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BIDEN’S BUILD BACK BETTER PLAN: LESS PAID LEAVE FOR U.S. WORKFORCE

Originally proposed to Congress on Oct. 28, Biden’s new Build Back Better plan is garnering both controversy and support, especially regarding paid family leave. In order for the bill to pass, the Democratic Party needs to have the backing of the majority of their House of Representatives members and all 50 senators in their party. However, Sen. Joe Manchin, a Democrat from West Virginia, is one of the main opposers to the plan because he thinks that it will put the U.S. in further debt and believes paid leave should be included in a different bill (American Broadcasting Company). The Build Back Better bill ranges between $1.75 trillion and $2 trillion so far, and it includes benefits such as free preschool for all children, ensuring clean energy technology and paid family leave (The Washington Post). Initially, the Build Back Better bill was supposed to include 12 weeks of leave, but paid leave was removed for about a week before being reinstated and limited to four weeks (Cable News Network).

Currently, the legislation is undergoing a process of budget reconciliation. The Democratic Party is trying to find ways to fit the budget, and one option to economize the price is to decrease the number of weeks allotted for paid leave. National paid family leave can be expensive, as the estimated cost is projected upward of $225 billion over a 10-year period (Consumer News and Business Channel). Another possible solution being discussed is a tax on the wealthy to help cover the costs, but that has sparked controversy as well, especially among the Republican Party. Although decreasing the number of weeks on paid leave seems to be the current resolution, many believe that four weeks is not enough time, especially for new parents. According to the National Partnership for Women and Families, an organization dedicated to advocating for health care and reproductive rights for women, children experience positive health outcomes from their parents being able to take time off to bond as a family. Research from the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) shows that a lack of parent-child bonding in early life can lead to long-term mental health problems later and that the brain development of infants relies on a loving relationship with a primary caregiver. Associate Principal Christina Sunada strongly believes that new parents should be able to have more time with their newborn children and wishes she had more time with her two children. “It [is not only] hard for [new] mothers to go back to work right away if they need the income [because] their bodies [are] not ready, [but also] fathers and mothers who did not give birth need that bonding time with their new babies,” Sunada said. “[There is] a lot of bonding that happens in the first year of life. I am fortunate enough for my husband to work from home, so he is able to spend a lot of time with my boys and [can make] those bonds with them now. I think parents should have a year to learn how to be a new family group.”

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has also affected paid leave, as many people have had to take time off to care for sick family members or were recovering from illness themselves. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), establishments with 50 to 99 workers experienced a 30% increase in paid leave given to workers between July and September of 2020. However, even before the pandemic, about 23% of Americans had previously taken leave to care for a sick family member (Pew Research Center). Statistics and Essentials of Algebra teacher Monica Rudder reflects on how the new bill will affect other teachers with situations similar to hers. “I took a leave of absence to take care of my mother who needed extra care for her advancing dementia,” Rudder said. “After a year and a half [of leave], I was able to return to work. My mom lived with us and lived a much fuller life because I was able to take time to be with her.”

Caring for loved ones is one of the main reasons people take leave, besides maternity and personal health problems (National Partnership for Women and Families). Many agree that taking leave to care for family in most cases can be extremely necessary, but could put financial stress on people having to take time off from their work.

While maternity leave seems to be generally supported by the public, there seems to be less widespread support for paternity leave; this could be due to traditional societal roles, in which a mother would take care of the child while the father works (British Broadcasting Company). Although paternity leave in the U.S. is more normalized today than it would have been a century ago, maternity leave gets more time than paternity leave in most countries. According to the World Policy Analysis Center at the University of California, Los Angeles, 109 countries currently offer parental leave to fathers, which is less than the 186 countries that give leave for mothers. Currently, paternity leave is 12 unpaid weeks and is only applicable for about 40% of the workforce. English 1 Honors and English 2 Honors teacher Maria McCloud believes that paternity leave should be given the same attention as maternity leave.

“Just because the mother is the one that gives birth [that] does not mean the father is not equally important,” McCloud said. “You have two parents who have created the child, two parents who are raising the child and both of them should have that time to be home with their brand new child.”

The bill passed in the House of Representatives on Nov. 19 and now awaits approval from the Senate. The bill will undergo multiple amendments and edits before it will be voted on to decide if it will pass. While the future decision on the whether the bill will pass is unclear, there is a consensus in the workforce around the country: four weeks of paid leave is not enough time.

On Nov. 13, the robotics team Phantom Cubz competed in the challenge division of the First Lego League (FLL) competition at Valley Christian Middle School in Cerritos, California. This year, the theme of FLL’s challenge was Cargo Connect, in which teams built robots that focus on sustainable ways to innovate the future of transportation. Phantom Cubz, an all-girls robotics team that consists of 10 fourth and fifth grade students from Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District elementary schools, was mentored by students in Peninsula’s robotics club, Phantom Catz, for the competition. In FLL competitions, students use their science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) skills and problem solving abilities to create solutions for realworld problems.

The decision to create Phantom Cubz was made by the leadership team and outreach, one of the eight Phantom Catz subteams that work together for competitions. The outreach subteam assists in serving the community, which includes initiating STEM camps. The shared goal of leadership and outreach was for female members of Phantom Catz to have an opportunity to educate younger students and provide them with STEM experience for the future, so they registered Phantom Cubz with For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), the youth organization that operates FLL.

One of Phantom Catz’s main tasks was to help Phantom Cubz form an idea to compete with, which resulted in researching a solution to package theft; their reasoning for selecting this topic was because around 1.7 million packages are stolen or lost every day (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute). Thus, Phantom Cubz and Phantom Catz came up with an idea to scan package barcodes through Ring doorbells. In that case, if the package gets stolen and carried over a certain diameter, an alarm will sound while the owner of the package and police are alerted through the Ring app. At the competition, they first presented their innovation project, which was this solution to package theft. They also worked on a robot design, which was another category of the competition. During the weekly Saturday meetings that Phantom Cubz held at Peninsula beginning in early October, they designed and built a robot from parts given by FLL. Then, they presented this design and the process of how they built the robot for points. As the competition is intended for elementary students, more emphasis was placed on how the students have built character from building their creations rather than the ranking of the competition itself. In this year’s competition, Phantom Cubz was awarded the Core Value Award due to the teamwork and compassion the team showed during the season. Dapplegray Elementary School fifth grader Lauren Chin, a member of Phantom Cubz, is grateful for this experience and plans to continue robotics and programming in the future.

“I wanted to learn [how to build] a robot, and [I thought] doing competitions [and programming] was fun,” Chin said. “I think putting together the missions and the robots [is the best part]. It makes me feel excited to do the competition and it means a lot to me because it [will] show how much I learned in the program. I [have learned] more about programming and [will] probably [continue it] in the future.”

Junior Cedar-Rose Leach is the lead technical mentor of Phantom Cubz and teaches the students how to turn their ideas for the robot into reality by helping them learn about robotics. This process consists of assisting them in the basics of making and testing robots and how to overcome setbacks that may arise, like issues with time restrictions and programming. Leach enjoyed the process of teaching the girls and watching them grow.

“In the beginning, they were all shy and not very confident,” Leach said. “[However,] the more meetings we had, the more [self-assured] and friendly they got with each other. [They soon became] a lot more willing to take their idea and put it onto the robot rather than waiting for other people’s approval. This was really good to see because they had a lot of drive to start building the robot the way they wanted to build it.”

While Leach helped the girls with the robot and programming, junior Charlotte Chung, the lead research mentor of Phantom Cubz, helped the girls come up with their research project and guided them through this process along the way. As part of outreach, Chung has previously assisted in launching STEM camps, charity drives and parades. Creating Phantom Cubz was part of the effort by Phantom Catz to allow young girls to have a place in an environment that is currently maledominated, with only 28% of the STEM workforce consisting of women (American Association of University Women). Although the FLL competition was Phantom Cubz’s first and last competition of the season, the team members and leaders of Phantom Cubz have plans to continue robotics activities in the future. Chung hopes that the girls will be inspired through this experience to pursue STEM despite any societal restrictions they may face along the way.

“[As mentors, we] want to make sure a team of girls will be encouraged [to pursue] STEM [and] feel safe to speak up and have their own minds,” Chung said. “So, [by] having a team surrounded [and mentored] by women, [we] make sure that [Phantom Cubz members are] in a [space] where they are completely encouraged and never brought down by their gender. I hope they have made friends and feel encouraged to pursue STEM without any limits or barriers.”

At 13 years old, junior Hana Huang discovered a newfound interest in archery when she shot a finger compound bow at a Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) summer camp. This bow releases arrows at high speeds and has many intricate cables, wheels and pulleys. Now, Huang spends five hours a day practicing at the Trident Archery shooting range in Carson, training with her coach and teaching other youth archers. She is currently ranked first in California after earning first place at the Junior Olympic Archery Development (JOAD) competition on Oct. 8. Archery has made a positive impact on Huang’s life, as it allows her to decompress while partaking in an activity she is passionate about. “The shooting process of taking your arrow, putting it in the bow and shooting it is very therapeutic,” Huang said. “In the beginning, I [thought] of [archery as a way] to relieve stress from school [because] I was taking [a few] honors classes in my freshman and sophomore year. [Archery] is still a stress reliever for me and has become something I look forward to and enjoy doing at the end of the day.”

In 2019, Huang began competing at a national level with the support of her parents and level four certified coach, Byron Burkhart. According to USA Archery, a level four certified coach must demonstrate the steps of an advanced shooting style called the National Training System (NTS). Over three years, Burkhart has seen Huang’s craft grow through her hard work and determination. At the start of Huang’s training, Burkhart introduced her to a shooting style called the Olympic recurve so that she could compete nationally; this style differs from using a barebow or compound bow because the archer utilizes a clicker to draw the bow and stabilizers for balance. As Huang collected victories on her record in highly renowned competitions, she has qualified for the United States Archery Team (USAT) this year. Burkhart fully believes that her dedication will pay off when the USAT considers recruiting her.

“[Huang] put the time in to improve and get better,” Burkhart said. “She is strong-willed, determined and works very hard to [ensure] she understands it more. Huang puts in 1,000%, and it [is] shown in her archery scores and in tournaments. I am really proud of her.”

Before the JOAD competition began, Huang engaged in her usual pre-competition ritual where she sits at the shooting range and listens to heavy metal music. She finds that this helps her keep her composure and her nerves from interrupting her focus. During the competition, Huang competed in the Cadet category, which 30 of the top 15-17 year old girls in the state competed in. Huang plans to continue her winning streak in the national ranking tournaments she has this year. While the JOAD competition changes one’s rankings in their state, the national ranking competitions determine an archer’s rank in the U.S.

Currently, Huang is a level one instructor, but Burkhart refers to Huang as a coach because she has unofficially coached classes and private lessons for almost two years. Huang enjoys getting to know the archers on a more personal level and gaining a new perspective through coaching. Freshman and archer Alexsander Mytko recognizes the example that Huang sets through her encouraging attitude from training together for tournaments.

“Her positivity and motivation [are] contagious, which [has] made every practice more productive,” Mytko said. “Over the years of shooting with Huang, she [has] taught me to shoot with confidence. Her ability to persevere and learn from mistakes [has] helped her find success [in archery].”