Find best college, not best college ranking

Amanda Musolf, Editor in chief

May 18, 2017

The last time anyone in my household applied to college was 1986. This said, I had no idea where to apply to college. Enter the often-referenced US News & World Report’s “Annual Best Colleges” web page. But what criteria actually made these colleges the “best?” Malcolm Gladwell of the...

Uneven workload, grade fixation impede

Olivia Summons, Staff writer

May 18, 2017

When I hear “group work,” my stomach sinks and my mind fills with flashbacks of partners’ lackluster presentations. I hear a combination of high fives and groans. While teachers tend to preach the importance of group cooperation, it’s problematic seeing that projects usually mark the divide...

Group effort can promote innovation

Grace Knotts, Editor in chief

May 18, 2017

Two new books tout collaboration. Steven Sloman and Philip Fernbach’s “The Knowledge Illusion” notes that groups access a pool of knowledge, thereby sharing the mental workload. Agustin Fuentes’ “The Creative Spark” posits that collaboration promotes individual and community growth—even...

Classism creates gap in education

May 18, 2017

The Griffin spoke with teachers and students from all levels to adequately consider perspectives and experiences. Consider a ladder. Students begin at the bottom, climbing higher as their academic challenges and work ethic rise. Teachers are the steps, motivating the students to reach closer to succe...

Conquering fear of failure

Victor Yang, Staff writer

May 18, 2017

Failure coupled with success, a combination perhaps only bested by PB & J. The reason? It’s inspirational. Seeing Chris Gardner get rich at the end of “The Pursuit of Happyness” or marveling at a broken Bruce Wayne climbing out of a 50-foot pit in “The Dark Knight Rises” is both motivational...

Saudi Arabian video combats sexism

Lauren Kuhr, Staff writer

March 20, 2017

Women across the world are subject to sexism and prejudice every day, some more than others. Much of Saudi Arabia, an Arab state in Western Asia, has in a deeply conservative culture where women are placed under tight restrictions. According to a New York Times article published Jan. 2017, Saudi women...

Despite political shift, empathy must be valued

Dorrie Geang, staff writer

March 17, 2017

Old Haitian culture believed in the power of voodoo dolls. Everything the doll experiences—a prick with a needle—is mimicked by its respective, paired person—a sharp pain in the stomach. This mirroring is how Paul Bloom, psychology and cognitive science professor at Yale University and author of...

School’s elevators need tune-up

Emlyn Langlieb, Staff Writer

March 17, 2017

The door closes. The elevator moves, then abruptly stops with a loud thump. You flail at the emergency button and finally hit it. If you’re lucky, an alarm blares. No response. You cry out for help. You pick up bits of conversations in the hallway and realize no one hears you. You try to call the school...

March for science matters

Grace Knotts, Editor-in-Chief

March 17, 2017

I distinctly remember the day when I fell head-over-heels in love with science. My ninth-grade biology class was in for a treat – a bus with a built-in laboratory had rolled up in the bus loop and was parked in the adjacent lot. Heart racing, I stepped in. Determining if someone had a chance of inheriting...

Sexist gibes impede progress

Julie Chotivatanapong, Editor-in-Chief

March 17, 2017

It’s one thing to personally witness a teacher make an unfitting remark that targets gender, but it’s another to lose track of the number of times you hear about it happening throughout the school. Cue the eye rolls. Before I continue, let me begin by making one thing clear. No, this isn’t going...

On the Better Side of Average: Nevertheless, these women persisted

Tirzah Khan, Managing editor

February 15, 2017

Ask your teacher. Ask your mail carrier. Ask your boss. Chances are, even if they don’t say it in as many words, this scenario was familiar to them: Senator Elizabeth Warren’s plight Feb. 8 as she read Coretta Scott King’s 1986 letter detailing the anti-black rulings of now-Attorney General Jeff...

Mishap mandates prudence on social media

Hayden Cohee, Staff writer

February 15, 2017

It all arose from boredom. During their regional gathering last month, Model UN delegates, -- who grew weary of watching dozens of competitors in Hershey Lodge conference rooms – began to complain through the anonymous social media app Yik Yak. But the second night of the conference someone went...