Tower The Masters School
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VOLUME 73 NUMBER 5
Editorial Recent student protests of conservative speakers at U.C. Berkeley and Middlebury College took a dangerous turn toward intolerance as the protesters resorted to violent behavior to silence alternative viewpoints. Liberal frustration with Trump Administration policies is understandable but should not be used as an excuse to shut down the free exchange of ideas.
FRIDAY MARCH 10, 2017
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Travel ban disrupts student’s life DaviD oks Copy Editor
PHOTO COURTESY OF TONY FISCHER
OVERLOOKING THE HUDSON RIVER in Buchanan, NY, the Indian Point Energy Center is operated by Entergy Nuclear Northeast. The nuclear power plant has been in operation since 1962, but earlier this year Governor Andrew Cuomo announced plans to close the plant by 2021.
As Indian Point closes, controversy explodes Courtney DeLong Editor-in-chief
A question that has long divided communities throughout the Hudson Valley has finally been answered. On Jan. 9, New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a deal to close Indian Point, a controversial nuclear power plant in Buchanan, New York. People concerned about the plant’s effect on the Hudson River or a possible meltdown or a terrorist attack are happy with the closure. Biology teacher Elisabeth Merrill said, “I am delighted that it seems like they are closing the plant.” However, disappointed nuclear advocates have pointed to the plant as a source of wealth for communities and stated that it is safe. Indian Point currently uses water from the Hudson to cool the plant’s turbine, causing warming in the river when the water is released and, according to environmental group RiverKeeper, contributing to the deaths of up to a billion fish, larvae and eggs each year.
In addition, nuclear waste is stored on site and if not properly contained could harm people living in nearby towns where Masters students live. Merrill noted that the plant is located on a fault line and said that the waste was “a danger unto itself.” If an earthquake occurs, she said, the waste “risks becoming a radioactive hazard.” However many residents are not worried. “I don’t feel unsafe,” Peekskill resident Jared Foxhall said. The plant has long been fighting a legal battle. When honors chemistry classes visited the plant in 2015, it was operating on an expired license. During a talk at Masters’ Sustainability Symposium in February, members of the grassroots group Stope Algonquin Pipeline Expansion (SAPE) cited concerns about Indian Point’s proximity to a new natural gas pipeline. Nuclear advocates, however, claim the plant is completely safe. Students were told terrorism was not a valid concern and that the building the plant is housed in could withstand forces as strong as a plane crash. “Honestly a
lot of this bad perception surrounding nuclear energy is because of false hype and media,” Foxhall said. Andrés Cardenas, Masters physics teacher and former Material Scientist for the Nuclear Division at Los Alamos, said a meltdown was “unlikely” but that “the biggest threat of Indian Point is water contamination,” which could occur in the Hudson River or with groundwater seepage. Cardenas stressed that as long as safety regulations are followed, there is no reason for malfunction. However, the plant has consistently been written up for various violations and if contamination were to occur it could have severe public health effects. About 25 percent of all energy used in Westchester County and New York City comes from Indian Point. County Executive Rob Astorino expressed concern over shutting down the facility, saying that “the impact of the plant closing is going to be, in some cases, catastrophic. Where is that energy going to be coming from?” It is also still unclear how the plant’s
shutdown will impact local economies. Indian Point provides jobs and lowers taxes in the towns of Buchanan, Cortlandt and Peekskill. The closing of the plant could lead to significant tax raises for citizens. Some environmental activists support the plant. They hope that nuclear power can replace fossil fuels and act as a sustainable source of energy. “Having studied and researched and visited Indian Point, I’ve come to realize that nuclear energy may be the only way to transition into sustainable energy,” Foxhall said. Cardenas agreed with Foxhall, citing the mass amount of power that can be harnessed from atoms. “If you’re not pursuing nuclear what you are doing?” he wondered. Some people feel that even if nuclear energy has potential, the technology is still not advanced enough. “I don’t know how I feel about something so risky,” senior Julia Poster said.
Grade distribution at Masters shows imbalance Henry WiLLiams Opinion Editor For better or worse, grades are a focal point of academics for many Masters students. They are a metric that registers achievement, growth in the classroom and academic ability. Each quarter, students sit down with their advisors to discuss their grades, and students often talk amongst themselves about their performance. Rarely though, does the larger community examine larger trends in how we evaluate student performance. The Masters School Profile 20162017, prepared by the college counseling office each year to send along with student applications to give a sense of the school’s academic environment and rigor, shows some trends that go unnoticed in the usual dialogue surrounding grades. There exists, according to a chart of student’s end-of-year grades for the last four years, a significant disparity between grades for English and history classes and grades for science, math and language classes. According to the data, about 22% of students receive “B+s” in English classes, compared to only 14% for science classes, and though fewer than 3% receive “Cs” in history, close to 6% get that grade in math. This could be explained by grade inflation, which is defined by Dictionary. com as “the awarding of higher grades than students deserve either to maintain a school’s academic reputation or as a result of diminished teacher expecta-
tions.” “I think there are differences between how different departments grade,” Science Department Chair Frank Greally said. “Grading standards are entirely
tests and assessments that have clear right and wrong answers. As a result, there is less chance of teachers inflating grades based on their discretion. The science department is currently
GRAPH COURTESY OF MASTERS COMMUNICATIONS OFFICE
ON AVERAGE, ENGLISH AND History grades are higher than grades in Science and Math. decided by individual teachers and departments,” Greally said, “I’m not sure what other department’s standards are.” Greally explained that there may be a disparity because science and math classes have a tendency to be more quantitative, with grading based primarily on
working on standardizing their assessments between sections of the same courses. “We’re working backwards from a common final on what skills students need to learn,” he said. “Our new ninth grade class will give us better insights into possible assessments other
than tests and quizzes.” “When it comes to numeric grades, the question that must be asked is whether it’s based on a range of skills or on a specific assessment,” History Department Chair Skeffington Young said. “History has more of a tendency to look at the process of learning rather than the product.” He elaborated that subjects in the humanities do tend to take into account factors such as preparation and class discussion that lend themselves to subjectivity. “Students who aren’t as strong in written essays can demonstrate their competency through other skills,” Young said. Math teacher Hank Kim explained that despite a lack of direct departmental oversight of grading, “There is still a culture of inflating grades, and all teachers feel pressure to inflate grades.” As to the reasons for the disparity, Kim also pointed towards participation scores, which he said could get much higher than other kinds of assessment. “It could also be that students who are strong in writing and reading are more likely to come to Masters,” Kim said. Despite these anecdotal possibilities, Kim also attested that there is no communication with other departments about grading standards. “This is an important issue, and Academic Committee should set aside time to talk about it,” Greally said. “As a school we need to look at and have a better understanding of what other departments are doing, because sometimes we’re too isolated.”
On Jan. 27, President Donald Trump signed Executive Order 13769, titled “Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States,” which, amongst other provisions, banned citizens of seven Muslim-majority nations—Iraq, Iran, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Libya and Sudan—from entering the United States for 90 days. Across the country, tens of thousands were affected, including Masters sophomore Parsa Kevyani, who is from Iran. Upon first hearing the news, “I was shocked, and I didn’t know what to do. I tried not to listen to the news,” Kevyani said. Born in Tehran, Kevyani joined Masters this year and has since become an active member of the community. The ban severely complicated Kevyani’s life. Because the ban did not explicitly exclude individuals with green cards from those banned from entering the U.S., Kevyani, who has a student visa, was unsure if he would be able to go to Iran. Since the ban was set to extend through spring break, Kevyani would be out of school but unable to rejoin his family, which became an urgent issue. Kevyani’s mother, who had been planning to visit, was suddenly restricted from coming. “We were very angry and sad,” Kevyani said. The Masters administration reassured Kevyani greatly by meeting with international students to assure them that the school was aware of the situation. “Mr. Ives, Mr. Newcomb, Ms. Danforth, Mr. Cornigans, Mr. Kaine, myself, and others met with international students,” International Student Advisor Mary Holton said. The school also utilized the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) legal advisory on the travel ban, a resource the group provides to member schools. “I reached out to Parsa’s family and his aunt and uncle, who live in the U.S., and told them we’d be here for them,” Holton said. A contingency plan was created in case the original ban had been extended through the summer. Since Keyvani’s aunt and uncle are citizens and live in New York City, he would be able to stay with them, as well as with his grandparents, who live in the U.S. on a green card. “Ms. Holton offered me to stay at her house during spring break,” Kevyani said. “I didn’t feel alone. I was planning to go back to my country during spring break, but after the ban I have to stay in the U.S. with my aunt.” After the original ban was suspended by a federal court on Feb. 9, Kevyani’s situation improved considerably. Since he is in the U.S. on a student visa, he was not specifically exempted by the original ban, but has been exempted by the ban Trump announced on March 6. “There were a few days when things were in the air, but there was never a moment when we weren’t sure that the Masters community could provide for Parsa,” Holton said.