Wasp Reporter number 1, volume 1, 2002

“Needed: Star-trekking Family for Space Odyssey”
Wasp 1, page 17, ***

NASA is thinking about sending a group of people to a planet that is a lot like the Earth, to see if they can start populating it. The risks are very big and it would be hard to accomplish but they think it might be possible.
It was never kept possible until three or four years ago. The scientific progress has made the idea possible. “Twenty years ago”, NASA says, “it would have been impossible. But now, we might me able to do it.”
John Moore, an anthropologist, thinks it is not smart to send a population with very many different members, because he thinks they will not survive the project. He thinks it is much smarter to send young married couples so that it will not be to hard for them to reproduce. Sarah Thomason, a linguist, thinks all the people should at least speak the same language.
NASA doesn’t know who would want to participate in the project. They think about people who want to set up a new government or people searching for religious freedom.

Personal opinion
I enjoyed reading this text, because I believe futuristic scientific possibilities deserve my interest. I don’t think it’s very realistic starting a new population on a planet other than the Earth, but the matter intrigues me. The fact that different types of scientists, such as anthropologists and planetologists are working on the same question is a nice thing, I believe. I personally might consider going on a space travel trip such as this one, because it is fairly idealistic starting a new population. It might be able to create a better ‘world’ than the one we live in now.

“Where the Girls Rule”
Wasp 1, page 18, ***

In a school in Seattle called the Holy Names Academy, the students perform extremely well. They are not like many of the people from their age - who tend to care about make up and pop artists – because they are ‘in love with science’ and like math a lot. Principal Ben Wright says this is because the classes have been separated by gender. He says it is for the first time that teachers can actually teach instead of maintain discipline.
However, there is a debate going on about education in this way. It might be so that students start thinking that they differ too much to be together in one class, or that girls are afraid they are not as good as boys. Scientific research has proven that girls do not work well on school if they are in one class with boys, and that they actually get a lot further if they are in separate classes. Girls wouldn’t have to ‘pull back’. On the long run, though, this different way of teaching doesn’t seem to be any better than teaching mixed classes. The students themselves know what they want: they like separate classes!
Girls feel happier, more comfortable and more self-confident if there are no boys in the classroom. Boys would be ‘holding back the class’. When girls finish the Holy Names Academy, they are ready to be players on every level because they believe in themselves so much.

Personal opinion
I believe this text, because in several scientific publications you read about this and they all say that girls do better in schools without boys surrounding them. I do not however think that it is therefore better to have separate sex schools. I believe that education in a school is not only about knowledge, but also about social skills. Handling yourself in front of people from a different sex than yours is also part of that. Later on in society, people will be confronted with people with a different sex all the time, so I think it would be bad to separate children at a young age.

“The Boy in the Bubble”
Wasp 1, page 20, ***

Rhys Evans is a little boy who had a disease. Born in September 2000, he had no protection against infections. He was a very weak kid and it was doubtful whether or not he would survive. But now, he is a normal boy like all others and the family can do what all families can.
Rhys was kept alive in a sterile environment (that’s why he is called the Boy in the Bubble). He got sicker and sicker and after 4 months he was lighter than he was at birth. After two months, an American donor was found and Rhys would be the first British child being treated with genetic therapy in order to cure his disease (called SCID).
On October the 10th, Rhys returned home, and at Christmas he had made great improvements. At the end of February, he went on holiday and he was almost like a normal kid. The father said: “We are really happy. We have been enjoying ourselves now. We can’t do enough quickly enough with him.”

Personal Opinion
I feel sorry for this kid and its parents. I am glad that modern genetic medication could help him out, and return him to being a normal boy again. It is however a doubtful question whether or not to allow these type of cures for people. Of course, for individuals and their relatives, it is a nice thing. But for the wellness of mankind I honestly wonder whether or not we should allow these type of cures. The world population is not properly maintained if we can cure people from all kinds of disease and maybe the long term effects of such medication are not as good as we now think they are. It is however a nice thing for a boy who is very weak, to become a normal kid like all others.

“Bounty Bars: an irritating stereotype”
Wasp 1, page 22, ***

Zino Saro Wiwa is a black writer that is fed up with the stereotypes that black people are always compared to and associated with. Ali G is a good example of her criticism because she hates the fact that ‘black’ is associated with ‘gangsterness’. She thinks that, if this doesn’t apply to you, you are considered fake. Black on the outside and white on the inside (Bounty Bar).
Her problem is not that there are gangsters out there, but that she is associated with them. She would be considered ‘unauthentic’ if she wouldn’t present her self as a gangster. Luckily, she is strong enough to fight against this and maintain her individuality. She does however fear for the 13-year old black kid that has parents that are not too strict: it is very easy for this kid to fall into ‘being a gangster’. Even more: it is very hard for this kid to resist it. Zino Saro Wiwa thinks he can not fight against this pressure.
She thinks media are also to blame. They maintain this image of black people by putting videos on TV, that seem to say that being black is all about music, sex, guns drugs, and living on the street.
This altogether has a nasty result: it stimulates racism. White people believe this and are, naturally, scared of the street life. Because it is so strongly associated with black people, it makes them scared for black people as well. Zino Saro Wiwa thinks that ‘the fact a group of people are defined by an underclass that embraces values that the rest of the civilised world find deplorable” is a disaster.

Personal Opinion
I think this text is doing not much more than stating the obvious. In America it might be interesting matter to read, but here in Holland these stereotypes are not as strong as they might be in America. Also, there is much less criminality in Holland so the problem this text states does not apply to our society as much as it does to the American society.

“U.S. Teacher Sent Home after Date with Pupil”
Wasp 1, page 16, **

The placement of a teacher called Amalie Lehman has been terminated because she went to a night club with one of her students. The senior deputy of the school said this was not appropriate and she had been asked to go away early.
Miss Lehman was very attractive to the male students in the school. They said she was very attractive and dressed very classily. The head of the school did however describe her as a fine teacher. He feels sorry about the fact that she was not able to acclimatise to the school’s guidelines. No incidents have occurred, the head of the school would even recommend her for a teaching position when she is going to work somewhere else.

Personal Opinion
I think this is quite a funny text. It is a very British thing; nothing really happened but the teacher gets fired anyway. In Holland, students go out with their teachers all the time and it is never a problem. It is nice to read a text which is not very relevant to society, but which is just a bit funny.