The Black & White Vol 54 Issue 5

Page 1

volume 54, Issue 5 may 20, 2016

Walt whitman High school

7100 whittier boulevard

Bethesda, maryland 20817

theblackandwhite.net

New semester grading system stirs controversy BY Carmen Molina

Junior Somssyeh Kamyab presented 14 works of art in this year’s Festival of the Arts. Kamyab draws inspritation from her time living in Afghanistan, Iran, Turkey and the United States as a refugee. She hopes to show people that oppression is farreaching. Photos by JEFFERSON LUO

Interim superintendent Larry Bowers’ administration’s choice for a new grading system sparked controversy throughout the county. Starting next school year, semester grades will be determined much like a GPA; each letter grade will be equivalent to a number of points (A=4, B=3, C=2, D=1, E=0) and the points from both quarter grades will be averaged to determine the semester grade. Quarter assessments will be worth ten percent of each quarter grade. The decision came after months of collecting feedback on all four options proposed earlier this year: maintaining trendbased grading, averaging percentages or having teacher-created semester projects and assessments. “Part of this is that we know there’s no perfect grading solution,” MCPS director of public information Derek Turner said. “But we found that this one is what works best for our school system at this time.” Unlike the previous trend-based system used in classes without final exams, the new policy weighs both quarters equally and rounds up to the highest whole number. For example, a student can get an A and a B and still receive an A for the semester, and even a student with an A and a D can finish the class with a B. This was the option that garnered the most support from students, SMOB Eric Guerci said. After the decision’s release, however, both teachers and students are split over the decision’s long-term impacts, the primary concern being that the system could result in grade inflation and decreased student effort. With the new policy, students could slack off after one successful quarter without jeopardizing their final grade, and the loophole risks leaving students underprepared for the strain they’ll encounter in college, science teacher Anne Marie O’Donoghue said. “It’s just going to make it look better on paper,” O’Donoghue said. “I don’t think they really have the students’ best interests in mind.” Some students are also concerned that the system will diminish the hard work of students who currently have high GPAs, and others are worried about the policy’s impact on how universities gauge college applications within the county. “It doesn’t allow students to separate themselves. Everyone’s going to get 4.0s,” sophomore Stefan Heller said. “If everybody gets the same grade, it makes standardized tests more important.”

Continued on page 2

Sophomore Fran Boyer Expressing herself through art: junior escapes violence in Middle East pulls mental health by Sabrina Martin

Amid her struggles as an Afghan refugee—losing family members to violence, enduring government censorship and fleeing oppression—junior Somssyeh Kamyab uses art to remind the Whitman community that world peace is not yet a reality. Born in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan, Kamyab and her family fled to Iran when she was two years old. While living as a refugee, Kamyab turned to art to capture her emotions. As an AP Studio Art student, Kamyab presented 14 pieces in this year’s Festival of the Arts, including paintings and charcoal drawings depicting people and places throughout the Middle East.

“She is very into her work, very focused on what she is working on, and she rarely breaks concentration,” art teacher Robert Burgess said. In one particularly emotional painting, a young boy looks up with his palms stretched out, pleading for money. Kamyab uses various artistic techniques including perception to draw attention to the child’s face and wide eyes and color to illustrate the deteriorated quality of life in Afghanistan. “I use dark colors in my art to show the sadness in Afghanistan,” Kamyab said. This recurring sense of sorrow is inspired by her journey through the Middle East. She paints these expe-

riences on a canvas as a way to preserve the memories. Kamyab joined over 900,000 Afghan refugees who fled to Iran after war broke out in Afghanistan. Due to the influx of refugees, the Iranian people discriminated against newcomers like Kamyab and her family. “In Iran, we didn’t have the war,” Kamyab said. “It was safe, but in the emotional way, it was so bad.” The Iranian government also restricted refugees from attending public schools. Consequently, Kamyab’s family had to pay for a private Afghan school where Kamyab and her brother learned basic reading and writing skills.

Inside Look

Bruneel back in town Page 2

Album reviews Page 9

Continued on page 13

‘Out of the Shadows’

by carmen molina

“I remember waking up in a hospital bed, talking to countless doctors and answering one question over and over again.” Sophomore Fran Boyer looked over a crowd of faces.“Why? Why did you try and take your own life?” Boyer, who tried to take her own life in 2014, shared her experiences with mental illness in a speech at the World Bank Group’s “Out of the Shadows” reception April 13 to raise awareness about the dangers of the stigma surrounding mental health. Solange Guyot, an employee at the World Blank and Boyer’s mother, helped spearhead the event. The World Bank Group hosted “Out of the Shadows” in conjunction with the World Health Organization in an attempt to highlight the far-reaching effects of mental illness, Guyot said. The event consisted of a series of discussions, panels and receptions featuring experts and celebrities from all over the world who shared their insights and experiences with mental health.

Defining relationships Page 10-11

Continued on page 4

Senior destinations Page 14


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.
The Black & White Vol 54 Issue 5 by The Black & White - Issuu