OPINIONS
December 1, 2017
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MI needs to talk about diversity (cont.) Anti-Semitism in the BDS movement Based off Mercer Island’s demographics, it is relatively unaffected by governmental decisions on a federal level. President Donald Trump’s recent budget cuts affect vital city government departments, such as the Department of Urban Housing and Development, Department of Education, and Department of Health and Human Services. These departments help fund Section 8 Housing, neighborhood development, and after-school programs, among others. In places like Mercer Island, where only around 3% of the population lives below the poverty line, these cuts hardly affect us. However, in Renton, where about 12% live below the poverty line, families — and the city as a whole — will suffer due to budget cuts. Mercer Island’s wealth allows residents to subsidize budget cuts when necessary. Between the Mercer Island Parent Teacher Association and the Mercer Island Schools Foundation, $2 million has been
raised for the school district. However, less affluent communities struggle to make up funding deficits, severely hurting students’ education. Recently, famed author and journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates visited Seattle to discuss his powerful writings on race and politics. Coates talked about the birth of American slavery and people’s view of African Americans. For generations, blacks were seen as inferior, second-class humans, not even citizens. Unfortunately, many African Americans still face the same bigotry today, shown by America’s criminal justice system. The imprisonment of blacks for drug charges is roughly six times the amount of whites. In addition, African Americans are imprisoned at five times the rate of whites overall and make up about 34% of America’s prison population despite being only about 13% of the country’s population. In a privileged area, it is easy to disregard these sta-
tistics as we are relatively unaffected, major crimes are rare. Mercer Island has seen no cases of police brutality or excessive force. In which case, it may be hard to understand that many minorities fear for their life when pulled over for a minor driving infraction; the color of somebody’s skin could be unjustifiable means for a police officer to “fear for their life” and shoot to kill a black man. In this predominantly white community, most residents do not deal with such discrimination on the basis of skin color. However, in times where the government seems to marginalize minorities in favor of the wealthier with fairer skin, affluent communities like Mercer Island must stand with those who do not have the same benefits. Whether it is helping to fund such communities, volunteering, or even empathizing and understanding others, it is important to check our privilege and then use it for good.
Criticizing Israeli policy is fine, but when does it cross the line? Bram Schenck staff writer
In recent years an activist movement known as BDS (Boycott, Divest and Sanction) has taken hold of college campuses, including that of the University of Washington. This movement has the goal of ruining Israel economically, under the belief that it is an apartheid state. Its rise has had harmful impacts on Jewish students and Jewish life on college campuses. The organization amplifies and perpetuates false historical claims, including the denial of Jewish heritage to Israel. BDS also falsely paints Israel as an apartheid state. The organization has received funding from Palestinian terror group Hamas and justifies terrorism against Israelis as “resistance.” The University of Washington is not immune to this new strain of anti-Semitism. Over 17 major anti-Semitic events
have taken place at the UW in the past five years. The BDS group at the UW is called SUPER-UW (Students United for Palestinians’ Equal Rights) This group hosted speaker Omar Barghouti, the cofounder of BDS, who in his speech at the UW denied any Jewish heritage to Israel and called for the destruction of the Jewish state. The denial of the Jewish right to self-determination is unquestionably anti-Semitism. One goal of the BDS movement and its allies on college campuses is to boycott and expel Jewish scholars and cultural groups. “There are teachers who offer extra credit if students attend the SUPER group meetings,” said Rabbi Dana Benson, the rabbi at the University of Washington Hillel. Rabbi Benson describes BDS “as being a divisive topic on college campuses, that oftentimes makes Jewish students feel uncom-
fortable in what should feel like their home sometimes away from home.” One could hope that at least BDS creates a dialogue between two sides. Unfortunately, this would conteract the movement’s goals. Its leaders promote the idea of anti-normalization, which “causes them to not engage or interact with, or acknowledge the existence of the state of Israel at all, and means that they won’t engage with students who are at all involved with Hillel. Essentially, they are cutting off the majority of the student voice on the campus,” according to Rabbi Benson. Taking into consideration the isolation of the Jewish state, boycott of Jewish scholars, rejection of dialogue, and harassment of Jewish students, the BDS movement’s individual members may not be anti-Semitic, but the organization they belong to certainly is.
A case for anonymous grading The injustices of today’s college application process Kate Francke staff writer
At Mercer Island High School, a school filled with ambitious and driven students, there is no room for bias in grading. Teachers are trusted to give meaningful and fair feedback, but there have been concerns that preferences for students or other ingrained natural biases influence their grading. Likewise, teachers who do grade fairly can can still be accused of biased scoring. The best way to deal with both of these issues is implementing an anonymous grading system — a win-win for teachers and students alike. In early November, MIHS students were informally surveyed and asked: “As a student, have you ever felt that you have received an unfair grade due to teacher bias?” The results revealed that a clear majority of students believe their grades have been affected by bias. There are several software programs designed to solve this issue of trust, including Blackboard Help and SpeedGrader. Alternatively, using student ID numbers instead of names would force teachers to grade with impartiality, but still allow them to contact the student when necessary. If a student is struggling in the class, and the teacher wants to reach out to them, the teacher could still look up the student’s name. A vast majority of law schools and universities already rely on anonymous grading systems to offset the threat of teachers allowing their feelings about a student to influence the grades they award. Qualities as diverse as
race, gender, religion, and sexual orientation can sway a teacher when assigning grades. According to the North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture, “Bias in essay grading may come in the form of a ‘conscious decision to boost the grades of students to whom instructors are favorably disposed, whether because of past academic performance, effort, or personality.’” For students whose past performances are below par, bias may deny those students the benefit of the doubt. “When there is a case of biased grading, that bias is always to pull a kid’s grade up. And if that does occur, it’s usually with a student where the teacher is very aware of an extraordinary circumstance, or something that student’s really been struggling with,” said Danielle King, an Honors English 9 and Film as Literature teacher. An anonymous grading system would ensure that teachers are trusted and respected for the grades they give, not accused of prejudice, as well as prevent teachers that do have a history of biased grading in check. Not only would students benefit from this improved grading system, but the teachers would also be protected from accusations of bias and have more credibility. If a student is anonymous, teacher endorsements and recommendations are more credible and valuable, because the given grades are accurate. If a teacher wanted to give a personal approval, they could still access the student’s name, and support them for their character or social skills.
Henry LeMaster staff writer
In 2011, Sam Eshaghoff’s life came to a crashing halt. His parents received a call from the police that there was a warrant out for his arrest. What could the vice president of the business club, top student at his high school and a varsity athlete possibly could have done? Eshaghoff was taking tests for other high school students under their names and consistently scoring in the 97th percentile. Eshaghoff was paid up to $2,500 per test and took the SAT 16 times for other students. This case is a perfect example of the lengths applicants and their parents are willing to go to for a high test score. Eshaghoff’s story illustrates that we are living in the era of a “pay to play” system in which those with money can afford counselors, tutors, and in extreme cases, people like Eshaghoff. The college application process is extremely flawed. High School seniors across the country are grinding away at essays and taking steps to make their college applications the best they can possibly be. Will all their hard work really pay off though? Elite universities across the country pore over thousands of applicants to determine who they accept to their school. A college application put into simplest terms is made up of three parts: information you put into the Common App (grades, letters of recommendation, essays), tests scores and extracurricular activities. Colleges say that high test scores and GPAs as well as being
Photo by Grady Short
The Common Application: an essential step in the admissions process and a tightly held corporate monopoly.
“a well-rounded student” give someone the highest chance of getting into a school. What this system ends up creating is applicants who participate in activities for the sole purpose of getting into college. Some choose to join clubs or spend their summer vacation in a developing country just so they have a good essay topic to write about. On top of this, there is a monopoly on the college application process. Major companies such as the Common Application, Coalition Application, College Board, and The ACT run the system. These companies dictate prices, force students to apply through their companies and there is almost no alternative to what they have to offer. It is hard for stu-
dents to show who they really are when everyone is judged by a number they get on a test and a couple 250-word essays that these companies control. Another problem when applying to college is the time at which it happens. The application process happens at the beginning of one’s senior year which is already a very busy time for students. Add on the grind of applying to college and you have a whirlwind of stress and anxiety your senior year. It’s ironic that schools expect students to apply during a time when they are supposed to keep their GPAs up. Applying to college is already stressful enough. It doesn’t need to be made harder by corporations controlling the process.