   All teachers and staff members are tasked with the responsibility of fostering a positive learning environment for their students. Whether that be allowing students to go for walks when they feel anxious in class, asking students what they did over the weekend, or opening up office hours for students to ask questions, a major part of teaching is creating a space for students to feel comfortable in. However, this comfortable environment can begin to crack as students and teachers delve into more sensitive subjects. Body image is not always an explicit topic in our classes but it tends to come up far more frequently than we may realize. A simple comment on a character in a book’s described appearance, the analysis of the human form in an art piece, or even a seemingly harmless joke about the body stirs up the discussion of body image in the minds of students. Discussion of body image can be incredibly triggering to some students leading to body dysmorphia, unhealthy eating habits, and mental health issues. Considering how quickly a discussion of looks can turn into one of body image, it seems that avoiding the subject of bodies all together could be beneficial at PHS. 
   Gym and health classes contain a large majority of the insensitive discussions surrounding body image that happen in school. It is understandable that a class that is intended to encourage health and fitness would bring up the body as a topic, but these discussions are often not handled particularly well. Each year as the holidays come around, our gym and health teachers remind us not to eat too many carbs over the holidays and to make sure we walk off the extra calories. While these reminders to students before the holidays can be helpful, they can also be incredibly triggering. They also fail to take into account the fact that dieting and weight loss may not be healthy options for some students. These comments also perpetuate a harmful norm that weight loss is the ideal solution to body image issues. By idealizing this solution, teachers continue to push that assumption on to students creating even more harmful standards through which students assume they should view themselves.  
   Insensitivity to body image discussions are oftentimes unintentional, speech rooted from previous stereotypes regarding specific body types. For instance, art teachers’ comments on the ideal body figure in sketches, discussing what they think is a “good” or healthy figure or, teachers undermining student’s knowledge on certain “healthy” products because they don’t look fit; these are all instances that one may come across. The idea that weight was an indicator of status comes up in every single history class at least once. However, pointing such a fact out in reference to a historical figure in front of students living in an environment without those body standards can harbor internalization and self comparison. Even the media that teachers chose to show to students can be harmful by implicitly pushing body image standards and harmful norms. It is important to make use of a diverse array of representations to ensure that students do not feel singled out or pressured by the implicit displays of body image in the classroom. 
   Although a comfortable learning environment does stem from our teachers, maintaining respect between students, especially surrounding body image, is the key way to ensure that students feel good in their own skin. Walking through the main intersection at PHS makes every student privy to hundreds of harsh comments, jokes, and implicit ideas that can be incredibly harmful to mental health even by stirring up harmful ideas in students’ heads. It is important that students take even a second to think about the consequences of what they say and how things could be interpreted. In a perfect world, we would eliminate all comments about others’ appearance including compliments on clothing or hairstyle as those comments bring attention back to the body rather than highlighting the merit of those around us. However, this kind of respect between students stems from our teachers leading by example by eliminating harmful comments and opening up the more difficult conversations surrounding body image in a sensitive way. 
   Going forward, our teachers should put a greater emphasis on sensitivity surrounding body image. Before a sensitive lesson, teachers should give students a trigger warning and allow students to leave the room if they are struggling with a certain subject so long as they check in with her before the end of the period. That reflects a level of trust and mutual respect between the teacher and their students. Additionally,  Teachers should also work to include greater representations of all body types so as to not push harmful body image standards on to students. We must speak cognizantly about body image — no one knows what another person can be going through and what even back-handed compliments can trigger.

We must eliminate insensitive body image discussions in schools

Whether it be something silly they did in class, or a test they gave with one day’s notice, our teachers are a constant topic of discussion at PHS. This is partially because there are so many teachers to talk about. Granted, this leads to smaller class sizes and better student teacher relationships, but grappling with varied teaching styles from year to year, subject to subject, or teacher to teacher can be jarring. Having more consistency between teachers of the same course would ensure better communication between students, make teacher collaboration easier, and increase grading equity through a general expectation of student and teacher behavior regardless of who teaches the course. 
AP United States History, a common first AP course at PHS, is a key example of how the divide between teaching styles can impact both teachers and students. APUSH not only teaches students the rigor of an AP course, but also teaches them how to take proper notes, how to manage a massive workload in tangent with other responsibilities, and how to prepare for an AP exam. Depending on the teacher students get for this course, they could be set up for the rest of high school vastly differently. It is understandable that each teacher will have a different style or different approaches on assignments, but shouldn’t the basic aspects of what students learn and the ways through which they learn them be consistent? 
Creating consistency between teaching of the same teachers promotes collaboration between students and teachers. Former PHS Chemistry teacher, Dr. Robert Corell, constantly encouraged his students to help one another on problem sets. He believed that teaching other students would not only help those other students to understand the content but would solidify the content within the minds of those who were teaching others. If teachers have a uniform timeline of assignments, and expectations as to how students are to complete assignments, students have an easier time collaborating with one another and teaching each other the content irrespective of who their teacher may be. Class uniformity would not only benefit students, but also teachers because there would be greater collaboration among teachers of the same class. If teachers of the same course were constantly conversing about where they were in the course, the assignments that they were giving out, and the writings that they were assigning students, there would be a greater consistency for all classes not only year to year but also from teacher to teacher, which would likely make it easier to collaborate when creating assignments or tests. For example, the math department for the most part collaborates on the creation of tests, so we know that Brent Ferguson’s AP Calculus BC class will be receiving the exact same test as Phil Reyes’ class. This makes it easier for those teachers to collaborate on the creation of the test. It also helps them to set the same deadline on which students should be familiar with the content. This also means that because teachers would be using the same tests, the grading systems would be consistent as well throughout those classes and departments meaning that inconsistencies from teacher to teacher would be more infrequent. 
A lack of consistency among teachers of the same course can put certain students at a disadvantage especially in terms of what they learn and how it can apply to their future PHS classes. In my sophomore year English class, Dr. Douglas Levandowski taught the inductive writing process, which helped prepare me for English IV, in which the writing style is completely inductive. However, because this was not a strategy taught by all teachers for sophomore English, the inductive writing style is completely new to a lot of people as they enter English IV. If learning something early on in the PHS experience can seriously impact how students understand it later on in other PHS classes, shouldn’t that topic be taught by all teachers of that course? This comes from more than which books the students read. We would assume that uniformity in the books that classes with different teachers read would lead to an equal experience in their English classes.
Obviously, because the school year has already started, it could be difficult to ensure that each teacher is maintaining uniformity among their peers who teach the same course. Starting with required monthly conversations among teachers of the same course could help to ensure that each teacher is following the same path. Similarly, this could allow teachers to share their methods of teaching the course so that students going into Timothy Campbell’s APUSH class could expect a similar experience to the students going into Elizabeth Taylor’s APUSH class, for example. It could also be beneficial if teachers teaching the same course had access to one another’s course materials through a shared Google Drive so that assignments could be more uniform or lectures could remain the same for students across the course. This may seem difficult to start, but in the long run, the coordination of teaching styles within the same course would greatly benefit the collaboration, comprehension, and organization of students and teachers alike in the long run. It is high time that teachers of the same course have more coordinated lesson plans, in order to fix the inconsistencies in teachers’ grading systems, tests, and routines.

Inter Departmental Teaching Consistency

If we think of past U.S. presidents, many of them come from humble backgrounds, where hard work and passion ultimately secured them the presidency. Think Jimmy Carter, the humble peanut farmer who rose to fame. Or Barack Obama, the boy who moved back and forth from Hawaii and Indonesia and eventually discovered a passion for public policy. Even in the good old days of presidents we liked to trust, there was always a lack of trust in the truthfulness of the electoral system in our country, but recently we have developed a sense of numbness to political scandal. In the wake of recent political behavior including sexual assault charges, impeachments, lawsuits, slur usage, and arrests, our understanding for how we evaluate candidate behavior must change. 
As the presidential election looms over the American population, the comparison of presidents and the comparison of their actions in general becomes an overwhelming topic of debate. Some candidates’ comments stand out over others such as Trump’s “nasty woman” or Kamala Harris’s “Mr. Vice President I’m speaking.”Although both of those examples have become synonymous with some political candidates, viewing them with the same level of concern is unfair considering the contexts in which each comment was made. While Trump’s comment to Hilary Clinton was intentionally offensive and very unnecessary, Harris’s comment to Mike Pence was far more justified, as the former vice president interrupted Harris multiple times throughout the vice presidential debate of 2020. As more students turn eighteen and have the power to vote, it is more common to hear the PHS politics buffs comment that the next election will be riddled with terrible candidates, or that they would rather have Chris Christie than Ron DeSantis as our next president. Granted, Christie did have his picture in Princeton Soup and Sandwich (we love a good local business supporter). But considering the George Washington Bridge shutdown scandal of 2013, where Christie seemingly caused traffic jams to get back at another politician, such a statement ten years ago would have been unthinkable. But in comparison with criminalizing abortion, banning books, or prohibiting drag performances in public, a simple traffic jam seems small. 
Through this comparative lens, we can weigh candidates based on the worst things they have done relative to one another. However, this method of comparison makes it almost always possible to make the claim that one candidate would be better than another comparatively. However, it’s not the most effective way to choose the next congressperson, senator, Board of Education President, prom queen, and most importantly—president. Similarly, should we really be settling for an ideal leader of a country who is just one step above a mugshot? 
Generally, when it comes down to a final presidential election, party loyalty creates the divide between candidates. A study in 2021 by the Washington Post regarding the 2020 election concluded that about 95% of registered Democrats voted for the Democratic candidate while only about 5% voted for a Republican candidate. A similar trend can be seen with registered Republicans about 95% of whom voted for the Republican candidate. Based on each person’s political party based biases, it makes sense that they will believe that the candidate that has done the fewest bad things will be the one who aligns with their own political values. Therefore, considering that the final election comes from party loyalty based biases, we would hope that the primary elections would eliminate the candidates that would have the most “wrong with them,” however you want to define that. Thus, the final candidates in a presidential election would not only hopefully have the least wrong with them, but would allow the trend of party loyalty to stay intact with a reasonable candidate on either side to settle for, as the most polarizing and problematic candidates would have already been eliminated. 
In this context, doesn’t that make this the crunch time in which we should be working to eliminate the candidates who are the most problematic rather than settling for ones based on our lowered political standards? Granted, we assume that the final two candidates in an election would already be the least problematic, but we know from recent elections that our trust in a more moral candidate such as Hillary Clinton can still be surpassed by Donald Trump, a very controversial candidate that some people would have assumed would have been eliminated earlier on. Although cancel culture is cancellable in and of itself, it seems that any candidates who have cancelable traits such as sexual assault charges, evidence behind their stealing of an election, or slur usage, should not have as much power. When we see these kinds of traits in the art or music world we do our best to separate the art from the artist, but in this context, the art of public policy is so directly tied to the artist’s views and past actions that we should not be letting them slide or lowering our standards. While America continues to search for the presidential candidates, we should not look for the biggest persona and the craziest farmer, but instead, remember the humble peanut farmer. Carter is long gone, but he's a prime example of the candidate that we desperately need — hardworking, relatable, and passionate about truly improving the country.

What are the Standards for Our Political Candidates?

Cheers and Jeers

With an influx of social media hashtags such as #summer body, #weightlossgoals, and #skinnylegend, it’s easy to get sucked into the idea that a summer without perfectly tanned skin and a flat stomach is not sufficient. The constant upsurge of social media’s presence in our lives has made it possible for harmful trends such as these to arise and rapidly gain popularity. Many content creators have championed the “summer body” trend  for the past few years, creating a collective mindset that a body that doesn’t check off certain boxes is a body that could never be loved. The “summer body” trend refers to the documentation of diet and workout regimens to create the “most appealing” body for being seen in summer clothes. This mindset is especially detrimental for teens who are already faced with many social pressures, unrealistic expectations, and possible mental health issues. As summer is approaching, it is becoming increasingly important to highlight the issues that these toxic beauty trends create.
Large social media platforms such as Instagram and TikTok can easily create false perceptions of what we should look like. These platforms’ sole purpose is to keep users scrolling for as long as possible, because the ads that pop up every once in a while create revenue for the company. Unfortunately, this leads to people, especially young women and girls, coming across videos and posts that encourage people to shave off weight before the summer and enter the season prepared to rock a bikini. 
Why should a random content creator on the internet get to dictate who can and can’t wear a certain type of swimsuit? This random content creator is likely following the ever-changing beauty standards that are so prevalent in today’s society. The Kardashians, Bella Hadid, and other such celebrities are quick to deny having had plastic surgery procedures done, but the repercussions of these denials are massive. These actions cause the emergence of unrealistic standards in the beauty world as the lines between plastic surgery and natural features are muddled, and the usage of social media filters and photoshop intensify. With these quite literally impossible standards set, online influencers feel the need to conform to a certain body type, and may even believe that without achieving their goal, they could never be content.
This constant circulation of the so-called perfect body type creates a mindset that eventually leads to a higher likelihood of people developing mental health problems. When a person compares their own body to someone else’s, they become more likely to develop body dysmorphia and eventually even eating disorders. Evidently, the whole theme that lies at the heart of the “summer body” trend on social media is the idea of comparison, jealousy,
     
When many people active on social media are already dealing with body dysmorphia, depression, anxiety, or other mental health issues, this feeling of forced conformity and a need to change in order to fit impossible beauty standards only increases the pain and the burden on their mental health.
It is also important to consider that for teens and young people, this issue may be even worse. For one, young people make up the largest demographic of Instagram users. In 2023, Statista, a German company that specializes in gathering data, found that almost 70 percent of Instagram users globally are 34 years old or younger. It is also true that young people are much more susceptible to social influence and pressure, so when they view a certain look or body type as the standard, they likely feel the need to conform to it. With the added pressure of adhering to the “summer body” trend or other such social influences, young individuals who are already struggling face even more pressure and harmful criticism. 
The “summer body” trend on social media and other tags like it create more insecurities, more mental health problems, and more hatred towards one’s own self-image. The time to eradicate all such terrible messaging is now; far too many people on social media have felt the need to look slimmer, tanner, and more “perfect,” just because an influencer on Instagram said they must do so before the summer. It is so important to remember that the “summer body” is not a real thing because perfection is such a varied construct. It is absolutely imperative that we vocally defy these terrible standards and put an end to these damaging, detrimental trends. 


The problem with the summer body trend

The accepting and progressive environment of PHS and the Princeton community can often serve as a bubble, protecting us from all the bigotry that still exists, even in more liberal states such as New Jersey, but especially in the conservative South. Just as the new year commenced, thousands of anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been introduced around the country, and several of them have already passed. One of these bills that has been making recent headlines is Tennessee House Bill 9, which prohibits drag performances on public property or in a location where the performance could be viewed by a minor. This law will lead to child abuse charges being placed not only on parents of children who happen to see the drag performance, but also on the performers themselves and producers of the performance. Another such bill that has recently been the focus of major national discourse is Tennessee House Bill 1, which makes it illegal for minors in Tennessee to access any health care that treats their gender dysphoria, such as puberty blockers and hormone treatments. Both House Bills will go into effect starting July 1, 2023.
   The effects that are bound to follow both bills will be extremely harmful to LGBTQ+ people in the U.S., specifically the youth of the community. House Bill 9 is especially likely to bring about a lack of exposure to LGBTQ+ people. Criminalizing public drag performances and explicitly hiding them away from children will not only lead to kids being unaware of the LGBTQ+ identities that exist, but it will also isolate the kids that are actually part of the community. If these identities are hidden away from them, these children will grow up resenting their own feelings. The already harmful concept that this law is based upon, when instigated in a conservative state such as Tennessee, will likely create an even more hostile environment that targets and isolates LGBTQ+ people.
   Not only is the state of Tennessee aiming to cut down on LGBTQ+ exposure, but the new legislations are also explicitly targeting transgender and gender nonconforming youth. With this bill, the medications are specifically banned for transgender and gender nonconforming youth, meaning that for cisgender children experiencing early onset puberty, these medications would still be used. The implications of Tennessee House Bill 1 will be a tremendous step backwards in the journey towards equality and justice, as the bill prevents LGBTQ+ youth from accessing medication that treats their gender dysphoria. According to a 2021 study conducted by the Journal of Adolescent Health, 75 percent of transgender and nonbinary youth who did not receive gender affirming hormone therapy experienced recent depression, compared to 61 percent of these youth who did. These numbers also correlated to rates of suicide attemption, which was 57 percent for the youth that did not receive GHAT, and 44 percent for the youth who did. Prohibiting the usage of puberty blockers and hormone therapy in minors will only lead to a greater likelihood for mental health issues in transgender and gender nonconforming youth, and it’s important to discuss why this is an issue and how we can prevent it from spreading.
   These two bills are specific to Tennessee, but don’t let that fool you into presuming that this problem is singular to that state. In the U.S. alone, we have already seen hundreds of other anti-LGBTQ+ bills introduced this year in states such as North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Montana. Luckily, New Jersey is unlikely to pass bills similar to these since we do live in a liberal state. However, that does not mean that we as PHS students and staff should not advocate for awareness regarding these bills, and advocate for the limitation and hopefully termination of these legislations. At PHS we should amplify the voices of LGBTQ+ individuals, which can be done by placing a spotlight on the Gender and Sexuality Alliance club, as well as encouraging Pride celebrations and protests all year long. 
   It is imperative that at PHS, we continue to fight for LGBTQ+ acceptance. Even though we might not be able to single handedly control the legislations passed in other states, we can still make sure our voices remain powerful. In these distressing times, LGBTQ+ individuals are being explicitly attacked, and at our school we must speak up against these hateful, harmful bills, and provide support for our LGBTQ+ friends and peers.

Tennessee: bills and bigotry

   With the conclusion of New York Fashion Week for the spring season, it is time to do a full Anna Wintour-style review of PHS. As teenagers who are constantly consuming media, we are impacted by the trends and styles that we see in high-end fashion brands, whose products are considered to be the finest, most exemplary creations in the fashion world. However, the attire that most students at PHS come to school in seems to take no influence from the people that consume so much of our time on social media. 
   Since the beginning of American history, style standards have become more and more relaxed, much to the benefit of those who no longer need to wear corsets or cumberbunds. From the 1970s to 2000s, school style stayed relatively consistent, with students wearing jeans, T-shirts, and casual street wear. Although some students occasionally break out of the style, for the most part, school style has stayed very consistent for the last 40 years. 
   However, in the past ten years, that standard has almost disappeared. Although many of us are happy to have the flexibility to wear sweatpants to school, should pajamas and loungewear really be the standard of what we wear to school? If clothes are a way to express ourselves, then we should be trying to wear outfits in school that break from the norm and express how we want to look.
   Since we came back to school following the pandemic, it seems as though there’s been an upward trend in the loungewear that we see worn at PHS. For over a year, it was perfectly normal to wear pajamas to Zoom class. In fact,  not having to worry about how our clothes were perceived 
by others was a major relief. When we returned to school, we tried to wear clothes that represented the way that we wanted to appear to the world or stayed in the clothes that we wore all throughout the pandemic. The majority of students maintained the norm that was established during the lockdown, wearing sweats to school. But as this routine continued, it became even more difficult to break out of it. When we see others wearing pajamas to school, we are more likely to do the same, wanting to blend in. But if that does not match your personal style, you shouldn’t be so influenced by other people to copy that look. Individuality and self-identity are significantly more important than the desire to dress identically to the people you surround yourself with. Only a temporary feeling of “fitting in” is gained from doing so, and eventually, discomfort, knowing that you don’t actually fit into the boxes you’ve forced yourself into.
   Not only does keeping up with the latest fashion trend eliminate personal style, but it’s also exhausting. Fashion trends change so often, meaning that they’re almost impossible to keep up with. When you do so, it ends up being tremendously expensive. If we rushed to the shopping cart every time we saw a pop-up ad for the most-bought item at SHEIN, our hauls would overload our wardrobes, and our financial struggles would only be amplified. It’s easy to get sucked into a frenzy over fast fashion, because at first glance, it might seem affordable, but like anything else, the price tags add up. Oftentimes, these clothes end up in the trash due to the ever-changing trends. Alternatively, people might throw these clothes away due to the poor-quality materials used in these “cheap” products, just to follow their actions up with another clothing haul, continuing the cycle. This amounts to a large amount of wasted products that are costly not only to our wallets but to the environment. The non-profit organization Rest of World conducted an investigation that discovered that between July and December of 2021, SHEIN added between 2,000 to 10,000 new styles to their app daily. With such insane numbers, it comes at no surprise that the company’s carbon footprint is worse than very poor, producing 6.3 million tons of carbon dioxide yearly, according to a 2023 study by Time. The environmental damage caused by SHEIN and other such fast fashion brands simply cannot be ignored, and it is a major reason to completely ditch fashion trends which encourage consumers to keep buying more and more products. SHEIN also does not produce the types of clothes that are particularly representative of personal style because they sell clothing that is simply meant to check a box for what’s trending at the moment. When so many consumers shop from the same brand, the clothes they wear look the same as the ones worn by everyone else, which makes fast fashion not only environmentally unfriendly, but also lacking in individuality. A more sustainable way of cultivating personal style is thrifting. Not only is thrifting inexpensive, but it allows you to repurpose already created clothes, and the items that you find are almost always unique and for a good price. 
  It should become more normalized for students to actually represent themselves through their appearance when they want to. What we really want is for PHS to be an environment in which people feel comfortable wearing clothes that they think represent their interests, personal identity, and the way that they truly want to be seen by others. What we truly want to see is students abandoning their pandemic habits of comfort over self-expression. Fashion trends are harmful to our ability to self-express while simultaneously hurting the environment around us. There’s no reason to prioritize trends over using clothes as a method of showing the world who we are. It seems that the true line between loungewear and Dior is simply what you feel comfortable in. Truly wearing what you want to convey about yourself should come first, not the influence of other people and the media. If that happens to be sweatpants, then that’s absolutely wonderful, and if it is a full petticoat and stays, that is wonderful as well.


What are we wearing: An outlook into the world of PHS fashion

America has become notorious in the past few  years  for  the  almost  weekly  occurrence  of  school  shootings.  Even  in  our  town  of  Princeton,  where  violent  crimes  are  rare,  school  safety  has  begun  to  become  more  of  a  worry.  As  such,  it’s  completely  understandable  that PHS administrators have decided to double down on its security policies. For example, the school has begun to actually enforce its policy of prohibiting non-seniors from leaving campus and  is  implementing  a  measure  which  will  require  students  to  wear  lanyards  for identification. After all, PHS cannot legally  allow  students  under  18  to  leave  campus.  Ultimately,  though  these  policies  are  well-intentioned,  they overlook one essential question: Why do students want to leave in the first place?      Although being on the campus comes with its positives, among them friends and  extracurriculars,  most  of  us  no  doubt associate PHS with stress, schoolwork, and the pressure from our families or ourselves to be successful. Unfortunately, being in school for eight hours a day can take a toll  on  students’  mental  health.  As  burnout progresses over months of the same monotonous routines, it becomes more and more difficult for  us  to  enjoy  going  to  school.  So, it’s no surprise that many PHS students want an escape from the building, allowing them to change up their schedule. The truth is that even with stricter security policies in place, students still find ways to leave during school hours. Unless the  school  wishes  to  station  vigilant security guards at every entrance  and  exit  and  institute  harsh penalties for students who choose to leave campus, students will continue to leave. However,  there  is  a  better  way  to  prevent  students  from  leaving  than  instituting  a  kind  of  border  patrol.  Such excessively strict measures would do more to arouse animosity  against  the  administration  than  to  protect  students.  Instead,  we  should  find  a  middle  ground.  The  school should institute moderately strict security measures, such as the addition of just a few more guards, in combination with a genuine and systematic effort to  make school a place that students actually want to be. On  the  whole,  PHS  should  make  the  school  more  amenable to students who wish to escape from the often-stressful high school academic environment. That means that the school must try to come up with better ways for us non-seniors to be less  stressed,  especially  while  on  campus.    For  example,  the  administration  can  use  the sprawling new wing or one of our three courtyards  to  create  a  sort  of  “common  room”, with activities like a Ping-Pong table or Spikeball sets. This way, the school could be  made  to  feel  more  relaxing  and  inviting.  Furthermore,  private  study  spaces  could  be  created  to  encourage productivity during free periods, and the Tiger Cafe’s  hours  could  be  expanded  to  provide  hungry  or  decaffeinated students with a mid-day boost. These policies, along with others not listed here, would allow us to have a better relationship with PHS’s campus, and hopefully help us non-seniors feel a little bit less anxious. Of course, it’s understandable that PHS wants to keep its students safe, which includes keeping its younger students on campus during times they don’t have class and making sure that nobody can get into the building unless they’re a  member  of  PHS’s  community.  Unfortunately,  however,  in the absence of further measures to improve the school environment, the addition of more easily evaded security measures are a waste of the school’s resources. If the school truly  wants  to  prevent  students  from  leaving  campus,  it  should  pair  reinforced  security  measures  with  new  in-school amenities that would help students manage time or give them a break from the often stifling environment of PHS. As such, the administration would be knocking out two birds with one stone—one being school stress, and the other being school security. 

Improving PHS from inside out

  We constantly consume media that skews our perception of the ideal American high school experience. Popular shows such as “Stranger Things” and “Never Have I Ever” create a narrative that the so-called ideal high school experience is dominated by athletics. However, in Princeton, that experience is far different. We place emphasis on accelerated classes, college applications, and other academic achievements. Although it can be good for us to have an outlet for our academic stress, school spirit events such as forced pep rallies and monotone spirit weeks do not actually bolster our camaraderie as students. There are better ways to bring about a sense of belonging among students at PHS.
  PHS closed out September with the Homecoming football game, Pep Rally, Homecoming dance and Spirit Week, only to open October with the Week of Respect. Although many students participated in the activities, the vast majority of the student body tried to ignore the bombardment of school spirit events or did not even know that they happened at all. For many students, the events felt like a nuisance more than anything else. The Pep Rally consumed three hours of the school day, wasting valuable time where students could have continued to learn in class or work on assignments. Personally, I had a lab due on the day of the Pep Rally and would have preferred to be in class rather than outside, obligated to participate. Having security to make sure that students could not leave even though classes were over made participation feel like an inconvenience rather than a way for students to feel closer together, and underscored the entire event with a slightly dystopian tone. In fact, making participation mandatory did not increase our support of our school’s football team, because it made the event seem somewhat disingenuous, causing many students to only participate halfheartedly. If PHS had allowed students to participate without mandating it, school spirit would have felt more organic, and less like forced “fun.” For example, Homecoming was not required and it was far more exciting because our connections with others felt less orchestrated. 
   Furthermore, our Homecoming game and pep rallies overemphasize male dominated sports. Although PHS faculty encourages students to attend the tiger cage for all sports, the athletic events with the highest attendance are male dominated. For example, The women’s tennis team has received minimal school support throughout the season even though they are virtually undefeated. Similarly, whenever field hockey, women’s soccer or volleyball have games, there are far fewer students in attendance than there are for men’s soccer or football. This is in large part because our school makes more announcements about men’s sports than women’s and encourages students to focus on men’s sports. There were no pep rallies when the women’s soccer team advanced at MCTs, or when the women’s tennis team advanced at sectionals. However, when the football team lost their homecoming game, we were all encouraged to come out and watch. Although we shouldn’t be taking more time away from our studies than is already being taken away by school spirit events, it would be nice for PHS to encourage students to rally around all sports. Not only would this be encouraging students to connect with one another but it would be creating a more supportive and inclusive student body. 
  Aside from Homecoming, PHS had Spirit Week and Week of Respect back to back, in which the main attraction was rewarding students for dressing up. However, considering how the only days that more than a handful of students seemed to participate were the dual pajama days, neither initiative was much of a success. Not only did the two weeks have extremely similar dress codes for each day, making them feel redundant, there seemed to be no point to dressing up. Many students—myself included—wondered how dressing in pajamas could make us be more respectful of our peers and teachers. Instead of focusing on having the students dress uniformly for the Week of Respect, PHS should focus on actually creating a more respectful environment—one that embraces differences. If they pushed us to compliment one another, or help people in our neighborhood, or say hi to people we never spoke to before, PHS would actually be helping to make students more respectful. Rather than rewarding students for simply wearing a shirt, the school could encourage teachers and administrators to commend small acts of kindness that they witness from students. Respect is not about dressing up, but it’s about being attentive to the feelings of others, and PHS needs to teach that. 
   Although all of these events can at first seem like a way for the student body to get closer together at the start of the year, they have never been particularly successful. For most students, they feel superficial — just because the entire school is forced to sit through a three-hour assembly doesn't mean students are making new friends, or finding reasons to be proud of their school. Moreover, we should not have to look the same or dress the same to be able to respect one another. It is important that the PHS administration recognizes that we are not the Steve Harringtons or the Paxton Hall-Yoshidas from the shows that we love, but real-life people who have their own senses of fashion, their own unique hobbies and extracurriculars, and their own individual ways of showing kindness. Students will only show true spirit when it’s of their own volition. 


PHS needs to rethink school spirit

  Coming out of the pandemic, I had a rude awakening—the sheer act of raising my hand was now mortifying. Many other PHS students grew accustomed  grown accustomed to turning off their cameras and being anonymous in class. When we raised our hands for the first time out of a virtual classroom, we realized how much class attention was suddenly focused on us, and for most students, that attention was unwelcome. We all had to re-learn how to actively participate. Even after a year of in-person learning, students are still hesitant to speak in class. 
   Teachers have made the classroom environment more comfortable by asking us for our pronouns and allowing us to choose our own seats, but most methods of encouraging participation are less accommodating, and still, can lead to the quietest among us do not have their voices heard. Tactics like cold calling (calling on people at random) and strict participation grades are not working as intended. These strategies either do not work or cause class discussions to feel superficial, rather than insightful. In order for each student to be represented in class, PHS must institute systematic change to class participation. 
   One of the main factors of participation anxiety  is the discouraging responses that teachers give to students. Teachers say things like “you should have known this” or “did you even take notes?” when students make an error or ask a seemingly obvious question. Public humiliation discourages not just those unprepared, but everyone. Teachers should explain why a student’s answer is wrong and give them a chance to correct themselves.Instead of calling students out for their errors and forcing them to invent half-baked contributions on the spot, teachers could allow students to talk in small groups and discuss their ideas with people they feel comfortable with as a sort of “warm up” before opening the conversation up to the entire class. Teachers could also ask more open-ended questions to allow students to bounce ideas off of one another, instead of pressuring students with right or wrong answers. Class discussions shouldn’t entail going over the homework. They should be designed to expand on the ideas established by the homework, and let students ask their peers questions about these new concepts and insights.
   Student participation can also be hindered by the responses of other students. Even if a student feels confident in their answer, the idea that their peers could judge their answers, or outright ignore what they have to say, can be all it takes to turn a raised hand into a lowered one. . If the class is silent, being the first one to talk is difficult because few students want to be the first one to talk or have their ideas judged. In order to solve this problem, teachers must make sure that students are being respectful of one another, no matter how absurd a postulation may seem to be. Teachers should reassure students that their ideas will not be judged, and will instead be used for others to gain a new perspective on the topic at hand. By encouraging some of the louder students to make room for people that aren’t usually heard, class discussions can become more fulfilling.
   Participation is only a part of some classes’ final grades, but all PHS classes should make it at least some part of the grading process. Some teachers require every student in their classes to contribute at least once per period. Students who don’t participate are docked a full percentage point for each day they don’t add something to the class conversation. Although this method can seem daunting for some students, it actually works brilliantly in terms of getting students out of their shells, and makes sure that a diverse array of opinions are presented every day. That said, it is important to note that participation grades alone do not provide sufficient incentive for students to raise their hands. Teachers must have a system in place to encourage participation that is independent of grades; otherwise, they are just punishing shyness. 
   Personally, class discussions are my favorite part of the school day. Last year in English, I was able to formulate the main idea of one of my essays thanks to our class discussion about All Quiet on the Western Front. Hearing the opinions of others and framing my ideas around their insights made me understand the subject material much better, and stimulated my intellectual curiosity about a myriad of tangential subjects that came up during the class’s discussion. Not only do conversations like these provide new perspectives, but they also help students get to know others, which is especially vital now at the beginning of the school year.


We need to talk about class discussions

  The  AP  season  is  over,  and  in  order  to  deal  with  the  ample class time that they now have on their hands, AP teachers often choose to assign end-of-the-year projects, teach further content, or just watch movies to tie all the content of the year together. However, some teachers are having difficulty striking a balance between overworking and underworking their students towards the end of the year.  As  a  result,  some  post-AP  teaching  strategies  are  more detrimental than beneficial to the students.
     Plenty  of  students  believe  that  the  end  of  the  year  should be spent trying to wind down from the stresses of earlier in the year. However, some teachers have chosen to extend past units or teach entirely new ones after APs and  final  tests  have  taken  place.  Despite  the   fact   that   continuing   the   education   of  students  is  beneficial,  the  new  content  is  only  taught  for  a  short  period  of  time  and   often   covers   content   which   does   not   completely   relate   to   the   previous   units.  This  makes  it  difficult  for  students  to  retain  much  of  that  material.  These  units  have  the  potential  to  drop  students’  averages just before the end of the year, leading to even more stress carried with them into the summer break.
ring  the  summer  as  students  see  their  friends  less  frequently  and  have  less  of  a  structure  to  their  days.  Piling  stress  from  the  end  of  the  year  on  top  of  these  resurfacing  feelings  may  be  dangerous.  Also,  because  some  students  have  final  exams,  engaging  in  a  project  which does not require students to do homework would provide  them  with  more  time  to  study  for  their  finals  in  non-AP  classes.  Rather  than  teaching  new  units  on  unrelated  content  to  students,  the  best  option  for  end  of the year teaching could be to assign students in-class final projects so that they can take everything that they have  learned  throughout  the  year  and  compile  it  into  something more creative. This not only engages students, but takes away some of the stress of the end of the year. 
Another issue that students face is being underworked at the end of the year. Although this might not seem like a huge problem, I know that I have personally struggled with  the  wide  discrepancy  between  pre  and  post-AP  workloads.  Teachers  playing  movies  for  students  at  the  end  of  the  year  or  allowing  them  to  have  a  free  period  can be frustrating for students like me, who took an AP class to pursue a passion or interest. Playing movies for students  will  not  engage  them,  and  frankly,  with  how  tired  we  all  are  from  this  strenuous  school  year, these lackluster lesson plans are literally putting us to sleep.
Although students have been working hard all year and may just want to stop, providing the  students  with  an  outlet  to  channel  their  work  from  earlier  in  the  year  would  make  them feel as though all of the hard work that they  have  put  into  their  classes  had  paid  off.  The best thing for the PHS administration to do would be to advise teachers to make sure that they have engaging but  not  stressful  lesson  plans.  If  PHS  encouraged  their  teachers to engage their students creatively by compiling all  that  they  have  learned  into  these  final  projects,  students would learn more and would be more interested in  what  they  have  learned,  and  this  project  would  help  kids to retain their previously learned material for future classes.  For  example,  Dr.  Robert  Corell’s  AP  Chemistry  class has been working to make “flipped videos” for the next year of Accelerated Chemistry students. Essentially, current  students  record  videos  teaching  future  students  the content covered over the course of the year, which Dr. Corell will then actually use in order to help teach. Not only  does  this  engage  current  AP  Chemistry  students,  but  it  also  aids  in  the  learning  of  future  chemistry  students.  Additionally,  AP  Chemistry  and  other  AP  science  classes  have  been  traveling  to  Princeton  Public  elementary and middle schools to engage students with fun science experiments. 
Even though we are all tired and would prefer if school was  over  by  now,  it  is  important  that  teachers  keep  their   students   motivated   by   engaging   them   without   introducing  the  high  stresses  of  new  units.  Although  we   students   cannot   easily   make   executive   decisions   regarding our learning, we must make the administration aware of the shortcomings of the past few weeks of post-AP learning. Better teaching strategies must be used for future generations of PHS students. 

Post-AP classes are being misused

THE SAT:

The SAT has been causing high schoolers stress since it was first administered almost 100 years ago, in 1926. The exam seems fair on paper. Students take the test and the highest scores look better in the eyes of college admissions officers. Currently, the most selective colleges in the U.S., including our local Princeton University, either require or prefer students to have an SAT (or, alternatively, an ACT) score on their applications. However, the SAT is anything but fair: it is a test which systemically promotes classism and elitism.

Over the past few years, especially with the pandemic, many colleges have removed the SAT as a requirement on applications. However, most of these test-optional schools still give a leg up to applicants with high scores, so students still feel the need to take the test and do well. The SAT is not fit as a measure of students’ academic merit. It should become optional on all college applications, and remain that way too.

The SAT is a deeply prejudiced exam. In order to do well on the test, many students start preparing months, or even years, in advance. They attend SAT study groups, pay for private tutors, order thick textbooks, and study whenever possible. This is not the reality for everyone, especially for students from low-income households. For such students, paying for college is difficult as is, so acquiring extra SAT prep is often impossible. Some students also have a part-time job to help support their families, so adding SAT studying to the work they do for existing classes is not feasible. A 2014 article by The Washington Post found that students with household incomes of above $200,000 had an average combined reading, math, and writing score an average of 388 points more than students with household incomes of below $20,000. This very clearly demonstrates the advantage of wealthier families. Moreover, a 2021 University of Pennsylvania analysis found that the correlation between SAT scores and household income is three times as large as that between GPA and income.

The test is exceptional at weeding out those that are economically disadvantaged. While income is a factor, so is race. People of color (especially Black, Latinx, and Native Americans) experience higher rates of poverty than white Americans do. When colleges require or recommend for SAT scores to be present on applications, they are further promoting this classist and racist history of injustice.

Not every person’s brain works the same way. Some people’s brains just aren’t well equipped for these types of tests: people with ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), autism, dyspraxia, and dyslexia struggle on the SAT more than those without those disorders. The CDC writes ADHD alone affects from 8% to 10% of school age children in the US, which means that country-wide, there are almost five million students that struggle with time management, forgetfulness, and have trouble staying sitting in one place for too long without fidgeting. Requiring these students to sit down for hours completing more than one hundred and fifty multiple choice questions with barely any breaks in between is impractical. In the neurodiverse world that we live in, the SAT, which suits only those that are neurotypical, is out of place. It is unfair for colleges to require students to submit their SAT scores on their applications because people function differently — not everyone happens to fit into that compressed box of high-scoring, “normal” students.

As it turns out, College Board has attempted to address this issue of fairness with its accommodations system, where students with disorders receive the bare minimum of extra time to complete their exams. Yes, this is a step in the right direction, but if the SAT is willing to accommodate (albeit insufficiently) neurological differences among students, why doesn’t it also accommodate socio-economic differences? This is the fundamental flaw with standardized testing: fairness is only achieved when you make the test less standard. It's impossible to make a test that fairly asseses every single high school student, because every high school student is different.

The SAT doesn’t define who we are as people, but all around us, people use it as a bar for comparison and competition. Standardized tests often provide students with unnecessary anxiety, and scores are often dependent on socio-economic status and whether or not one is neurodivergent. These exams are clearly a poor representation of one’s intelligence; yet they are still one of the largest contributing factors in determining students’ future academic success. Your score on an exam that could determine whether or not you get into your best fit college should not depend on how rich your parents are. It is unquestionable that colleges should keep the SAT optional on applications in order for everyone to experience a more fair academic environment.


THE APs:

According to U.S. News, 76 percent of Princeton High School students take at least one AP during their time at PHS. PHS’s broad assortment of AP classes allows students to pursue any subject that they are passionate about at a high level. Unfortunately, the accessibility and diversity of these classes has resulted in a race between students to take as many AP classes as possible. Students who take time-consuming AP courses must balance a college level workload with sleep, extracurricular activities, and a normal teenage life. If PHS limited the number of APs each student can take per year to three, it would help limit stress, support students’ mental health, and increase time for other activities, all of which could go a long way in preparing them for college and continued education.

The University of Wisconsin Press found that students taking AP classes have increased stress levels and lower grades due to pressure and rigor. AP classes require students to make time for at least an hour and a half of homework each night which consists of practice problems, essays, and consistent studying for the AP exam. Being an AP U.S. History student, I know firsthand how rigorous an AP course can be. Whether it be submitting three page-long essays at 11:59 p.m, or reading through entire review books in the weeks before the exam, the AP U.S. History course pushes students to their absolute limit – and that’s just one AP. When students move on to their junior and senior years, they feel pressured by their teachers, guardians, and peers to participate in more advanced, competitive classes and end up balancing sometimes more than four APs at once.

Moreover, colleges aren’t just looking for students with good grades: They also want students who are passionate, outgoing, and able to carve out their own path in life. Extracurriculars, especially ones that demonstrate students’ leadership and dedication, are incredibly attractive to colleges. For example, a student who is the leader of a section in band organizes practice sessions and inspires sectionmates to work harder, and thus can use that on their application as an example of their leadership abilities. However, when students are weighed down by several AP courses, they have less time to focus on their extracurriculars — time which is required for students to obtain leadership positions in the first place. A leadership role in a club or extracurricular can be much more valuable to admissions officers than an AP class. This is a fact that students may have a hard time believing when everyone around them is loading themselves up with APs. There are also students who are aware of the value of leadership positions in extracurriculars, but are intimidated by the responsibility which comes with those positions. Putting a limit on APs may push students to step out of their comfort zone and take on roles of responsibility. Extracurriculars are thus also incredibly valuable in helping students grow as people. Also, AP courses are inequitable: Those with the money and resources to spend on tutoring and review books are at a huge advantage. However, anyone can become a leader in an extracurricular or their own club — as long as they have the work ethic and willpower to do it. If PHS wants to prepare students to get into college, it should limit students to three APs a year.

Of course, AP classes are still an incredible resource that Princeton students are privileged to have at their disposal. Students can pursue their interests at a college level and delve deep into the nuance and quirk of their desired field. When students choose to take time-consuming APs that don’t align at all with their interests, however, such as a STEM-inclined student taking AP French and AP English, that only takes away from students’ ability to fully take advantage of the AP classes that they are truly interested in. Without the burden of five AP classes, students can pursue those interests out of school as well. A club or extracurricular can actually be better at increasing students’ interest in a subject than an AP class. In a club, students are exposed to people who are truly passionate about the subject, not there just because it’s an AP, and plan their own events and activities, contrasting with the rigidity of many AP classes.

AP season is finally here, the culmination of all of PHS students’ hard work and suffering over the past few months, and students all know what that means: one last bout of all-nighters and mental breakdowns. But maybe all of this can change. Though the PHS student body cannot easily make any executive decisions regarding a limit on AP classes, it is important that PHS faculty and administration recognize the predicament which students face. PHS students feel the need to compete with their peers by loading up their schedules with APs, and as long as there is no limit on this behavior, they will continue to be limited in their potential, and utterly stressed.

The benefits of fewer tests

Princeton High School must recognize the impact that a lack of gender-neutral bathrooms has on its students. Considering the discrimination and discomfort that transgender, gender-nonconforming, and queer students face at PHS, the school should convert all bathrooms to gender-neutral bathrooms. Doing so would follow a global trend towards more inclusive restrooms and establish PHS as a safe space for LGBTQ+ students. A few weeks ago, the high school’s only gender-neutral bathroom was temporarily closed. The problem that sparked the closing was students who were using the gender-neutral bathroom to vape, talk, or hang out with friends. For those who actually needed to use the bathroom, walking in and seeing several students crowded in a stall vaping was awkward and embarrassing. PHS Art Teacher Bridget Schmidt met with Principal Frank Chmiel about the issue, emphasizing the importance of making transgender and nonbinary students feel more comfortable at PHS. A group of students also came forward after the initial shutdown to discuss the negative impacts of the closure. These impacts made navigating this issue even more difficult for nonbinary students, who not only felt insecure in the gender-neutral bathrooms, but were then deprived of these facilities all together. The high school agreed to convert two existing bathrooms into gender-neutral bathrooms, which is a promising sign, but there is still a long way to go for PHS’s efforts to increase comfort for queer and gender-nonconforming students. Two new gender-neutral bathrooms in the high school is not enough. Not only will the misuse of gender-neutral bathrooms continue, but because of the sheer size of PHS, valued class time is taken away from nonbinary students who have to spend time searching for inclusive bathrooms. This could frustrate teachers and staff, who feel the need to wait on students who are using the restroom. Making gender-neutral bathrooms more accessible by converting all existing bathrooms would reduce both bathroom misuse and class time missed by students.

Moreover, transgender and gender-nonconforming students experience intolerance for their gender identities in schools across the country. Providing everyone with the possibility to use gender-neutral bathrooms is an important step towards inclusivity. This change would not only help LGBTQ+ students in our school feel that their identities have been recognized, but would also set a strong example for other schools to follow. The necessity of establishing this environment of acceptance cannot be overstated. In recent years, the mistreatment of queer youth has been on the rise, as seen in the increased number of hate crimes on the basis of gender identity. The Uniform Crime Reporting Program’s Hate Crime Statistics report disclosed that the number of hate crime incidents on the basis of gender identity went up from 198 in 2019 to 236 in 2020 in the U.S. Many queer people don’t feel safe in public. In fact, 65 percent of trans students in America are harassed in school because of their gender identity, according to a survey done by the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network in 2015. They can’t be forced to receive an education in the presence of those who they feel mean them harm, and should not have to fear for their safety everytime they need to use the bathroom. Transgender and gender-nonconforming students often feel that they will face judgment or be harassed simply by using a bathroom that matches their gender identity. Without gender-neutral bathrooms, their only other safe option is to go to the bathroom of their assigned sex at birth, which could lead to or worsen body dysphoria. We must eliminate single-gender bathrooms.

PHS wouldn’t be the first to take these steps. In many European countries, most notably Denmark and Sweden, gender-neutral restrooms are growing in popularity. In Vermont, an act passed in 2018 mandated all single-user bathrooms in public places, like schools and community centers, to be gender-neutral. These bathrooms seem to be the way forward all across the globe, and PHS should be one of the first schools in New Jersey to fully embrace that truth.

Traditionalist fear-mongering has alienated the idea of a world without single-gender bathrooms. Many fear that without the enforcement of a separation of genders, sexual harassment and assault will run rampant. However, this postulation is false. A 2014 Media Matters study covering 600,000 students over 17 school districts found that laws protecting trans students’ rights to use gender identity aligned bathrooms did not lead to any increases in sex crimes.

Though there aren’t many executive decisions that we as a student body can make, we must do all that we can to pressure school officials to take this issue seriously. The more this topic is circulated, the more likely it is to be heard by people in more powerful positions, such as the district’s Board of Education. Problems like these, no matter how uncomfortable to talk about, cannot be ignored by the school’s administration. If we want transgender and gender-nonconforming students to feel safe coming to school, action must be taken to make all bathrooms at PHS gender-neutral.

All PHS bathrooms should be gender-neutral

Around December of 2021, several Instagram accounts began posting pictures of students sleeping or not wearing masks. In the past, students have taken to Instagram to post about clubs or extracurriculars so participants could be in the loop about events. Some of these newer accounts, however, document indiscriminate aspects of student life. These accounts promote bullying and are a clear example of how social media is misused at PHS.

The account that started the trend was @phssheep. It gained a massive following within the first few days of posting and was dedicated to accepting and posting submitted photos of students who were not wearing their masks properly or at all in school. During the time that the account was active, it attempted to promote proper COVID-19 safety protocol among students. The idea was to hold students accountable when they didn’t wear their masks correctly by way of public embarrassment. However, despite efforts to shame people wearing masks incorrectly and to encourage better mask practices among students and staff, the account brought about a reaction that seemed to undermine the purpose of the account. Some students attacked the account in the comments section by denying the existence of COVID-19. Moreover, many people were concerned that if they took their masks off to get a drink of water or eat their lunch, pictures of them would be posted and they would be deemed “anti-maskers.” Even so, students would jokingly repost and circulate images of their peers with their masks off, without any sort of consent. Public humiliation and mockery is not the correct way to promote mask-wearing.

One of the first accounts to follow the trend that was set by @phssheep was @princetonhssleeping, which frequently posts photos of students sleeping in class. The account posts images constantly with just a few images in each post, a tactic which is aimed at garnering likes, followers and reposts as quickly as possible. Other accounts, such as ones which post pictures of students with their significant other or slouching, have also gained popularity. All of the accounts encourage reposts and submissions of pictures.

Although posting pictures of affectionate couples or of students sleeping in class may seem like a fun way for students to engage socially, it is unethical. Relationship accounts publicize the relationships of students who may not want them to be public. They are a violation of students’ privacy. Even worse, some of these accounts choose to make fun of these relationships. For example, one account posted that it would take submissions for the weirdest PHS couples on Valentine’s Day. This promotes judgment and mockery of couples on a day that is meant to celebrate them. Accounts which post pictures of students sleeping in school are also harmful. A student could be juggling homework, younger siblings, or a part-time job, and have to duck into an empty classroom to sleep during lunch. But when a picture of this is posted to one of these accounts, hundreds of students might think they were slacking off in class. Unsurprisingly, some students have requested to have their pictures removed from these accounts. However, screenshots and reposts ensure that even if a student succeeds in removing their picture, it could still stay on the internet forever. The trend of plastering unsolicited photos of people on social media for anyone to see needs to end. A newer account, @phs_polling, polls students asking whether they approved of the high school each week. However, @phs_polling does not try to take action or inform PHS administration of the approval rating. If the account focused on asking students why they feel the way they do about PHS as well as what the administration could do to help, their popularity could amount to greater progress for the school.

The growing popularity of new accounts has resulted in more conversations regarding their content, in and outside of school. Those who do not have Instagram may feel excluded from conversations regarding the topic. On the other hand, for students who are active on the platform, these accounts lead to more distractions during class time as students try to discreetly take photos of others or check their phones for updates. The use of phones not only angers teachers but also distresses other students, who may suspect candid pictures are being taken of them.

Still, PHS students can use social media for a good cause. In previous years, students have taken to Instagram to post memes about PHS that the whole student body could relate to. Accounts like @phs.vs.internet posted captivating content that did not target or mock others. By posting memes about the school that didn’t revolve around individual students, they were able to be relevant to the school without running the risk of offending individual students. Using accounts to connect with students in a positive way while still engaging them in relevant issues is a better use of social media than ridiculing other students and the school. It’s really important to mitigate the dangerous side effects of the accounts on Instagram right now, since they can have big impacts on PHS. Many of them have hundreds of followers, and are still continuing to grow. Without a course correction, their harmful impacts will only continue to grow as well.

At PHS, social media should be used to make students laugh, not laughed at. If students want their accounts to impact and connect with a wider scope of students, they need to take a more engaging and less harmful approach to posting. If they do, these accounts could become one of the most fun things about being students at PHS.

Jane Bennett's Work