4 The Tide
April 2022
OPINIONS
Gender-netural bathroom should be a standard in schools by Shoshana Peck OPINIONS WRITER
For many transgender, nonbinary and gender-nonconforming people, a task as simple as going to the bathroom is difficult in schools. Gender-neutral bathrooms are necessary to those who feel unsafe in public bathrooms divided into women’s and men’s. The 2021-2022 Guidelines for Student Gender Identity in MCPS require that schools provide bathrooms and other gender-segregated spaces that align with students’ gender, and give access to private areas for their use. The current system at Richard Montgomery is for students to request a pass to single-stall bathrooms from their counselors. Senior Sebastian Sylvester said, “I talked to [Ms. Anderson] about it, and she was like sure, here’s the pass, and that was about it.” This system allows students access to bathrooms even though all student bathrooms are gendered. While providing gender-neu-
tral bathrooms to students is an important step forward, it can be challenging to implement. “There’s only two, they’re both on the first floor, and they’re both inside offices. … one’s in the health room, that’s the one I use, but…I don’t want to walk all the way downstairs to the health room,” sophomore Kayden Siegel said. “And if the people in the health room are on break, then I’m just locked out and can’t use it, so then I just walked all the way downstairs for nothing. It’s not very convenient…it exists at least.” The fact that gendered bathrooms are on every floor while gender-neutral bathrooms can be multiple flights of stairs from someone’s class is inequitable. Under the current system of accessing private bathrooms, some students must miss significant amounts of class every time they go to the bathroom. Some students have to settle for
a bathroom that makes them feel uncomfortable due to the inconvenience of getting to the private bathrooms. A system that creates such a great disparity between different groups of students must be improved upon to promote equity in other areas such as academics and safety. Some of the bathrooms provided to students requesting gender-neutral bathrooms are private bathrooms with a single stall but are still gendered. Sylvester said
“I would like it to have a gender-neutral sign, because right now the gender-neutral bathrooms,…the one in the counselor’s office is gender-neutral, the one in the media center, they are gendered. There’s a women’s and a men’s, and that’s still not the best.” Simply replacing the signage on these bathrooms would make students more comfortable. For students who identify as neither male nor female, using a bathroom labeled for men or women is not ideal. Despite the flaws of the current system, the importance of access to these facilities can not be understated. Sylvester said, “The pro, right now, I would say, is I am not as afraid to use the bathroom.” According to GLSEN’s 2019 National School Climate Survey, 82.1% of transgender students avoid school bathrooms. Allowing students to access bathrooms they feel safe in is extremely important
because it presents a school environment that they can thrive in along with other students. With the creation of any new system, there are issues that must be solved. Assistant Principal Veena Roberson said, “This is I think something that we’ve really started to work through more and more over the course of this year, and so I think there’s a lot of work that still needs to be done with it.” Due to student feedback and changing MCPS policy, Richard Montgomery should be able to accommodate every student with a system of accessing bathrooms. While it may sound trivial, bathroom access can shape someone’s experience at school. Without access to bathrooms they feel safe and comfortable in, transgender, nonbinary, and gender non-conforming students are excluded from the school building. In MCPS, all new construction includes gender neatual restrooms, and RM itself has requested retro-fitting to include non conforming bathrooms. GRAPHIC BY MATTHEW ADJODHA
Cartoon Corner by Max Belyantsev OPINIONS WRITERS
We are all living and breathing the effects of a tech revolution. As humans, we are a naturally social species, and with the rise of portable telephones in the l a t e 1990s, it was only a matter of time before the first social media applications gained traction. Today, we are presented with several messaging services that each have unique benefits and drawbacks: iMessage, Discord, Instagram, Snapchat and Google Hangouts. iMessage is one of the most widespread ways that millions of people talk with one another. It is a texting method alternative to SMS/MMS text messaging only available for iPhone, iPad, and Mac users. iMessage is integrated into Apple’s ecosystem, sends and receives messages through a WiFi or cellular connec- t i o n and is connected to Apple ID, whereas SMS relies solely on your cellular carrier and cell phone service availability. “One thing which I think iMessage has which none of the other strict messaging platforms really have is basically everyone has it,” sophomore Leo Lidl said. “[using iMessage] is a lot more convenient than having to ask them if they have Instagram or something like that.” Unfortunately, a divide has formed between blue and green bubbles that differentiate iPhone users from Android users. “Green-bubble” recipients cannot take advantage of iMessage stickers,
reactions, “read” and “delivered” status, playing games through GamePigeon and more. In a group chat with only iPhone users, everyone enjoys the features listed above; once an Android user joins, however, everyone loses that added functionality. This division takes away from the platform’s overall benefit however, it is not enough for most to steer
“You can make different servers for different things... form group chats... it’s very fun.” - Daniel Chernyak away from the app. “In the past, I’ve had problems with it if I’ve been trying to video call people but for straight-up messaging, it doesn’t interfere,” Lidl said. Instagram and Snapchat are fierce competitors in the social media realm. Both platforms have feeds that let users explore content, directly message their friends and share posts with followers on their Stories. Aside from location tracking and other reasonable concerns regarding privacy, the issue with any app that has thousands of posts at your fingertips is the inevitable zombification that kills productivity. However, this can depend on how the messaging app is used. “I will scroll through posts and stuff [on Instagram]. If I need to message someone on Instagram, it’s like a separate section,” sophomore Daniel Chernyak said. Those who want to stay far from the addictive force of social
media messaging apps should turn to Discord. A relatively new up-and-comer since its release in 2015, Discord is a semi-private group messaging platform that has seen immense growth over the course of the pandemic. Communities of users create servers, consisting of specialized text and voice channels, based on common interests and shared experiences. Friend groups can reach each other without external distractions using Discord. “I am a Discord fanatic. It’s very great,” Chernyak said. “The servers are so fun. Like you can organize and all t h a t jazz and make different servers for different things, and it’s very nice. … You form group chats… and it’s very fun.” There are other amicable components to Discord that resulted in its explosion in popularity. “I like to use Discord because it works on my computer as well as on my phone,” senior Arman Sagmanligil said. “A lot of video games or YouTubers or streamers tend to have Discords that I can join where I can get notifications as to their streams or their videos being released.” Discord gives content creators a very streamlined and efficient way to reach their fanbases, a feature also valuable to large school clubs and organizations. For some RM students, the most favorable messaging service is Discord. However, it depends on a person’s needs and preferences for what they want. But, be aware when too much time is wasted and choose the few apps that best fit your needs. GRAPHICS BY EVELYN SHUE
CARTOON BY ANGELINA GUHL
The Tide
250 Richard Montgomery Drive Rockville, Maryland 20852 www.thermtide.com 301-610-8000 The Tide is the student newspaper of Richard Montgomery High School in Rockville, Maryland. The Tide is dedicated to keeping the Richard Montgomery school community accurately informed and to providing a forum for student expression. 700 copies of the newspaper are printed and distributed among students. Any corrections are printed in the following issue on page 2. The opinions presented in The Tide do not necessarily reflect the views of the staff and administration at Richard Montgomery. The Tide is affliated with ASPA, CSPA, and NSPA. Questions, concerns, and suggestions on articles, advertisements, and photos can be submitted to thetideeditors@gmail.com. Editors-in-Chief..............................................Nicole Fang, Victoria Tong, Delaney Crawley News...................................................................................Samantha Wu, Avani Ambardekar Opinions.................................................................Athira Nair, Rohan Dewan, Rachel Wang Centerspread...................................................................................Natalie Weger, Shuxin Dai Features..............................................................................................Davi Jacobs, Niki Esmaili Arts..................................................................................................Raha Murtuza, Claire Chen Sports................................................................Maggie Orcev, Kevin Zhang, Corrigan Peters Social Justice.....................................................Helina Tamiru, Charlyn Chu, Elfreda Raven Photo...................................................................................................Ella Koenig, Lynna Deng Graphics................................................................Julianne Cruz, Caleb Collins, Evelyn Shue TidePod........................................................................................Courtney Kim, Jupleen Kaur Video................................................................................Avery Wang, Eashana Subramanian Social Media Manager..............................................................................Kobin Asafu-Adjaye Crossword..............................................................................................................Myka Fromm Sponsors..........................................................................Ms. Jennifer Kidd, Ms. Bonnie Peyer
