Commentary
May the Best Candidate Be Elected
By Sebastian Becker
Smear campaigns have been the key to many victorious political campaigns, but often at the expense of the public good. These campaigns are usually extensively funded and aggressively criticize an opponent personally or misrepresent his or her policies. Smear campaigns can destroy the reputation of a good politician. If well executed, they can mobilize masses of voters to one side of the election. And effective or not, smear campaigns are creeping into this year’s election. A negative image is being cast on each candidate, with the a focus on their questionable scandals rather than on who will be the best leader of the United States of America, as if the public no longer cares about the policies of candidates. For its own benefit, the American public needs to make an informed decision on November 4. But in becoming informed, it should be more concerned with the candidates’...
Beyond The Latin
By Celia Lewis Non Sibi
While the opportunities at Andover may seem endlessly abundant in the mix of academics, sports, clubs and other extracurricular offerings, our community service program should not be overlooked.
Personally, I had never really understood the concept of community service until coming to Andover. My elementary and middle schools lacked any sort of involvement in service. My family tried to fill this void with a few small endeavors throughout my childhood, but I never really came to understand the significance of our actions.
One of my first memories of Andover was at an event for newly admitted students. An admissions officer asked the crowd, “What does our school motto, non sibi, mean?” The room remained silent. She tried again, “Are there any Latin scholars here?” Finally, someone’s father raised his hand. “I believe it means ‘not for oneself,’” he said. Yet we do not have to be Latin scholars to...
Welcome to Cyber-Reality
By Jenn Schaffer
I’m tired of using technology. While the world generally views the internet as an advancement, I see it as a step back for society. Hollywood speculates about the day we become so dependent upon technologythat robots take over the world,but that day has long passed.
We live in the era of tech-supremacy, where the average human uses 30,000 watts of electricity and spends five hours online daily. This is pathetic. It was only half a century ago that research began at the library, that reputations
were built through actions and that romance began in the flesh. Now friends are made with pokes or requests rather than smiles, and I am scared. I am scared of this age because it may represent the end of human civilization.
Well, let me rephrase. Human civilization is not ending — it is simply declining. We are growing lazy. Technology does for us what human...
Give Us Some Credit, Please
By The Phillipian Editorial Board
This summer, some students may work for hours on end with nothing to show for it, except, of course, the benefit of the experience itself.
While many schools give credit to students for unpaid summer internships, Phillips Academy is an exception. PA does not grant academic credit for programs not approved by the Academic Council and led by a faculty member, although the school does offer bypass exams for students who take classes over the summer. Part of the reason PA does not give credit is because of the difficulty of determining whether or not an experience is worthy of academic credit.
Summer internships are excellent opportunities for students to gain real-world experience, and Phillips Academy’s current policy may limit students’ options.
Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, students are required to receive credit from their schools in order to enroll in an unpaid internship program at a for-profit business....
“Parental” Control
By The Phillipian Editorial Board
House Counselors, it is a Saturday afternoon. Do you know where your students are?
Under the new visiting policy, the answer is almost certainly ‘yes.’ The policy, announced by email this Monday, states that “beginning immediately, any boarding student wishing to visit someone in a private home must ask permission of a house counselor or cluster dean, whether or not this home is within the town of Andover.” Students must also sign out before leaving campus.
This policy is a logical continuation of the parietal and day excuse system. Why is it that, until now, students have needed permission to go to someone’s house in Boston but not in the town of Andover?
The rationale for the new policy is the same: If anything were to happen to a student, the school has a responsibility to know where the student was last.
In the announcement of the policy, Dean of Students...
The Cost of Success
By Nicole Okai
Two weeks ago, The Phillipian reported that, according to the results of the State of the Academy survey, cases of academic dishonesty had increased from the 2006-2007 school year, with those reporting cheating on major assignments doubling and those on minor assignments increasing by 11 percent. This high percentage of students engaging in academic dishonesty may not be an indication of a cheating epidemic for cheating’s sake, but rather the result of increased academic stress on campus, especially from the prospect of college admissions.
The case may also be that students are not being more dishonest, but that they now understand the gray areas of academic dishonesty, which means that they are more likely to recognize instances of minor cheating and then admit to breaking the rules more often. However, why is it that students are being dishonest in the first place? Though the doubled percentage may be...
An Overprotective Policy
By Paul Chan
On Monday, April 21, Dean of Students Marlys Edwards sent out an email informing students of a new campus policy regarding off-campus house visiting. Initially, the policy greatly surprised me. This policy stipulates that boarding students will not be able to visit the homes of day students, even if they are within the confines of the town of Andover, unless they have permission from a house counselor or cluster dean. The policy also stated that an adult that is at the day student’s home must confirm with the house counselor or cluster dean that the boarding student is invited.
In the email, Dean Edwards stated that the policy was enacted so that Andover students would be safer while off-campus. Such justification is very similar to other rules in the Blue Book. These rules, such as those that involve car permission, day excuses and sign-in times are, in some...
Why We Don’t Have Sex
By Michael Yoon
More than 18 percent of Phillips Academy students have had sex, according to the recent Phillipian State of the Academy survey. Compared to the rest of the United States, this percentage is very low. According to a 2005 Center for Disease Control youth risk assessment, 46.8 percent of high-school students engaged in sexual intercourse in that year. Why should this be? Is the school being two and half times too in loco parentis, or are the numbers the result of the students’ own active decision? If nothing were to change in the next month, nearly 70 percent of Andover students will graduate virgins. But why are we be so different?
Are we any different from teenagers who attend public school and are free to go anywhere at any time? Is the Andover bubble robbing students of an important part of their social lives? I say no. Phillips Academy...
Student Council Speaks Up
By Erik Sirakian
Student Council is an ineffective body. No one cares about it because it accomplishes little if anything at all. Elected officers from every class and cluster meet each week to do… nothing.
Or, at least, that’s what almost half of the student body believes. According to The Phillipian’s State of the Academy Survey, 47.9 percent of the student population believes that Student Council is not an effective representative body. So, how many of those people took the time to voice a complaint to the Council? How many have offered a suggestion that Student Council blatantly ignored? How many took the time to attend a meeting before declaring that “nothing ever gets done”? Maybe the irony here requires no further explanation.
And it’s not as if students have no way to contact their representatives. Student Council President Teddy Collins ’08 and Vice President Jonathan Adler ’08 set up a Student...
The Andover Housing Crisis
By Whitney Ford
In the midst of the housing process, the school has come close to turning into a soapy teen melodrama as backs are stabbed and friendships are terminated over next year’s living arrangements. For the past week, boarders have been struggling to decide where they would most like to live next year, but faced with difficult decisions, they have virtually no guarantee, and little chance, of admission into their top-choice. What causes the most anxiety for students is choosing with whom and where they plan to live. As roommates are chosen and groups apply for stacks, betrayal becomes inevitable, but despite the tears that are inevitably shed, it is likely that the decided situation will be forced into reconsideration. The problem with the entire process is the inability of the cluster deans to provide students with sufficient information to make plausible arrangements. Most students need information prior to...