Commentary

It was a Tuesday afternoon when I watched as my AP gov classmates exchange scandalized glances as they listened to the PA. It was as if Ms. Charleson-Smith was admitting to tax fraud but no–she was explaining the new bathroom procedures. Why would laboratories cause such controversy and upheaval? Anyone who has been late to class because both stalls have been taken over by vapers would likely understand. Of course, I also assume that said bathroom vapers would also have strong opinions on this.

Before I started going to East, I frequently heard of the no door system they had adopted. Admittedly I thought it would be a defiance of my ability to focus in class and effort to concentrate on anything I would be doing. However, as I expressed my concerns to upperclassmen, they assured me I would soon grow used to it and wouldn’t even notice the chatter next door. Honestly, I didn’t believe them and saw it as less than pragmatic than anything. My mind continued to hold the stress that concentration would be an issue. Nevertheless, I quickly learned what they said to be true, and even grasped a few other discoveries of my own.

Most Americans believe that crime is a problem that is increasing. According to a Gallup poll, 74% of Americans think that crime has increased this year and 80% of Americans worry about crime a great deal. Surely, their fears are grounded, right? Yet despite what politicians would want you to think, there is no surging crime wave. Not in New York City, not in Buffalo, not in New York, not in America.

On October 14th, 2022, two activists from Just Stop Oil threw a can of soup at Van Gogh’s Sunflowers in the National Gallery, London, protesting new oil production in the UK. Asking the shocked public “What is worth more, art or life?”, the two subsequently glued themselves to the wall. Although throwing soup at paintings may seem wholly unrelated to climate change at a first glance, I would argue that they are linked.

The human impact on the earth—and our subsequent self-inflicted doom—is one of the burning topics of today’s social commentary. It is a human issue that everybody who lives and breathes on this planet should be aware of and trying to fix, yet it has been turned into a political “debate” and a subject so gloomy that many of us actively try to avoid it.

Dear Education, Thank you for twelve years of instruction. Thanks to you, I am able to read and write. Thanks to you, I am able to write this letter. Thanks to you, I can type. Thanks to you, I learned math. Thanks to you, I am able to compute derivatives, integrals, and the like.

What is the most dangerous sport? It’s a subjective question. Most people jump to football due to the viciously high rates of concussions, brain damage, and other physical maladies associated with the professional sport. However, I would like to propose wrestling, and more specifically high school wrestling, as the most dangerous sport.

Created by Vince Gilligan in 2015, Better Call Saul is a prequel spin-off to his previous show Breaking Bad. The show focused around Jimmy McGill, who would grow to become Saul Goodman, Walter White’s lawyer in Breaking Bad.

Standardized testing orients us towards specific trains of thought that make our social interactions and collaborative skills smoother. However, giving students too many tests without giving them enough time to prepare is like telling someone they need to be at a specific destination without giving them the means to get there.  

The humanities are the study of everything that we as a species have ever created. This includes art, music, literature, architecture, philosophy, history, politics, religion, and society itself.