Category Archives: Editorials/Student Voice

Editor’s Note: The Plaid Line publishes editorials that contain opinions that are those of the student authors. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the the Plaid Line, HPSH, or its staff.

Editorials/Student Voice

Why I don’t like the reputation of Ivy institutions

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By: Irene Cohen

Ivy league universities are apart of an athletic conference which consists of eight institutions: Brown University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University, and Yale University. They are considered the most prestigious colleges that one can attend in the US, with the highest acceptance rate being 8.7% and the lowest 3.9%.

The Ivy league produces some of the most influential people in the world, such as Supreme Court Justices, whose members all attended either Harvard or Yale.

However, for the majority of the people who get into these Ivies, they did not get there solely out of merit. Many of those who get into the undergraduate programs attended preparatory schools, or boarding schools, that cost a small fortune. These schools are a sort of feeder school, helping students specifically to get into these schools and helping them with connections, something the average American high school doesn’t have access to.

With the Ivies and their feeder schools costing so much, you may be wondering how families afford this. The answer is, because they’re rich. The median family income for undergraduate families of Harvard students was 3 times the median US household income. Dartmouth disproportionately accepts wealthy applicants, with one fifth of their student body coming from the top 1% in the country. The top 1% are households that make $630,000 or more a year. They are one of the few schools in the nation that has more undergraduates from the top 1% than the entire bottom 60%.

As if that wasn’t enough, they accept legacies at a much greater rate than non legacy students. Those who are legacies, which is anyone with family members who attended these schools in the past, have up to a 5 times greater chance of getting into the school.

All these components of privilege leave a sour taste in my mouth. I think it’s extremely inequitable to consider these schools the peak of education when most US high schoolers have a very slim chance of getting accepted, regardless of how well they perform in school, their intelligence, or their work-ethic. This country needs to stop putting these schools on such a high pedestal.

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Editorials/Student Voice, Tech/Games

We should be using Chromebooks, not iPads

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By: Ava Bird

For us students, using iPads for school every day is what we’re used to. And many of us are perfectly okay with it. But there are also those who recognize the downsides that come along with using iPads for our learning – and there are a lot of downsides. 

First of all, almost every mobile application is different from its desktop counterpart, and when on a Chromebook, this is usually beneficial to the user.

For example, on the desktop version of Duolingo, you don’t have a limited amount of hearts; in fact, hearts aren’t even a thing, meaning that you can make as many mistakes as you need to without purchasing a “Super” membership (previously known as “Plus”). 

Another example is Schoology. On Chromebooks, students have a better, somewhat more advanced version of Schoology that is more organized and has more functions than the iPad version. One of these functions is how you can edit Google Doc assignments without even leaving the schoology app. There is a “My Document” button, which allows you to view and edit a teacher-created Doc, whether it be open-ended writing or a fill-in-the-blanks study guide, directly from Schoology. If you wanted to open the document from the Google Docs website instead, there’s an “Edit” button which allows you to do so. Any document opened via Schoology automatically saves under your Google account. 

On the iPad version of Schoology, on the other hand, there’s a button which allows you to create a written submission, but you can’t see the directions for the assignment while editing it, and you can’t easily go back and forth between the directions and your writing. And this isn’t the only part of Schoology where iPads don’t compare; there’s so much more, but it’s best to just leave it here.

Another thing that makes Chromebook usage much simpler than iPad usage is how, in most cases, everything you need to do can be done from your browser. This means that everything is right in front of you, and nothing will get lost behind layers and layers of forgotten apps and websites. If you’ve never used a Chromebook, it may seem like having too many tabs open at once would result in confusion and lack of organization, but there’s actually a very simple way to group tabs into different subjects or categories. 

Grouping tabs compresses the selected tabs into a folder of sorts, which you can then name and color code to your liking. For example, you can have a yellow tab group labeled “History,” in which you can store all of your tabs from that class; a blue tab group labeled “English;” and a green tab group labeled “Science.” The tab groups don’t even have to contain class materials – you could also have, say, a purple tab group labeled “other,” which might contain random things such as a Google search, a Netflix show, and the daily sudoku. For many people, however, grouping tabs isn’t even necessary, since there is a large enough view to contain a good amount of tabs.

If you’re worried about not being able to draw or take handwritten notes on apps such as Notability, or if you simply like having a touchscreen, that’s no reason to keep using an iPad; there are Chromebooks with touchscreens. And, unlike iPads, use of the touchscreen isn’t even necessary to perform the functions that your flimsy iPad keyboard/case can’t. Plus, it’s really nice to have a built-in keyboard mouse. 

There are some iPad apps that don’t have web versions, like Notability, but you’ll soon find that apps like that are easily replaceable. Notes can be printed and handed out to students, taken on paper or in a notebook, or shared via Schoology or through a Google Document. The same can be done for worksheets, and many people appreciate the occasional hard copy, as it helps maintain the handwriting skills that are vital to everyday life. There are also apps that are similar to Notability, such as Google Keep, which allows you to take notes in a way that is similar to Notability. But even so, once Notability and similar apps are taken out of the equation, many will find that they are easily replaceable or not even a necessity in the first place.

There are so many more reasons why we should be using Chromebooks instead of iPads, and I could go on and on about this, but here’s the bottom line: It’s time to stop pretending that iPads are the best option for our education. They’re not.

Editorials/Student Voice, Tech/Games

iPhone VS Android

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By: Semaj Carter & Jhari Boayla

Android:

So, we all know about the debate about whether iPhone or Android is better. This debate has been going on for almost a decade and I’m going to show the good qualities of Android.

Firstly, the phones have more storage and the battery life lasts a lot longer than iPhones. The newest iPhone is the iPhone 14, which has the same qualities as the iPhone 13. According to an Apple developer, “The iPhone 14 features the same A15 Bionic chip that powered the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max.” This means that the iPhone 14 isn’t that different from the iPhone 13 and there was no point in making a new one except for exploiting money from people.

Android doesn’t have a lot of good features, but it does have reasonable upgrades and isn’t as expensive as an iPhone. The creators of Android did not shut off older models as soon as they released a new phone to get people to spend more money on a phone that’s practically the same as the older model, just like Apple has done, and is still allegedly doing.

The iPhone’s price is ridiculous, just like every other Apple product that they release; the price range is usually over six hundred dollars and that’s a lot for a small box.

The developers explained how there is no difference between the two phones and therefore there was no point in an upgrade. Most ‘Android’ products get an upgrade with different features, but the developers are having trouble with the camera quality.

Although there are a lot of statements that support both sides of the argument, this is my reasoning why I think ‘Android’ is better. I hope this helped you become more knowledgeable about Apple products.

iPhone:

I feel like most people feel like and think that iPhones are better phones than Android. Most people from this generation, I would say, have iPhones and only a few people have Android. I would say that some things about the iPhone are good, but some things don’t go to an extent like how Android can.

iPhones are popular, almost everyone has one. It’s something that most people in this generation have because Apple is a brand that I would say is ‘popular’ to most, I would say it is because it’s been out for years now and the company is very successful in what they are doing. There are a few things that I don’t like about iPhones. I would say you should upgrade to a new iPhone every two years because you can’t do certain things.

Some of the things I do like about the iPhone are: Facetime, iMessage games, and Face ID. Facetime because it’s a way to stay in contact with family. iMessage, is good because it’s really easy to use. Face ID is nice because if you forget your password, all you need to do is show your face.

So, even though the iPhone is missing some of the things the Android has, it still has some nice things going for it.

*NOTE: This article is kind of biased and does not completely rely on facts, but instead more on the authors’ opinions.

Editorials/Student Voice, School Life

ACT vs SAT: Why do we take them? Are they necessary?

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By: Maya Breininger

The infamous ACT/SAT exams date back to 1959, and have been used to summarize a student’s academic ability. The question is: Is this an accurate measurement of a student’s capabilities, or is it a grueling task that we just assign to high school students?

A study done in New York City addresses the high levels of chronic stress high school students face daily. It tells us how mentally damaging the repetitive cycle of school can be for young students, and about how the system is fit to teach students who all learn the same way. The cycle of learning a topic, memorizing it, and writing down the information on a test is the daily stressful learning system that students endure every day.

Although there are many studies done suggesting that this is the most efficient and effective way to reach large audiences of children, there are opposing studies that express how vital it is to have interactive assignments that immerse the kids in the material.

Now, what does this have to do with the ACT/SAT exams?

Well, first you have to ask yourself a few of questions – What are the contents of the exam? Are the pages of multiple choice questions of topics that were briefly discussed during class time the best way to assess a student’s academic value? Are the “core class” sections of the test – made to prepare you for very specific and non-diverse career paths – truly reaching into a student’s brain and obtaining its full potential?

Disregarding the repetitive nature of the test, along with the questionable measurement of educational properties, the way that these test scores are used can be very harmful for individuals.

Now, anyone can argue that the tests are used by many colleges and universities as tools to filter their applications, but is it accurate? Can it harm the individual?

SAT scores – according to the website Collegeboard.org – are used to make decisions about admissions, by comparing students based off of their scores. This indirectly states that a 3 hour exam can accurately capture the knowledge of an entire student. By using the same sections and decisions, colleges assess who can make it through applications.

Consider these components the next time that you have a conversation about the SAT scores, or form an opinion of a person for refusing to take them. Besides the fact that your score could deter your dream college from your application, it’s also a good idea to survey the contents of the SAT, and find out if it’s worth an entire year of stress to young high school students who might not even all learn the same way.

Now that you’ve read this article, can you confidently state that SAT and ACT exams are an accurate assessment of student knowledge? Should a decision made in 1959 about the rules of education affect how colleges view your application information?

The way I see it, it’s not an accurate assessment of the whole student, and there are lots of better ways for colleges to determine if a student is a good fit for their school.

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Editorials/Student Voice, School Life

What is spirit week? And how was it for HPSH?

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By: Domingo Basso

So, our school, Highland Park Senior High, has this thing called spirit week at certain points in the year.

Actually, first allow me to explain to you what exactly this “spirit week” is. Spirit week is a time of year for schools to be a little more festive and have some fun with some little event or spin on the norm every day of the week. Such as: wearing all white clothes to school one day or wearing pajamas. Spirit weeks usually last… well one week (hence the name) and are usually active before an event at said school.

Another thing to note is that most high schools have their spirit week on the week of homecoming ,and ends with a pep rally on the Friday of that week, followed by the homecoming dance later that night. 

In Highland Park Senior High’s case, spirit week had the following events each day: Monday was pajama + stuffed animal day, Tuesday was Twin day, Wednesday was Cultural pride day, Thursday was class color day, and finally, Friday was RED OUT day. 

The whole concept of spirit week was first really put into use in the year of 1952. The first spirit week was known as “Friendship Week” at Palo Alto High School and later on in the 1960s it was renamed to what we know it as today: “Spirit Week”

Finally, to close off this article, let’s see the opinions of some students around Homecoming Spirit Week of 2022.

I interviewed four students and this is what they all said: 

The first student said: “Mid.” And after having this person elaborate a little more they proceeded to say that it wasn’t all that good because “There wasn’t a no backpack day,” and “it was so bad that I can’t even remember any of the themes from that week” (By the way this same person didn’t know what the theme of most of the days even were).

The second student said :“Kinda boring,” and after making this student also elaborate more, via the use of a very friendly message including their address and a picture of their immediate family, they proceeded to say that it was because “None of the daily events were all that interesting or engaging.”

And the third student had this to say about spirit week: “It was alright, Friday was cool because of the pep fest but some of the other days barely anyone participated in spirit week.”

Finally, the fourth student said: “Yah I like spirit week.” Not much to say there they simply found spirit week enjoyable.

Overall, I’d say spirit week was alright. Last year was better though, because the events were more interesting.

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Editorials/Student Voice, School Life, Tech/Games

The pros and cons of students being allowed to use personal devices in school

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By: Abisola Dosunmu

Should the use of interpersonal devices—like phones—-be allowed in schools? I feel like that’s a question we’ve all asked ourselves at one time or another. Maybe not in that exact wording—but, well, you know what I mean.

In our modern world, life thrives on the use of digital technology.  We can use digital devices to communicate with our friends, family, literally anybody. There are around 7.753 billion people on this earth. With a few key types and a click of a button we can easily communicate with them. Maybe we’ve gotten desensitized to that, especially with the younger generation, but let me remind you, a hundred years ago, this would have been impossible to even think about. Now, it’s our reality. That’s pretty amazing.

So, what does ranting about the use of modern technology have to do with my topic? Well, cell phones have many uses besides the opportunity of being socially connected. They can be used for organization, note taking, access to educational apps, and new and unique learning opportunities tailored to each student’s needs. There’s really no one size fits all for everyone, especially when it comes to learning. 

Now, we have a whole labyrinth of information on the internet waiting to be discovered, with new takes on information and data from people all around the world. The ability to discover new perspectives and the opportunity to expand students’ minds and stray from the dusty old textbooks and worksheets.  Isn’t that what learning is about? Why not take advantage of that?

But, I also understand how cell phones can easily be misused in a learning environment. From distractions and cheating, to bullying, the use of cell phones can have a very negative impact on students’ daily lives. It all comes down to trust. When executed the right way, it can be a fresh and a helpful new way to develop new ways of learning.

I’m not saying I prefer this one way or another. Each point has its advantages and drawbacks. I mean, distance learning was done on devices. Some students thrived on it, some people didn’t. That’s fine. 

Instead of policing and trafficking use of all personal devices, recognize that some people can handle their devices responsibly and some genuinely need it (emergencies, to notify a guardian, personal problems, rescheduling something, etc.), while some people may have trouble focusing on learning with it.  That’s okay, because everyone learns differently and has different challenges. 

How can we achieve that? Well, there’s really no fair way to make it a rule one way or another. Despite what I just wrote, you can’t really allow one student to be on their phone and ban the other student from using it. What you can do is teach students to be responsible with their personal devices, to be respectful when using it, to be responsible with sharing content, and realizing when it’s time to put it away.  I know it might not seem like it, but it’s just another life lesson you need to teach in school.

So, what do you think? Should we encourage personal digital devices in school settings or completely veer away from it?

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Editorials/Student Voice, School Life

Was the homecoming dance playlist good?

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By: Gabe Kleiber

Image from: Aedon Everson-McDermott

Highland’s homecoming dance was a few Fridays ago, and one obvious challenge for any school dance is accommodating for the various age groups and genre preferences that come with having a school with hundreds of students.

But how well was this done?

To answer this question, I asked students what they liked and disliked about the song selection, and to rate it on a scale of 1 to 10.

One student said, “I really liked that they had some Spanish songs in there, but I wasn’t a huge fan of the rap ones.”

This brings up another huge issue for picking songs; the language barrier. Knowing and understanding the words to songs is often a big factor of whether or not you like them. There is no real option but to play songs in multiple languages, which they did, and it seemed to go over pretty well with everyone.

Another student said, “I liked that there was a variety of songs. My favorite was the dance pop songs, especially the classics like ‘I got a feeling’. I didn’t dislike many songs they played and they switched up the style a lot, so I will give it a 8/10.”

The last person I talked to said this, “I was expecting more slow music, but a lot of it was energetic and exciting. Even though they played a lot of music that I didn’t like, a lot of people seemed to enjoy every song they played. It wasn’t kids music either, it was the kind of music people our age actually listen too. I especially liked the hip hop ones like ‘Love Sosa’ and ‘Pop Out’. Overall they played something for everyone and did a nice job balancing different tastes. 7.5/10.”

I completely agree with this last one. It seems like overall there was a nice variety of music for all different genre preferences. Even if you aren’t a fan of pop music, they never played more than one or two without changing it up and playing something different. This made it so everything felt unique and everyone could dance to a song they liked often no matter what kind of music they liked.

They really did a good job with the balancing. I didn’t talk to anyone that didn’t enjoy at least 5 different songs they played, and there wasn’t a single song that any of them strongly disliked. Obviously, there were songs they were less fond of, but to keep everyone happy you have to play things that some people don’t like as much.

Overall, I am impressed they were able to keep so many people with different tastes happy, so I will give the playlist a 8.5/10.

Editorials/Student Voice

Does high school really prepare students for college?  

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By: Abisola Dosunmu

High school is a time for learning, a time where you learn to develop your social skills, a time for new extracurricular activities, loads of homework, new responsibilities, and also new experiences. The last compulsory education in America. Students spend on average 30 hours each week in class, proceeding from one class to the next. 

But does all that really prepare highschoolers for college?

After graduating, young adults are expected to know what to do next. The next step forward differs for everyone, but some decide to join the military, some decide to study abroad, some decide to take a gap year, some go to college, and some start working.  The data shows that the students that graduated in 2019 report that 66.2 percent of graduates decided to continue their post secondary education.

For many of the students that continue on to college, college is usually a major transition. Students go from small classes, structured time periods, and little to no actual expenses to classes ranging around 100+ students, all of a sudden you can take classes in the evening, and this scary thing called student loans is looming up at you in the distance.

High school ideally will have prepared students for these new changes and challenges, but is that what’s really happening? 

Are students really learning anything in high school? While In school, students are taught basic science, history, language arts and math, but are they teaching students the skills they need to succeed in real world situations? Students are taught how to memorize information, not really saying anything about absorbing it. At least, not absorbing it enough to be able to remember and apply to real world situations. Are most of us really going to remember, use and apply, the use of simultaneous equations we learned in 8th grade? No, I don’t think so. I’m not saying that what they’re teaching us isn’t important, because it is, but educators need to realize it’s not the only life skill students need. 

Students should be taught how to manage their time, learn how to do taxes, develop conversation skills, and writing skills, which, yes, is taught in English, but teachers need to devote more time to teach students how to write resumes and college essays (whether or not they decide to pursue higher education), and how to handle money.

Classes like home ec. should be offered in more schools to teach basic skills like how to cook, how to fix things, how to be more responsible about safety, basically how to manage a household for people who don’t plan on living with their parents forever. Even if it’s just an apartment, students need to learn how to take care of their living space and the rent.

Students should be taught more life skills devoid of the usual math, science and English classes. We need to learn about life outside of school, because that’s basically what going to school is for. To prepare kids for adulthood. 

All of this cycles back to my question. Are students really prepared for college or life? I honestly think educators could do a better job of preparing students for real life, not just hammering algebraic expressions into our heads or making us reread and re-examine “The Lottery” in English. Educators need to start thinking about things that would actually benefit students in the future besides the usual classes. Skills that will not only be beneficial in college, but in life as well. 

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Editorials/Student Voice

What Scott Jensen and Matt Birk’s win in November would mean for the people of Minnesota

Editor’s Note: The Plaid Line publishes editorials that contain opinions that are those of the student authors. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the the Plaid Line, HPSH, or its staff.

By: Irene Cohen

For those who weren’t aware, Scott Jensen and Matt Birk are running for governor and lieutenant governor, respectively. As a brief overview of both candidates, Scott Jensen is an unvaccinated family physician whose license to practice has been under investigation multiple times, which we will get into later. Matt Birk is an ex-NFL player for the Minnesota Vikings. A charming pair to become administrative leaders in Minnesota.

To delve a bit deeper into Scott Jensen’s policies and ideas, let’s look at his 5th medical board investigation. Already showing a propensity towards abuse of power before he even becomes governor, Jensen says in a social media post that the medical board “will be dealt with” if he becomes governor. He is already showing he can’t take criticism and will exert political power over those who publicly go against him.

Jensen and Birk both have a nasty habit of drawing false equivalences on serious and tragic matters. Jensen compared public COVID-19 health measures to Nazi Germany in a video from an April Mask Off MN event, a sentiment that minimizes the genocide of millions of Jews.

Birk continued this theme of almost trivializing the biggest genocides in history by comparing abortion to slavery when he spoke at a National Right to Life conference. He also said the following at that very same conference “Women used to not be able to vote, now we let them drive”. I encourage you to read a transcript, or watch this video of him speaking, because it is full of similar sentiments and it would take too long to go through them all.

Scott and Matt have no issue taking issues that they don’t care about and using them to their own advantage to try and make the causes they believe in seem more tragic than they are.

Matt Birk truly has a way with words, saying at the same Right to Life event, that women play the “rape card” in order to excuse their abortion. He compares the act of having an abortion to rape. He also insinuated that American culture encourages and brainwashes women into having abortions, and careers. He thinks that motherhood isn’t celebrated enough and that instead women are being told to get careers. I find this disturbing because he is a father, but he has a career. Does he not believe that fathers should care for their children just as much as a mother would?

Jensen proves that he will continue his self serving policies should he become governor. Jensen says he plans to pull funds from public schools in an interview with MPR, while his running-mate Matt Birk is a co-owner/founder of a private school in Burnsville. These two claim they understand the education system, but both have enough money to send all of their children to private schools.

The United States is already a pay to win society, and by pulling even more money from the public education system, they want to exacerbate that. By taking away resources from those of us who can’t afford to send our children to private institutions, they ensure that the poor stay poor and the rich stay rich.

Overall, the views that Jensen and Birk share are extremely reactionary and conservative. Their primary platforms are posed as moral issues, often rooted in their religious beliefs. They are self interested and only care about the “issues” of the rich, white, conservative, people of Minnesota. The don’t seem to understand, or care, about the struggles of the average Minnesotan citizen, whose quality of life will surely be affected negatively should Jensen and Birk win the ballot in November.

If you are 18 years or older, register to vote and protect your rights.

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Editorials/Student Voice, Tech/Games

TikTok: How does it impact an individual’s attention span?

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By: McKenzie Welch

TikTok is a social media phenomenon that took over the world in the blink of an eye, especially during the quarantine due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Whilst it’s a fun app to scroll through rather than doing your homework or going to sleep, it has detrimental effects on the attention spans of individuals, and people are beginning to see this happen right in front of them.

I have first hand knowledge of this phenomenon because I am a user of TikTok, myself. I didn’t notice at first, as it was just a fun app to spend some time on when I had so much time to kill. But, when I started noticing that I would pick up my phone rather than reading a book, or that I couldn’t even make it through an episode of ‘Criminal Minds’ without scrolling through the never-ending TikTok for you page, I knew something was wrong.

More recently, I have noticed that TikTok has consumed my life. Rather than doing something productive, I’ll choose to spend time on TikTok, or sometimes other social media apps, for hours on end. I won’t even realize how much time has passed since I started.

It’s a cycle that is very difficult to break, and I haven’t been able to break it yet. I still find myself procrastinating my homework just to watch more TikTok, and it makes me wonder: Why does TikTok always draw me back no matter how much I want to move away from it?

The first reason that TikTok is so detrimental is because 32.5% of the users are ages 10-19. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, an individual’s brain is still developing into their mid 20s, so the ages of 10-19 are the prime age to hinder development.

Because of TikTok’s short videos, which are on average 21-34 seconds long, they also keep people coming back for more. Because of the fleeting video length, you can watch videos for long periods of time without realizing how much of it has passed. Also, after watching videos that pass by so quickly, the brain becomes accustomed to that length. Watching things like shows and movies or reading a book becomes increasingly more difficult.

Finally, the reason TikTok is so addictive, in the first place, is because the videos shown to an individual are representative of the things they enjoy. This makes watching TikTok videos a fun experience that is difficult to stray from.

All in all, TikTok is not an inherently bad app, but it is one that should be used in moderation. Using it in moderation helps you maintain control over your attention span, and it allows you to use your time for things that would be considered more productive.

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