Issue 11, Volume 106

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The Spectator The Stuyvesant High School Newspaper

Volume 106  No. 11

March 4, 2016

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Victoria Huang / The Spectator

he Model United Nations Team won the Best Large Delegation award at their competition from Thursday, February 18 to Sunday, February 21. Senior Lucas Weiner and juniors Niels Graham and Evan Lieberman won Best Delegate awards.

enior Tina Jiang has been selected as a semifinalist for the 2016 New York Times Scholarship.

By Tiffany Chen and Vincent Jiang he Speech and Debate Team competed at a tournament at Harvard University from Saturday, February 13 to Monday, February 15. Junior Kate Johnston placed second in the Humorous Interpretation cat-

Art electives like Watercolor and Computer Art were not offered this semester because of a series of programming issues, and Mixed Media continues to be unavailable, after not being offered last semester. According to the administration, these changes are not permanent, and the electives will be offered

Percentage of all third marking period grades above 90:

62%

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again during the Fall 2016 semester. With a new programming staff, a mishap last fall left too few freshmen in the mandatory Art Appreciation class. This semester, the programming office needed to add more sections of the class to compensate for the lack of classes last term. Therefore, the administration was forced to discontinue art electives so that more teachers would be available to teach Art Appreciation.

Percentage of all science third marking period grades in the 70s:

Courtesy of Sam Lieberman

Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz Discusses Income Inequality Absence

By Sabrine Benzakour and Ilona Cherepakhina “Obviously there’s something wrong with our economy,” Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences recipient and Columbia University professor Joseph Stiglitz said. Filling the Murray Khan Theater to its capacity, students and teachers gathered during fourth period on Friday, February 12 to listen to Stiglitz speak about the economic inequality faced by many Americans. Assistant Principal of Social Studies Jennifer Suri and social studies teachers Catherine McRoyMendell and Ellen Schweitzer organized the event. Stiglitz began the presentation by emphasizing the prominence of economic inequality in the United

WHAT’S INSIDE? Features A&E

stuyspec.com

Art Electives Temporarily Discontinued, Shrinking Tech Department Further

NEWSBEAT

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“The Pulse of the Student Body”

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States. Using numerous graphs and statistics, Stiglitz portrayed examples of the unequal distribution of wealth across America. “All that means is some people have more money than others, but the disparity between the people at the top and the people at the bottom has grown much larger,” Stiglitz said. Stiglitz explained that the reason for the recent increase of focus on economic inequality is that it has become a bigger issue over the years. “The top 1 percent today has about 25 percent of the [total] income and that is […] double what it was 35 years ago,” Stiglitz said. He attributed the prevalence of economic inequality in our nation to the administration’s unwillingness to do something about the problem, rather than the laws of economics. “In other countries,

inequality has gone down because [governments] recognized the problem and did something about it,” Stiglitz said. He then focused on the unequal distribution of wealth across America and its effect on the middle class. Stiglitz spoke about the large amount of attention being drawn to the economically advantaged and disadvantaged, but not as much on the middle class. “America likes to think of itself as a middle class society but [...] today’s median income is lower than it was 30 years ago, so in the middle [class] there’s been stagnation,” Stiglitz said. Stiglitz went on to describe the imbalance in opportunities available to the economically disadvantaged and rarity of economic mobility. He explained that a lack of opportunities is directly correlated to racial income disparities, making social mobility difficult. “I tell my students that the most important decision they can make in their lives is to choose the right parent,” Stiglitz said. But he also emphasized the importance of taking action against social and economic issues. “Every economy has gangs and referees and how you write those rules makes a big difference,” Stiglitz said. Schweitzer believed that Stiglitz’s lecture provided students with a basic understanding of how

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Unlocking Their Stories: Scholastic Gold Key Recipients

Stuyvesant students scooped up a total of 96 awards at the 2016 Scholastic Art and Writing Awards. We’ve featured some of their work for you!

Additionally, many sophomores opted to take Technical Drawing, or drafting, instead of an additional semester of Introduction to Computer Science. Art and technology teacher Leslie Bernstein is certified in teaching both art classes and drafting, so she switches classes often depending on the fluctuating demand for drafting. This term, because of the high demand for drafting, she will not teach Mixed Media. This year, there has been an effort to hire new teachers to replace the two that retired last year. Principal Jie Zhang was only able to replace one, forcing Bernstein to teach more drafting classes. “We couldn’t fill the tech vacancy,” Zhang said. “We are going to continue looking, [but] I don’t know if anybody [will apply].” Art teacher Jane Karp, who originally taught Watercolor, believes that the discontinuation of art electives is negatively impacting seniors. “I know that there [are] students who look forward to taking an art elective [during] their senior year […] and now that option has been completely closed out

42%

during their last semester. I think it’s a shame. It is a disservice to the graduating seniors,” Karp said. Senior Jensen Foerster, who took Mixed Media last year, shares Karp’s sentiment. “[The] majority of [Stuyvesant] students complete their Stuyvesant career with only one art class: art appreciation, which is more fact and test-based than actual art performance,” he said. “The discontinuation of art electives deprives and discourages artistic and creative students from creating, developing, and improving their artistic skills.” The lack of art electives brings other disadvantages as well. It deprives students of the time to build their portfolios and apply for scholarships if they are interested in continuing their study of the arts. Art teacher Amy Cappell maintains that art classes are important for all students. ”There is a place for art in a scienceoriented high school,” she said. continued on page 3

Turn to page 2 to get the inside scoop on grades at Stuyvesant.

Microsoft Office 365 Available for Free for Students and Teachers By Selina Zou

City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and NYC Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña announced on February 11 that the Department of Education (DOE) has made Microsoft Office 365 available at no cost for all DOE teachers and students. The collaboration between the City Council, DOE, and Microsoft is an attempt to facilitate technological proficiency in students by providing them with the necessary software to succeed. “Technology like Microsoft software enhances the educational experience and infuses learning with crucial hands-on computer skills— skills that will be an asset as students prepare for college and the workforce,” Mark-Viverito said in an address at Irwin Altman Middle School 172, according to the City Council’s press release. “Learning doesn’t stop at the end of the school day. We want to ensure children and their parents have the resources at home to get curious, organized, and ready to learn together.” The Office 365 package offered to DOE teachers and students includes the latest versions of Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and OneNote, one terabyte of OneDrive storage, and access to Yammer and Sharepoint, which are document sharing and communication sites. Students and teachers may download Office 365 on up to five PCs or Macs, and up to five mobile

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devices, including smartphones and tablets. To sign up, students and teachers must register online with an eligible school-provided email address. Microsoft will periodically need verification that the user is still a student or teacher for continued use of the program. Students all over the world already have free access to this software, including all students in Hong Kong, 5.5 million more in Australia, 5 million in Germany, and 7 million in Brazil. At Stuyvesant, where 46.8 percent of students qualify for free or reduced price lunch, this initiative is greatly welcomed. Students who previously could not afford the subscription price of $100 a year can now download it for free, rather than rely on cheaper alternatives. “I’ve relied on Google [Drive], because it’s free [...] and easily accessible. Office is incredibly useful because of all the functionality it has compared to [Drive],” sophomore Minseo Kim said. “It is very difficult to work offline while using [Drive]. Office holds a huge advantage in this regard.” Although students are generally positive about the initiative, many have no plans to change their habits just yet. “I find that [Google] Drive is much more convenient than Office

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Your Guide to Morningside Heights In this issue’s neighborhood feature, learn all about Morningside Heights. Hop on the 1-train and use this article to plan your day trip!


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