With the Omicron variant of Covid-19 emerging recently and spiking in cases over winter break, MCPS has been forced to make difficult and often controversial decisions. Although there were significant failures in how MCPS communicated to teachers, students, and parents, the best option is to keep schools open in-person unless a lack of staff necessitates schools to close for a … Read More
by Timaya Pulliam ‘23 Zendaya, Amandla Stenberg, Storm Reid, and Yara Shahidi all have one thing in common. They are all light-skinned and mixed women in Hollywood with plenty of major roles. When looking at diversity in television and film, many people think about race; however, skin shade is just as much of an issue. These leading ladies and women … Read More
by Anna Haas ‘23 Pods of desks, group projects, a spot on report cards that grade for class participation. All of these and more are ways that schools align themselves around extroverts. MCPS has even been pushing to get away from lecture-style teaching and teacher-led instruction in favor of groups, projects, and socratic seminars. Extroverts reading this are likely jumping … Read More
by Sydney Wiser ‘23 On December 1, the Supreme Court began hearing arguments for Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a Mississippi case that could determine the future of abortion in this country. The case directly challenges Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court case that protects the right to choose whether or not to have an abortion under the … Read More
by Erica Kuhlmann ‘22 A study done in 2018 reported that 50% of teenagers feel addicted to their phones, and this number has surely increased in recent years as COVID-19 lockdowns caused people to rely heavily on technology for connection with the outside world. Teens are told that they are addicted to their phones or the internet constantly, getting called … Read More
by Alexis Booker ‘23 and Perri Williams ‘23 The SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test) is a standardized test distributed by the College Board, a provider of tests and curriculum that shape the U.S. education system. The origins of the SAT began in 1926 and first was used by the U.S. Army to test how intelligent recruits were. Although reasonable on the surface, … Read More
by Nia Peake ‘23 Despite still being one of the most popular apps and social media platforms in the world, the Instagram we once knew is long gone. Like many niche happenings and cultural developments over time, Instagram has fully succumbed to capitalism, becoming another company turning into the next cash grab. Instagram is arguably one of the most influential … Read More
by Aviv Klayman ‘24 Within the last year, Covid-19 related deaths have consumed many Americans’ worries; however, a different problem has been shadowed by the virus. Since April 2020, a record of almost 100,000 Americans have died from drug overdoses. In comparison, 70,630 people died of a drug overdose in 2019, which shows an increase of 28.5 percent. Staying home … Read More
Solaiman Khamis Hassanin ‘23 After more than six months of being in the news, Critical Race Theory is by now a familiar controversy to many. It is, by nature, the perfect issue for conservatives to weaponize to scare a lot of parents, get nationwide coverage, and play off the already existing distrust of public education among those on the political … Read More
by Erica Kuhlmann ‘22 The “Free Britney” movement has existed for over a decade but only reached mainstream popularity in the last few years as more details surfaced about the conservatorship governing the life of 39-year-old pop singer Britney Spears. A conservatorship is a legal arrangement that appoints a conservator, sometimes called a “guardian,” to manage the money or daily … Read More