After-school forum at East High School has students give (loud) voice to war opinions

www.greenbaynewschron.com By Monique Balas News-Chronicle

Teenagers are sometimes dismissed as being indifferent to current events, but anyone who attended an after-school forum at East High School Thursday afternoon might disagree.

The approximately 30 East High students who voluntarily participated had the chance to voice their opinions - often strong ones - and ask questions as history teacher Tony Kraszewski and science teacher Rich Krieg presented opposing arguments to the war in Iraq.

"I'm not going to be the one to tell Joe Suburban not to buy his SUV," said sophomore Joanna Wall in response to one speaker's opinion that soldiers should not have to die to maintain the comfortable American lifestyle.

Freshman Panya Ramasa suggested the United States look to other options for oil, such as buying it from Venezuela or pursuing alternative energy sources.

As a flurry of responses ensued, "This dialogue is what makes this country great," said moderator Curt Julian, the school's vice principal, commenting on student's somewhat heated reactions as he encouraged participants to stay calm.

Krieg, who was presenting the opposing viewpoint to war, said, "This is a foreign-policy problem. We need a whole new approach. After 9/11, the whole world loved us. Now all of those feelings have been squandered."

As with every comment, the hands went up.

"I have some questions," said Tristan Schuh, a sophomore. "Why now? We have been focused on Saddam since Desert Storm."

Wall cautioned that no one should confuse opinions about President Bush with their feelings about the war.

"You can be anti-Bush and for the war. You can totally disagree with Bush on every level, but the fact is, he's dangerous," she said.

After about two hours of debate, some teachers and students said they benefited from the forum.

Ramasa said he is normally very stubborn, and the forum helped to change his perspective. "It opened my eyes to what other people think," Ramasa said.

Melody Russ, a sophomore, said she learned much more about the situation in Iraq by hearing the students' and teacher's comments.

"I really didn't know much about the war," she said.

Kraszewski, the history teacher, said he felt the students who attended got a good educational experience.

"They got a little history and learned a little about the U.N, and the significance of oil," he said.

And Krieg felt that any chance to talk was important.

"People say the demonstrations going on are meaningless, but it's not if we've got people talking about it," he said.