Student leadership organizations deserve greater voice

When the Associated Student Body held the annual winter rally this February, students and teachers cheered as their teams scored in the facultystudent basketball game.

e band played upbeat music in between the action, and the atmosphere was vibrant. e reveal of the prom location at the end of the game brought on another round of cheers from students.

en the bell rang, and everyone shouldered their bags and left for class. Life went on, completely unchanged by the winter rally, following the trend for every other event ASB has hosted.

Paly has historically had issues with student stress levels, academic workload and mental health. Administrators may conduct rare surveys to ask about students’ mental health and journalism publications print articles about the subject, and yet, the in uence the student body has to change the environment at the school is low.

To x this problem, Paly administration should let students have more say in rules and policies, by allowing ASB and members of the Principal’s Advisory Committee to have a greater leadership role.

Students have little in uence in policies a ecting their everyday life at Paly, and a good example is the recent bell schedule survey. Many students thought none of the recent options we were presented with were good.

None of the schedules presented to us are that di erent from what we currently have, and none of them will make an impact on student mental health.

In fact, unless you blitzkrieg through your makeup tests or are in dire need of help in two classes, what we were presented with is at best a sidegrade to the current study hall system. e two Paly organizations where students have a direct voice are ASB and the PAC, and these are formed by having students compete against each other for the power to represent their grade.

And yet their impact is minimal. ASB is focused on planning events. eir website displays graduation merchandise and miscellaneous events, and it seems as if the adults at school try to keep them from the decision making process.

I tried reaching out to the ASB adviser to ask if this was the intent of the club, but he could not do an interview before we went to press. And when is the last time students on the PAC were given the chance to make a di erence? Exactly.

Principal Brent Kline for his perspective on the purpose of the PAC but he did not respond to my email.

Regardless, Paly would bene t from more student voice, beyond student publications, to represent their perspectives on stress, adolescence and growing up in a hypercompetitive environment.

While ASB’s role is to represent the voice of Paly’s student body, I’d like to see them balance the social events they sponsor with events that address the more pressing issues.

For Paly to address its students’ needs, wants and wishes, it needs to rst ask students what their needs, wants and wishes are. And it doesn’t seem like adminis is gap leads to a deeper issue: the school does not seem to care about nding out more about its students. And if it does, then it is going about it in an unpublicized way. at it is too big of a responsibility, and it would add to our already full plates. at our young, developing brains are too short-sighted and inexperienced to see some glaring pitfalls in our suggested revisions. e rst step in creating change is to allow students to share more ideas about what they want to change. en then need to make a bigger e ort to give student-centered leadership organizations more of a voice on important issues a ecting the student body, even if they don’t agree with the student leaders. at would be a good start.

When many graduates who go to top-tier colleges say college is more lax than Paly, there is something wrong.

Why are we under more intense pressure as high schoolers than we are as young adults? And why does the school do nothing about it?

Some may argue that adolescents should not have a role in making major decisions for the school.

Others may argue that placing so much importance on a select few students would give them too much power.

But it is glaringly obvious that a large percentage of students don’t enjoy being in school, and students should get a say in goingons for an institution they spend four years studying in.

Would all suggestions made by the students be worth it? No. But is it a start? Yes.

Administrators needs to spend more time gather information about the student body, their wants and their needs.

Lea Kwan Sta Writer

fell through. Unable to operate without their nurses, the Stanford hospitals quickly agreed to issue new contracts that ensured the nurses’ well-being at work.

According to Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations, the number of labor strikes in the U.S. rose nearly 50% between 2021 and 2022.

COVID-19 played a key role in deteriorating working conditions in various ways. Business closures and reduced consumer demand resulted in wage cuts, reduced job security and layo s. When the nation nally opened up shop again, the cutthroat competition for available jobs resulted in continuous periods of unemployment for many people.

In an economy where 44% of Americans earn unlivable wages, in ation is at an all-time high and women and minorities continue to make a fraction of their male and white counterparts, there has never been a clearer bright line for workers to start striking and for bystanders to begin supporting them.

Supporting strikes ampli es the voices of workers who are ghting for living wages, humane working conditions and basic rights. In an era where companies actively ght back to stop workers from unionizing, public support for labor strikes has become critical.

While labor unrest has risen in our own community, support for it has not nearly been strong enough.

In early November of last year, 48,000 academic workers at the University of California system launched a six-week long labor strike, creating the biggest work stoppage ever in U.S. higher education.

In the aftermath of the strike, three labor unions representing these workers negotiated deals with their respective universities for an array of bene ts including higher wages, increased healthcare guarantees and protection against workplace harassment. In doing so, they revolutionized our de conditions, setting the stage for labor strikes to continue gaining momentum.

While the UC strike was the largest of 2022, it wasn’t the

Just six months earlier, thousands of nurses at Stanford’s hospitals went on strike when negotiations between the nurses union and hospitals that promised higher wages and increased health coverage ese examples are not only highly relevant to the Bay Area community but also exceptionally re ective of two ongoing trends in our nation: the rst being a resurgence in the popularity of labor unions, but the second being an overall ignorance toward strike situations. Hearing about strikes through the news is too passive to invoke meaningful change; only real action has the power to help turn the tides of ongoing strikes in favor of workers. e refusal to support strikes typically stems from views that strikes are disruptive, unmanageable and ultimately undesirable. ey can deal blows to the economy in both the short and long runs by reducing productivity or by decreasing investments and capital into e idea that second semester senior year — even high school in general — must be a certain way is damaging and divisive. ough freeing, this semester is also stressful because I, like many other seniors, am trying to gure out what my future will look like — where I’ll spend the next four years of my life — and everyone seems to have an opinion about which college I should attend and how to prepare for this endeavor.

Providing support to strikes is simple, and there are a variety of ways to do it. First, rather than just reading about strikes, reposting stories about them can spread media coverage and raise public awareness. Second, signing petitions or donating is a great way to strengthen the causes of unions and place pressure on corporations to change their working conditions.

If you happen to live near an area where strikes occur, consider contributing to the noise instead of complaining about it. Take a few minutes to walk alongside workers or honk your horn when driving by a strike to show encouragement and magnify this strike. Union support is at a 57-year high right now, and it is up to everyone, not just a select number of workers, to continue that trend.

If unions represent one saying, it is that there is strength in numbers. Strikes are the linchpin of labor unions; they give workers the leverage necessary to ght for more humane working conditions. Lending our unconditional support to these strikes is the key to ensuring their success, because it strengthens workers and places additional pressure on corporations to change their ways.

Despite these potential harms, it is crucial to realize that strikes are used as a last resort when all else fails, and the fact that strike rates are climbing in our nation is indicative of our failure to provide the bare minimum for our workers.

With college applications submitted, seniors around the country, and especially at Paly, rejoice. e pressure to ace every test and paper to impress colleges is nally over, and many seniors begin counting down the days until graduation.

But with the nearing of graduation comes the pressure to savor every moment until that fateful day. From peers and the media, seniors are pressured to leave school with zero regrets, spend hours with friends they might never see again, and go to concerts or the beach on school nights instead of studying.

It’s nally time to have the “typical” high school experience — the fun, social dramatization shoved down teenage throats with every teen movie released — that I anticipated and was “too busy studying” to have before. And I only have one semester to make my dreams come true, to have something to show for high school besides perfect grades.

But as I’ve watched others slip into traditional senioritis and experienced senior year for myself, I’ve come to the conclusion that those who are happiest follow their own desired paths, not the paths they are supposed to or expected to take, and it’s OK, even necessary, to let go of unrealistic expectations.

Instead of chasing unachievable expectations, seniors should spend their extra time this semester doing what they feel is right for their well-being — whether that be spending time with friends or watching reality TV by themselves.

As I anxiously await college decisions, it’s hard to believe they don’t contain my selfworth when I’ve built my whole high school identity around getting perfect grades and balancing extracurriculars as a foundation for my future.

Furthermore, at Paly, senioritis seems more severe and pressurized than other schools because it’s the only time throughout high school when Paly seniors — previously in a rat race to the most prestigious colleges — are allowed to let go of their overachiever mindsets. We’re nally allowed to have fun and prioritize experiences over accomplishments and awards, but some of us don’t know how to do that.

For me, the expectation that I should let loose makes me want to disprove it as the high-pressure environment of Paly has trained me to do.

Even though I’m burnt out, I’m desperately ghting the stereotype that second semester seniors are lazy and indi erent by clinging to one of the only constants in my life throughout the last four years — the familiar, stressful rhythm of completing assignments and studying for tests. ough perfect grades no longer directly determine my future, they are the only tangible thing I have control over.

I’ve also been spending more time by myself over the past month. I’m now desperate to avoid uncomfortable, anxiety-inducing conversations about my future and instead enjoy reading a book, watching junky television and writing poetry to express my complex feelings. ough this time is an opportunity to goof o with friends, it’s also an opportunity to reconnect and spend time with yourself as I’ve chosen to do.

Spending time doing what makes me happy will help me make an informed decision about my future that re ects what I want out of the next four years, not what I’m expected to want.

Whatever your semester may look like, know that you’re not alone and your feelings and fears are valid. Forget the movies and expectations.

Doing what makes you happy and bene ts your mental and physical health this semester is much more important than completing a senior year bucket list.

Rachel Feinstein