by Leah Peloff ‘18 Senior year brings many experiences that students have anticipated their entire lives. They build up these events, notably prom, and begin to think that this will be a night they will remember forever; it must be perfect. This Cinderella fantasy of how prom should be drives focus away from a fun, end-of-high-school dance and towards a … Read More
by Naomi Lawrence ‘17 Beginning when they are still only toddlers, children have been learning life skills such as self-control and persistence from their parents. Now, some public schools in the United States are trying to mistakenly assume the role of teaching these character traits. Recent updates to a federal education law require schools to use one form of non-academic … Read More
By Josh Averbach ’18 In response to the February death of conservative Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia, President Obama has sought to fill the vacancy in the nation’s highest court. In March, Obama nominated Merrick Garland, a federal judge. Senate Republicans, however, are committed to ensuring that Garland is not confirmed. This strategy of obstructionism is a mistake because Garland … Read More
Eric Guerci, Student Member of the Board Last year, in an election that saw unprecedented amounts of voter involvement, you sent me to the Board table to represent every one of Montgomery County’s 156,000 students and their voices. The context of that election was not optimistic. The implementation of PARCC saw widespread dissent, our schools lacked a permanent superintendent, testing … Read More
Cartoon by Colleen Yates ’18
By Josh Averbach ‘18 Since the end of the civil rights movement, colleges and universities have given preferential treatment to Black and Hispanic applicants in a practice known as affirmative action. Later this year, the Supreme Court will rule on Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, a case that may, if the court gets it right, end racial preferences … Read More
By Meghan Proctor ‘16 A bill recently approved by Virginia’s Senate would require schools to send notifications to parents when the class will read a book that contains sexually explicit content. Parents would then have the opportunity to opt their children out of reading that book. While this bill is not as bad as outright banning books for all students, … Read More
By Natalie Murray ‘18 It would seem that, for every one of the millions of Taylor Swift fans in the world, there are three Taylor Swift haters. Although Swift is a genuine, kind, hardworking singer-songwriter, she always seems to be under fire for something ridiculous— like that she “sues her fans” or is “money-hungry.” The claim that Swift sues everyone … Read More
By Lauren MacFadden ’17 Many people turn to Netflix to binge watch their favorite shows like “Gossip Girl” or “Grey’s Anatomy.” However, when Netflix released the documentary, “Making a Murderer,” on Dec. 18, 2015, people could not turn away from the suspense. In this ten-part series, viewers dive into the case of Steven Avery. In 1985, Avery was falsely convicted … Read More
By Amy Hesselroth ’16 As a high school senior neck-deep in the college application process, I have found myself answering the same question for the last six months. Whenever adults or peers find out I am in my last year of high school, inevitably they ask “Where are you applying?” after which they expect a list of every school where … Read More