In Our Own Words

By Phillipian Editorial Board

At the beginning of every year, hundreds of students electronically sign a Plagiarism Primer on PAnet designed to explain the nature and dangers of plagiarism. Some of these students go on to commit plagiarism later in the year. A few of these cases are purposeful plagiarism, where a student copies word-for-word part of an existing essay. Many of these cases, however, are examples of accidental plagiarism. A student could receive help from their parents or a friend and not credit their work. Or perhaps they don’t credit a source thinking it is general knowledge. How can such accidental cases of plagiarism be prevented? Why do so many students feel that help from their parents is different than help from an internet essay site or SparkNotes? One issue is that departments have different standards of acceptable collaboration. In math class, students often ask each other for help or...

Letters to the Editor

By Abigail Hoglund, Paul Murphy

To the Editor:

I write with a new idea which would take some time to implement for the 2011-2012 school year.

For many years now, I, as a former advisor to the student council and the school president and then as a cluster dean, have felt that we should entertain the idea of electing co-presidents of Phillips Academy’s Student Council. Given our school size, the list of the responsibilities that are heaped on this position (speaking, representing students at the deans table, sitting on committees, running student council, etc) and the diversity of experience that our school embodies, I would like to see us elect a pair of students for this important job. Students would run as pairs and be elected as such. On a few occasions in past years, pairs of students have tried to accomplish this feat, but the timing of the decision to run together always...

Letters to the Editor

By Letters

To the Editor:

We have two concerns about the remarks from members of the school community, students and faculty, that have appeared in this paper in the wake of Spike Lee’s visit. First, we question a rhetorical move, specifically an appeal to the dictionary. This appeal has already diluted the potency of Mr. Lee’s message and threatens to fetter our academic discourse. Second, we lament the tone that has characterized this discussion.

Language matters. The words we use to describe and make sense of our shared human experience are important, and they are not neutral. In any context, we must be sensitive to the range of meaning that words possess. Individuals cannot make up new definitions willy-nilly, even invited guests at All-School Meeting. To have a productive dialogue, individuals, on some level, must agree on the meaning of words. If not, the two parties will talk past each other....

Letters to the Editor

By Chris Massie and John Anderson

TO THE EDITOR: I take issue with the editorial that appeared in last week’s Phillipian next to my last, much longer, letter. This editorial did not disagree with the content of my letter. It completely ignored what I would have thought to be obvious connotations of my abbreviated explanation of the importance of self-reliance in our culture.

The editorial concludes by stating: “If you want liberty, you’ve got to earn it.”

That is simply untrue. Self-reliance, liberty (like life and the pursuit of happiness), is a human right. When women and blacks could not vote or be full participants in our society and culture of self-reliance, is that because they had to earn it? As it turns out, due to the now largely rejected beliefs of people we call “racist” and “sexist”, they did have to earn it, but I think most of us can agree that, as humans,...

Letter to the Editor

By Chris Massie

TO THE EDITOR: In a time long before even the birth of Dr. Pottle, Socrates, convicted as a “corruptor of the youth” and sentenced to death, had the option to preserve his own life. Had he admitted guilt, his life would have been spared. His friends tried to convince him to swallow his pride and toss aside his principles, to simply speak the words. They tried to persuade him to flee from jail, but he would not. He would neither admit an untruth, nor would he accept life in exile. Wishing in his final hour that his sons be taught to do, as he did, what their hearts and minds deemed right, Socrates accepted his fate and drank the hemlock, the deadly poison. Yet, as he knew he would, he lives on as a martyr, his ideas embedded deeply in the consciousness of Western culture. If Western...

Letter to the Editor

By Chase Ebert '09

To the Editor:

As a recently graduated alumnus of the Philomathean Society, I try to stay appraised of the activities of my old debate club. I read last week’s article on Philo’s home invitational tournament with great interest, hoping to see how things went for my debate friends who are still at Andover. When I saw that Adam Tohn ’10 qualified for the Worlds Individual Debating and Public Speaking Tournament, I was elated. A hard worker, brilliant orator and good man, Mr. Tohn represents the best of Philo. I would never want to take anything away from his amazing accomplishment. But when I read that article, I realized that this newspaper had taken something away from another debater whose performance for some reason appeared not to merit mention. This was not, as the article stated, the first Worlds-qualifying tournament of the fall. Jennifer Schaffer ’10, Co-President of the...

Letters to the Editor

By Jack Dickey '09

To the Editor,

I write to question The Phillipian’s priorities. While I reject Mr. Aronov’s suggestion last week that The Phillipian’s upper management withholds truth from the community – as a recent alumnus of that noted corrupting cabal, I can affirm the editor’s statement that the paper strives for professional standards of accuracy – but I do sometimes wonder why exactly they print what they print.

Though I neither knew Headmaster Sizer nor attended Andover during his tenure, I felt sadness upon hearing of his passing. It isn’t only that we attended the same primary school – Foote School classes of 1945 and 2006 – but that, as I’ve learned from reading old Phillipians and the outpouring of alumni memories on Andover’s website, he played such an important role in the development of this school and American educational thought. I don’t consider myself the best person to speak on...

"Find Your Reasons to Stay" (10/30) To The Editor,

By Chris Caulkins '11, Ryan Marcelo '10 and Aditya Mithal '10

“Find Your Reasons to Stay” (10/30)

To the Editor,

Last week’s article, “Find Your Reasons to Stay” by Kennedy Edmonds ’12, brought to our attention the entitlement problem that we have here at Phillips Academy. Mr. Edmonds compares a Phillips Academy education to “a formerly beloved toy,” and refers to a lack of “hope” felt by much of the student body. We ask everyone to take a second to look around them. We are currently at one of the finest schools in the country, if not the world, surrounded some of the best facilities and teachers available at the high school level. Recognizing that Andover is an extremely stressful and demanding environment, we all should remember that we chose to come here. Students decide to apply here to receive an unparalleled education and to take advantage of the vast opportunities available at this school. Every year, around 1500 prospective...

Letter to the Editor

By Barbara Chase, Head Of School

To the Editor:

Your coverage of the financial crisis and how Andover is responding was welcome. In a time of such significant challenge, all members of the community, both internal and external, should understand the problems we face, because we must all be involved in the solution. Your editorial complimented the administration for handling the situation well. Thank you, on behalf of all who have worked to ensure that necessary changes do as little as possible to affect adversely a Phillips Academy education. This is, truly, a team effort. The Board of Trustees, members of the administration, faculty and staff all deserve credit for their unfailing dedication to this community and, above all, to the quality of teaching and learning here on Andover hill. Alumni, parents and you students, too, do your part to help us, as your editorial says, “weather the storm.” For over 230 years, this...

Letter to the Editor

By Mr. Christopher Jones

To the Editor:

I have read with interest the articles about affirmative action recently published on this page by Ms. Li, who advocates an end to the program, and Mr. Crystal and Ms. Ohene-Asah, who have both defended it. Under other circumstances, I would not seek to interject my own comments into an independent forum of student opinion. In this case, however, the back-and-forth has ranged into territory reminiscent of the polluted culture wars and politics of the 1990s, when I first became aware of the issue and began investigating it for myself. What I found in my studies as an undergraduate and graduate student revealed that on this issue, as with all issues concerning race, our national proclivity to forget our own history selectively has corrupted the debate.

Misconceptions about affirmative action abound: the policy requires institutional quotas for minority students and minority employees; it seeks to redress...