Reporter Investigates Nerdy Club, Finds Stupidity
Susan Heller, reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer, visited WHS last Tuesday to investigate what many might term a geeky fascination: slide-rule club. The club meets weekly to learn how to use the slide-rule, a tool designed to assist in calculations before the invention of the calculator. Said Heller, "I expected this to be a rather intellectual club. After all, they're investigating a method that's been obsolete for at least 10 years." Unfortunately, an intellectual climate is most definitely not what she discovered. "From the very start, I knew something was weird," recounted Heller. "All the kids were telling really stupid jokes to one another and messing up simple calculations." Instruction went relatively smoothly, all though some students were rather sluggish. "It shouldn't take a kid 15 seconds to figure out that 2 times 2 equals 4!" she said.
The crowning blow came when one of the students got called down to the main office. "He went in the completely opposite direction. This is supposed to be one of the smartest kids in the school, and he can't even figure out where the main office is?!" she yelled.
Her story, set to be published sometime this week, is expected to reflect her dismal experience. Said Heller, "The photographer got some great shots of kids looking really confused. This should be a real easy story to write."