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Someone Has to Fail
By Brittney Brown, Mathematics and Science Faculty Member
Someone Has to Fail
Faculty-Submitted Note: This essay was to examine how St. Mark’s fits in with the trifecta of aims (social mobility, social efficiency, and democratic equality) that David Labaree described in his book “Someone Has to Fail”.
St. Mark’s, an elite private boarding school that proudly believes in their slogan “Intentionally Small, THINKING BIG,” claims to help students “develop a spirit of independence, innovation, and discovery” that prepares “them to lead lives of consequences” (St. Mark’s School, n.d.). For a school that was initially focused on the idea of social mobility, the expansion to include themes of democratic equality and social efficiency have not been implemented in the most beneficial way. When reading Labree’s Someone Has to Fail, the quote “the American system of education is highly accessible, radically unequal, organizationally fragmented, and instructionally mediocre” reminded me of St. Mark’s (Labaree, 2010). By attempting to encompass all the values of democratic equality, social mobility, and social efficiency, St. Mark’s appears to be subpar at all three.
One of St. Mark’s biggest selling points is centered around the idea of community. Creating a community that allows for a range of different perspectives also ties into the goal of students “living lives of consequence,” or gaining the skills necessary to participate in communities outside of St. Mark’s. Democratic equality, defined by Labree, “sees education as a mechanism for producing capable citizens” (Labaree, 2010). With a focus on community and being open to different perspectives is key to St. Mark’s approach to democratic equality. There is ample opportunity for students to gather together given that we meet as a whole school every school day. We give opportunities for students to participate in global studies with the goal that they become global citizens or gain a global perspective. There are community and student centered gatherings, such as Gray Colloquium (a speaker series with a discussion theme each year), or Community and Equity student meetings (where different topics are discussed), that give students the opportunity to participate. These are opportunities, not requirements, so every student is embodying a different interpretation of what it means to be a capable citizen. Without these requirements, how effective is the claim that students will gain a global mindset?
(more…)Suffering in Chinese Buddhism and Italian Christianity: Comparison Between Northwestern Chinese Mogao Grottoes and Italian Christian Artworks
By Sherry Mi, IV Form
Suffering in Chinese Buddhism and Italian Christianity: Comparison Between Northwestern Chinese Mogao Grottoes and Italian Christian Artworks
Student-Submitted Note: I conducted this individual research in the Summer. Inspired by my pre-COVID travels to the Mediterranean region, I became greatly interested in European art history while constantly being influenced by Chinese art and culture. My research is a response to my childhood wonder about religious art.
INTRODUCTION
Visual art is one of the easiest ways to communicate, while the spread of a religion depends on the diffusion of its beliefs, which solely depends on communication. For this reason, artists have created countless religious works in the past millennia. Furthermore, the use of religious symbols increased as religions, usually including scriptures, holy figures, and taboos, were systematized. Symbols convey essential religious ideas to the viewers, including suffering.
In my 2020 visit to the Mogao Grottoes in Northwestern China, I also noticed that Buddhist stories of sacrifice and suffering were also one of the most depicted images. Religious beliefs, I conjectured, supplement images of suffering, delivering an important lesson about pain to the followers: Why is pain present? How can one cope with it? Notably, religious art only represents the opinions of its artist, probably on behalf of society, but not God. Opinions may change over time.
I soon discovered that these images were produced inconsistently as the religion evolved. I recorded my discoveries in Buddhist and Christian art in the following analysis. As the religion developed, religious art deviated from images of suffering. The reduction of such images hinted at a transformation of the invisible relationship between religion and society.
What force could drive this palpable change? I noticed similar trends in the development of Chinese Buddhist and Italian Christian art: images of suffering were abundant for one historical period, but declined as the next period began. I also wondered if Buddhist and Christian artists interpreted suffering similarly by making similar artistic choices. This analysis is a possible answer.
(more…)Inverted Airfoils’ Abilities to Prevent Wind Storm Roof Destruction
By Yolanda Zhou, VI Form
Inverted Airfoils’ Abilities to Prevent Wind Storm Roof Destruction
Student-Submitted Note: This paper investigates a new way to reduce aerodynamic lift created around houses’ roofs in extreme windstorms. Three test models were created in computer modeling software OnShape and simulated in CFD using OpenFOAM. This project was inspired by the concept of “downforce” used to stabilize Formula One race cars. This paper was written for submission to the High School Science Symposium (HiSci) in May 2023 as part of the STEM Fellowship.
Abstract
As severe windstorms increase in frequency and intensity, more residential houses are predicted to be vulnerable to structural damage by severe windstorms towards the end of the 21st century. Wind around the roof exerts a negative pressure that lifts the roof up and threatens the structural integrity of houses. In this paper, a novel method of mitigating lift using inverted airfoils was explored through CFD simulations. The performance of the model was assessed through three criteria: net lift coefficient, effectiveness under different wind directions, and manufacturability. Visual representations of pressure and velocity distribution of the airflow over the model were analyzed to validate simulation data. Single inverted airfoils and round airfoil-shaped roofs were tested for the first prototype. A further iteration of the prototypes improved the model performance. All roof configurations were able to reduce the overall lift of the system when compared to the control group. Single airfoil roof setup was most effective at reducing net lift, while round roof setup was effective in a wider range of wind direction conditions. Rectangular Roof setup combines the advantages of both setups and reduces more net lift than the Revolved Airfoil setup.
Introduction
As global climate change accelerates, the intensity and frequency of wind disasters, such as tropical cyclones and tornadoes, are predicted to increase significantly by the end of 21st century [8]. The increase in the intensity of tropical cyclones is found to be correlated to the rise of Sea Surface Temperatures [8]. Furthermore, Category 4 and 5 tropical cyclone activities, which have wind speeds that exceed 150 miles per hour, are likely to increase in the late 21st century [10]. Such tropical cyclones, although very rare, are catastrophic and account for around half of the economic damage done by all tropical cyclones in the US [6]. In 2013, an EF-5 category tornado hit Moore, Oklahoma. Reaching a speed of over 200 miles per hour, type EF-5 tornadoes are the rarest and most destructive type of tornado on Earth. The tornado caused 24 deaths, more than 200 injuries, and billions of dollars for repairing the destroyed houses and facilities [3]. Overall, tropical cyclone frequencies, intensities, and damages are projected to increase as the global climate continues to get warmer [10]. High School Science Symposium 2022
(more…)Chicanismo: Examining Mexican-American Culture, History, and Perspectives Through Photography
By Jonathan Hernández, VI Form
Chicanismo: Examining Mexican-American Culture, History, and Perspectives Through Photography
Editor’s Note: This project was made possible with the support of the Class of 1968 V Form Fellowship. At their 25th reunion, the Class of 1968 created a fund to provide grants to V Form students for independent study during the school year or, more commonly, during the summer between V and VI Forms. Their intent in establishing this fund was to reward independent thinking, ingenuity, and planning and to encourage the student in exploring non-traditional fields of inquiry or using non-traditional methods of investigation.
Student-Submitted Note: This past summer, I took part in The Class of 1968 V Form Fellowship and used my grant funds to travel to Los Angeles to look at Latinidad and Mexican-American identities and spaces through a photographic lens. I compiled what I learned (in addition to a bit of research I completed) in an academic reflection uploaded below.
“We cannot seek out achievement for ourselves and forget about progress and prosperity for our community… Our ambitions must be broad enough to include the aspirations and needs of others, for their sakes and for our own.” — Cesar Chavez.
Chicana/o/x or Xicana/o/x (both pronounced the same way) refer to persons of Mexican descent who grew up in the United States. The experiences of these Chicana/o/x persons are notably different from the experiences of simply American or Mexican individuals as neither identity has wholly encapsulated their background. Chicanismo, what this grant project was built around, is pride in one’s Chicana/e/o/x heritage. With the completion of this project, it is my hope to share what I have learned about the spaces I visited to provide insight into Mexican-American history, culture, and perspectives.
It is believed that Chicanos descend from indigenous groups who lived in Aztlán – the American Southwest region encompassing Arizona, California, Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, and parts of Oklahoma. As part of Spain’s colonial efforts, a racial hierarchy was instituted through a caste system called the “Castas” system. The Castas system unlike America’s system of race accounted for cultural mixing and recognized that Spain’s colonization of the Americas promoted cross-cultural interactions and allowed different groups of people to interact, trade, and marry with each other. Yet, the Castas system did not only organize persons based on their outward appearance but also on their parents’ individual races. For instance, a child with a West African father and Indigenous mother would most likely work as a laborer or farmer. Still, a child with an Anglo father and Meztic mother would most likely live an educated noble life. In fact, the practice of interracial marriage was so popular or so prominent that in the First Census of Los Angeles in 1978 a significant majority of the citizens identified as Mestizaje or of “mixed blood” (Webber 33-34). Thus, for many Mexicans and Latinos, it has proven difficult to identify wholly with one race over another because of interracial marriage and mixing throughout the decades.
After the Mexican Cession and the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the US gained territory in what is today the American Southwest. In states like Texas, New Mexico, California, Colorado, Arizona, and Nevada which belonged previously to Mexico (and before that the Native American peoples in the region), about one hundred thousand people who decided to stay in the territories became U.S. citizens. Thus, began the formation of the Mexican-American identity.
(more…)Snowballing Towards Anti-Ethnic Homogeneity
By Steven Zhang, VI Form
Snowballing Towards Anti-Ethnic Homogeneity
Editor’s Note: This project was made possible with the support of the Class of 1968 V Form Fellowship. At their 25th reunion, the Class of 1968 created a fund to provide grants to V Form students for independent study during the school year or, more commonly, during the summer between V and VI Forms. Their intent in establishing this fund was to reward independent thinking, ingenuity, and planning and to encourage the student in exploring non-traditional fields of inquiry or using non-traditional methods of investigation.
Student-Submitted Note: Over my Junior year, I embarked on an ambitious research project rooted in personal experience. Eight years ago, I left my town’s Asian church, noticing over time that older friends were departing too. What prompted so many people with similar backgrounds to collectively leave? I dove into academic research. I exhausted every accessible paper, emailing professors for copies when articles weren’t free. I spent months interviewing and writing, dedicating 2-3 weekday hours and 4-8 weekend hours. It was incredibly hard to conduct research all by myself. I submitted an abstract summarizing my findings to UC Berkeley’s conference on Asian Pacific American religions, and was accepted based on my paper and my paper’s abstract.
Abstract
Despite recent attention on second-generation Asian American Christians, many racialization and ethnicization theorists often neglect the migration of second-generations from mono-ethnic churches to multi-ethnic churches. Through an analysis of the oral histories of nine East Coast, American-born, East Asian college students, my paper argues how race and cultural factors in ethnic, predominantly white, and multi-ethnic churches influence second generation students’ desire for diverse congregations. This study contends that due to family pressure on youth and overbearing cultural values in an ethnic church, second generations avoid Asian-homogenous religious environments and their parents’ ethnically bounded faith. Leaving instead for predominantly white churches, they find that cultural awareness on issues of marginalization is lacking. In both churches, second generations grow averse to homogeneous environments as minorities with unique cultural differences. In college, they resolve the desire for heterogeneous religious environments through the diverse college campus that offers religious autonomy and a religious buffet of ministries. Among the various options, the multi-ethnic ministry especially appeals to second generations by creating a minority-focused space infused with different perspectives. My paper uncovers a pattern of religious attendance among second-generation Asian Americans, analyzing how, when, and why religious diversity in congregations is vital.
Paper presentation
Introduction
My paper focuses on second-generation Asian Americans who attend multi-ethnic churches and explores their motivations for desiring and attending diverse congregations.
I employ a snowball metaphor to demonstrate how different factors combine to create a desire for diversity. The “compounding factors” to the snowball of anti-homogeneity are family pressure that creates desires for separation and independence, overbearing cultural values that create a dislike for homogeneous environments, reduced marginalization that creates a desire for a diversity of members, and a desire for diverse theology. This snowball of anti-homogeneity stops rolling after entering college, where the accumulation is resolved through the diverse college campus that offers religious autonomy, a religious buffet of ministries, and more diverse perspectives.
My methodology was emailing and networking. I emailed nine East Coast, East Asian, college students on college campuses and college graduates from nearby multi-ethnic churches to ask them these questions.
Before I go into my findings, I would like to provide a literature review.
As many researchers have noted, second generations embark on the silent exodus, a mass migration away from their mother churches. They leave because of cultural differences between generations and intergenerational leadership difficulties. The question of where they go has been answered by numerous authors who argue that second generations stay in ethnic and racial enclaves. They either head to Asian American ministries, return to their ethnic churches, or pave a new pan-Asian path, which although different from their parents, often carries mono-ethnic notions.
(more…)My Election, My Will
By Juyoung (Kirsten) Pak, V Form
My Election, My Will
Student-Submitted Note: Inspired by my US Government class, I decided to enter in the John Locke competition. I answered the question, “Do the results of elections express the will of the people?”. The parameters of the competition was to write an argumentative essay while incorporating elements from a traditional research paper.
Introduction
In most modern democracies, one of the few outcomes people can directly influence are elections, meaning that elections are a critical conduit for the people’s will. But what exactly is the will of the people? “The people” is a nebulous term that encompasses a wide array of interests, views, and preferences, making it nearly impossible to cover the innumerous wants and needs of specific groups. As such, elections are imperfect systems that stitch together different voices in majoritarian fashion, delivering the ‘people’s will’ through general consensus. The results, however, are undermined by the complexities of modern democracies, diluting the purity of what can be broadly defined as ‘the people’s will’.
Will of the People: Majoritarian at Best
The inherent flaw with equating a bare majority as the people is that large swathes of the population are actually not represented, and candidates that most likely hold opposing beliefs to these people are elected into office. Take, for example, South Korea’s 2022 Presidential Election, when the People Power Party’s (PPP)Yoon Seok-Yeol won by just 0.73%. As a result, the voices of the 16.3 million supporters of Democratic Party’s liberal policies, which are antithetical to the conservative PPP’s, were effectively mollified. In the same year in Brazil, left-wing Lula da Silva defeated right-wing candidate Jair Bolsonaro by 1.8%, and the last six US presidential elections have been won by single digits. In these cases, nearly half of voters selected the losing candidate with polar opposite views to the winning candidate, meaning that nearly half of people’s views were not represented by the results. Though not all elections are so close, these extreme cases illustrate that election results are the will of the majority, not the people as a whole. Even for larger margins, elected officials can never capture the nuanced, and often contrasting, shades that wholly represent the people; elections simply do their best to corral as many votes as possible.
The same runs true for multi-party systems. While in two-party systems, parties aggregate votes from different groups, coalescing groups of voices under the same banner, coalition governments usually have to mix-and-match parties into a majority, weaving groups together into a patchwork quilt. For example, the 2021 German federal elections yielded a SPD-Greens-FDP coalition, a group with many differences, such as the FDP’s staunch support of neoliberalism that is in direct opposition to the Green’s support of strict regulation and the SDP’s socialist policies. In this sense, multi-party systems are intrinsically the same as two-party systems, but tents are built post-election and in a more complicated fashion. And just as in two-party systems, non-coalition votes are effectively negated, meaning that large swathes of voices are not represented in the final outcome.
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