But while the American people decry the inadequacies of their leaders, anti-drug policies continue to miraculously succeed at stemming drug flow from Latin America, weakening drug cartels and reducing border and Latin American violence and instability. Today, we ought to thank the government for successfully protecting its citizens instead of protesting and critiquing the policies that have saved thousands of civilian lives.

According to the Center for Foreign Relations, US anti-drug policies have resulted in the arrest or death of more than 68 percent of Latin America’s most-wanted drug traffickers through bilateral intelligence and operational cooperation. Last year, the U.S. disrupted or dismantled 612 cartels, including Latin America’s most powerful ones: Cali, Medellin, Pablo Escobar, and Super Cartel, responsible for 50 percent of all cocaine on US streets, according to the Office of National Drug Control Policy. Even Los Zetas, considered the “reigning narco-trafficking operation of our time” by the Washington Office on Latin America, is slipping. Foreign Affairs reports that by fragmenting large cartels into smaller gangs, the US has debilitated them; while they may still traffic drugs, they are less powerful, less violent, and no longer threaten the State or the US.

Before current anti-drug policies, violence was skyrocketing. US efforts curbed this violence. Violence growth fell from 142 percent in 2008, to 60 percent in 2010, to 11 percent in 2011, and for the first time in over a decade, violence actually decreased by 28 percent in 2012. To put this in perspective, in 2011, if violence had increased at past rates, 20,000 to 30,000 drug-related homicides would have occurred, according to the Justice for Mexico Report. Instead, 16,000 did. That’s a tangible 4 to 14 thousand lives saved in just one year. The number of municipalities free from violence increased by 16 percent and the number of organized-crime style homicides has decreased by 28 percent. Reforma reported a roughly 21 percent reduction in human rights abuses such as executions. According to KPBS, drug-related killings in northern Border States fell by 12 percent and in border cities by 44 percent.  That means less people in Latin America and a safer, more stable border.

Ginger Thompson of The New York Times explains a few of the reasons for declining violence: “the US has trained nearly 4,500 new federal police agents” and “has provided sophisticated equipment, including Black Hawk helicopters” to the military to assist in the defeat of cartels. As of September 2012, 4,400 federal police investigators and 5,000 penitentiary staff had completed US-funded courses; 7,500 federal and 19,000 state justice sector personnel had received training on their roles in Mexico’s new justice system, which has resulted in reduced governmental and police corruption. Furthermore, according to the GAO, the US has built 134 schools, health facilities and water systems, 205 kilometers of road, and 12 bridges and irrigation projects. The result has been decreased violence and narco-terrorism and increased stability.

Plan Colombia, which sought to stabilize Colombia, has succeeded as well. A decade ago, experts agonized over the possibility that Colombia hovered on the verge of becoming a failed narco-state. Ten years later, Colombia, with the active assistance of the US, has successfully reduced homicides by 15 percent, massacre events by 52 percent, kidnappings by 34 percent, and massacre victims by 48 percent. More than 1,300 of Colombia’s top crime bosses and their most dangerous enforcers have been arrested, according to CNN, and Colombia’s primary paramilitary organization responsible for violence and narco-terrorism, FARC, has been set back by more than a decade.

Beyond reducing violence, US drug policies have reduced drug flow into the US. The United States USAID program provides Latin American families with Alternate Development programs which give farmers the opportunity to replace their illicit crops with legal ones. Alternate Development programs reduced the percent of households in Latin America growing coca (from which cocaine is made) as their primary crop from 40 percent to five percent. There has been a 22 percent reduction in Latin America’s coca production and a 67 percent reduction in opium poppy crop cultivation (from which heroine is made), according to the Congressional Research Service. These US anti-drug policies, in addition to eradication policies, have significantly reduced the supply of drugs.

Drugs are being eliminated during transit as well. Increased patrols have seized 31 percent more drugs, 75 percent more cash and 64 percent more weapons between 2008 and 2010. The Defense Department estimates that only 850 metric tons of cocaine departed South America last year toward the US, down 20 percent in just a year. The Christian Science Monitor reported that over 75 tunnels have been discovered and shut down by US authorities in recent years, cutting off roots of transit.

Critics are wrong. They claim that violence is rising, but in reality, violence growth fell from 2006-2011 and in 2012, violence itself fell for the first time in a decade. They claim that drug use is rising but ignore the fact that because of US policies, 1/3 fewer illicit drugs are able to enter the US across the Mexican border. Critics are right that US policies aren’t perfect; we don’t have a magic wand to make everything perfect. But the US is flattening the slope of increased violence and of increased drug US, and that in and of itself is a huge success.

And now, after having read the literature on the topic, I’m confident that even skepticism is too positive of a reaction to Obama’s seemingly impromptu proposal.

The BRAIN initiative, a comically forced acronym for Brain Research through Advancing Neurotechnologies, is a $100 million federal sponsorship project to be carried out through a partnership between the National Institute of Health, the Defense Advance Research Agency, and the National Science Foundation. Co-led by Dr. Cori Bargmann of Rockefeller University and Dr. William Newsome of Stanford University, the BRAIN initiative hopes to generate a map of every single neuron-to-neuron interaction in the human brain. The ultimate goal is to be able to understand just exactly how the brain is wired, so that, in theory, we can tackle disorders like autism and Parkinson’s.

But as romantic and ideal as Obama’s plan may sound (after all, who doesn’t want to “cure” Parkinson’s?), the president hasn’t actually drawn up any plans to carry it out. In fact, the co-leaders are being given the task of developing timetables, milestones, and cost estimates. Essentially, this means that the Obama administration is making room in its budget for a brain-related science project without knowing what that project will entail.

President Obama has compared the potential success of the BRAIN initiative to the success of the Human Genome Project (HGP), which mapped out the human genomic sequence in 13 years with a $3 billion total expenditure. This parallel is absurd. For one, the HGP’s acronym was not, unlike the BRAIN acronym, a forced attempt to appeal to the public. But, on a more serious level, we already had an agenda, or at least a basic plan of action, going into the HGP. All we know about the BRAIN initiative is that we’re putting together money for a federally funded group effort to develop a neural map.

Don’t get me wrong—I’m glad that the scientific community is getting this money. If there is anything we should be funding, it’s science research. But at the same time, it seems as if Obama is making a pay for votes by throwing money at scientific intuitions with words like “hope” and “America’s Next Great Challenge.” Obama’s rhetoric—his insistence that “this enormous mystery waiting to be unlocked” can be and will be solved—is, as David Hovda from the Brain Injury Center puts it, too much to promise. “It sounds more like a public relations splash […] I think we’re promising too much. I don’t think it’s going to be the big breakthrough that people will think it will be,” Hovda said.

Instead of trying to win the public’s approval through grand and ambitious programs with little substance behind them, Obama should instead increase funding for the behind-the-scenes research that occurs every day in labs across America.

Instead of trying to win the public’s approval through grand and ambitious programs with little substance behind them, Obama should increase funding for the behind-the-scenes research that occurs every day in labs across America. And right now, as the scientific research field deals with the effects of the recent sequestration, as labs all over the country turn out empty pockets to a deaf federal government, and as research at the small scale is threatened, perhaps we should reconsider our priorities.

Individualized laboratory efforts are producing pieces of the neurobiological puzzle daily. Instead of ambitiously proclaiming that we’re going to spend $100 million on an undefined effort that will hopefully give us the cure to diseases like autism, we should give these small labs the money they needs to help insure that these pieces fall into place.

Unlike most high schools, Stuyvesant has all of the elements for a sustainability program that goes beyond basic conservation and education. With a little help from the Stuyvesant Administration and PTA, Stuyvesant can make its sustainability program an active educational experience. Over 20 years ago, scientists associated with the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued their first report, calling on governments around the world to take quick, decisive action to limit the impact and cost of climate change. They hoped to limit the change to +2 degrees Centigrade. Unfortunately, while annual carbon dioxide emissions in the US have declined slightly, global greenhouse gases have increased every year and are now something on the order of 50 percent greater than they were in 1990 (considered to be the benchmark year). Consequently, in December 2012, the World Bank raised the expected increase in global temperature by 2100 from 2 degrees to 4 degrees Centigrade. Many believe that this estimate is conservative due to domino effects such as reduced reflection of sunlight due to shrinking polar ice caps. Some predict increasingly dire climate-related difficulties in the years to come.

This is a cause that young people are very motivated to help solve. The NYC Department of Education has a Sustainability Initiative and is a member of the Green Schools Alliance which offers The Green Cup Challenge. Such initiatives are a good starting point for schools because they provide resources, benchmarking and recognition that can help start and sustain sustainability efforts. From a quick perusal through various websites, it appears that most schools are at beginning stages, initiating basic conservation and climate awareness programs. Most schools seem likely to passively implement more advanced measures only as they are developed by school systems and associated corporate and nonprofit partners. Thus, Stuyvesant has the ability to stand out among other schools by setting a higher goal and attaining it. In addition to school pride, such a program could provide many Stuyvesant students with a real advantage. Many of the colleges that Stuyvesant students hope to attend in the future are well acquainted with the challenges of sustainability from their experience. In fact, only four colleges, including Colby College, have achieved the commendable status of being “carbon neutral.” Many others are working toward this goal but few high schools have attempted this achievement. Probably the most well-known of these is Okemos High School in Michigan, which pledged to become the first carbon neutral high school in the world. The innovative Okemos High School Carbon Neutral Volunteers program enables volunteers to purchase solar ovens for deployment in countries such as Tanzania, Peru, and India, reducing deforestation rates, the burning of fossil fuels, and soil degradation. Individuals also have the choice of making personal commitments to reduce their carbon footprint by conserving energy at home, carpooling and planting trees while providing a quantitative estimate of the impact of individual choices on reducing the global carbon footprint. The Volunteer Carbon Credits© earned through these actions are then credited to Okemos High School.

A serious Stuyvesant effort to be carbon neutral could energize the student body by offering it a chance to work on an important project with real world impact. It would bring together disparate student groups that generally don’t work together and inspire all students to learn and participate. Examples of the types of contributions some groups can make are: the robotics club: automation, tech evaluation; the environmental club: research, grant writing; student government: coordination among groups, liaison to colleges and other organizations; writing, arts, and media groups: posters, communications, etc.; computer/web groups: website; language and culture groups: reports of what other countries are doing; ARISTA: community outreach; etc. Lastly, in two years, nations around the world will meet to enact tough measures to combat climate change. Stuyvesant would probably have ample opportunities to showcase its efforts before, during, and after this meeting. In addition, various grants and funding may be available before or soon after world governments sign a climate agreement. These could provide or complete funding for costly parts of Stuyvesant’s carbon neutral goal, such as obtaining and storing tidal, wind, and solar energy.

A well-established sustainable Stuyvesant initiative could be the first of its kind in New York City and contribute to a an all-encompassing global cause.

Michael Zamansky (’84)

Unlike most incoming freshmen, computer science coordinator Michael Zamansky didn’t feel much pressure when considering Stuyvesant for high school. “It was pretty much assumed if I got in, I was going. Not making it in was never really part of the equation,” Zamansky said. During his time at Stuyvesant, however, the computer science department was not what we know it to be now; computer science was only taught as an elective then.

After graduating and spending a few years working on Wall Street with computer science, Zamansky decided he wanted to explore other options. This led him to consider a job at Stuyvesant. Though Zamansky had connections to the school, acquiring a position was still rather difficult. He settled on being a math teacher at Seward Park High School, but when he was sent in for the job, an accident by the Board of Education led him to be removed: they had lost his teaching license. In a stroke of serendipity, it just so happened that Stuyvesant needed a math teacher, and his previously invaluable connection with the head of the school’s math department landed him the job.

Zamansky is content with his teaching position, especially following years of work in expanding the computer science curriculum beyond the introductory level. His passion lies not in giving students high grades, but in teaching and giving them valuable life skills. “I look at it as I’m working with my students to impart knowledge and, hopefully, inspiration and to empower them to grow,” Zamansky said. The shirts that hang around room 307 show this goal’s success; each one was sent by a student of his who has gone on to land jobs in the computer science industry. Still, in Zamansky’s eyes, Stuyvesant is changing and not necessarily for the better. “A lot of students come here just to take classes, but they don’t really feel invested in Stuyvesant. And as an alumni, teacher, and a parent, it’s sad,” he said.

Maria Nedwidek (’88)

For biology teacher Dr. Maria Nedwidek, attending Stuyvesant was a crucial step in developing her career in the sciences. “If I didn’t get into Stuyvesant, I wouldn’t have had an option,” Dr. Nedwidek said. “There weren’t other options for bright students. I liked science, and I wanted Stuyvesant because of the science and math.” Dr. Nedwidek maintains that most of the pressure of getting into Stuyvesant was from herself, not from her parents.

At Stuyvesant, Dr. Nedwidek focused much of her time on her science classes and working in the lab, getting to know some of her future co-workers without even realizing it. After high school, she continued her studies at MIT, majoring in biology, before pursuing and receiving her Ph.D. at Princeton. She then began working at a lab in Harvard, where she began to consider running a lab as a career. Four years into this endeavor, though, she gave up working in academic science and wanted to continue teaching. She moved from Boston back to New York, with a job at the Dwight School on the Upper West Side. In 2005, a contact from one of her old teachers in the biology department invited her to teach at Stuyvesant, and Dr. Nedwidek landed the job almost instantly.

After teaching here for eight years, Dr. Nedwidek has had the time to witness the diversity of students that come to Stuyvesant. “A lot of the male students I have remind me a lot of my father, which is very weird and very interesting. My dad was a student here, and he was a lot like they are,” she said. “I think that a lot of students at Stuyvesant are similar: they get into mischief, but are passionate about learning. I think that when my students remind me of my dad, it makes me a little more forgiving towards them.” On the student culture of Stuyvesant, she commented that students seem to have a lot more academic pressure put on them than she did, but that this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. “Stuyvesant was and it still is a great place. It’s just different,” she added.

Annie Thoms (’93)

When English teacher Annie Thoms came to Stuyvesant for the first time in 1989, her experience was similar to that of Zamansky: “The culture of test preparation was not as intense, but I knew Stuyvesant was at the top and so I aimed for that,” she said in an e-mail interview. For her, the “sheer nerdy-ness” of the school was what made it so appealing. After being alienated for her intelligence and interest in her academic pursuits in middle school, Thoms was finally surrounded by people with a similar academic drive at Stuyvesant. The heterogeneity of students was also valuable to her. “It’s good to be around lots of people who are brilliant in ways that are different than you,” she noted.

After deciding to become a teacher, Thoms did not think she would return to Stuyvesant. However, her experience of coming back as a student teacher to learn from her previous instructors would motivate her to seek a full time position. “I thought I would find myself teaching in a place that was a grittier, more typical public high school, but while I was at Stuyvesant I had a class that I fell in love with, I just got this awesome vibe from them, and it was such a great time,” she said. Between the bond she had formed with her students and the chance occurrence that another teacher had taken a maternity leave, Thoms eagerly accepted a job at Stuyvesant.

When asked about the changes in the student culture, Thoms was quick to note how little has actually changed from her days as a high school student. “There is still a sense that the school’s students are smart and motivated, but the demographic has changed. There are many more Asian, as well as first generation immigrant, students, which contributes to the diversity, but at the same time homogenizes things,” she said. However, through teaching the Writer’s Workshop course, she has gotten to see the creativity and opinions of the student body that is sometimes forgotten amidst Stuyvesant’s math and science culture. “When given the chance, the students will really knock your socks off,” Thoms said.

JonAlf Dyrland-Weaver (’01)

Computer science teacher JonAlf Dyrland-Weaver’s time at Stuyvesant is what, he believes, ultimately led him to become a teacher. “I pursued teaching first, and my experience at Stuyvesant and the teachers here definitely had an impact on that. And being introduced to computer science here gave me the toolset to go on and continue learning it,” Dyrland-Weaver said.

As a new teacher, Dyrland-Weaver didn’t have much of a choice in terms of where he would teach, but had always thought of Stuyvesant as a place he wanted to return to. After Dyrland-Weaver spent a few years at another high school, Zamansky, already the head of the computer science department at the time, called up Dyrland-Weaver, his former student, and invited him to a job interview. He got the position and the chance to teach computer science. Coming back to his old high school to work as a teacher was “very trippy,” Dyrland-Weaver said. “Sometimes I have a dream in which it’s the end of the year, and I realize I’ve been cutting all my classes to teach computer science. Then I realize I haven’t been cutting classes and I’m actually a teacher.”

Time has brought changes to Stuyvesant’s student culture, and Dyrland-Weaver commented on the school’s increased competitiveness. “Students take AP classes for the sake of taking AP classes, not for an interest in the subject. Sophomores, and even freshmen, are starting to think about college. And the students just feel less appreciated and welcome by the school,” he said. However, he believes that Stuyvesant offers a lot more opportunities than it had in the past, both overall and within the range of computer science.

But while music pulses through the community via piano keys and violin strings, several students at Stuyvesant are skilled in instruments less commonly played in a school orchestra or band, adding creativity to their respective cultures with a Western twist.

Sophia (Fish) Milnikiewicz: Bandura

Sophomore Sophia (Fish) Milnikiewicz has been playing the bandura, a 55-string Ukrainian plucked folk instrument, since the summer of 2012. “It all started when my mom and I were searching for something for me to do during the summer. I wanted something that Stuyvesant couldn’t offer,” Milnikiewicz said. That summer, her mother suggested that she learn the bandura, which Milnikiewicz’s aunt used to play.

Milnikiewicz took lessons over the summer for two weeks at Kobzarska Sich, a camp dedicated to playing the bandura, in Emlenton, Pennsylvania. “Arriving at the camp, I was initially frightened because it was my first year attending, and I wasn’t sure how huge a barrier not speaking Ukrainian would be. Once other girls in my age group arrived, though, I had a great time. The camp perfectly balances hardcore lessons, ensemble playing, and fun,” she said.

Though it is an instrument played by plucking, the bandura is no walk in the park. “For me the hardest thing about playing it is coordination. The concert banduryst has an extremely difficult multitasking job: they have to pluck their bass strings with one hand, pluck their treble strings with the other, sing, look at their sheet music, look at the conductor, and add some sort of emotion all at the same time,” Milknikiewicz said.

The bandura’s tone and style are different from those of traditional Western instruments. Its notes are always staccato because the strings are plucked and not strummed, and its tone darker than that of Western instruments, which are usually tuned in the 12-note chromatic scale. Banduras are traditionally tuned to various diatonic scales and are usually optimized for playing in G major or E minor.

Milnikiewicz’s goal for now is to learn as many classic rock songs as possible and share them on YouTube. Despite her modern take on the instrument, the majority of music played on the bandura is Ukrainian folk and choral music. “The bandura and Ukrainian history and nationalism are deeply interconnected, so playing it is as much about keeping the tradition alive as it is about the music itself,” Milnikiewicz said.

After taking lessons at Kobzarka Sich, Milnikiewicz has continued to practice the bandura during the school year. With her experience as a bandurystka, Milnikiewicz finds the instrument quite beautiful. “I like its mystique the most. When I’m traveling on the subway with my bandura, people always look at the shape of the case and I can tell they’re wondering what the heck it is. Is it some sort of strange guitar? Or a flattened tuba? Even in school, people are always asking me what it is and they’re always so shocked and intrigued when I show it to them. People are so curious about it—I love it,” Milnikiewicz said.

Brian Phung: Erhu

Senior Brian Phung began playing his first string instrument, the violin, when he was six. He has also been playing the erhu, a similar oriental instrument, for nearly two years. Also known as a spike fiddle, the erhu is a bowed, two-string Chinese instrument.

Over the summer, Phung acquired an erhu as a gift from his uncle, who had visited from Hong Kong. Though Phung did not start playing right away due to fear of developing the wrong technique, he picked up on the erhu quickly due to his experience playing the violin.

Phung started to play covers of contemporary pop songs with senior Elliot Ziskin during his sophomore year. Phung would play violin and Ziskin the guitar. “Eventually, we came across some Taylor Swift stuff and thought, ‘Hey, would this be awesome on erhu?’” Phung said.

Though Phung was already proficient in violin, he found playing the erhu quite different. The range is fairly limited, especially since the erhu has only the two middle strings of a violin. Furthermore, there is no fingerboard on the erhu, so the string must be stopped on the air. Because of this, it is harder to have better intonation on the erhu. “It’s a very Eastern thing to glissando, which makes finding the correct tones easier, as opposed to the Western tradition of denouncing [notes] in favor of precise shifts,” Phung said, describing the technical differences between Western and Eastern music.

In spite of the differences and lack of familiarity, it was the timbre of the erhu that first drew Phung to experiment with it. “The tone of it is so distinctly oriental, and I just loved the idea of mixing that with the sound of American pop music,” he said.

Currently, Phung and Ziskin are working on numerous performances for others. They performed at this year’s Culture Fest, which was hosted on Thursday, April 18. Starting with the traditional Chinese “Butterfly Lovers,” they segued into a medley of American pop music, with titles including Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” and Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’s “Thrift Shop.”

“We never really performed [before Culture Fest], never having achieved satisfactory proficiency. Though as of late, I’ve been trying to change that and just go out there and play,” Phung said.

Seung Ki (Scott) Min: Korean Drums

Sophomore Seung Ki (Scott) Min began playing the Korean drums at Korean school. The drums are used to play Samulnori (사물놀이), a traditional genre of percussion music, referring to four musicians who dance and play with four traditional Korean instruments: the kkwaenggwari (small gong), the jing (larger gong), the janggu (hourglass shaped drum), and the buk (barrel drum). In addition, there are four drums in the Samulnori. “Different percussion beats are put together to create harmonious sounds,” Min said.

Min found a teacher and took lessons after gaining interest in the drums at Korean school. “At first it seemed like I made no progress, but as the weeks passed, I could hear myself getting better,” Min said. Since then, he has won numerous competitions playing these drums, and has played at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.

Traditionally, the music related to the Samulnori traces its roots back to traditional farmer’s music, or Nong-ak. In Nong-ak, there were bands of 24 or more performers. These groups would often play with the same four instruments used in Samulnori. Samulnori also has roots in Buddhism, where the samul is used for certain rituals.

Leon Frajmund, sophomore

The flood of students rushing through the doors before 8:00 a.m. has become a common sight on Chambers Street. For sophomore Leon Frajmund, his experiences in his native country Brazil, where he lived for 14 years, tell of a completely different social and academic atmosphere. In Brazilian cities, for example, “you have to take a car to go everywhere, so you could only be in your house or in school. There was no hanging out on the Wall, in the park. You’re at home or at school,” Frajmund said. Consequently, Frajmund not only had a driver to transport him to all of his activities, but a staff of ten in his household.

Frajmund moved to the United States the summer after eighth grade not only for his education, but also for his mother’s desire to pursue a master’s degree. While most immigrants have difficulties assimilating due to linguistic and cultural differences, Frajmund had attended a school that mimicked the American school system since the third grade. At this school, Frajmund not only learned English, but also studied Brazilian Social Studies and Portuguese. Additionally, Frajmund had already familiarized himself with New York City due to frequent family vacations.  “Since I always came here [New York] on vacation, I still think of this as a vacation place. So I [feel like I’m] on permanent vacation,” he said.

Though Frajmund’s experiences in Brazil are not an accurate depiction of a typical Brazilian education, he still believes that the education in America trumps the education offered in Brazil. “For one, [American education] is a lot better. Education in Brazil isn’t that good. I went to a really good school, but it was still way below Stuyvesant’s level. Also, it’s public here so I don’t have to pay, while in Brazil it was private and it costs a fortune,” Frajmund said. A difference in student culture, Frajmund said, was that “people [in America] are a lot more serious. They’re a lot more focused on schoolwork, while in Brazil it’s a lot of partying.” However, the mental dynamic was not an issue for Frajmund as he assimilated into Stuyvesant, a community that he views as welcoming and outgoing. Frajmund said, “I like Stuy more than my old school. Everything. Everything.”

Even though Frajmund does prefer Stuyvesant to his education in Brazil, he still returns to Brazil to visit his friends, grandparents, and his dog. “He wouldn’t fit in the apartment. He’s a big German shepherd,” Frajmund said.

Sungwoo Park, Sophomore

When sophomore Sungwoo Park begins SAT prep this summer, his friends in South Korea will have already spent years studying for the national college entrance exam. This strenuous nine-hour exam directly influences South Korean seniors’ admissions into college and career tracks. Due to the gravity of the exam, the majority of South Korean high school freshmen begin attending mandatory after-school study sessions that end at 7:00 p.m. or 8:00 p.m. This highly competitive and stressful structure of South Korean education was a large factor in Park’s eventual immigration to New York City. With a daily school schedule from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., Park’s educational experience did not differ drastically from an American education apart from weekly after-school study sessions and etiquette classes. When Park immigrated after the sixth grade, he did not experience the intense preparation for the standardized testing emphasized in South Korea. While Stuyvesant is considered one of the most competitive schools in the nation, Park said, “Most Korean high schools are equally as competitive as Stuyvesant.”

Park attributes the main reason for his immigration to the fact that “American universities are considered to be the best in the world,” Park said. He was only able to move, though, because his grandparents already resided in Queens. However, assimilation was difficult for Park due to his lack of an English education. “They put me in the ESL class, and I learned how to speak through school. I’m still learning,” he said.  While Park continues to improve his English, he says that going to school in the United States has created many opportunities that would have been unavailable to him had he stayed in South Korea. Park is a member of the Robotics team and notes that if he had attended a South Korean school, there would be limited resources for extracurriculars and sports.

Park has not returned to South Korea since immigrating to America.

Ruojia Sun, Freshman

With both parents working as diplomats, freshman Ruojia Sun moved around quite often during her childhood, going back and forth between China and America several times.

Between Chinese and American education systems, Sun believes there are many differences, especially with personal freedom. Both parents and teachers in China are stricter than their American counterparts. Students are generally given more homework and very few extracurricular options. “In China, a lot of the things kids do extracurricularly are things their parents want them to do,” Sun said. “Here, we definitely have more of a chance to be the type of person that we want to be.”

Education in China also fosters a greater sense of community. Students in a class are paired with the same teacher from first grade to sixth. In addition, students take on certain roles in the classroom such as helping the teacher or tutoring fellow students. Sun was the director for sanitation in her school and arrived early every day to prepare the classroom. “That really made me feel like I was in a bigger community, and there was something nice about being able to contribute to the school,” Sun said.

In her school in Beijing, every class was held in a single classroom, including lunch. Twice a week, students were mandated to stay at school for an extra hour for a study session. Beyond academics, schools in China also stressed physical fitness. Students attended exercise sessions two times a day in addition to physical education. There were also unique classes such as calligraphy, morality, and etiquette.

Because she arrived at America at such a young age, Sun had little trouble adapting to a new way of life. “When teachers did things, I would try to associate what they said to what they did, and I caught on pretty quickly,” Sun said. “I came here when I was in kindergarten, so by first grade, I pretty much knew how to communicate in everyday speech.” It was similarly easy for her to adapt to education in China because her parents taught her the Chinese curriculum while working at the embassy.

For Sun, leaving a country means much more than simply adapting to a new one. “Part of me just didn’t want to become attached to people because I knew I would have to move so quickly,” Sun said. “If I made really good friends, I would have to leave them eventually.”

Maksym Bodarenko, Sophomore

Sophomore Maksym Bodarenko immigrated from Ukraine to America in 2008. His father, who worked for a company with a division in the United States, decided to move to take advantage of America’s educational system, in which the plagiarism, bribery of teachers, and smoking and drinking amongst high school students of Ukraine’s system are not as rampant.

Schooling in Ukraine is a completely different experience when compared to an education in the United States. Schools are small, there are only eleven grades, upperclassmen have school six days a week, and students choose the subject they want to major in right after elementary school. The most significant difference, though, is the amount of unity among students in Ukraine. Because students can attain high grades through bribery, they have a lot of free time to socialize and bond with their fellow students. “There’s actually the concept of talking to your teachers and figuring out a grade,” Bodarenko said. “You can persuade them to give you a better grade, a lot of the time this involves money.”

Entering the sixth grade after immigrating to America, Bodarenko’s greatest challenge was the language barrier. Though he, like most Ukrainian students, was bilingual, he did not understand English well. His father, who was a professional translator, helped him learn the language, thus lending him little difficulty in adjusting to the United States. “America’s very accepting because everyone’s so different. Everyone had their own thing going on culturally wise,” he said.

In comparison to his Ukrainian classmates, Bodarenko found Americans to be much less mature with respect to their age. “You live on the streets, there’s a lot more street smarts in Ukraine,” he said. “Odds are, you’ve gotten beaten up on the streets at least once, and you learn how to handle yourself on the streets. You start understanding a lot more stuff.”

According to Bodarenko, the United States education system would improve if group work was stressed over individual pursuits. “Because there’s a bigger sense of community, because you’re united with your class, people are willing to help each other a lot more,” Bodarenko said.

No matter how different these Bostons may be, they converge into a single Boston with the annual Boston Marathon. Celebrated as a local holiday, the Marathon offers almost everyone a day off to enjoy the weather and to spend time with family. The invite is also extended internationally as spectators from all over the world come to cheer on those running the race, bringing a sense of unity and pride to the comparatively small city. This year, even with the tragic bombing event that ensued on Monday, April 15, proved to be no exception. From the perspectives of the second and third Bostons, Stuyvesant students and alumni share their own stories and experiences related to the event.

The Student: Going Boston Strong

“It’s not often that I am roused from sleep by an outside noise,” Harvard freshman Daniel Solomon (‘12) said. For Solomon and other Stuyvesant alumni on various Boston campuses, the Boston bombing came as a complete surprise. Twin blasts shook the city during the finale of the annual marathon on Monday, April 15, killing three and injuring hundreds of victims. When news of the event first came out, students were bombarded with texts and Facebook messages as friends and family expressed concern and panic.

“There was definitely a lot of anxiety in the air during that time [...] Harvard sent out texts and e-mails to students that alerted of us the recent event and telling us to stay indoors as much as possible. I came home to an inbox full and Facebook full of concerned messages and well-wishes. It was nice to see that the Harvard community really cares about its members,” Harvard freshman Jenny Fung (‘12) said.

For Solomon, who is a member of The Harvard Crimson, which was doing its own coverage of the event, the night of the incident was spent tracking breaking news. “I turned the news on, and then turned it off. Twitter and the police-scanner were better, quicker sources of information, and we at The Crim monitored both as the night wound on,” he said.

Panic escalated when it was reported that the two bombing suspects had killed an MIT officer and engaged in a shootout in nearby Watertown on Thursday, April 18. Solomon described it as “a contained skirmish [that] quickly escalated into a war, and Cambridge and Watertown were its theater,” he said. “To no avail, the police shut down the subway, searching the Red Line for the shooters. We heard a duo had stuck up a 7/11 and committed grand theft auto.”

Solomon’s ponderings that night reflected the sense of uncertainty that perpetuated the entire city, and soon the entire nation, as it monitored the shocking events. “Is this connected to the Boston Marathon bombings?” he said. “If so, were the perpetrators the two suspects? Were they part of a terrorist cell? I was in no immediate danger, but was seized by the spectator’s irrational fear, that ineffable, second-grader fright I felt watching smoke rise off the Trade Center.”

In response to the events, the city government announced a lockdown, advising everyone to stay indoors. For Harvard students, the cancellation of classes created a peaceful environment. “Ironically, it was probably the most relaxed I ever felt at Harvard. I just played football and ran around in the yard with a bunch of friends for most of the afternoon, but then it started raining and most of us went back into our dorms with relatively high spirits,” Harvard freshman Edward Cho (‘12) explained.

Fung agreed, relating her own experiences that day. In light of all the tension, there was but a brief respite for the student community. “The Harvard community tried to make the best of it. There were plays and jam sessions being put on within the houses so that people [could] enjoy each other’s company and relax on this surprise and tension-filled day off,” Fung said.

For students at Boston University, however, uneasiness filled the atmosphere. “I woke up to find that the entire city was on lockdown,” Boston University sophomore Belinda Cheng said. “People [were] advised to stay inside and no cars were permitted on the road, and [...] the suspect was still at large. I was uneasy because [I’d] never been in a situation where my whole city stopped everything because there was a dangerous man on the loose.”

Looking back, Cho saw that the Boston bombing united the entire city. “The first day or two after the incident, almost everyone in Boston was focused on helping the injured rather than hunting the culprits,” Cho said. “Boston had its priorities straight, and so many people showcased a level of compassion and humanity throughout the tragedy that surprised a lot of people out there. Everyone, Bostonian and otherwise, was proud of how the situation was handled.”

“Boston has become my second home for the past three years and I didn’t realize the pride I had for it, coming from New York City,” Cheng said. “The city really came together after these events.” Upon the announcement of the capture of the younger Tsarnaev, one of the two responsible for the bombing, cheers rang through the streets under the slogan “Boston Strong.”

The Visitor: Shocking Introductions

“Many people tell you you’re more likely to die in a car accident than in a terrorist attack,” said senior Leopold Spohngellert, and statistics have proven him right. When he and other students arrived at a frenzied Boston still recovering from the bombing event, the panic and surprise they felt was understandable. “When I took the train out to Boston at first, people were searching every bag,” Spohngellert said. “They [would] search the old lady and the little kid, ‘cause everyone was considered possibly an accomplice. The scariest thing during the day was the fact that no one knew what was going on, so it was all very speculative.”

Senior David Kurkovskiy witnessed a similar scene upon his arrival in Boston. Kurkovskiy spent his time monitoring the news, keeping tabs on the situation with the Tsarnaevs. “I was watching the news for five hours, and I was flipping between CNN and MSNBC and FOX and on all the different channels, just flipping through their shows,” Kurkovskiy said.

The lockdown was “not [one] in the sense that our doors were locked from the outside; we were locking ourselves in because we were terrified of what was going on outside,” Spohngellert said. “Everyone paused their life until this one individual was found. It was like the most amazing game of hide and seek I’ve ever seen.”

Four days after the initial bombing event, Friday, April 19, the younger Tsarnaev was found under a boat in a Watertown house. In response to the news, Boston let out a sigh of relief. Kurkovskiy described the sight as an empty street. “There was no one there but these men in white suits,” he said. “They clean the stuff up and comb it for evidence. There’s [also] just this giant area, like six blocks, cornered off, and on both sides there are these memorials, where people wrote in chalk all the names of the victims. The memorial was very emotional; there were all these things, people tied ribbons to a gate that we couldn’t get past. People tied flowers everywhere, it was a really nice scene.”

As Boston recovers, Spohngellert and Kurkovskiy hope that the event won’t worsen racial discrimination in the country. “Someone was telling me, how in their generation the thing was AIDS, and in ours it’s terrorism. We’ve almost gotten comfortable over what happens. This is something that’s happened already, multiple times, and something that can happen again,” Kurkovskiy said. “It’s so real to us, especially so close to home.”

Despite the tragic events, Spohngellert is excited for the 2014 Boston Marathon. “I’m definitely looking forward to next year’s Boston Marathon, ‘cause I definitely felt a sense of pride as everyone rallied together in Boston and around the country,” he said. “I feel that was such an amazing moment where everyone was cheering on the street, and everyone was so happy that they caught this guy. I’m looking forward to next year to see how we rally, how we move past this. I’m hoping we move past this, and that it doesn’t bring us down.”

Though nothing may seem to be more foreign than that to us, such a routine was once commonplace for Principal Jie Zhang. “For ten years, from [when I was] six to sixteen, we didn’t have a normally run education system. The school system basically stopped running,” she said. Born in 1960, Zhang spent her grade school years in the thick of China’s Cultural Revolution.

Sitting on a comfortable sofa in her office, it’s hard to imagine Zhang wearing a red scarf and singing songs about communism. Listening to her fluent English, speckled with only minor flaws and brief hesitations, it’s just as hard to imagine her enrolling at Stony Brook University in 1985 not knowing a single word of English. Nonetheless, Zhang identifies these experiences as advantages when working at Stuyvesant.

What Zhang feels has been the major takeaway from her childhood is practicing kindness. In February, junior Jack Cahn wrote in an editorial titled “We Want Ms. Zhang!” that the then-Interim Acting Principal started “a revolution of kindness.” Zhang was very touched. “He really read me, even though I never walked around showing that I’m kind,” she said. “Deep down, as a child, I had periods of time afraid of things and you remember a couple of kind of people who really took you under the wing and helped you to survive hardship. That, to me, is a big thing that I feel I got out of my childhood.”

There was plenty to be afraid of during the Cultural Revolution, a ten-year sociopolitical movement initiated by Chairman Mao Zedong in order to enforce communism and impose Maoist beliefs on the Communist Party of China. “The atmosphere was really bad, even though the kids didn’t know what was behind it,” Zhang said. Teachers were forbidden to teach, and intellectuals, like Zhang’s parents, were persecuted. Zhang’s father, an engineer, lost one of his eyes after countless beatings. As both were sent out of Beijing, her parents sent Zhang to live with her aunt in Shanghai. “When I look back, there were bitter pieces, but there were also parts of a simple childhood,” Zhang said.

Those times also taught her strength and tenacity, but she admits that she has to put her maximum effort into her job here at Stuyvesant. “People say, ‘You can handle the stress.’ Because of what I have gone through, I am not as sensitive. Somebody else might think that it is this big, the stress,” Zhang said, holding her hands apart. “But I think it is this big, small,” as she brought them back together.

Back in China, the stress maintained its severity even after Mao’s death and the subsequent end of the Cultural Revolution. In 1976, as she turned sixteen, Zhang shifted her focus toward the future with the reinstated National College Entrance Examination, China’s annual college entrance exam and the only means of accessing tertiary education in China. Zhang had a year and a half to prepare for the one test that could lead her to a real education. “Overnight, I started studying. There was a set of self-study guides, sixteen books, that was published at the time. So we [the students] all went home to study,” she said.

The studying paid off. She was accepted into Tongji University and graduated with a major in electrical engineering. After years teaching at a community college, she had the opportunity to come to the United States to continue her studies. This time, Zhang majored in applied mathematics at Stony Brook. She spent her early years in the United States without speaking English or knowing how to get around. “When I was in graduate school, I worked in an office. If the phone rang, I was scared,” Zhang said. “Answering the phone is huge.”

At the time, New York City wanted to hire bilingual teachers, so Zhang was sidetracked from her Ph.D. and became a mathematics teacher under the Department of Education. She taught mathematics at Forest Hills High School with experience in every course except AP Calculus. “I was a very happy teacher, and I really never thought of becoming an administrator,” Zhang said. However, she has had a series of opportunities: a scholarship to return to school, and the chance to become Assistant Principal of Math, Math Specialist, and Principal of Queens High School for the Sciences, and, of course, Principal of Stuyvesant. “You have to have the courage to say ‘Yes,’ [and] I did that four times,” Zhang said.

Being an immigrant gives Zhang perspective on not only the many immigrant families at Stuyvesant, but also on students as newcomers to high school. “It really reminds me at all times, that I need to be helpful to whoever I run into, whether this is a person without a big status or a person with a big status,” Zhang said. “To me, it’s about respecting everybody. Really, I think both in personal life and professional life, that really has carried me.”

Despite the benefits that she was able to draw from her experiences, Zhang recognizes that it will take great effort to overcome the issues she has to deal with every day. “I’m working using my weakness. I’m working with people who have perfect language. It’s my short area. I’m using my weakness to do work with people who are using their strong point,” she said. Though Zhang regards her blend of Chinese and American culture as a synthesis of the best of two worlds, she does admit that her accent and her foreign education make her anxious about her shortcomings. As a result, in every little thing, “I will make an effort to be perfect,” she said, even though she realizes that she will make mistakes and is open to suggestions from students.

It’s not always a big-shot college that makes a person fit for a job. In our principal’s case, it was major social and political upheaval, immigration, and years of teaching that brought her to that office on the first floor. Rising to attend to her duties at the conclusion of the interview, Zhang said, “I want to say that this job is my last before I retire. Coming back to school with students is really the best thing I did.”

Stuyvesant begins with a test and ends with a test. Testing for admission, created to separate the “smart” and the “not-as-smart” students, has become the go-to method for schools worldwide. For this reason, both the Specialized High School Admissions Test (SHSAT) and the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) were created to measure students’ aptitude and reasoning skills. Though it is not advertised as an Intelligence Quotient (IQ) exam, the SAT was developed from the Army Alpha, a modified IQ for recruits in World War I. The College Board presents the SAT as an evaluation of reading, writing, and math skills that are “important for success in college and throughout your life” and a predictor of future grades.

This simple motto was something quite different back in 1944, when the SAT was first massively administered to high school seniors. Journalist Nicholas Lemann, author of “The Big Test,” a book about the exam’s history, described the original intent of the founders of the SAT in an interview with PBS. According to Lemann, James Conant, the president of Harvard University, pushed for the SAT as a college admissions exam, then headed the Educational Testing Service (ETS) with a social vision for America. Conant wanted “a new elite that would be made up of…people from all over the country, people selected on pure intelligence, not on their background,” Lemann described. This new elite was supposed to use its skills and the power that higher education would give them to become talented, dedicated leaders of the United States.

Now, sixty-five years since the creation of ETS, few would argue that Conant’s big dream has been realized. Lemann said the SAT only created a new system of “all rewards, no obligation,” and that it did not raise up the new leaders of the country.

Other opponents of the SAT  have an issue with the test itself.  “The SAT is a scam,” founder of the Princeton Review Jon Katzman said in an interview with PBS. “It never measured anything. And it continues to measure nothing.” Katzman believes that in order to score a 2400, the maximum possible grade on the SAT, a student needs not intelligence but test-taking skills.

Regardless of what critics may believe, past statistics regarding the SAT show that there is indeed a significant disparity between the scores of different groups of students. According to a 2009 report by the College Board, students of black or African American ancestry scored on average 347 points lower than students of Asian descent on the SAT. In addition, students from families with an annual income greater than $200,000 have a mean SAT score 381 points higher than those from families with incomes of $20,000 or less. If Conan were alive today, he would most likely be distressed at the state of the exam he fathered.

These score gaps are nothing new for members of the College Board. Over time, the SAT has been altered many times with the goal of diminishing this gap. The mathematics section was removed twice, and the test experienced many fluctuations in difficulty. The most recent change, which occurred in 2005, removed analogies from the exam and added a written essay portion to the exam. Though changes to the exam have gradually decreased the score disparity, the 2009 statistics are evidence that they were far from enough.

Other approaches to “fixing” the SAT involve changing not the exam itself, but rather how the results are taken into account by colleges. From 1980-1994, the College Board secretly implemented a Strivers Score Study, in which students who scored 200 or more points above the mean for their income, race, or gender would be given a boost in the college application process. Another example is the Educational Opportunity Program and the Higher Education Opportunity Program, which help students with low income and low Critical Reading SAT scores in New York State get a boost in the college application process.

Though the exam is impossible to fully “fix,” in the future the SAT will most likely continue to exist as a popular method of measuring college readiness for students. “As a school culture, they’re sort of a necessary evil. You’re talking about something that’s standardized,” college counselor Patricia Cleary said. “The level of achievement in schools differ. An English class in Townsend Harris, or Brooklyn Tech, or Midwood are going to be different.”

As opinions and changes in society pile up on the current educational system, the decisions involved are weighty. Is it worth changing the SAT again? Do we have to get rid of it altogether? What common measure is acceptable to compare students from all over the nation? Looking into history and carefully observing the current state of affairs is all that can give us perspective.

StuyMSA

After starting the meeting with the words “Asalamu Alaikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuh,” which means “Peace Be Upon You and Allah’s Mercy and Blessings,” senior and president of Stuyvesant’s Muslim Students Association (StuyMSA) Niyaz Arif ran through the weekly announcements. The meeting focused on the Muslim InterScholastic Tournament (MIST), a three-day tournament that was held during the weekend of Friday, April 5, in which Noor Al-Stuy, Stuyvesant’s representative team, competed in many of the forty different mini-competitions ranging from debate to short film to sports.

Arif reminded his fellow members of practice dates, registration, and working on their respective assignments. All throughout, the casual atmosphere never faltered, with interjections raising laughter from everyone. Announcements ended with a club cheer, a chanting of “Noor Al-Stuy” that grew progressively louder and more unified—encouragement and unity that propelled them to the national-level MIST.

“In every meeting, we discuss a particular topic pertaining to Islam and/or the Muslim community at large. Meetings are discussion-based, centered around topics, often for discussion, sometimes for didactic purposes,” Arif said. Topics from past discussions include “Faith in Islam,” “Current Events,” and “The Muslim Family.”

Beyond MIST, the core of this particular meeting was a discussion on “The Legacy of Black Muslims,” led by three members of the club. As the three members shared their knowledge of six renowned black Muslims in history, the audience did not hesitate to add to the discussion. If you were to pop into the classroom out of curiosity, you would see a focused, serious, and entirely student-run class discussion.

Arif came across the club during his sophomore year through a friend’s invitation. “I wanted to learn more about my Deen [religion in Arabic], the wisdoms it contains, and in retrospect learn more about myself in the process,” he said. He became an active member and quickly grew to appreciate the club, but he also noticed “the bonds between our members were firm, but not consistent” as attendance at meetings rose and fell throughout a school year, Arif said. He additionally noted that meetings were entirely didactic, leaving members without a way to implement what was taught into their lifestyle or mindset.

To remedy these concerns, Arif has focused on creating interactive, discussion-based meetings as president. Each meeting relies heavily on the contributions of the club members, whether they come up with a meeting outline, guide the club through the meeting, or contribute their opinions during discussions. He mentions, however, that the club “is still striving to continue [the] effort” of dispelling misconceptions surrounding Islam.

When asked to describe StuyMSA’s community, Arif responded, “We all share the same faith. I wanted to be someone who was there for his brothers and sisters in faith, as a mentor, brother, and friend. MSA creates a support system for everyone in our club and community. I felt that is what is most important about this club, and something special to hold onto.”

Christian Seekers

            As both new and old faces trickled in the classroom, conversation bubbles floated as members talked about school, about the last meeting, and about their everyday lives. The chatter stopped when a member pulled out a guitar and signaled the beginning of worship. The sound of singing reverberated in the quiet hallway outside. When the music ceased, the entire club prayed collectively.

“From there [the meeting] goes in many directions,” junior and a leader of Stuyvesant’s Seekers Christian Fellowship Arina Bykadorova said in an e-mail interview. Members may decide to have an icebreaker with a game, a Bible study, or just pray for each other. The club also holds occasional competitions with themes like Bible Jeopardy or Best Bible Character Reenactment.

Aside from meetings, the Seekers also come together to prepare for Jesus Day, a day in June during which the club raises awareness about Jesus in the Stuyvesant community. Members come up with skits, rehearse songs, and practice recounting testimonies. “It’s really directed towards everybody in the school, to let them know about Jesus and celebrate Him with us,” Bykadorova explained.

As with StuyMSA, the bond between members is often stressed. “When we meet, we take at least five minutes from the meeting to share how our weeks were and any prayer requests or struggles we might be going through,” sophomore and Seeker Sharon Cho said.

Cho referred to the Christian Seekers as “a group I can always count on. We all have our academic studies and such, but religion is such a whole different level,” she said,

Bykadorova expressed her belief in the value of the club’s supportive and comforting qualities. “Seekers is a base, a foundation and a place that students can go back to in their busy and hectic school life. It provides a solid, Christian group that is there to support and to welcome anyone who might be searching,” she said.

At the end of the StuyMSA meeting, Arif pulled out a camera to take multiple group photos of all the members present. I offered to take the pictures, and the entire club exuded a comfortable air with every interaction. It felt like they were right at home, to the point that they made me feel the same way.

As leaders of two religious communities at Stuyvesant, Arif and Bykadorova place great importance on providing a supportive environment that helps members to explore their identities through religion. It’s not just religion members find at StuyMSA and the Christian Seekers, though. “As a leader, I still strive to give the members that same opportunity and feel they belong to a group that not only values spirituality, but also brotherhood and inclusiveness,” Arif said. “It isn’t just a club, it’s a family.”