4 — Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2021 — North Pointe
EDITORIAL
And the winner is... everyone T he more our society becomes one of intr icacy and intelligence, the more the accomplishments leading us to that place have become unrecognized. Inequality is not necessa r ily negative when it comes to academ ic distinction and competition, however, that soBELLA YOAKAM called “inequality” has been r uled as unfair. Instead, we a re all placed onto one level, all receiving a gold medal. In other words, we a re living in a feelgood society. A feel-good society is one that obsesses over finding happiness and equality in ter ms of recognition. It is an attempt to elim inate competition, pressure and a feeling of wor thlessness. In some aspects, it fur ther connects the human race by removing any clea r distinction of better or worse. Instead of actions being qualified as “good or bad,” those effor ts a re just said to be done, essentially handing out a pa r ticipation awa rd to each and ever y member of society. “Congratulations, you made an effor t!” W hile it is impor tant to congratulate ever yone for their attempts, it is not negative to ma ke a distinction of who soa red higher than the expectations, above and beyond. Our own distr ict has not been hesitant to adopt this for m of equality. In ter ms of academ ic distinction, GPPSS is one of the many school distr icts in the countr y that has stopped ran k ing students based on their gradepoint averages, elim inating the position of a valedictor ian entirely. T he distr ict may claim that the distinction of being number one may ma ke other students feel pressured, belittled or unimpor tant, however, when there is no
recognition for accomplishment, the same feelings may come upon those who a re not being recognized, yet have com m itted their lives to academ ics. W hy should ever yone receive a pa r ticipation awa rd when there a re clea r levels of dedication and intelligence? In order to applaud the achievements of the highest percent, it is not necessa r y to br ing down those below. Celebration of the whole is possible while still highlighting the exempla r y per for mance of the few. Competition at the high school level ta kes place in more than just the classroom. Our ver y own school is often put against and compa red to the other high school in the distr ict, Grosse Pointe South. Although that competition may seem negative to many outsiders and staff, students of both schools have adopted the r ivalr y in a fr iendly and amusing manner. T his competition is seen in the for m of posters and social media posts, mainly based a round spor ting events. At a Nor th versus South game, Nor th students can be seen with posters reading “level the Devil,” or Instagram and Snapchat stor ies mock ing the r ival school. However, in many instances, those for ms of competition have been shut down by school staff members, claim ing they a re “inappropr iate” or “disrespectful.” By ta k ing away signs or demanding that social media be clea red of anything that may be ha r m ful to the other school, it is implied that we should be identical in ever y aspect. T hat we a re not allowed to have distinctions in athletic sk ill or school pr ide. In our eyes, it isn’t disrespectful to jok ingly ma ke fun of the other, especially when that joke is reciprocated. It isn’t something that ma kes the other feel wor thless, but is simply an enter taining and fr iendly for m of r ivalr y. If there is not a physical or verbal awa rd for those in the highest bracket of success, then there will be no reason to reach that ma rk. In order to elim inate the feeling of wor thlessness, it is not necessa r y to elim inate all recognition for those who sur passed the standa rd.
Conquering my curls By Bella Yoakam SECTION EDITOR
My hair has been the bane of my existence for as long as I can remember. It wasn’t until recently that I came to terms with my reality and accepted my true curls. Growing up surrounded by people naive to the difficulties of having textured hair, my experiences have been onerous. The desire I had to just be “normal” created an unhealthy relationship with myself that I have had to learn to outgrow. My curls have been with me my whole life and the ignorance of others has BELLA YOAKAM caused some problematic situations. When I was only eight years old, I went to a summer camp where the camp counselor told me that I did not need any product in my hair. They said that I wasn’t allowed to use it, justifying herself by saying I should “wear it natural.” I went home after the four days at camp and my mother was mortified. My hair became natty, fuzzy and overall neglected. It took hours of untangling and over ten products to get my hair somewhat back to normal. Maintaining my hair with products is expensive; especially when the minimum amount of products I need is around eight. I can not go a day without all these products. Meanwhile, a person with straight hair could go with no product at all and be just fine. Jealousy bubbled up in me from a young age, wanting to have straight hair so my hair care could be as easy as the people around me. Having people tell me to “just brush it”or “you don’t need all that product” has created a toxic mindset for me since I was a little girl. I remember wearing my hair in a bun or brushing it back so that people couldn’t tell that my hair was curly. I wanted -more than anything else to blend in and be like the majority, and it took multiple years of educating myself and self care to truly be happy with how my hair looks. I have now grown from my toxic mentality, and am able to deeply educate myself, as well as help other people with curly hair embrace their curls and themselves. I no longer strive to straighten my hair all the time and only do so for special occasions. My hair is still healing after the abuse I caused it in my younger years, but with more time and care, my goal is to bring it back to complete health and strength.
YOUR TURN: In what ways do you think social media poses a threat in schools? By Julia Liagre INTERN
SENIOR LOTUS LLOYD: “I think social media can promote
FRESHMAN SAGE SWANSON: “It definitely
SENIOR LUKE KOHLER: “A lot of bullying goes on
some harmful ideas about not only body image, but about things that are safe for young people to be doing. I think we see people trying to act like adults and also committing crimes for no reason- just a lot of dangerous stuff that can be glamourized on the internet.”
increases student social anxiety and it intensifies people’s insecurities. Sometimes it can even lead to bad mental health in the future.”
due to it. There are more rumors spread or false information about someone.”
STAFF MEMBER LAUREN KLEIN: “I think because it’s designed to be addictive, it’s becoming a barrier for students to not be able to focus on what they need to do when they’re here. In addition, students say a lot more things that they wouldn’t say face to face that are really harmful.”
Corrections: In our previous story “Home sweet Homecoming,” published on Oct. 6, an interview with Shannon Kane was fabricated. Any quotes featured in the story said to be hers are not real, and we would like to communicate this to our readers to be transparent which is something that our publication values. Mandolyn Grattan was misquoted in “Welcome Home New Teachers”. Her quote was supposed to read, “I am really enjoying getting to know the students and their personalities. I’m just really enjoying the sense of pride that everybody has for their school and that feeling of family.”
