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OPINIONS
Echo Wednesday, January 11, 2017
Echo St. Louis Park Senior High School 6425 West 33rd Street
St. Louis Park, MN 55426 Editors-in-chief: Maggie Bahnson & Ethan Brown Managing editors: Raphy Gendler, Adah Koivula, Sam Orloff & Jayne Stevenson Copy editors: Alex Balfour, Dani Orloff, Alec Pittman, Atticus Raasch, Isaac Wert & Sophie Yarosh Design editors: Emma Dietz, Lauren VonEschen & Alyssa Lemay Assistant design editors: Hannah Leff, Devin Raynor & Sam St. Clair Photo editors: Mira Swartz, Kailey DeLozier, Makayla Jones-Klausing & Hannah Wolk News editor: Mimi Fhima Features editor: Jane Anderson In-Depth editors: Hannah Schechter & Annabella Strathman Sports editor: Elise Riley Opinions editor: Genesis Buckhalton Entertainment editor: Makagbe Kuyateh Diversity editor: Anna duSaire Social media editors: Daebreona Byrd & Alissa Meredith Special project editors: Ndunzi Kunsunga, Izzy Leviton and Yonit Krebs Web design editor: Josh Halper Broadcast/video editors: Sam Birnberg & Adam Johnson Staff: Anna Albrecht, Amaia Barajas, Maximillian Bechtold, Malaika Bigirindavyi, Sam Birnberg, Sam St. Clair, Nietzsche Deuel, Esther Gendler, Caroline Green, Navjot Kaur, Hannah Leff, Lukas Levin, Maddie Lund, Grace Lynch, Alexis Machoka, Sumaya Mohamed, William Phelan, Hadeal Rizeq, D’ayvian Robinson, Ruwayda Mohamed, Nicole Sanford, Jacob Stillman, Nathaniel Sturzl, Breanna Thompson, Amber Tran, Delaney Wallerich, Samyu
Our Perspective
(Teachers should have the right to voice their political views) because they are people like we are. Moses Smith, junior
Check news before assuming
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n order to stay educated on local, national and global events, following an accurate form of news is essential. However, in recent years the problem of fake news escalated along with the rise of social media. We, the Echo staff, implore students to be aware of false news reports and to try to avoid such content as much as possible when encountered on social media. Fake news, in a broader sense, can be defined as any article or story that spreads fabricated facts to deceive an audience into believing or spreading something created for attention. However, articles that particularly only show one side of the story, for example in political settings, also pose a problem. The reliance on news only tailored to an individual’s opinion could also be seen as less than truthful news. Both situations are examples of what students should be aware of. Where false news reports originate and they spread also plays a large role. Often, fake news stories start as satirical pieces written for the sake of comedy or for misleading readers. When taken out of context, these articles can have adverse effects on the general public. Along with word of mouth, social media works as a vehicle for fake news to spread out of control. While receiving news through social media should not be condemned, news consumers need to stay aware and cautious of fake
Art Maddie Lund & Sam St. Clair
news as to not be fooled by falsehood and lies. Students should also attempt to fact check most news they read on social media and not take things at face value. Finding multiple news sources on a topic provides far more perspective than merely taking one viewpoint. One-sided stories will only give you half the information, ensuring bias in the article. Fact checker sites such as Snopes.com help in making sure non factual information does not go unchecked. These sites work to verify and invalidate new articles. The problem also lies in how to tell which articles are fake and which are real. Many signs point at a news article as being either false or only spouting half-truths such as outrageous facts or clickbait headlines. Articles that can be defined as clickbait should be avoided, as misleading headlines can be misunderstood for true when spread through simple word of mouth. If an article seems too extreme, the article most likely
produces satire or false information. However, the blame does not all go to the consumers of news. News sources should also work to explicitly label articles as what they describe. As a newspaper, we, the Echo staff, will work to make sure our subject matter correctly reflects the type of story written and to explicitly label stories as such. To avoid false information and bias views, students should focus on taking in correctly distributed, not biased and factually correct news. The Echo editorial board suggests avoiding clickbait articles, fact checking with other sources, using common sense when viewing article headlines and not automatically take everything for truth. In the exception of a case of humourous satire, fake news should be handled cautiously. If not, such articles can lead to confusion, especially when spread through social media.
Yenamandra Business manager: Yonah Davis Principal: Scott Meyers Printer: Quad Graphics Adviser: Lori Keekley MEDIA POLICIES The Echo is the official student-produced newspaper of St. Louis Park Senior High School. It is published triweekly for the school’s students, staff and community. The Echo is a designated forum for student expression in which students make all decisions of content without prior review from school officials. The adviser will not act as a censor, but will advise students. Students have the final decision on all content. The Echo will work to avoid bias and/or favoritism. We will strive to make our coverage and content meaningful and interesting to all our readers. We will make every effort to avoid printing libel, obscenities, innuendo and material that threatens to disrupt the learning process or is an invasion of privacy. We will avoid electronic manipulation that alters the truth of a photograph unless clearly labeled as a photo illustration. Staff editorials represent the opinion of the editorial board arrived at by discussion and will not be bylined. Bylined articles are the opinion of the individual writers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Echo staff or administration as a whole. The Echo welcomes reader input. Letters to the editor and suggestions must be signed and should be no longer than 250 words and may be emailed to slpecho@gmail.com or submitted in room C275. Emailed letters must be verified prior to publication. We will not necessarily publish all letters received and reserve the right ask the writer to edit for length and clarity. Anonymous letters wherein the Echo does not know the identity of the writer will not be printed. Advertisements will be sought from local
Teachers should create unbiased classroom Exposure to multiple opinions needed for informed citizens Yonit Krebs yonitkrebs@slpecho.com
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eachers have a role to ensure their classroom is open for discussion and to encourage informed decision-making. Politics are a tough topic, especially after the recent presidential election’s chaos, for teachers to keep neutral. Not only can their expression of political views detrimentally influence students, but it can also alienate students with different political standpoints. It is more important than ever for teachers to listen and respect other opinions, and lead by example. Because so many students are affected by the recent election, many teachers find it hard to remain neutral. However, without opening their classrooms to discussion, tensions between students of opposing views will increase. Students looking to their government as an example rarely see polite discussions between opposing politicians. Students need role models and can’t find them in government, and it becomes their teachers’ job to facilitate discus-
sions in classrooms that will expose students to different views, preparing them for life in the adult world. Students need to understand views and ideas beside their own. Often in classes of politically like-minded students, there is too much common ground. With such a class, the students receive little exposure to other opinions and as a result, they cannot strengthen their own views. Even if teachers agree with their students, they should experiment with playing devil’s advocate. While teachers should not express their own political views, exposure to all sides of an argument is essential for a student to have a well-informed opinion and to further develop their own ideas. When teachers express their political views it can be detrimental to their classroom’s learning environment. It puts students with opposing views in an uncomfortable situation. The student might fear a grade decrease if they turn in work expressing an opposing opinion to their teacher’s political views. It is also important for teachers to only discuss what falls directly under their area of expertise. It is obvious how a political discussion can be related to a social studies class, but teachers of other subjects must also present all sides of controversial issues.
Bias seen by teachers
90%
of teachers have seen negative impacts on student behavior
80%
of teachers have seen anxiety in immigrants, Muslim, African-American and LGBTQ students Infographic Amaia Barajas Source tolerance.org
Classrooms must be a safe space where students can participate in an open discussion. A teacher’s job is to present their students with all relevant facts for both sides of a topic, supplying students with the tools needed to make informed decisions. If students experience open discussions of controversial topics in schools, they will feel comfortable enough to have politically charged conversations as adults.
businesses and school clubs and sports. We maintain the right to reject any ads we believe to be false, misleading, inappropriate or harmful. The Echo does not necessarily endorse the products or services
To Metz retiring: We didn’t Metzpect this
offered in these advertisements. NSPA All-American and Hall of Fame member; 2011, 2016 NSPA Print Pacemaker Finalist; 2013, 2014, 2015 National Print Pacemaker Award Recipient; 2014, 2015 Online Pacemaker Finalist; CSPA
To fake news: Keekley’s got a bun in the oven
To water pollution: The water fountains don’t work anyway
Gold Medalist; 2016 SPA Hybrid Crown Finalist; 2013 CSPA Gold Crown; 2015 CSPA Hybrid Gold Crown; 2012, 2014 CSPA Silver Crown; JEM All-State.
Art Alyssa LeMay
R.G., M.B., M.F.
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(Having semester finals) is a lot of pressure all at once and it is harder to study for every class instead of just one.
OPINIONS
Echo Wednesday, January 11, 2017
Ari Balfour, freshman
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POINT COUNTERPOINT
Teachers use cumulative finals to assess work
At the end of a semester, teachers put students through semester finals to see what students have learned throughout the year, either to the dismay or gratification of the students
Students reap benefits from cumulative semester finals Despite stress, cumulative tests pay off William Phelan williamphelan@slpecho.com
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emester finals are the best way for teachers to cap off the semester for a variety of reasons. Although students may not enjoy spending long hours pouring over notes, these cumulative assessments are preparing students for the rest of their lives. Cumulative finals are commonplace in college, so it does not do any good for teachers to let their students off easy by deciding against a cumulative assessment during high school. If students don’t have experience preparing for cumulative tests, they will not know how to prepare for finals if they pursue further education. Another main concern students may have is how finals will
impact their final grade. The semester final will impact your grade exactly the way you choose it to. If students are truly motivated to get a high grade in a class they will spend appropriate amounts of time preparing for a test. The same preparations should go into studying for finals. Those students who don’t are likely not deserving of the high marks they desire. Another benefit of cumulative semester finals is that they are a great tool for both teachers and students to evaluate whether the material is being learned, or temporarily memorized. This long-term learning of a subject is valuable because classes often build on each other. Even though students may wish they did not have cumulative finals because of the amount of studying they require, these tests are ultimately for their own good.
Semester finals cause unnecessary stress to students
Impact of testing
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Tests are typically seen as an evaluation of students’ learning and serve to determine grades.
Reassessing previous tested material is ineffective Navjot Kaur navjotkaur@slpecho.com
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umulative exams contain material that has previously been The expectation tested on, making finals useless. of future testing According to American Psyleads to less chology Association, for a student forgetting and to learn a concept they should be more memory doing harder problems, instead of recovery between doing similar ones. an initial and final On the final test students test. prepare for problems they have already been tested on. These probExams are lems are not any more advanced known to cause and are not stimulating students’ depression, thoughts. anxiety, sleep The tests are given in a twoissues and can day span, for which the student compromise the needs to cram in many material immune system. at once. When students are trying to learn and remember so much in a Infographic Devin Raynor short time, they are not going to Source Elsevier, Psychonomic
think about the material, just try to memorize it. Multiple tests within two days can cause high amounts of stress for students. According to Yale researcher Marc Brackett, school becomes harder when students’ brains have to deal with a lot of stress. Teenagers already have high amounts of stress from homework and extracurricular activities. Having a test that weighs so heavily on a student’s grade will just add to that. Teachers should give assignments that are more comprehensive than memorization. It can be a project where the student can show their true knowledge and not just try to remember vocabulary words. Teachers can truly know what the student has learned. When the student is working on a the project, they will have to process what they are talking about and not just memorizing words.
Society & Kaplan
Trump picks EPA director unfit for job Environmental protection must be worldwide priority Jayne Stevenson jaynestevenson@slpecho.com
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rump’s nomination of Oklahoma attorney general Scott Pruitt to lead the Environmental Protection Agency is a threat to the future of the earth. Pruitt is a critic of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and has attempted to weaken the agency’s actions. According to the Washington Post, the last time the EPA’s leader was this critical, the agency’s budget was cut by 22 percent. Since then, the polarization surrounding the environment has become more substantial than any other issue. Republicans will soon have
PARK TRAIL
control of the presidency and Congress. It is their responsibility to progress the country’s environmental stewardship. Climate change is one of the most pressing issues threatening humanity, yet the lack of political consensus regarding the issue is dangerous. The fact Pruitt questions “the degree and extent of global warming and its connection to the actions of mankind” is ignorant. But even the next President of the United States called climate change a hoax created by the Chinese and said “nobody really knows” if climate change is real, according to the Washington Post. It’s time to stop believing false information from those who only want to increase their profit from the detrimental processes of the fossil fuel industry. The Trump administration will
only harm the unfinished progress regarding climate change. Trump stated his intent to weaken fossil fuel regulations from the Obama era, increase jobs in the coal industry and raise the United States’ role in the global oil system, according to CNN. His goals encourage hazardous thinking instead of advocating progression and a sustainable future. According to the Washington Post, the 10 hottest years on record have all occurred since 1998, and 2016 is expected to be the hottest year yet. The United States must be a global example in environmental protection. We must stop living with the mindset that the status quo can’t change. Throughout history, people have doubted the possibility of change — civil rights and women’s suffrage, to name two.
An environmentally sound society is no different. There are ways to create an economy focused on sustainability, but the world must first wean away from the easy choice. Regardless of Trump and • Born 1968 in Kentucky Pruitt’s beliefs on the environ• Served as Oklahoma ment, social movements drive change. The EPA was created attorney general 2010from public demand, and it is up 2016 to the American people to decide • Nominated to serve as the fate of the environment. head of EPA Dec. 7, People must value the integrity of science and believe in 2016 fact-based knowledge. It is the • When confirmed to EPA responsibility of students to deal he must step down from with climate change because this attorney general issue affects the very existence of humanity. Pruitt does not fit the bill. The concern and passion among so many fearful people will Infographic Adah Koivula be the forces that have a positive Source Ballotpedia, Oklahoma Attorney impact on the future. General Office
Scott Pruitt
Nietzche Deuel nietzchedeuel@slpecho.com
News spreads like wildfire, that means
all news
Michael Jackson comes back to life and turns into pterodactyl
No grandma! Like what? How’d that happen?
Oh my grandson! Did you hear?!
Did you hear about MJ?