Opinions
Lost (and Found) in Translation
“We should be emphasizing foreign languages in our schools from an early age,” said President Barack Obama, in a controversial speech in Powder Springs, Georgia on Tuesday, July 8, 2008. “It’s embarrassing when Europeans come over here, they all speak English, they speak French, they speak German. And then we go over to Europe and [...]
From the Desk of Varun Sharma
I can say that I was a privileged desk. That is, I was lucky enough to have the same student sit in my seat for all four years of his high school career. Needless to say, I found this to be a once-in-a-manufacture opportunity to observe the changes a student experiences throughout his time at [...]
What’s Going Down(stream)
Each of us has some fond memory of the Hudson River. I see its waters every morning as I cross the Tribeca Bridge, and I often see it glimmering under street lights as I exit Stuyvesant. Many pleasant, lazy afternoons have been spent in Battery Park City, with the sound of kids playing ultimate in [...]
“Ringing in the News Year”
Everything begins anew in February at Stuyvesant. We have just returned from our Finals Week to new schedules, new teachers and a new term. Similarly, at The Spectator, we have returned from the fall semester with a new editorial board, and would like to take this opportunity to familiarize you with our goals and visions [...]
Secondary School Fairy Tales
On a hot, sunny morning this past July, I saw a neighbor on the train. She greeted me and made small-talk, asking how my summer was going. “Pretty good,” I said. “Busy, but good.” “Oh,” she said. “What are you doing?” I quickly launched into my summer schedule: an internship at the Kings County District [...]
A Charter for Success
President Barack Obama swept into office last year on a promise to modernize and reform the nation’s education system. He and his Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, have undertaken this task in earnest, with Duncan starting the Race to the Top program. The initiative, with the incentive of four billion dollars in federal funds, encourages [...]
Be a Good Person (Everybody Else is Doing It!)
The recent 7.0 magnitude earthquake in Haiti killed nearly 170,000 people, and the American Red Cross estimates that nearly three million people in total were affected. These people, who already live some of the most impoverished lives in the world, cannot recover from such a disaster alone. All around the world, in response to the [...]
Charter Schools: Not a Silver Bullet
In recent years, charter schools—schools that receive public funding but are subject to less oversight and far fewer restrictions than traditional public schools—have been treated as a silver bullet, a panacea for all of our nation’s education problems. They’re popular among politicians because they sound like something that can improve our country’s flailing education system. [...]
Losing Days, Not Students
Learning from past mistakes? This year we’ve skipped over that lesson. When I walk through the halls of Stuyvesant, I see my peers involved in SING! stressed left and right. This stress is more than just the annual SING! stress, however. The tense students, the simpler costumes and the sloppy dances are all offshoots of [...]
The Final Countdown
Finals are supposed to test our cumulative knowledge of a subject, not our ability to multi-task and navigate frantically through competing, enormous amounts of work. Toward the end of the semester, we are forced to deal with a stressful compilation of tests, projects, finals and, for some, SATs. But these anticipated burdens become exacerbated with [...]
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