Column

Lean In illuminates double standard for women

Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg’s book Lean In has held the top of the nonfiction bestseller list for eight consecutive weeks. Her treatise on modern feminism is being read and discussed everywhere.

Through personal anecdotes and scientific research, Sandberg supports her argument for increased female engagement in the workforce. While her stories and research enlighten, her arguments can feel a bit cliché, a bit vague. Her titular recommendation to “lean in” is the vaguest recommendation of all.

Brazilian conference highlights human rights

Imagine spring break in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Sandy beaches, beautiful sunsets and endless sight-seeing. The reality: conference rooms, crisp collars, notepads, pens and lectures. I was gifted with the most eye-opening and unexpected trip of a lifetime.

After-exam seminars would support exploration

After finishing their IB exams, now-completed IB classes lapse into some combination of stupor, laptops and movies. Those teachers who try to continue teaching in their previous style are met with massive resistance. However, as IB exams wrap up, seniors and some juniors still have a full six weeks of school left. Why let this time go to waste?

Best Buddies creates friendships, combats stigmas

This article is in response to a video posted by a father of a boy who has Autism. In this video he explains why he is outraged that his son’s own teachers were verbally abusive to their students and did not treat his son with respect.

This video demonstrates a continuing societal problem: discrimination towards people with special needs. I personally find it astonishing that people can bully others solely because that the person was born with something that makes them physically or mentally different. People have no control over the way they are born, so why should they be punished?

Reflections from Prom 2012

Prom is over now and I hope everybody had a wonderful time. I have some retrospective advice I would like to offer to future prom attendees.

The first thing you need to do is to start planning early. Find a core group of people, talk to all of them and make sure everyone is on the same page. The page you all need to agree on is money.

Everybody has a different idea of prom in his or her head. Some people envision jewel-encrusted spoons whereas others want to bring a tablecloth to McDonalds. Both are fine.

Avengers’ marketing strategy earns big

A man in a leotard, a green monster, a Norse god and a Playboy made $642 million in a week. The Avengers broke records its opening weekend and outperformed both Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II as well as The Dark Knight. Although the film’s publicity was years in the making, Marvel Studios has nonetheless succeeded in translating the entire Marvel universe to the big screen, and has made billions in the process.

Learning to appreciate the new, single Learn

In what should have been a routine activity, the process of getting class schedules the week before the start of school had a foreign twist. The coordination with friends about which classes we shared included looking up which lunch blocks we had together due to the incorporation of a Learn block separate from Lunch.

International experience imperative for an IB learner

Having an international perspective in an IB school is invaluable to the learning experience.
I lived overseas for two formative years that shaped me as a learner. I was in Stuttgart, Germany for fifth and sixth grade living on an American military base. Although I lived on base, my parents sent my sister and I off base for school and made every effort to spend time in and around Europe.

Living overseas gave me language immersion, cultural acceptance and a new outlook on global issues. Despite living in a fairly metropolitan area, it is very easy to avoid cultural diversity.

The Legend of Korra modernizes Avatar series

Every child has that one cartoon he or she loved and adored. Avatar: The Last Air Bender is that cartoon for millions. After being named the 35th best -animated show in the world, Avatar expands its universe with The Legend of Korra. However, despite being a brilliant show, The Legend of Korra abandons its routes.

Students and staff: Instances of bullying rare, but still problematic

In school, English teacher James Macindoe said, he and his friends were bullied.

“I don’t think we thought of it as bullying at the time,” he said. Macindoe cited petty incidents in elementary school and times that he saw physical violence between his best friend and upperclassmen in high school.

“My best friend played on the soccer team and every day after school one of the seniors on the team would beat the crap out of him,” he said.

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