Op/Ed

Editorial: School Safety

February 1, 2013 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

School safety has been subjected to intense scrutiny over the past month following the nationally covered Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings in Connecticut. Even closer to home, the abduction of a 5-year old girl from Bryant Elementary School in West Philly due to a lapse in security protocol two weeks ago.

CEO of the National Rifle Association, Wayne LaPierre said in a press-conference following the Sandy Hook shooting, recommended arming all schools with a guard mentioning, “”The only way — the only way — to stop a monster from killing our kids is to be personally involved and invested in a plan for protection.”

We disagree with this approach.

We know that SLA students feel safe during a school day. We attribute this to an intensive interview process and establishing a sense of community and student-teacher relationships through measures like advisory, as well as the area where the school is located. We feel accountable for the people around us. It’s stated in the policy of the School District that weapons are not allowed, but since we don’t rely on a metal detector to enforce this, we go on the honor code and common respect.

In fact, SLA is the only high school in the Philadelphia School District that does not use metal detectors upon entrance into the building, something Principal Lehmann demanded when founding the school. It adds to the sense of comfort that most feel within the walls of the school. It is the hope that the respect for the school and for those inside of it will curb the potential for someone to bring in a weapon.

There isn’t really any way to know whether people bring weapons into the school, but there has never been an incident with a gun during the 7 years SLA has been around. SLA attracts students from all over the city, many from neighborhoods they may not feel safe coming and going to. This could be a reason that someone might bring a weapon to feel more secure.

We understand the reasons for fear. The possibility of the presence of weapons is always there. But our research revealed that this fear is not exactly rational.

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention report on school-associated student violence, homicide is the leading cause of death for people aged 5-18. However, less than 1% of the deaths from July 1999 to June 2004 were linked to schools.

What’s more, a report from the U.S. Department of Education/Secret Service showed that the odds of a student getting into a fight, 1 in 7, were in sharp contrast to those of a student dying by homicide in school, 1 in 1,000,000.

To contrast, from the same time frame there were 161 reported homicides for people under 17 in Philadelphia.

We want to value SLA as the safe place it has always been, and if we are worried about violence we should instead focus on what’s happening in our city every day.

Unsigned editorials are written and approved by the SLAMedia Editorial Staff. They do not reflect the opinion of Science Leadership Academy and its employees.

Column: Choice Reading

January 31, 2013 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

By DeShawn McLeod

Staff Writer

Reading is more than fundamental. It’s essential. Reading is life. My life anyway.

I’m currently in Ms. Rami’s English 3 class, so her independent reading unit is yielding positive results. Her philosophy is reading set books only brings “fake” class conversations. So, she decided students could read what they wanted, as long as they read a certain amount of books in a particular genre.

Sparknotes has become the contemporary student’s best friend. And, this has heavily contributed to the “fake” class discussions. I have to confess: when reading an assigned class book, I’ve used Sparknotes ~~a few times~~ a lot.

In the short term, Sparknotes has provided procrastinating students the liberty to fully understand a book in less than 3 minutes right before class. Long term, the book’s message, concept, or theory doesn’t stick with student as teachers would like. There are set books for a reason; they are phenomenas of the English language!

The Spine Breakers of Phil-Mont Christian Academy. Photo via Phil-Mont.com

In terms of reading what I want, this has been a breeze. I have a great passion for reading. Heck, I was on the Reading Olympics in middle school and my team, the Spine Breakers, got a first place ribbon. Look at that photo of me in 8th grade. We’re pretty stunning.

Reading is etched in my bones, so this is not a challenge.

There’s pros and cons to this type of reading. But, I find the pros outweigh the cons. The tricky thing about choice reading is the teacher is not cajoling the student to read. You do it on your own time. I, for one, benefit HIGHLY. I have no problem grabbing a book and getting engrossed in it.

Choice reading is beneficial to me because it’s a structureless task. In structureless environments, I work best because I can customize the framework in order for me to succeed.

My problem, of course, is creating time to read. Because of Benchmark Season and mini projects, it can be hard to find 30 minutes of free time to crack open a spine.

But, some students do need some type of layout in order to do their best. Which entails having some sort of guidance in this yearlong assignment. I think the biggest problem may be some students haven’t found the book they are particularly interested in. Or, knowing where to start can be a hardship.

A big contribution to my habits started in middle school. I had a teacher, Mrs. Rockey, that was a reading fanatic and that energy transferred over to me. It started with ample access to a huge library and getting suggestions on books I might’ve liked.

That experience doesn’t come across most students. But, I do suggest learning about books through word of mouth. That’s how I started and it skyrocketed into the Reading Olympics.

Cutting out maybe 5-10 minutes to read is somewhere to start. Then, as one gets more interested in reading, they’d increase that time gradually. Until 10 minutes become an hour, and an hour becomes a day.

It could be done while commuting, in class free time, or just free time in general. Plus, I’d check out books I might be interested in. Utilize the school’s library, English teacher’s libraries, and that FREE library card.

Trying out new things doesn’t hurt, and that’s one more book toward you finding the best book you’ve ever read.

Column: I Hate Keystones

January 23, 2013 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

By Dalena Bui

Staff Writer

The Keystone Exams are end-of-course assessments designed to assess proficiency in various subjects. The Keystones show the school district how well students are assessed and it reflects on the school and how well they teach the students.

Keystones. That name alone makes the juniors at SLA stomachs drop. The juniors at SLA have never heard of Keystones until this year. The reason why is because the Keystones were made to replace the PSSA. The only thing I heard was that it is a test that lasted for 3 hours. That made my heart drop. Taking a test is hard alone, but taking a 3 hour test sounded horrible. The juniors were tested in 3 major subject, English, Math, and Science.

I am not allowed to write about things I saw in the Keystone but I can give an overall evaluation of what I felt. The math and english section I felt confident in. But when I heard about science I wasn’t too sure of myself. I felt like I couldn’t recall anything I learned over the past 2 years in science. The test confirmed my worst fear. There were things I have never seen in the subject of science. I knew I was not going to do well and so did the rest of my classmates . We all agreed when we all looked at each other and said “See all of you in May, because we’re not passing this.”

The worst part about testing was sitting in a room for hours on end with nothing to do. Since my cell phone and every other juniors phone was taken away. We all had to sit there and do nothing until the time ran out. That was honestly, to me, the worst part of the Keystone week. But, when I finished the last question on each test I felt a sense of accomplishment.

Overall, it was a good experience. It really showed me that I have learned a lot over the years. My teachers all helped us prepare for the test and it did help for the most part. This test brought out the worst and the best in me.

Column: I <3 Calculus

January 22, 2013 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Ryan Harris

Staff Writer

Ladies and gentlemen, I present you– mathematics. The most hated subject among nearly every student ever. Now I represent a dying race, people who, wait for it…. actually like math.

It’s not even that I “like” math, I love math, more specifically Calculus.

We’ve been identified as many different delightful titles: nerds, geeks, and my personal favorite, crazy.

Well if ‘crazy’ means having a great appreciation for math concepts and how they relate to the world around us, then send me to the loony bin.

I remember junior year taking pre-calculus and absolutely HATING it.

Now you’re probably thinking: “But Ryan, I thought you said you loved math?”

Before you accuse me of hypocrisy, my love of math is certainly a new-found one.

Like many kids growing up, and many kids now, I utterly loathed math class. I know that each and every one of you guys remembering sitting in math class, always having this question pop into your head: “What’s the point of all this?”

“I’m never going to pursue a career in math so why would I ever need to learn this?”

I was once in the same position myself and I didn’t have a change of heart until this year, when I starting taking calculus.

I used think math was the most boring subject in the world. Who wants to learn about triangles, absolute value, and polynomials; when there’s massive wars and glorious adventures being told in subjects like history and english?

I will say this: there are extremely boring and frustrating parts to math, like there are with history, english, or science.

I would rather watch paint dry or eat GLASS than have to deal with stuff like domain and range, matrices, and box-and-whisker plots.

And there’s limits…… Oh, how my anger for thee burns like sun that we orbit.

But even with the boring parts and my hatred for all things related to limits, there’s so much more interesting and, quite frankly, cool things about mathematics.

One of the basic concepts of mathematics is the concept of inputs and outputs. You put something in, to get out something different. Something is always a function of anything. This evident in pretty much EVERYTHING ever.

Think about it.

How much time you have to get ready for school is dependent on what time you wake up in the morning, or even if you wake up at all. When you tell yourself to go to sleep at 10pm so that you can wake up at 6am, there’s math behind that thought process.

It’s so second nature to you that you don’t even of something like that as math.

Also the idea of derivatives, or rates of change are constant throughout everyday life as well.
If you were to go to sleep at 11 or 12, the amount of sleep you get would decrease. Thus, the amount of time you have to get ready is also decreased by rate as well.

I know it’s crazy to think but, math is, and always will be apart of our lives whether we want it to or not.

Plus, talking about complex mathematical problems always makes me feel like a super genius of some kind. You guys should try it sometime.

P.S. This column was in NO way trying to kiss up to my calc teacher, Brad Latimer. But, if my calc grade suddenly changes from a “B” to an “A”, I wouldn’t object.

Column: In Defense of eReaders

January 11, 2013 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

By Jenn Wright

Staff Writer

The aroma of a mysterious bookshop invades your nostrils as you flip through the crinkled pages of a novel. The feel of the pages and the smell of them is really what’s going to make the writing and the quality of the book AMAZING, am I right?

Wrong.

I am the proud owner of a Kindle where I store upwards of 100 novels weighing less than 10 ounces, including the case. I get a lot of flack for it, though.

Of course when I began reading as a young person, I toted around books of all shapes and sizes. I fell in love with books– meaning literature, though, not the physical book.

I plead with this to people that look down upon my eReading ways, and I usually don’t get a response from that.

Not to say I don’t appreciate things like cover art and illustrations. What would the Harry Potter boo

180px-Kindle_3_by_Jleon

ks have been without the cover art and the little star pattern on each page? I can appreciate how convenient and lightweight eReaders are. They make endless amounts of books accessible at the click of a button. Many classic titles like Jane Eyre and War and Peace are even free of charge.

Writers should and are embracing the opportunities that eReaders offer in terms of sales and distribution. Rather than a publisher only allowing a small number of books written by a new author to hit the shelves, an essentially infinie amount of able to be sold.

The ability to choose from a wide range of novels at any moment is addicting. I never need a bookmark and the thing gives me the definition of words right in the margin when I’m unsure. I can highlight great quotes and lend books to others.

While I’ll never stop reading physical books, the relationship with my Kindle is one that is not approved of by many, but feels so right.