Looking back on elementary school, I remember how confidential grades were. Even if I willingly attempted to share my score on something as innocent as a reading quiz, my teacher was always quick to remind me that “we don’t brag about our grades” to other students. At the time, I thought this was a pointless rule; any child would want to bask in the glory of an A with his or her friends.
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“Do we really have to remember all of this?”   Fellow students in the IB History class kept asking the question as they filled in a map of the Middle East. They had started learning about the Arab – Israeli conflict, and one of the standards for the unit wasContinue Reading

“Math class is tough… Party dresses are fun!” A Barbie doll released in 1992 caused a recall-worthy controversy with its inclusion of phrases talking about the difficulty of math and many more about the wonders of shopping in its collection of audio files.
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Gossip Girl. Hannah Montana. The Princess Diaries. iCarly. Mean Girls. Cliques and their drama lie at the heart of so many media portrayals of the teenage years. This depiction of teens creates a vicious cycle of ever-increasing stereotypes.
High school is portrayed as a place where each student has his or her place in a system of cliques. This categorical system, of the jocks and the nerds, of the cool kids and the losers, has been shown in every movie from Grease to High School Musical.
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I can’t believe that we’re already a month into school and I’ve started my second year as editor-in-chief of the Marshall paper. One of the benefits of being able to work on a long term project is being able to implement more than just a single year long goal.
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Around 100 students in the class of 2012 are in a choke hold.
They are held down by an unquantifiable amount of course work and have little time to catch their breath between this and extracurricular activities. These students are the ones who have decided to defeat the monster that is the IB diploma.
They knew what they were getting themselves into when they made the choice, taking on a challenging agenda of IB course work, an extended essay and “Creativity Action and Service” hours.
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There I stood, in a seemingly endless line of students, waiting for essay help from my English teacher. I had been standing for a good 20 minutes, and Lunch & Learn was nearly over. A couple of other students were trying to get ahead on reading assignments or were making up class work. All the while, pockets of students were chatting nosily.
I remember how chaotic the Lunch & Learn situation was in English last year. With Marshall’s renovation underway, it seems that the English department is its giving Learn policy a much-needed face-lift.
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To me the Day of Silence recognizes people from all walks of life who have suffered and continue to suffer from hate, bullying and intimidation. I remember as a freshman, seeing chalk-outlined figures on the floor of the lobby, being moved by the horrific accounts of the hate crimes. IContinue Reading