South Korea and Finland have one thing in common: an excellent education system. However, things were not always running so smoothly. Surprisingly, both their education systems were at the brink of collapse less than half a century ago. Finland was about to become the “economic stepchild of Europe,” and South Korea was devastated by the civil war. Over the past fifty years, both countries have turned their education systems around 180 degrees, and now both are honored for their excellent education systems. Despite their massive successes, their systems are wholly disparate.
The famed Korean model is “Grit and hard, hard, hard work.” For thousands of years, many parts of Asia believed that the only path to success was through taking examinations, in which the proctor “was a proxy for the emperor.” South Korea, among many of the Confucian countries that respect educational achievement promoted by exam culture, stands out as the most extreme and most successful. The Koreans are now 100% literate, at the cutting edge of international comparative tests of achievement and critical thinking and analysis.
However, this comes with a huge cost. Students study all year long, in-school and with tutors, and failure is inexcusable. Andreas Schleicher, director of education and skills at PISA, stated, “Koreans basically believe that I have to get through this really tough period to have a great future. It’s a question of short-term unhappiness and long-term happiness.” The entire culture revolves around conformity and order, which pressures students to increase their expectations for their academic performance.
The classroom sizes in Korea are very large, for it is the goal of the teacher to lead the class as a community and nurture peer relationships, very different from America preschools in which teachers develop individual relationships with the students and intervene in peer relationships.
Undoubtedly, the Korean model teaches young students how to learn, how to work hard, and how to persevere through failures.
In contrast, the Finnish model is “Extracurricular choice, intrinsic motivation.” Students learn to balance both rigor and flexibility. To many educators, the Finnish model is a utopia. In Finland, school provides social services and educational services. Thirty-three percent of the classes that high school students take are electives and they can choose their own matriculation exams. The overall atmosphere is low-stress with a wide variety of learning experiences. Sahlberg says, “A key to that is education. Finns do not really exist outside of Finland. This drives people to take education more seriously. For example, nobody speaks this funny language that we do. Finland is bilingual, and every student learns both Finnish and Swedish. And every Finn who wants to be successful has to master at least one other language, often English, but she also typically learns German, French, Russian, and many others. Even the smallest children understand that nobody else speaks Finnish, and if they want to do anything else in life, they need to learn languages.”
Both the Finns and the South Koreans share an ingrained respect for teachers and their academic qualifications and accomplishments. Only 10% of applicants are admitted into teaching programs. Teachers in Finland teach 600 hours per year and spend the rest of time in professional development programs to improve their teaching. Both these systems of education are exceptionally effective by starkly contrasting methods.
Greece has come back from the brink of financial disaster. On February 24th, the new Syriza government secured a four-month extension of it’s financial bailout at the hands of other, wealthier nations in the Euro Zone.
The agreement came with a price–Athens had to put forward a list of reforms it would carry out in exchange for the extension, which had to be approved by the European Commission, the European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund.
These reforms include methods to fight tax evasion (a huge problem in Greece) and corruption (also a huge problem).
If the bailout had not been extended, it would have further hurt Greece’s already terrible economy. If it had not happened, Greece could have gone bankrupt again, which may have led to it leaving the Euro, something that would likely spell disaster for both the country and the Euro Zone.
The financial aid package now has to be approved by the other Euro Zone parliaments, including Germany, which has proved resistant to lessening financial terms towards Greece.
Greece’s debt is one of the highest in the region, at 175% of GDP.
Syriza (the new government) has shown a willingness to compromise that surprised many following their victory a month ago. The party ran on an economic populist platform that rejected the heavy debt burden imposed on Greece by other countries, mainly Germany.
Alexis Tsipras, the new Prime Minister of Greece, says that this was a crucial compromise, stating that Greece will no longer be “asphyxiated”.
Greece has been in dire straits for years, and is currently at 25% unemployment.
It remains to be seen how the debt renegotiations will go after this four month period ends.
As the technology industry booms in America today and old technologies are constantly being replaced be newer ones, it is curious to see where our used, old technologies go. The best we can do with our e-waste is to recycle them and hope that they can be used in some shape or form again without filling up landfills. Little do we know that recycling e-waste is a form of exploitation of other countries. E-cycling poses major health risks to the cheap laborers in developing nations. It pollutes those countries with our wastes. It even jeopardizes the integrity of our electrical devices we use every day through counterfeits. Is this recycling really the best way to deal with our old devices?
However, the recycling businesses benefit from the exportation of e-wastes. There are two aspects to why they export electronic waste in general. On one side, recyclers export to cut costs. A study commissioned by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) revealed that it was ten times cheaper to export e-waste to Asia than it was to process it in the United States. Therefore, e-waste recyclers, which include businesses and consumers, obviously ship them to the developing nations where they are dumped and unsafely taken apart. On the other side, recyclers export to yield profits. When e-waste is burned, valuable metals such as gold, silver, and palladium can be extracted. There is not enough metal to cover the costs of responsibly managing it in developed countries so it is exported to countries where workers are paid low wages and the infrastructure and legal framework is too weak to protect the environment workers and communities. This shows that businesses put their own self-interests above humanitarian ideals.
Cheap labor and fewer regulatory burdens are not only the most common reasons for interdependence on developing nations but also are the most unethical and unjust. Cheap labor means young women and children, low wages, and bad working conditions. In India, young boys smash computer batteries with mallets to recover cadmium, toxic flecks of which cover their hands and feet as they work. Women spend their days bent over baths of hot lead, “cooking” circuit boards so they can remove slivers of gold inside. These workers burn e-wastes which produce toxic chemicals and metals such as cadmium, mercury, and lead with the valuable metals. This level of toxins can cause cancer, irreversible neurological problems and be fatal to the laborers subjected to them. We are indirectly killing laborers in third world countries just with our wastes. Also, by exporting more in economic interest, whether it may be in e-wastes or manufacturing, we are encouraging the employment of cheap labor. The poor stay poor and the rich stay rich. The recycling businesses are portraying that we put our self-interest above our values in this circumstance. By cutting costs we are cutting lives in half and that seems to be okay to us. The worst part is that the majority of recyclers don’t have any idea where their wastes go, or that they are affecting lives of numerous people.
Nevertheless, most do know that E-waste poses a threat to the environment and to our health. We most definitely do not want it in landfills. Over time it corrodes, cracks, and leeches its toxic heavy metals into the landfill and into the ground or surface water we drink. Recycling e-wastes seems like a better option. Except, recycling has become a business in which companies “ship” wastes into impoverished countries such as China, India, Pakistan, and Nigeria for their cheap labor and valuable metals to be extracted. The countries in turn release toxins into the air by burning the e-wastes and therefore the developing countries are getting the immediate effects of this pollution from our wastes. People there are getting sick from our wastes. It is our responsibility that we recycle our wastes safely. It shouldn’t threaten the lives of other people and contaminate the planet we live in. We should especially not extend the responsibility and fault to other countries.
By e-cycling we are also unknowingly contributing to the development of fake technology. Exporting e-wastes increases the counterfeit industry. Counterfeiters in China reprocess used electronic components pulled from electronic waste. As a Senate Armed Services Committee report found, “much of the material used to make counterfeit electronic parts is electronic waste, or e-waste, shipped from the United States and the rest of the world to China.” Keeping e-wastes in the United States would keep them out of the hands of counterfeiters. There is already a strong network of responsible recyclers that is capable of scaling up to meet the additional demand.
We are all used to technology being a major part of our lives. It is second nature for us to upgrade our technology once in a while such as our phones. An average American owns five digital devices. These are devices more commonly replaced or upgraded. It is also common for us to buy an extra TV or replace household appliances to newer models. Sometimes we don’t take the time to fix a device ourselves and just replace them. All these practices today play a major role on the amount of e-waste produced. We don’t stop to think where our old devices go or what is done with them once we’ve used them. Recycling sounds good so we do it telling ourselves we’ve done our part. People should take responsibility of their e-wastes and recycle in organizations that deal with e-wastes in the best way possible. They need to be informed to the immoral and harmful aspects of bad e-waste recycling.
The electronics industry and the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) are leading the way in educating consumers and creating programs that make e-cycling as easy as purchasing. In 2012, 63 percent of consumers knew how and where to recycle their used electronics, up from 58 percent in 2010 (Alcorn par.3).Unfortunately, each state has its own laws on e-waste recycling which makes it harder implement uniform rules across state lines. The Responsible Electronic Recycling Act would make the exportation of e-wastes illegal in the United States as a whole. It is a bill introduced in 2011 in congress that has not been passed as of now. This would be a unifying law in the United States which would represent the country as a whole to make a change in the environment. By recycling materials responsibly on American soil, we can reduce the global and environmental impacts caused by exports to developing countries that lack appropriate safeguards.
It is critical for our environment, economic growth, and future innovations that we get e-cycling right. But it is also important we do it in a responsible and ethical way. Other countries, especially developing countries with cheap labor, should not be responsible for recycling our wastes and be exploited by businesses for doing so. Individual countries should be able to e-cycle their own wastes and by doing so, they can reduce the employment of laborers in developing nations. Developing nations should be uplifted economically in ways other than cheap labor in order for them to become developed nations. As technology advances, our electronics seem to get smaller such as our phone. We need to find a way to make our e-wastes get smaller as well.
The deadly storm brought Midwest as well as Northeast their biggest snow days on record.
In the Northeast, winter storm warnings covered parts of several states, including Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont, Maine and New Hampshire. Some parts of Massachusetts had snow up to 14 inches, causing Boston to declare a snow emergency and banning on-street parking amid predictions. New Yorkers were told to be prepared for roads and sidewalks to turn icy as temperatures plummet.
In the Midwest, Chicago suffered in the snow more than 18 inches and scores of schools closed. In Omaha, Nebraska, wet, heavy snow tested even heavy-duty snow blowers, CNN affiliate KETV reported. Luckily, Alaska didn’t have that much snow up until now, according to CNN affiliate WLS quoting Chicago visitors Emma Marks and Daniel Dobbs.
As a result of this storm, at least 10 people have died, including one in Michigan, two in New York, two in Wisconsin and one in Pennsylvania. The other four deaths were described in detail.
In Saunders and Lancaster, two people died in car accidents in Nebraska because of slippery roads on Sunday.
In Ohio, Toledo police Officer Michael Greenwood died while shoveling snow the same day.
In Weymouth, Massachusetts, a 57-year old person died after she was struck by a snowplow on Monday. The accident occurred at a condominium complex, and the incident is under investigation. Transportation has become a huge problem since Sunday. More than 3,700 Monday flights were canceled , according to Flightaware.com. United, Delta, American, Virgin America, U.S. Airways, Southwest, Spirit and JetBlue all issued waivers that allow travelers to change flights without a penalty. “It kept coming and coming and coming,” Frank Halpine of Omaha said.
Q: How do I talk to my parents about something I want to do if I’m not sure they’d let me?
A: Talk to them about how you could benefit from the situation, and talk about it from a positive perspective. Also mention how cautious you will be regardless the situation, and once you prove it to them, continue to do so.
Q: How do I get better at decision making?
A:Consider the consequences for each of your options and evaluate each option. Consult with other people, then go from there.
Sophomore Timmy Finley is breaking strides to become an elite diver.
By Steph Wetzel
Sophomore Timmy Finley may be known for his skill in gymnastics; however, gymnastics is not the only activity that he’s accomplished a lot in. He started diving last September for a club team at University at Buffalo. During the swim season of his freshman year, he came in first place at ECICS, second place at the class-a-meet, third at sectionals, and ended up making states at sectionals.
“States was an awesome experience because there was no pressure on me because I was only a freshman,” he stated. He ended up placing thirty first out of fifty two divers. “I practiced over the summer and fall in preparation for the high school season. In just the first meet I had beaten my record from last year by twenty points, and during the third meet, I broke the thirty year old pool and school record by five points,” said Finley. He beat that record yet again, by fifteen points two meets later.
Orchard Park diver Jake Ortiz may be the best diver in the section, according to Finley. “I had beaten him once last year and he beat me once. At the meet I got nines and nine and a halves on pretty much every dive and beat my record by over fifty points. The school record set thirty years ago was 272, and the score I originally beat was 277,” he remarked. At the OP meet, his score was 331. Ortiz ended up beating him at that meet, along with setting a new record for himself. “Now we are competing against each other for the last time at sectionals. This will be the last time because Jake is a senior; however, we’re both heading to states which are at Ithaca college,” he stated. Finley is ranked ninth in the state, while Ortiz is ranked fifth. “We are both aiming for placing in the top ten, and I hope we do well because we are actually friends. We dive together at UB,” he said.
Diving isn’t the only sport that Finley is involved in here at East. Other than diving, he does some events such as the 50 free in swimming, and is associated with the gymnastics team. “I haven’t done club gymnastics since seventh grade, I only do high school now and we just do backflips and socialize, It’s all fun and games there,” he stated. Gymnastics also gave him an advantage when it came to diving because the board was somewhat similar to the floor in gymnastics.
Based on how well the swim team has been doing, he believes that the team as a whole deserves more recognition. “The spectator sports get more recognition than a sport like the swim team,” he remarked. Being the only diver on the team also leads him to believe that the sport should be announced. With or without the recognition, he really enjoys the sport. “I really like diving because it’s so unique and no one else does it,” he stated. Fellow students, Timmy Finley included, accomplish much more then what is said on the morning announcements.
East students are commonly seen using their cellphones illegally.
By Kiran Garg, Rielly Hennessy, Saman Hassan, Jenna Marcus
The technological world is evolving at an exponential rate. With new advancements constantly being developed, the way people live, learn, work, teach, and perform tasks has seen significant changes in the past decade. Since the school opened, Williamsville East has been enforcing a no tolerance policy regarding cell phone usage; however, with the new challenges of an evolving world, East must reevaluate its long-standing cell phone policy. While technology opens up a world of countless possibilities and opportunities, its consequences must also be considered.
According to policy 7316, “The use of electronic devices…creates the potential for disruptions, violations of privacy as well as threats to testing/examination security.” Unless instructed by a teacher or aid, students are not permitted to use their own personal devices during school hours. If caught using one’s device, the student can have it taken away for ten days or until a parent picks it up. However, with the remarkable impact technology has had on the world, introducing it to be used more openly in schools is something many schools are reconsidering.
“We still need to discuss the cell phone policy as to what changes, if any, should be made,” Principal Mr. Taylor said. The effects of allowing cell phone usage at East would have on the school, learning environment, its benefits and disadvantages, and balances between the two, are all things being considered.
According to a poll of 98 students at Williamsville East, 95% of students believe the current cell phone policy is not the most effective. Many believe the current policy is inconsistent with current societal norms and can have many benefits if introduced.
“I do think we should be allowed to used our cell phones/devices in the commons and library freely. It’s not distracting to anyone and can be really useful to us,” sophomore Maggie Verrico said. Sophomore Julie Sciolino agreed. “Our school is very strict when they see our phones out in class or in the library. What they don’t realize is most of the time, it’s to check a simple definition.”
More and more schools are starting to consider the benefits of allowing students to use cell phones during school. According to Andre Potvin, principal of Lester B. Pearson Catholic High School in Ottawa, Ontario, utilizing cell phones has had a significant positive impact on his students’ learning. “We do a lot of in-service training with teachers (and parents) on 21st century learners—including how to use student-owned technology in the classroom as an instructional tool. In this way, we are able to emphasize the responsible use of technology by our students. The instructional benefits are significant, and we really don’t have a choice but to move in this direction.”
One benefit of a less strict cell phone policy is better communication between teachers and students. Cell phones can be a valuable tool for communication both in and out of class. Teachers can make the classroom a more open and interactive place through polls, reminders, and websites. “I’ve started texting a number of my students this year with reminders, classroom-related questions, even grades, and it’s really useful. I get a lot more response and it’s helped build channels of communication with a few students I might not have connected with as easily otherwise,” argued Jen Morrison, a high school English teacher from Prosperity, South Carolina. “Cell phone use and texting have become a basic communication tool of our time. It’s time to embrace this technology and set standards for its use.” By utilizing technology, students have the opportunity to build relationships with teachers, access more resources, interact more, and ultimately learn more effectively.
In addition to the learning environment, many students agree that being able to freely use cell phones in the commons or library can benefit them in numerous other ways. “After a hard day of classes, listening to music or relaxing on my phone can ease some stress and help me focus better for my next class. If students aren’t doing anything inappropriate, what’s the problem?” a junior at East asked. Not to mention, some kids focus better when they are listening to music. Studies have shown that the right kind of music can help you relax your mind which enables you to concentrate better. It would also allow students to always have be able to have a quiet place to get their work done. “Sometimes when I need a quiet place to concentrate I go to the career center, or even the library occasionally, and there are no computers available. If we were able to use our phones it would save computers and allow us to not have to go to loud places to get things done,” sophomore Gillian Marcus said.
However, some students and adults argue that allowing cell phones would discourage intimate communication and relationships. “For some educational purposes, using cell phones are fine, but kids aren’t communicating with others. Everyone just looks at his or her phones. And if the rules on cell phone use are less strict, then that would cause even more kids not communicating,” school aid Mrs. Middione said. Sophomore Rachel Parks agreed. “Having cell phones in class could cause students to text during class and not pay attention to the teacher. If everyone one was on their phone I would feel weird not being on mine.”
However, this may not always be the case. If used responsibly, cell phones could be a powerful tool, but one major concern expressed by the district is students abusing their privileges. This can lead to cheating, class disruption, bullying, etc. Although cell phones can be used in unfair or disruptive ways, just like anything else, when its power is abused it should be taken away. “Cheaters will always find ways to cheat or do bad things, whether it be using cell phones, writing answers on their desk/arms, asking friends; there are countless numbers of ways. Cell phones have so many other advantages that that shouldn’t be the main focus,” a senior at East said.
In a poll of 32 students, 78% agreed that students are not actually obeying the current no tolerance policy. Whether it be in the commons, library, locker room, or classroom, chances are there are always people that have their phones out when they’re not supposed to. If students are allowed to freely use their devices in the commons, they are probably less likely to have it out in class and disrupt others or not pay attention. “I think a lot of people were allowed to use their cell phones during their free, they would get what they needed to do done or get it out of their system, and be a lot less likely to use it in class. Also, there are a lot of people who just like to do it because it’s against the rules and they think they’re cool. Either way, allowing kids to use cell phones would probably decrease their usage in class,” a sophomore said.
After implanting a new cell phone policy, many schools have seen more positive effects than negative. According to Dave Stovenour, assistant principal of Dundalk High school in Baltimore, “We have seen a drop in disruptions related to electronic devices, and parents have welcomed this more relaxed policy. “After all, to our students (and to us as well), the cell phone has become a virtual appendage—an essential communication tool, and not necessarily more disruptive than a student tapping a pencil,” Scott Herrmann, principal of Gemini Junior High school in Niles, Illinois said. “Since we rethought our policy, havoc has not reigned. Our school structure has not collapsed, and the instructional process has not suffered. We now have more time to focus on what matters: teaching and learning.”
Williamsville’s procedures have not changed, but new policy 7317 allows each school to determine the rules. The district wants to match levels so that elementary, middle, and high schools have the same rules. High school principals are meeting Friday, March 6th to discuss the new policy and its implications for the three high schools.
At the end of every freshmen year, students are asked in a survey what they would like to see East change for the following year. The electronic policy has been steadily climbing to number two overall now, as it is clear students are looking for more access and freedom with their devices.
This specific issue has come up at numerous faculty meetings as well, allowing faculty and staff to have some input. Mr. Taylor is looking into piloting a new policy as early as next year.
Poll Results: What cell phone policy would be the best for East?
For decades baseball was the most popular sport in America, but since the 1994 world series was canceled due to a strike ratings and ticket sales have plummeted. From when the rating system was first used in 1968 to 1994 the series got a rating of under 20 only 3 times. Since the strike the series hasn’t broken a 20 one time. 2004 was the last time that the series got a 15. Of course this doesn’t all have to do with the strike season. In the era of social media no one has the attention span to watch the slowest sport in the country. Roughly half of last year’s world series viewer were 55 or older. Only 6 percent were under the age of 18 according to data gathered by Sport Media. The average age of views of nationally televised games last year was 54. Many are looking to Rob Manfred, MLB’s new commissioner, to make radical changes to spend up the games.
Several new rules will be implemented during the upcoming season. None of them are big changes and the penalties aren’t very harsh. The first change is when a pitching change happens the stadium clock will count down from 2 minutes and 25 seconds. This will speed up the later and longer innings of the games. Many nights it is difficult to sit through a game that seems decided and is dragging through its lating innings.
The requirement probably won’t affect the actual play of the game that much. The second change is more drastic. Batters must keep one foot in the box for the entire at bat. This might make hitters uncomfortable and hurt offenses for the first portion of the season. The rule doesn’t specify when the batters actually have to get back into the box, so a batter can go through his whole 60 second routine of readjusting both gloves and his helmet and taking 13 practice swings as long as one foot is in the box. The fine for the penalty is $500 per offense. Many have said that the fine isn’t steep enough.
Yes, to an MLB player $500 is like a quarter is to a teen, but think about how many pitches each batter faces a season. Last year Ian Kinsler had 726 regular season plate appearances. if he faces 4 pitches per appearance which is a conservative estimate that’s 2904 pitches. If he dares to step out of the box once every 100 pitches that would be $14,500 in fines. These penalties will add up quickly. For many players the actual receiving of the fine 10 times might be a bigger deterrent than the dollar amount itself.
These new rules affect offenses more than pitchers. They actually won’t really speed the game up that much. These are simply baby steps in the right directions. Eventually(hopefully before the 2016 season) there will have to be rules against batters being outside the box for too long and limits on time between pitches. These changes will in the long run be good for the league. For this season they will at least provide an interesting talking point and speed up the later innings slightly.
A newly leaked memo has delivered the shocking revelation that the Russian government planned to annex both the Crimea and Eastern Ukraine before that country’s revolution last year. This proves that Russia was lying when it insisted that it had invaded the area spontaneously in order to avoid the persecution of ethnic Russians in Ukraine.
The report was released by Novaya Gazeta, a Russian magazine which is notable for being one of the last publications in that country with freedom of the press.
A conservative oligarch named Konstantin V. Malofeev is apparently the person who drafted the memo, which laid out what was described as the unstoppable dissolution of Ukraine, and suggested a path for Russia to follow in order to gain the most from the situation.
The memo is notable in that the steps it outlines have basically been followed in the actual government policy towards the Ukraine, short of Russia officially annexing any part of Eastern Ukraine.
The Kremlin’s spokesman, Dmitry S. Peskov, denied the memo’s legitimacy, saying that “I don’t know whether this document exists at all…the document has nothing to do with the Kremlin.”
Malofeev’s communications team also denied any connection with the memo, which cannot yet be independently verified (the newspaper did not publish any actual pictures of the memo).
All this comes after continued violence in Ukraine, with the recently signed ceasefire on shaky ground. After the truce was signed, there were reports of consistent violations of the ceasefire by separatist rebels. However, the situation appears to have stabilized at least a little bit in the past few days.
The measles outbreak led to controversy sparking these days. Some people disregard the recommendations to vaccinate for variety of reasons. However, according to authorities, the scientific and medical consensus is clear: Vaccinations are safe, and they work.
The Measles outbreak until January 30 had 102 cases of measles reported across 14 states.The majority were related to Disneyland in California which had a large number of visitors as well as huge population migration.
Compared to 644 cases of measles reported last year, the current case of 102 outbreaks is alarming. One month into the new year, the number of measles cases is nearly one-sixth of last year’s total. Last year’s 644 measles cases is an outlier compared to the previous decade which made the situation seemed worse. The number of measles cases in 2014 was the highest since 2000 for the median number of measles cases reported per year from 2001 to 2011 was 62.
The highest number of cases in a single year was 220, and the lowest was 37 in this time period, according to Dr. Anne Schacht, assistant surgeon general and director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. The CDC points out that when measles finds its way into these communities when people refusing to use vaccines, outbreaks are more likely to occur making controlling the disease becomes harder.
Measles is actually a highly communicable respiratory disease caused by a virus and spread through the air starting with a fever, runny nose, cough, red eyes and sore throat. “This is not a problem with the measles vaccine not working,” Schacht said. “This is a problem of the measles vaccine not being used.”
