intent innocent? Yes. Was this a good idea? Absolutely not. It has given a voice for the neo-Nazis of Bakersfield - and there are more than we know - and has upset members of the community.

"Of course it's a bad idea," a parent of a student of the high school commented. "You can't do that. It's not right."

We here at Dark Side have to agree.

Anti-Bullying Week Off to a Rough Start

At one Bakersfield high school, anti-bullying week is notorious for having a fight nearly every day. This year is no different.

During lunch, two sophomore boys began shouting at each other, quickly drawing a crowd. It came to a head when one of the boys tossed a punch, with the other ducking and grabbing the aggressor's neck. They slammed each other senseless against a metal pole and then fell to the ground.

A security guard noticed the fight and jogged over. He struggled to pull the boys apart while calling for help, but the boys kicked him and pulled him to the floor. The fight wasn't broken up until two more security guards came and were able to subdue them. The crowd quickly dispersed, with word of the fight spreading swiftly.

And thus anti-bullying week began.

Student Suspended for Lewd Behavior in Classroom

He's always been a troublemaker, and some describe him as the "most annoying" person they know. But things got worse for this kid yesterday afternoon, when he allegedly yelled at a young female teacher to "twerk."

"Twerking" is the new, sexual dance move that has been popularized by singers in recent months. The word was even added to the English dictionary just a few weeks ago. Kids are at the helm of this new trend, with children as young as eleven years old in some cases trying out the sexual move for themselves.

And now we have kids yelling at their teachers that they find attractive to twerk for their own amusement. It is disgusting, and I am glad the school handled this in the correct way.

Bakersfield Students Unaware of what 9/11 Is

A local private school in town that normally wears uniforms made an exception for today. Today, as they have done every year since 2001, they had a "patriotic dress day," in which students were to wear red, white, and blue to commemorate the twelfth anniversary of the terrorist attacks on September 11th, 2001. However, it seems that more than one student was completely oblivious as to what 9/11 is.

It began with four students. Two were upset that the principal had forced them to remove their tutus, which implies that they either do not know what they are dressing up for, or an extreme sign of disrespect.

"Do you like tutus?" one of the girls asked.

"Not really," another girl answered.

"Well, the principal just took away our tutus."

"Probably because it's 9/11."

The girl who lamented the loss of her tutu replied rudely, "I don't even know what that is."

We are raising a generation of ignorant children who are completely oblivious to the recent history of their own country. And, when they are aware of it, the response is largely indifference, or outright disrespect. This cannot be good for the future of this country, or, by extension, the world.

Teacher Uses Notoriously Liberal Website for an Assignment

Less than two weeks ago, a local high school teacher handed out articles from a self-identified liberal website for a lesson on annotation. The assignment was innocent enough, but the article was more than biased, stopping just short of declaring war on genetically modified food giant Monsanto.

The article began with a series of angry accusations at the company, and went on to further slander it. It made claims that it could not possibly support, including inserting Monsanto's intent themselves, which they could not possibly know.

While I am not saying Monsanto is entirely innocent (I am not nearly as well-versed in the subject as I would like to be), but I don't think it's okay for a teacher to shove such biased articles on her students. She could have chosen any article without bias, from reputable sources such as CNN or the Associated Press or Fox News, but she chose not to. Bakersfield is a relatively conservative city, but liberalism is growing among young people, especially high school students. Is it because of biased reading material like this? Maybe.