MCA opt out

April 1, 2016 marahdrake Leave a comment

Standardized testing can help some but hinder others. In Minnesota, we take the MCAs and every year students go through the stress of getting prepared for taking these standardized tests. The word has gotten out that there is an option to opt out of these tests, and in some ways this can be helpful, but as a whole it could end up hurting our schools.

The results from these standardized tests determines if some schools need more staff and teachers, or if some schools might not need any support. This means that if the results are low across the board that means the school is struggling and it may need more staff to help the students. If the results are high this means that the school probably does not need any support, and they may even be awarded for the high scores.

I asked Ms. Esso, a counselor here at Highland, some general questions about opting out of MCA tests. She said that if a student wanted to opt out of testing, their parent or guardian could write a formal letter to the principal explaining that the student is going to opt out and why they made that decision. The letter should be delivered before the testing process begins so that the testing coordinator knows not to keep sending passes to that student to take the test.

Some people may think that standardized tests, like the MCAs, don’t serve a purpose, but they do. If a school is generally struggling, their test scores could help with the opportunity to revamp the school’s approach to testing. But if enough students decided to opt out, the overall test scores wouldn’t show how the whole school was doing from an academic standpoint. On the other hand, schools that are excelling could get awards and that not only makes the school look good, but the whole district.

Clubs and Activities, School Life

Bringing Black History to Highland Park Elementary

April 1, 2016 Audrey Dahl Leave a comment

On Thursday, March 25th, Highland Park Senior High Black Student Union (BSU) members took a field trip to Highland Elementary School. While at Highland Elementary, BSU members visited a fourth grade class. There, BSU had an interactive presentation on Black History and black culture. The presentation covered a wide array of things.

The presentation started off with an with an overview of Black History taught in school. BSU asked the fourth graders about what they knew about Black History, and also what they’ve learned in school so far. Most of the responses were connected to the Civil Rights Movement.

There were answers such as “Martin Luther King Jr.”, “Whites had different water fountains”, and “Black people were mistreated”. However, there were also answers like “Fetty Wap”, “Michael Jackson”, and even “The Italo-Ethiopian War”.

BSU wanted to know what the fourth graders knew about Black History because the members of BSU don’t recall learning much about Black History in Elementary School, besides some key events in the Civil Rights Movement.

The presentation touched on how history is usually taught from a Eurocentric perspective, and that African or African American History is usually taught in elective classes. BSU explained that there should be more Black History taught in schools, especially Elementary Schools, because that is a prime learning time for students.

The presentation then talked about what BSU meant, and what its purpose was. “We want to help people understand their privilege, and provide voices for students of color,” BSU stated. ” We also want to help educate people about Black History and common misconceptions, and also help end the disenfranchisement of Black people”. The fourth graders looked severely confused at the use of these big words, so BSU explained their purpose again on a fourth grade level.

The presentation lastly talked about people in Black History that aren’t as commonly recognized and honored as “Martin Luther King Jr.”, or even “Fetty Wap”. These people were Daisy Bates, Kimberle Crenshaw Williams, and Grace Jones. BSU talked about how each of these people helped shaped Black History in their own way.

After the presentation, BSU asked the students to do one more thing.

The students were put into groups and asked to go to a specific table with a sheet of poster paper and markers on it. There, the fourth graders were asked to write “Black is…”. Then the students had total freedom to finish the statement however they wanted to. The answers were both meaningful and funny.

Some of the keywords that often showed up in the posters were “beautiful”, “a skin color”, “peaceful”, “nice”, and “awesome”. However, the fourth graders also wrote “the best culture”, “Daisy Bates”, “whatever the black people want to be”, and also “the most amazing people I know”.

BSU encouraged the young students to reach their full potential, no matter their gender, sexual orientation, or color of their skin. They also taught the fourth graders to value their cultures, and value others as well, especially ones that are suppressed and commonly misconceived.

Hopefully, one day, these students will be the faces of BSU at Highland Park Senior High.

Advice/How To, Entertainment, Movies/TV/Theaters

Beats vs Bose

April 1, 2016 hpshplaid Leave a comment

In the world of sound and music, people want the best headphones and the best speakers. There are many really, really good speakers. The bad thing is that all the best speakers are huge, so you won’t be able to take them on the go. Beats and Bose both have found a way to get around that size obstacle: there’s the Beats Pill and Bose SoundLink.

Now, let’s talk about the Beats Pill. It does indeed look like an oversized pill, only with a flat foot on the bottom to keep it from rolling off the table. It’s sleek, slightly hip, and it’s available in a bunch of fun colors. A lot of people get the Beats Pill for its bass, which is totally understandable.

The Bose SoundLink isn’t exactly known for its bold design choices, opting for the more safe and reserved look in nearly every example. When the company does try to go for a more “fun” look, you end up with something like the company’s FreeStyle earbuds which sounded nice, but looked more like a pair of pants from the 1990s than something you wanted to wear on your head. Looking at the SoundLink Mini, let’s just be happy the company decided to keep it simple.

Beats and Bose both are very good, but now let’s talk about which one is better. Beats Pill has a decent bass, while on the other hand Bose SoundLink probably has a better bass then the Beats Pill. The Bose SoundLink mid-bass and the lower midrange is much better, and there is a nice depth to most of the lower range of frequencies. Highs are free of the rolloff that is so common on speakers in this size, but still, they never sound harsh or overbearing even as you push the volume higher. And that reminds me, the SoundLink Mini can get pretty loud; impressively so, considering the size.

So, in the end, if you’re looking for a speaker on the go I would go with Bose.

Clubs and Activities

FFA field trip

April 1, 2016 4mburke Leave a comment

The FFA group went on a field trip to Meadow Star Farms. They have 4 different locations: one in Minnesota, one in South Dakota, one in Nevada and one in New Mexico.

Meadow Star Farms has around 8,500 cows at the location that we visited, and it has a milking barn and birthing barn (which are housed in the same building). The FFA group got a tour of the barn. We started with a video about the company and then put on boot covers and went to look at the cow carousel. Then we moved into the main barn and looked at the cows and asked some questions, and then moved on to the milking parlor.

After visiting the main barn we got the chance to go and visit some of the new born calves. When we got done finishing up with the calves we got the option to put our arms up a cows rectum. The purpose of this is to check for a calf.

When we finished up all our actives we had lunch and went to a nearby local farmer’s barn where we got the chance to climb and take a look at some farm equipment. The farmer had a few different tractors and other pieces of farm equipment. That was our day at Meadow Star Farm.