Here are the 16 runners-up in our Eighth Annual Student Editorial Contest. They join 10 winners and 26 honorable mentions as our favorite essays of the 11,202 we received this year.
Have a look at the issues these young people raise as well as the inventive ideas they have for addressing them. When you’re done, you can find more winning essays from students in this column.
Runners-Up
In alphabetical order, by the writer’s last name.
“How American High Schools Failed to Educate Us on Eating Disorders”
By Tala Areiqat, age 17, Northern Valley Regional High School at Old Tappan, Old Tappan, N.J.
Forty-five minutes was deemed an adequate amount of time to supply 12-year-old me — and 20 other tweenagers — with enough information about eating disorders to last us through high school. A documentary shown on a dusty VHS tape, that had obviously been in use since the early 2000s, about two girls suffering from anorexia and bulimia had been my only source for eating disorder awareness for five years. No reflection time followed, no discussion was initiated, and no questions were asked. Because, after all, what could a group of middle school children possibly take away from a decade-old documentary about two teenage girls struggling with anorexia and bulimia?
Flash forward five years — I still know nothing. It wasn’t until I was 16 that I learned (via TikTok) that my daily diet of 1,000 calories barely suffices for a two-year-old, let alone a developing teenager. Despite being educated in a blue-ribbon school in the country’s sixth best county in education, I only had a single image of what an eating disorder looked like: a skin-and-bones teenage girl with sunken eyes. Schools are clearly ill-equipped to educate students on eating disorders and how they can prevent them.
Teenagers have failed to learn about the most common eating disorder in the country because it isn’t taught in many school curriculums: binge eating disorder, or B.E.D. B.E.D. is more common than anorexia, and just as chronic, affecting 2.8 million Americans, including 1.2 percent of all adolescents. Additionally, the National Eating Disorder Association, or N.E.D.A., reports that males make up 40 percent of those with B.E.D., which contradicts the existing notion that only women are affected by eating disorders.
Instead of learning about eating disorders, my junior health class taught me how to count my calories. According to registered dietitian Christy Harrison, “disordered eating patterns began with calorie counting.” Despite this, health classes across the country continue to require students to track their daily calorie intake. Our health classes are teaching us how to develop eating disorders rather than how to prevent them.
Since the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020, the N.E.D.A. saw a 78 percent increase in calls and messages to their hotline, compared to the year prior. More than half of the 83 percent of women texting the hotline were under the age of 17. If conditions are only getting worse for us, why aren’t health classes improving to accommodate this?
Calorie-counting lessons and 45-minute documentaries are not enough to guide teenagers through the most impressionable years of their lives. We need a developed and well-informed eating disorder curriculum. After all, the damage of a seemingly harmless 45-minute video may last someone a lifetime.
Works Cited
Harrison, Christy. “‘It’s the Way We Were All Born Eating.’” The New York Times, 26 Aug. 2019.
Schaeffer, Juliann. “Binge Eating Disorder Statistics: Know the Facts.” Healthline Media, 18 Dec. 2016.
“Statistics & Research on Eating Disorders.” The National Eating Disorder Association.
“Look on the Dark Side: The Benefits of Pessimism”
By Emily Cao, age 17, Glenforest Secondary School, Mississauga, Ontario
Can you count the number of times someone’s told you to “cheer up,” or to “look on the bright side”? Pop psychology has always peddled an optimistic mind-set; after all, who doesn’t want more self-esteem, greater resilience and even improved immunity? But here’s a secret: Turns out, it can be an equally effective strategy to live life seeing your glass half empty.
For starters, a study featured in Psychology and Aging linked having a poor outlook on life to better health in older adults; the participants who had overly optimistic views of their future well-being developed a greater risk of disability and of mortality as they aged. There’s an intuitive explanation to this: Thinking the worst of everything, pessimists simply tend to take their health more seriously. They’ll be more careful to avoid falling sick and won’t ignore symptoms that could be serious. In the same vein, they’ll also receive news of terminal or other grave illnesses much better.
Seeing the worst in every situation may seem counterintuitive, and it can be: Most people are what Julie Norem, a psychology professor at Wellesley College, calls “strategic optimists,” but it’s important to realize that a positive mind-set isn’t the only effective way to tackle challenges.
According to Ms. Norem, a certain mind-set she calls “defensive pessimism” can actually help some people perform better. Here’s the key: While pessimists anticipate the worst in everything, defensive pessimists take that one step further, actively working to prevent their gloomy predictions, or to plan for their fruition. This makes them feel more prepared, allowing them to perform better with this negative mind-set than without it.
One study in 2008 was able to capture this: When given a word puzzle to solve, the participants who exercised defensive pessimism did better while under a “threat motivational state”: when they were made to imagine what could go wrong, or the consequences of doing poorly. And on the flip side, their performance actually worsened when the researchers prompted them to think more positively.
But if you just sit there and lament all the seeds to be sown that’ll inevitably get eaten by birds, or blown away, or otherwise never grow, you reap no rewards — simply complaining without acting isn’t an effective strategy. Make your pessimistic powers work for you: Expect the worst, then work to prevent or prepare for it.
However, we must remember that our mind-sets come as varied as we do, and rarely, if ever, are we entirely at either end of the positivity spectrum. But, if you do tend toward the negative, cheer up — or rather, don’t, because seeing the worst in everything could be better for you.
Works Cited
Cherry, Kerndra. “Understanding the Psychology of Positive Thinking.” Verywell Mind, 26 Nov. 2019.
Doyne, Shannon. “Do People Complain Too Much?” The New York Times, 6 May 2013.
Khazan, Olga. “The Upside of Pessimism.” The Atlantic, 22 Feb. 2018.
Lang, F. R., Weiss, D., Gerstorf, D. and Wagner, G. G. “Forecasting Life Satisfaction Across Adulthood: Benefits of Seeing a Dark Future?” American Psychological Association, 2013.
“Optimism and Your Health.” Harvard Health Publishing, 1 May 2008.
Scott, Elizabeth. “What Is Pessimism?” Verywell Mind, 11 Oct. 2020.
Seerya, Mark D., Tessa V. West, Max Weisbuch and Jim Blascovich. “The Effects of Negative Reflection for Defensive Pessimists: Dissipation or Harnessing of Threat?” ScienceDirect, Oct. 2008.
Selva, Joaquín. “The Upside of Defensive Pessimism: The Potential Benefit of Anxiety.” PositivePsychology.com, 14 Jan. 2021.
Sirois, Fuschia. “The Surprising Benefits of Being a Pessimist.” The Conversation, 23 Feb. 2018.
“We Need More Maestras on the Podium”
By Abigail Soriano Cherith, age 17, North Hollywood High School, Los Angeles
In the midst of a quiet concert hall, all eyes shift to one musician. This musician has the power to breathe life into the notes on the page, and with a quick flick of the wrist, has the power to snuff it out. One who has so much control over the orchestra and choir is usually called the “maestro.” It so happens that this “maestro” is a woman, and this woman is my mother.
Because my mother is a conductor, growing up, watching a woman conduct was very normal for me. I cannot say the same for others though, and that is no surprise; there are significantly fewer female conductors than male conductors. According to the League of American Orchestras, of the 103 ensembles with the highest budgets, only 12 have female conductors.
Surprisingly, men and women are fairly balanced in orchestras. Additionally, the rise of female composers like Caroline Shaw and Errolyn Warren are slowly narrowing the gender gap.
So why aren’t there more female conductors?
The idea of a woman conductor is not revolutionary; we are in the 21st century after all, and women can accomplish anything. Yet, instances of sexism still arise: Russian conductor Vasily Petranko once commented that orchestras “react better when a man is in front of them,” suggesting that women are a distraction when standing at the podium. This unconscious bias is reflected in society’s perceptions of women conductors, as Marin Alsop, a prominent female conductor, told The Guardian, “Society interprets gestures very differently, so that if women are exuding an aura of extreme confidence, that can be deemed off-putting, whereas it’s desirous for men.” To Ms. Alsop, it’s more of a “societal lack of comfort,” as she told BBC.
If that’s the case, a possible way to address this “societal lack of comfort” is to start normalizing the existence of female conductors, and show that conducting is not only a men’s profession. This can be done through increasing the representation and media presence of female conductors, which will also inspire aspiring female conductors. In addition to increasing representation, if women exhibit that “societal lack of comfort,” it also becomes an issue of owning the power and “feeling entitled to take it,” as Ms. Alsop told The Guardian. One way to address this is to create more opportunities through conducting workshops, something that Ms. Alsop herself is trying to do.
As a violist and amateur pianist, there is no other musician that I look up to more than my mother. To me, she is the epitome of the power that a woman can hold in the classical music world. We need more examples like her; we need more maestras on the podium.
Works Cited
Burton-Hill, Clemency. “Why Aren’t There More Women Conductors?” BBC, 21 Oct. 2014.
Childed, Serg. “The Path to Earth’s Orbit for Errolyn Wallen’s Music.” Music Tales, 25 Jan. 2019.
Doeser, James. “Racial/Ethnic Diversity in the Orchestra Field.” League of American Orchestras, Sept. 2016.
Higgens, Charlotte. “Male Conductors Are Better for Orchestras, Says Vasily Petranko.” The Guardian, 2 Sept. 2013.
Jeal, Erica. “Caroline Shaw: What Next for the Pulitzer-Winner Who Toured With Kanye? Opera — and Abba.” The Guardian, 2 Feb. 2021.
Tilden, Imogen. “‘This Is Not a Women’s Issue’ — Tackling Conducting’s Gender Problem.” The Guardian, 6 Feb. 2017.
Wolfe, Zachary. “Missing From Podiums: Women.” The New York Times, 20 Dec. 2013.
By Raquel Coren, age 18, Agnes Irwin School, Bryn Mawr, Pa.
Over the decades, religion has lost its strength among America’s youth; however, there has been a recent rise in “spirituality,” an umbrella term used to describe practices such as manifestation, meditation and the use of crystals. Through TikTok trends and the spiritual shops popping up left and right, the infiltration of spirituality in our current culture is evident. There is obviously no problem with teenagers getting in touch with their inner selves by burning herbs and practicing mindfulness, but it is important that we do not overlook the roots of these practices.
For Generation Z in particular, spirituality has emerged as a way to find meaning and direction in life without participating in the organized religions that many have become disillusioned by. During the uncertain times of the pandemic, spirituality has become a means for regaining a sense of control. What many people do not realize, however, is that these practices stem from religions like Hinduism and Buddhism, as well as from Native American traditions.
In the 60-second TikTok videos from which many teens are learning about these spiritual concepts, it is impossible to capture the full extent of the importance of these sacred practices. There is no mention of the Hindu and Buddhist scriptures that accompany many of these rituals, or the importance of learning from wise spiritual teachers called gurus. The burning of sage, a practice called smudging, is promoted as a simple cleansing practice, whereas it is in fact an important ceremonial ritual among Native Americans. Their culture has already been exploited and misunderstood for hundreds of years, and now the sage trend is undermining this practice and threatening Native American businesses. What used to be grown and sold by Indigenous people is now being taken over by larger businesses that are jeopardizing the sage supply and stealing business from these tribes.
Eastern spiritual practices are also falling victim to Western appropriation and commodification. Americans can pay for courses on how to teach yoga or heal with reiki, while in the East, one must dedicate years to learning these culturally-significant practices from experts. Spiritual gentrification is real, and it’s a problem. As the spirituality trend grows, those with privilege in the West are economically benefiting off the popularity of these practices, while Native Americans, Hindus and Buddhists receive no recognition or compensation.
Especially during these challenging times, finding something to ground you is vital. However, it is possible to do so in a way that recognizes and appreciates these cultures. Explore the benefits of Indigenous and Eastern spiritual practices, but be sure to be mindful and respectful toward the cultures from which you are borrowing, and support authentic Hindu and Buddhist businesses, organizations and content creators.
Works Cited
Ferla, Ruth. “Manifesting, for the Rest of Us.” The New York Times, 24 Jan. 2021.
Mason, Jessica. “The Politics of White Sage.” The Mary Sue, 7 Sept. 2020.
Pandey, Ananya. “The Contemporary Whitewashing of Wellness and Spirituality.” Oneul Zine, 27 March 2021.
“Private Prisons: It’s Time to Take Back the Key”
By Asia Foland, age 14, Wellesley Middle School, Wellesley, Mass.
Mold-stained walls. Windowless rooms. Riots. Welcome to the East Mississippi Correctional Facility, a for-profit-run prison, where lack of medical attention pushed desperate occupants into lighting fires in their cells.
Meanwhile, in a private prison in Louisiana, a man lost his legs to gangrene after begging for medical attention for months.
At that very same prison, another inmate committed suicide after multiple hunger strikes to demand mental health services. When he died, he was 71 pounds.
Since 2000, the number of inmates in private prisons has increased nearly five times faster than the overall number of incarcerated citizens, in spite of hundreds of lawsuits and a habit of constitutional violations. Studies have shown that assaults occur in private prisons at twice the rate of public facilities. But how did we get here? How did it get this bad?
The short answer? It’s always been this way. Private prisons have existed since the beginning of slavery, and gained momentum after the Civil War. While the 13th Amendment seemingly abolished slavery, it permitted it “as a punishment for a crime.” Company-run private plantations banked on this loophole, subjecting prisoners to tedious unpaid labor, laying railroad tracks, build levees and mining for coal.
While corporations may not use prison labor anymore, their business is still built on the detrimental incentive for profit at the expense of human livelihood. Much needed educational programs have been scrapped, and many state contracts allow private prisons to select healthier inmates, leaving the more costly ones to public-run facilities.
A study conducted at the University of California, Berkeley, found that young, Black men were overrepresented in private prisons as a result of this selectiveness. Gloria Browne Marshall, an associate professor of constitutional law at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, offered her thoughts on the study, saying; “What I take away from it is how prisoners are looked at as commodities. It’s all about how the private prisons can make the most money.” How can one expect those incarcerated to leave a rehabilitated member of society when conditions within private prisons are grotesque and unjust?
Private prisons do not care about their inmates. Their one and only goal is to make a profit. When prisons are given such a powerful influence on our current society, those who play a major role in the shaping of our incarceration system should not have different goals in mind. The private prison system has profited off the mass incarceration of people of color for centuries, and we cannot continue to let private prisons get away with this blatant injustice and violation of human decency. With private prisons, humanity is left behind when the cell door slams shut, and it’s our job to take back the key.
Works Cited
Gotsch, Kara and Vinay Basti. “Capitalizing on Mass Incarceration: U.S. Growth in Private Prisons.” The Sentencing Project, 2 Aug. 2018.
Palta, Rina. “Why For-Profit Prisons House More Inmates of Color.” NPR, 13 Mar. 2014.
Williams, Timothy and Richard A. Oppel Jr. “Escapes, Riots and Beatings. But States Can’t Seem to Ditch Private Prisons.” The New York Times, 10 Apr. 2018.
“Eat Ugly! It Might Just Save the World.”
By Jun An Guo, age 17, St. George’s School, Vancouver
“Wow, this carrot is shaped like a spaceship!”
As a child, I’d always been drawn to strangely shaped vegetables in the produce aisle: horseshoe eggplants, deflated bell peppers, tripodal carrots … but as time passed, TV ads and impeccably arranged supermarket displays taught me that tomatoes should always be perfectly round, carrots straight and apples bright red. I was taught that what looked nice, must taste nice.
Today, the United States Department of Agriculture acts much like Vogue and Cosmopolitan, setting unrealistic beauty expectations on how produce ought to look, down to the exact color, shape and size. But appearance is a poor indicator of flavor, nutritional value and even freshness. Food stylists in TV ads have conditioned us to perceive pretty as delicious and nutritious. However, Linda Hagen, a professor of consumer behavior from the University of Southern California, explains, “consumers expect food to be more nutritious, less fatty and contain fewer calories when it looks pretty.” Through her research, she debunks the connection between aesthetics and nutrition, explaining that it is just another marketing ploy used by food corporations to increase sales.
In the United States alone, an estimated six billion pounds of ugly produce is left unharvested, unsold and uneaten every year. If the skin of a tomato is deemed slightly yellow, or a potato too unshapely, it’s destined for the compost bin, regardless of how flavorful, juicy or nutritious it is. Six billion pounds of nutritional produce wasted: that’s enough food to feed three million people for a whole year!
The discarding of imperfect produce is not just wasteful; it also contributes significantly to climate change. Rotting produce creates large amounts of methane, a greenhouse gas 28 times more potent than carbon dioxide. When supermarkets toss away a contorted tomato, they are also tossing away all of the fertilizer, water and energy that went into growing, storing and transporting that tomato. When the world’s leading researchers came together for Project Drawdown to brainstorm solutions to combat climate change, reducing food waste was among the most-discussed solutions.
I’ve decided to take this issue into my own hands. Working with local farms, markets, meal centers and food banks, I have rescued over 4,500 pounds of edible, nutritious, often organic, ugly produce in my city. However, helping can be a lot easier than driving from farm to farm every weekend.
Supermarkets operate on the basis of demand. So the next time you see that saxophone-shaped banana sticking out from your picture-perfect grocery aisle, just remember that looking unique doesn’t mean tasting unique. Embrace your curiosity and eat that delicious, jazzy banana, because it might just save the world.
Works Cited
Frischmann, Chad. “Opinion: The Climate Impact of the Food in the Back of Your Fridge.” The Washington Post, 31 July 2018.
Medina, Jennifer. “Getting Ugly Produce Onto Tables So It Stays Out of Trash.” The New York Times, 23 Nov. 2015.
Nierenberg, Amelia. “One Thing Your City Can Do: Reduce Food Waste.” The New York Times, 11 Dec. 2019.
Polakovic, Gary. “When It Comes to Food, Consumers Confuse Beauty With Nutrition.” USC News, 11 Nov. 2020.
“The Ugly Produce Problem and Food Waste.” Ugly Produce Is Beautiful. 2019.
United States Department of Agriculture. “Food Waste FAQs.” The United States Department of Agriculture.
“Why I Want to Be a Foreign Exchange Student 30 Minutes Away”
By Charissa Howard, age 16, Lower Merion High School, Ardmore, Pa.
Whenever I hear about people jetting off to far-flung places for study abroad programs I feel an instant pang of envy. Limited by the pandemic and logistics, I have accepted that studying abroad will not be a part of my high school career. But what if there were a way for me to experience another culture every day and be back home in time for dinner?
If one were to drive an hour through my home state of Pennsylvania, they could very well pass by soaring skyscrapers, picturesque suburbias and sprawling farmlands all in the same trip — there is that much diversity when it comes to the communities. I live right outside of Philadelphia. Though not all of my friends live in the same town as me, most of them live on tree-lined streets like mine. But other high schoolers in urban or rural areas? I could count the ones that I’m friends with on one hand.
America has an isolation problem, and it’s only growing.
When looking at The New York Times’s county-by-county results of the 2020 election, it is clear that our country is trending in the direction of every voter living in a community where they are unlikely to encounter people of separate political ideologies. In other words, the new norm is red and blue counties, not purple.
At first glance, this doesn’t seem too bad. I enjoy living in the liberal bubble that my area provides, having my ideas echoed by others. However, this is a problem: As identity politics becomes more prominent, so does the prominence of Americans living in areas that only reflect their race, religious views and income levels. People will be more likely to vote for what they know. If you don’t know any Black people, but are friends with a white cop, why would you want to vote in the interests of Black Lives Matter?
Many Americans don’t like this polarization. In fact, recent data from Harvard’s Carr Center shows that 71 percent of voters from both sides of the aisle believe that Americans have more in common with each other than many people think. But little is being done to draw us together.
By offering in-state exchange programs, America has the perfect opportunity to reduce the increasing isolationism that is plaguing our nation. The best way for one to gain new perspectives and garner empathy is to spend time listening to and exchanging ideas with those who are different from him- or herself.
As a suburban mixed-race girl, there is a lot I could teach people my age living on a Lancaster farm or in an inner-city Philadelphia apartment — and I think there’s even more I could learn from them.
Works Cited
Badger, Emily, Kevin Quealy and Josh Katz. “A Close-Up Picture of Partisan Segregation, Among 180 Million Voters.” The New York Times, 17 March 2021.
Edsall, Thomas B. “We See the Left. We See the Right. Can Anyone See the ‘Exhausted Majority’?” The New York Times, 24 March 2021.
Kleinfeld, Rachel and Aaron Sobel. “7 Ideas to Reduce Political Polarization. And Save America From Itself.” USA Today, 23 July 2020.
Shattuck, John and Mathias Risse. “Reimagining Rights and Responsibilities in the United States.” The Carr Center for Human Rights, Harvard Kennedy School, 8 Oct. 2021.
“Classroom Monopoly: How the Same Calculator Has Been $120 for 17 Years”
By Sean Kim, age 16, Fort Lee High School, Fort Lee, N.J.
In the beginning of my math class last week, I brought my graphing calculator closer to my webcam, allowing my math teacher to make sure I was using an appropriate calculator for my test. As my classmates all showed their models, one by one, my teacher chuckled and said, “Man, isn’t this a funny view? All 17 of you are using a TI-84 Plus.”
It is without a doubt that Texas Instruments holds a monopoly over the graphing calculator industry. According to the Washington Post, Texas Instruments accounted for 93 percent of the U.S. graphing calculator sales from July 2013 to June 2014. Their hold over the industry means the company has the capacity to charge any price for their calculators, a fact they exploit to the fullest extent. Today the TI-84 Plus, Texas Instruments’ most popular model, retails for about $120, a price that has remained unchanged since the calculator’s debut in 2004, despite the fact that the manufacturing cost of the calculator is roughly estimated to be only $15 to $20.
The price of graphing calculators is problematic not only because they are annoyingly overpriced. Rather, a huge issue of education inequity stems from the inability of lower income students to afford these calculators. According to The New York Times, in a 2006 New York State math exam, 86.3 percent of students in “rich, or so-called low-need districts” scored proficient while only 28.6 percent, 30.1 percent, and 33.1 percent of students in poorer districts such as Buffalo, Syracuse and Rochester, respectively, scored proficient. According to State Education Commissioner Richard P. Mills, “it’s a reminder that resources have something to do with this as well.” Providing these students with calculators may be the first step in closing this gap.
As the company who manufactures these calculators, Texas Instruments should take action to alleviate this disparity by providing low-income students with affordable graphing calculators. Although there are programs on education.ti.com that provide students and teachers with discounts, they barely lower the TI-84 Plus price to $95.00, plus tax. Texas Instruments is simply not doing enough to provide low-income students a feasible method of obtaining a graphing calculator.
However, one thing that the company can do is implement a recycling program to provide refurbished calculators to low-income students. Students who do not major in a STEM-related field in college tend to never touch their graphing calculators again. By collecting these calculators and refurbishing them, Texas Instruments can do its part in providing low-income students with the technology they have been forced to need. Every student deserves to have a quality math education, and providing graphing calculators might just be the most significant step in providing one for all students.
Works Cited
Herszenhorn, David M. “Scores on State Math Tests Dip With Districts’ Income.” The New York Times, 12 Oct. 2006.
McFarland, Matt. “The Unstoppable TI-84 Plus: How an Outdated Calculator Still Holds a Monopoly on Classrooms.” The Washington Post, 2 Sept. 2014.
“Pre-service Teacher Discount Program.” Texas Instruments Calculators and Education Technology, 2015.
“Texas Instruments TI-84 Plus 10-Digit Graphing Calculator, Black.” Staples, 2021.
“Face Masks: A Roadblock in Communication for the Hearing-Impaired”
By Sonya Kulkarni, age 16, Bellaire High School, Bellaire, Texas
Face masks have become an insignia of defense in the fight against Covid-19. But for the hearing-impaired, these protective shields are just another roadblock in communication.
About 466 million people worldwide have hearing loss, and in the United States, about 15 percent of the population reports some trouble hearing. As a moderately hard-of-hearing individual myself, I use hearing aids to tread the choppy waters of conversation. But I also rely on other visual signals to get by, namely, lip-reading and facial expressions. These cues, alas, are the very things that make masks so obscure.
Since the dawn of the pandemic, it has become a daily occurrence for me to skirt around the lobby of my apartment, avoiding pleasantry with the friendly doorman like the plague, out of fear that I may not understand him. Like a secret agent immersed in a clandestine operation, I greet passers-by with furtive glances and a lowered gaze, and I rely solely on eyes and the slant of eyebrows to decipher small talk. At times, though, it seems that all I can do is stare blindly into the muffled abyss, where words and phrases become tangled and meaningless through layers of fabric.
I have a luxury that other members of the deaf and hard-of-hearing community don’t: alternative methods of conversation. While I have the fortune of attending school virtually, seldom leaving the comfort of my Zoom meeting, face-to-face communication is unavoidable for much of the hearing-impaired population. The hearing-impaired face increased stress and anxiety during the pandemic, experiencing marginalization and a profound disconnect from normality, according to the aptly named New York Times article: “For the Deaf, Social Distancing Can Mean Social Isolation.” So, what can be done?
Through a simple internet search, you can learn how to make a deaf-friendly face mask, equipped with a clear plastic insert over the mouth to enable lip-reading. Although, as explained by novelist Sara Nović in The Washington Post, these devices aren’t foolproof, and not just because they can fog up. The catch is, for clear masks to aid the hearing-impaired community, they must be worn by hearing people. And if there’s anything our cumulative mask-wearing experience has instilled in us, it’s that asking people to make sacrifices in aid of others hasn’t entirely materialized as Americans’ métier.
So instead, the deaf community must rely on pure faith in humanity. Rather than becoming frustrated at their hearing-impaired counterparts, hearing people can type or write text, use gestures, or even employ the American Sign Language manual alphabet.
The pandemic has unmasked the unique burden of communication shouldered by the hearing-impaired, but more important, the impact of basic courtesy and kindness on creating a conversational world for all of us.
Works Cited
“Deafness and Hearing Loss.” World Health Organization, 1 April 2021.
Nović, Sara. “Opinion: Masks Are a Barrier Against the Coronavirus. They Also Pose a Major Hurdle for Deaf People.” The Washington Post, 21 July 2020.
“Quick Statistics About Hearing.” National Institute of Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, 25 March 2021.
Taylor, Derrick Bryson. “For the Deaf, Social Distancing Can Mean Social Isolation.” The New York Times, 4 June 2020.
“The Poetry Unit: How Our Curriculum Smothers Art”
By Patricia McDonald, age 16, Woodrow Wilson High School, Dallas, Texas
Almost 10 months ago, I put down my new copy of Richard Siken’s “Crush” and proceeded to sit in stupefied silence for the next 15 minutes while I clambered out of the dizzying chasm of his poetry. I returned to my favorite parts again and again, chasing the frenetic energy of those words like an adrenaline junkie, seeking the catharsis of such personal, vulnerable art. The power of poetry to elicit intense emotional responses (especially when recited), foster creative thinking through free response interpretation and act as a reflective personal space when it is written is immense, but it is a well that our schools are not regularly or effectively tapping into.
I have been deeply in love with poetry since my fifth grade English teacher introduced me to Edgar Allan Poe, and I was floored by the recent wave of media coverage that poetry has received since Amanda Gorman’s powerful inaugural performance. However, reading articles like, “Amanda Gorman Captures the Moment, in Verse,” made we wonder where this respect for poetry originated because, as a student, I have watched our curriculum (and teachers) fail to embrace or engage with poetry in any meaningful way, changing subjects after barely a day of clinical and shallow analysis. In most classrooms, poetry is reduced to a bare-bones analysis framework with a catchy acronym that helps students identify figurative language, and more important, pass their standardized tests. Starting “The Poetry Unit” was a universally dreaded occasion, as students and teachers alike expressed disinterest and even open distaste for the whole concept of a poem, which became just another obstacle on the road to an A.
Reducing poetry to a series of multiple choice questions, instead of challenging students to interpret and connect personally with such an inherently creative medium, was imposing a false dichotomy of the “right way” and “wrong way” to read poems that was personally offensive to me. Poetry, both writing it and reading it, has been an extraordinary outlet for me during times when I as a student have felt isolated and overextended by the crushing weight of school, extracurricular activities and an ever-increasing list of “once in a lifetime” crises that my generation has weathered. I can’t help but wonder how much good a more free-form exploration of poetry could do for students from, what the American Psychological Association determined was, “the most likely of all generations to report poor mental health,” in a 2018 report.
It may not be for everyone, but poetry can be for anyone, and it is my hope that we will start to seek out new ways to introduce this art in classrooms, so that maybe the chasm I fell into will one day become well-traveled.
Works Cited
Alter, Alexandra. “Amanda Gorman Captures the Moment, in Verse.” The New York Times, 19 Jan. 2021.
Raab, Diana. “How Poetry Can Heal” Psychology Today, 11 April 2019.
“Stress in America: Generation Z.” American Psychological Association, Oct. 2018.
Wassiliwizky, Eugen et al. “The Emotional Power of Poetry: Neural Circuitry, Psychophysiology and Compositional Principles.” Oxford Academic, 28 April 2017.
“Where are the MEN in Menstruation?”
By Lily Miro, age 16, The Archer School for Girls, Los Angeles, Calif.
My friend has pretty easygoing parents. So I was fairly surprised when she told me that her dad had yelled at her for bringing up what I assumed to be a pretty innocuous subject: her period. This got me thinking: Why do most men fear the word “period”?
The menstrual cycle is a universal, biological process. Yet, it has somehow become a symbol of impurity and uncleanliness, another way for men to shame women. Turns out, the problem lies within our education system. A study by Bodyform showed that 72 percent of boys have never been taught anything about the menstrual cycle. This has to change.
When something so fundamental isn’t taught, it becomes taboo, a cultural stigma. While the education system takes responsibility for teaching boys about puberty, the constant tiptoeing around periods makes the word “tampon” seem like a dirty word.
Implementing period education into boys’ health curriculum will help girls go about their lives without fear of being embarrassed because of something they can’t control. A study by Thinx showed that one in every five women felt period shame because of comments made by a male friend. And this shame has only been sustained by society’s refusal to talk about the menstrual cycle to all genders somewhere as basic as the classroom, a place where growth and learning is meant to be fostered.
Solely teaching girls about periods not only limits their ability to freely express their struggles, but also reinforces the divide between genders. In an essay discussing the extension of period education to both genders, Amika George explains that “Not talking to boys and men about our periods means a quiet subservience, allowing separate, gendered spheres to exist.” Extending period education to boys intertwines them in the female experience in a healthy way. They’re more likely to grow up believing they are involved in the process and can lend empathy rather than judgment.
The fact is, boys are losing, too. Without menstrual education, boys are missing an opportunity to support the women in their lives, and their ignorance, not of their own making, yields behavior that is not constructive, which can make work or school less productive.
Ultimately, boys will only understand the natural and important process of menstruation when, as writer Chris Bobel states in an essay examining period prejudice, we create an “inclusive and culturally sensitive community-based education about the menstrual cycle that reaches … not only girls, but also everyone surrounding them.” Period education is important for anyone regardless of gender and it is not hard to implement. It is a simple change that could help boys take an important step in learning how to understand, support and respect women.
Works Cited
Bobel, Chris. “Menstrual Pads Can’t Fix Prejudice.” The New York Times, 31 March 2018.
Brannagan, Toni. “How You Can Overcome Period Shame.” Thinx, 19 Sept. 2018.
George, Amika. “The Stigma Over Periods Won’t End Until Boys Learn About Them Too.” The Guardian, 28 May 2019.
“Why UK Girls Are Missing School Due to Their Periods.” Bodyform, 19 March 2021.
“The Adverse Pitfalls of A.P. Classes”
By Mary Schnautz, age 15, ASPIRE Academy for the Highly Gifted at Grapevine High School, Grapevine, Texas
If you type “How many A.P. classes …” into the search bar of your computer, it’s automatically filled with “ … should I take for Harvard,” “Stanford,” “UCLA” or any other college known to man, typed in by students scrambling to appeal to college admissions offices, who are so consumed by grades, extracurricular activities and college applications that they have no time to pursue their true passions and aspirations. Students who would flourish while learning about graphic design find themselves pouring over an art history textbook, all because of the gleaming “A.P.”, or Advanced Placement, in the class name. When did two letters secure such a viselike grip on the minds of students and schools? The impossible expectations, overwhelming pressure, and heavy emphasis attributed to A.P. classes are crucial aspects of our extremely flawed educational system.
Born in the mid-1950s, the Advanced Placement program was created to offer college-level classes to high school students in an attempt to introduce them to the rigor of a college education. Now, it has expanded significantly, offering courses in 39 subjects, as opposed to its initial 10, with millions of students anxious to enroll in them every year. The amount of enrollments grow at an annual rate almost 10 times the annual percentage increase in the number of high school graduates. But don’t let the good intentions of the 1950s and the program’s substantial growth fool you. John Tierney, a former professor of American government at Boston College, writes, “The high school A.P. course didn’t begin to hold a candle to any of my college courses. My colleagues said the same was true in their subjects.”
John Tierney isn’t the only one voicing concerns with the A.P. program. A survey of over 1,000 A.P. teachers in the United States was conducted by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, an educational research and advocacy organization, and they expressed their own concerns about the efficacy of A.P. classes. Ninety percent of teachers connected the increasing appeal of A.P. classes to “more students who want their college application to look better,” while only 32 percent connected it to “more students who want to be challenged at a higher academic level,” the researchers wrote.
A.P. classes are an illusion; they don’t actually provide students with the wealth of a glimpse into college, but instead provide College Board with wealth, contributing to over half of all its revenue. Many students who can’t handle the workload and heightened rigor of A.P. classes take them anyway, as a result of pressure from counselors and parents. Schools need to place an emphasis on the growth of students holistically, not just A.P. classes. Students should become dreamers, explorers and adventurers who aren’t limited by two controlling letters.
Works Cited
Berger, Joe. “Demoting Advanced Placement.” The New York Times, 4 Oct. 2006.
Steinberg, Jacques. “Many Teachers in Advanced Placement Voice Concern at Its Rapid Growth.” The New York Times, 29 April 2009.
Tierney, John. “A.P. Classes Are a Scam.” The Atlantic, 13 Oct. 2012.
“According To Some, Critical Race Theory Is ‘Anti-American.’ Here’s the Truth.”
By Nachikethan Srinivasan, age 18, The Haverford School, Haverford, Pa.
During the first presidential debate on September 29, 2020, former President Donald J. Trump was asked to explain a memo published by his administration’s Office of Management and Budget that stopped training programs for government workers. The memo in question also singles out “critical race theory” and “white privilege” as examples of ideas that portray the United States as “an inherently racist and evil country.”
His answer? “I ended it because it was racist.”
Let’s just stop it right there. Comments like this are ridiculous. We cannot discount the desire to create a fair and just nation, governed by a like-minded justice system. But a heavy sense of doubt lingers about whether people like Mr. Trump have any decent understanding of this so-called “toxic propaganda.”
Let’s separate the facts from the fables.
Critical race theory is an academic practice conceptualized by legal scholars of color during the 1980s, including Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw and Derrick Bell. In its earliest forms, the theory attempted to explain the disproportionate punishment of Black citizens in the justice system, despite the formal guarantee of equal rights.
In an interview with CNN, Ms. Crenshaw explained that it is an approach to “grappling with a history of white supremacy that rejects the belief that what’s in the past is in the past, and that the laws and systems that grow from that past are detached from it.”
Critical race theory’s existence stems from the material realities of present-day America. Look at our schools, where white school districts receive almost $2,000 more than nonwhite districts per student enrolled. Look at our prison systems, where Black Americans are incarcerated at more than five times the rate of white citizens, with some states being nearly 10 times more.
What Ms. Crenshaw describes is the very heart of critical race theory: the framework is to focus on the issues that disproportionately affect certain groups. While critiques of the practice can be made, such as its detachment from the economic structure we live by, to pretend that critical race theory is a dangerous, illegitimate and ideologically-based form of academic inquiry is a preposterous assertion — especially when one rarely interacts with its respective material.
Theoretical concepts have their uses and limitations in the classroom sphere. For Ms. Crenshaw, the criticisms levied against the practice of being “anti-American” is only another barrier to acknowledging events of the past and of the present. In her words, “it bears acknowledging that we’ve been here before.”
To not acknowledge a whole side of history and identity is tantamount to erasing it from existence. To willingly call out or to criticize a nation’s problems is true patriotism.
Works Cited
Goldberg, Michelle. “The Campaign to Cancel Wokeness.” The New York Times. 26 Feb. 2021
Karimi, Faith. “What Critical Race Theory Is — and Isn’t.” CNN, 1 Oct. 2020.
Lang, Cady. “President Trump Has Attacked Critical Race Theory. Here’s What to Know About the Intellectual Movement.” Time, 30 Sept. 2020.
Nellis, Ashley. “The Color of Justice: Racial and Ethnic Disparity in State Prisons.” The Sentencing Project, 14 June 2016.
“Nonwhite School Districts Get 23 Billion Less Than White Districts Despite Serving The Same Number of Students.” EdBuild, Feb. 2019.
“Appreciating the Power of Quiet”
By Grace Wong, age 16, The King’s Academy, Sunnyvale, Calif.
Brooder. Loner. Narcissist. Wallflower.
These are some synonyms for “introvert” that Thesaurus.com provides, reflecting a common mind-set in America. Though introverts actually comprise 50 percent of the population, they often face negative stigmas.
In reality, these “synonyms” are misunderstandings of who introverts are. The introverts are just those of us who have a different approach to social interactions — we thrive when given time alone to think and recharge and prefer intimate conversations.
American society is ruled by the “Extrovert Ideal”: successful people take risks and always assert their opinion (whether or not they know what they’re doing). The problem is that people value this ideal so much, they often ignore insightful comments from the quieter introverts. In The New York Times, Susan Cain observes, “We prize leaders who are eager talkers over those who have something to say.” People tend to perceive the more talkative as more trustworthy. Isn’t there something problematic about the pressure to get our thoughts out before we’ve even finished processing them?
Overemphasis of the Extrovert Ideal can lead to unwise decisions. In one case, several introverts, who tend to be more cautious and reflective, pointed out warning signals in the economy preceding the recession of 2008. But the decision makers (often the bold, risk-taking types) ignored their insight, brushing it off as a hindrance to progress. People say introverts tend to overthink every decision. Yes, maybe we’re quiet, maybe we think before we speak. But is that really so bad? I think our culture could benefit from appreciating introverted approaches more.
Of course, interpersonal skills are important for everyone. And introverts aren’t better than extroverts — we just think differently. But the misunderstanding about how introverts work results in a cultural bias. Required class participation at school often results in students spouting out whatever thoughts come to their mind, too pressured by their participation grade to take the time and think of a meaningful response; furthermore, the quieter ones often don’t get a chance to voice their thoughts. During quarantine, some of my classes started using Parlay, a site that allows for discussions through anonymous written comments. I saw that many of my classes were able to have deeper conversations this way, freed from the pressures of having to speak up on the spot. So encouraging a balanced variety of learning methods can counter the current bias.
Society seems to think only the loud and outgoing ones can make an impact. But Rosa Parks was known for being “soft-spoken” and “timid.” Gandhi said, “In a gentle way, you can shake the world.” So please, give us introverts a chance to change the world in our own quiet way!
Works Cited
Cain, Susan. “Must Great Leaders Be Gregarious?” The New York Times, 15 Sept. 2012.
Cain, Susan. “Quiet: the Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking.” Broadway Paperbacks, 2013.
Friedman, Steve. “How the Dictionary Definition of ‘Introversion’ Harms Introverts.” Introvert, Dear, 31 Dec. 2020.
Granneman, Jenn. “The Reason Introverts Might ‘Think Too Much’.” Psychology Today, 31 July 2017.
Van Alst, Danielle. “This Question Is Incredibly Annoying to Introverts.” Introvert, Dear, 6 Jan. 2020.
“Comprehension, Clarity, and Consistency: The Case for the Oxford Comma”
By Samantha Wu, age 15, Richard Montgomery High School, Rockville, Md.
“I love my parents, Beyoncé and Taylor Swift.”
As fantastic as this scenario would be, someone reading that sentence would probably think that I was the product of some Grammyesque pop crossover. A crucial comma before the “and” would transform that sentence into a remark about my love for family and female pop artists. The Oxford comma, also known as the serial comma, refers to the comma that precedes the conjunction in a list. It is a heavy point (or squiggle) of contention among Americans, and has even inspired a popular song by Vampire Weekend.
Many of its opponents claim that it “makes a piece of writing sound more pretentious and stuffy … [and] sentences loaded with commas take up valuable page space.” But I disagree, and so do the majority of Americans. In a 2014 poll, 57 percent of respondents supported the Oxford comma. In 2016, a GrammarPhile poll found that the percentage had increased to 75 percent.
The spacing argument has become less and less relevant in a modern context as more readers shift from print to digital content, a platform where publishers no longer need to consider the expenses of paper and ink. Stuffiness comes from words, not from the rules that bind them. But even if clearer writing came with the risk of pretension, would you not take it? Is the only thing stopping us simply the fear of change?
The Associated Press stylebook omits the Oxford comma, except when deemed important for clarity. But clarity is subjective, and most authors, with a specific premise and intent already in mind, are thus blinded to their readers’ threshold of comprehensibility. This causes the same confusion and redundancy that comma-haters claim to be avoiding — “one editor’s definition of clarity is different from another’s, so it’s not uncommon for one editor to add a comma to a sentence only to have the next editor delete it.”
Language is meant to be molded by its muses, and there are plenty of ways to add personal flair to your work, like structure, flow, and prose. Nevertheless, writing still needs rules. A foundation to underpin all linguistic machinations. Grammar. As a rule book for our punctuational laws, the Associated Press stylebook has no room for subjectivity. Little inconsistencies have big consequences, like in 2017 when a missing Oxford comma led to a multimillion-dollar court battle. As writers, we are in control of our words, but we should not be in control of their rules.
Grammar is constantly evolving to match our society, and we as a nation should not let tradition be a barrier to clarity. But to all my fellow comma lovers, perhaps we are ahead of our time.
Works Cited
“Oxford Comma.” Vampire Weekend, 2008.
Creighton, Kelly. “The Oxford Comma: Use It or Ditch It?” GrammarPhile Blog, 13 July 2017.
Porter, Terri. “The Great Grammar Debate: Results Are Surprisingly Lopsided.” GrammarPhile Blog, 20 Oct. 2016.
Victor, Daniel. “Lack of Oxford Comma Could Cost Maine Company Millions in Overtime Dispute.” The New York Times, 16 March 2017.
Watson, Rachel. “Time Spent With Digital vs. Traditional Media in the U.S. 2011-2022.” Statista, 1 March 2021.
“Cyber-Athletes: The Future Is Here”
By Bill Zhang, age 17, The Shanghai SMIC Private School, Shanghai, China
Neon lights bounce around the stadium, packed full of spectators sporting chrome jerseys waving colored cheer sticks and team flags. It’s loud: the arena resonates with cheering and booing. It’s tense: the audience anticipates the athletes’ next plays. It’s chaos: the fans go wild over every point. Finally, a star player executes a calculated move, scoring as the clock nears zero. The crowd roars.
The victors stand up — from their computers — and pose in the light, bathing in the fanfare of the stadium.
E-sports competitions like these, where highly skilled players compete in games such as League of Legends and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, have become as popular as the N.B.A. finals. They’ve developed a worldwide fandom who can cheer on their favorite teams in-person or through livestream. As e-sports popularity continues to grow exponentially, it is becoming harder to claim that e-sports are not sports.
The top e-sports players have evolved from the stereotypical basement-dwelling, screen-addicted nerds to professional athletes: They do yoga to relax, meet with sports therapists and have a strict training schedule. Many teams have a doctor on staff to deal with physical injuries that can range from hand sprains to blood clots to even deadly lung collapses. Surprisingly, e-sports players also “follow nutritional guidelines to maintain the health and stamina” for 12-hour training sessions.
Sports have many mental benefits to both self and team, and e-sports are no exception. Coordination of location and next moves as they play is vital, and players wear headsets for the flurries of communication that go on throughout the game. Not only that, studies show that e-sports, like traditional sports, can boost mood and reduce anxiety. E-sports players also benefit from improved “perceptual skills, decision making, speed of processing and multitasking.” In other words, playing e-sports strengthens the link between mental and physical abilities.
The popularity of e-sports has risen to the global stage, and viewership has significantly increased over the years. From 134 million in 2012 to 395 million in 2018, the audience watching e-sports has grown a tremendous 195 percent. Many young people are invested in it, including many of my friends. Some have started their own e-sports “clan” and they train almost daily despite their school workload. Through six years of rigorous grinding, they have mastered the art of the game.
Despite e-sports’ potential and benefits, there are few official outlets for young gamers. Some schools sponsor e-sports teams, but it is far from mainstream. It’s time for schools to recognize the validity of e-sports and implement them into their sports programs. Supplying video game controllers to students should be no different than supplying baseball bats or football helmets. The new generation of sports is here, and so are the cyber-athletes ready to play them.
Works Cited
“Benefits of E-sports & Video Games.” British Esports Association, Oct. 2017.
“E-sports Viewership Vs. Sports In 2020.” Roundhill Investments, 25 Sept. 2020.
Jolly, Jennifer. “E-sports injuries real for pros and at-home gamer, from finger sprains to collapsed lungs.” USA Today, 29 July 2019.
Keh, Andrew. “E-Sports Embraces Traditional Training Methods: Less Pizza, More Yoga.” The New York Times, 2 April 2019.
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