Op/Ed

Littering at Science Leadership Academy has always been a problem. Our blatant pollution could be from a lack of consequences and a relaxed disciplinary system. Visitors to the school can see the trash and it also poses a problem of hygiene when pests like rats and cockroaches are roaming the halls.

We might be able to attribute this problem to SLA’s fundamental rules, or lack thereof. If SLA was to implement stricter rules, though, the whole culture of the school would change. Our teachers are aware of this, but they wanted to cultivate an environment where students would govern themselves.

Classrooms at SLA stay cleaner because teachers impose consequences. Math Teacher Erin Garvey, for example, reminds her classes every day to clean up their trash or their eating privileges will be taken away. In hallways there is no one to hold students accountable. Also, when students see cleaning staff, they make the assumption that they will clean up our trash.

Since we aren’t going to add rules, and we can’t add staff to police the halls, what do we do?

Previous attempts to curb littering were proactive campaigns and friendly reminders. Senior Chelsea A. Smith’s campaign last year spread awareness about litter by putting up stickers in problem areas proclaiming “Litter Free Zone.” Principal Lehmann’s most recent attempt was a frustrated plea over the loudspeaker to stop leaving lunch areas like landfills. These were short lived, but brought the issue into light.

SLA’s most recent idea, the space adoption program, takes a reactive approach. Instead of trying to prevent litter, we have created a system for cleaning it up on a schedule. You may have noticed the plaques hanging around the halls and stairwells claiming these spaced being owned by an advisory. People are skeptical about the future, and impact of this program, due to it’s inactivity since it’s announcement at the beginning of the year.

The SLAMedia staff has two ideas of their own:

– Have the janitors not pick up our trash and let us deal with the consequences of having a dirty school

– Hold the whole school accountable: for every day a space is dirty, don’t let students eat lunch there the next day.

We have a strong sense of community, but in this area we are lacking. It is expected that many students will reject our suggestions because they don’t want to be responsible for other people’s trash. This might feel uncomfortable, but these are necessary measures to take before it gets worse.

 

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

The 2012 Presidential election is near and SLA students are talking about it — but that doesn’t mean they’re doing a good job.

SLA prides itself on an environment that allows for diverse students, but when a student speaks out with Republican views, there’s some surprised faces. It’s assumed that the community is predominantly liberal.

This is troubling for a number of reasons. As adolescents, we know the candidates, but we don’t always learn their ideas, goals, and views. And due to ignorance, once again we have a distorted perception of the election and its candidates.

The Internet and social media in particular — so critical to SLA’s culture — reinforce this “liberal bubble” we live in. Facebook News Feeds carry a lot of mockery pertaining to the main candidates. To Obama’s advantage, he’s more invested in the social media scene, which gives avid Internet users, like us, a skewed view of potential nominees.

Another example is Googling “completely wrong” and in the images section, there are a plethora amount of images presenting Republican candidate Mitt Romney.

Social media is not the only influence on teen views. One’s parents and community all affect how interested young people are in the elections. Because the majority of the community is liberal, it is perceived to be 100% liberal. This is what leads to the “bubble” at SLA.

One way to burst the bubble is to take a closer look at the policies of who you support. For example, take Obama’s “Race to the Top” program. According to the U.S. Department of Education, “Awards in Race to the Top will go to States that are leading the way with ambitious yet achievable plans for implementing coherent, compelling, and comprehensive education reform.” [Via here]

This means that states with the highest test scores will be funded more than those who don’t. This program is likely to increase education inequity–not something at SLA believes in, but something most of us don’t know about.

So, what can SLA students do to pop the “liberal bubble”? Here are some suggestions:

• Tear away from Facebook News Feeds and search for unbiased information from Committee of 70, League of Women Voters, or FactCheck.org
• Read both liberal and conservative sources; If you’re going to watch Fox News, watch MSNBC as well, or if you’re going to read The New York Times, read The Wall Street Journal too.
• Be more open to conservative voices, especially Republicans at SLA.
• Decide what issues matter to you personally, and then get the facts.

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

Change certainly has not been a new thing at SLA. Teachers and students reflect and re-evaluate themselves, so much so that it’s a core value of the school. While individual change is common among here, changes within SLA’s inner systems paint a different story.

Since students have been attending SLA, many different programs at the school that have come and gone. The main reason leading to termination of these program is lack of student involvement. SLA is a safe and engaging environment with a diverse community. The problem isn’t creating change, but being able to sustain that change.

When students would hear about a new club or program connected to the school, while they knew of it, students just didn’t participate.

We have to ask ourselves: “Does this change fit a need that SLA actually has?” “Does this program have something about it that SLA needs?”

A major reason why programs haven’t lasted at SLA is that they served no purpose to the overall community of the school. However, some programs are absolutely necessary — they just need the right kind of introduction and support. More specifically, we can look at change within SLA: past, present and future.

The three we are going to focus on are: Student Government, SLA Recycling Program (SLARP), and finally Prom Court.

For starters, Student Government began as the name entails, a system ran by students, governed by president, vice president, etc. with student representatives from each advisory. Student Government proved to be ineffective in the overall structure of SLA. This could be attributed to the idea that Student Government didn’t fill a need. If a student has problem, he/she can go directly to Lehmann or their Advisor, rather than reporting to a student president.

Next, SLARP is a capstone project trying to encourage SLA to recycle. The program shows how sustaining change is difficult is SLA. In recent time, new recycling bins have been scattered around SLA. But even with those, students haven’t been recycling, they’ve just been throwing their trash away in normal trash cans.

The students know that they have to recycle, but it’s not something that is necessarily enforced to them.

Finally, Prom Court is another capstone project trying to incorporate Prom King/Queen into SLA proms. The court potentially presents a conflict for SLA’s future. While Prom Court is a tradition in many other schools, it is new addition to SLA. Being a new addition, many students are apprehensive about adding a Prom King/Queen thinking it’s “not an SLA thing.” In the end, the program did not cause much of a stir at prom.

Students need to ask themselves: “Does this change fit a need that SLA actually has?” Who’s to say? Only the future will tell.

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

“Race is like weather, we only talk about it when it is extreme”, Touré wrote in his opinion piece for the New York Times last November.

In the past few months, this extreme weather becomes more prominent. Below are just a few in a long list of racial-based biased incidents that happened since the beginning of this year.

– Shaima Alawadi, an Iraqi American stay-at-home mother, who lived with her family of five children in the suburb of San Diego, was found dead by her daughter in the living room of their rented house. There was also a note left at the scene telling the family to “go back to your country, you terrorist.”

– The death of Trayvon Martin, who was fatally shot dead by George Zimmerman, neighborhood watch guard of a gated community after visiting his father in a gated community in Florida. Police initially did not arrest Zimmerman, but after high public pressure, the case is being tried in court. Martin’s death raised the question on racial profiling and biased treatment of authority on the victim. Please follow the case for more information.

– Teddy Molina of Corpus Christi, Texas , who committed suicide after years of enduring bully at school. He was openly bullied for being a mixed race student.

The list goes on.

In Philadelphia, the series of attacks on Asian Immigrant students at South Philadelphia high school on December 3rd 2009 shed light to the issue of racial biased violence, in school and society at large to local and national attention.

These cases, and countless other like them, set themselves apart because of the racial biased-based motivation that is involved.

Molina was bullied because he was mixed race. Alawadi and her family was targeted because of they were “perceived” as “terrorist” in the post 9/11 America. Martin, an African American youth, was suspected by Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch volunteer in a gated community. Police did not make initial arrest for Zimmerman show a level of indifference for the death of an African American youth.

The series of attacks on December 3rd 2009 at South Philadelphia high school targeted on the Asian Immigrant population. The School District of Philadelphia was proven by the Department of Justice to be “deliberately indifferent” to the safety of these students.

Feeling uneasy?

That’s how it should feel: uncomfortable and heartbreaking, and frustrating.

Racial diversity…what a great phenomenon! If only we can understand how to live with it.

Given the history of racism in which this country was built upon, from slavery to Chinese Exclusion Act to segregation to racial profiling in post 9/11 era, one obvious mistake is to pretend that race does not exist. Race is entrenched deeply in our society that we cannot escape from. Imagine we are fish, and race has dissolved into the water.

So…what do we do?

– Face it! It is there. Turn a blind eye or be a bystander will not help. Not addressing the problem will only send the message that we are alright with it, and therefore we unintentionally become a supporter of the problem. Imagine when you see a fire, watching it burn will only mean you allow it to continue. So talk about it!

– Don’t ignore the tensions and dynamic that come with that diversity. Those tensions and dynamic are the result of our nation’s history, not a momentary issue. To heal from generations-length racism would require a process of equal or longer period of time. Therefore, it is the responsibility of all of us, not just the ones who are negatively affected.

– Understand that the racism is not only interpersonal. It is also institutional that rooted into the very structure of the way things work in the very society we live.  We usually want to just capture the perpetrator, which will never solve the problem. Again, think about water: we can take out as many bad fish as we could. But until we solve the water issue, the generations of fish to come will always have bad fishes.

– Understand also that institutional racism is different from personal prejudice. In short, just because we are not participating in racism does not mean that it does not exist at a larger level.

– Racism is more importantly internalized into our conscience, of how we interpret the world, and of how we see ourselves.

– Shift the focus from intent to impact. Sometimes, we unconsciously participate in racism, however it hurts whether we intended it or not. So be thoughtful and purposeful of our actions would be a tremendous shift.

This process will inevitably be uncomfortable, as all process of change will be. But we believe it will be worth it.