Princeton High School has a truly astounding assortment of elective classes, to the point where many students have never even heard of some of them. Ask the average PHS student if they’ve considered taking Cisco III, Contemporary Crisis, or even more “popular” electives like Dance, and they’ll probably say no. This is a trend that needs reversing, because PHS’ more unique electives are arguably the best thing about the school. More students need to step outside of their comfort zones and explore these courses.

PHS electives serve as perfect places to discover new passions. Although everyone at our school has to take math, history, science, English, and physical education, our professional careers probably won’t be based solely around what we learned in these classes. Often, students that take more unique electives discover exciting career or extracurricular paths that they wouldn’t have otherwise considered. For example, students that have never coded in their entire life may sign up for courses like Intro to Java or App Development, and realize they enjoy programming.

These opportunities also can help to broaden existing interests. Taking an extracurricular like East Asian Studies or Latin America can help students step outside of the standardized, Eurocentric curriculums that schools across New Jersey have to follow, and discover new ways of representing history. Likewise, a class like Filmmaking or Journalism can help students learn about different ways to represent stories than the books and poems we read in English class.

An extracurricular like East Asian Studies or Latin America can help students step outside of the standardized, eurocentric cirriculums that schools all over New Jersey have to follow, and find parts of history that are more interesing to them. Likewise, a class like Filmmaking or Journalism can help students learn about different ways to represent stories than the books and poems we all read in english class.

Alternatively, many extracurriculars like Forensics or Public Speaking can just serve as a good time. Even though some students will find a new passion for scientifically detecting crime or oratory, everyone who takes one of the many idiosyncratic electives PHS has to offer will have a good time doing so. Interesting electives can serve as a great stress reliever after the long days many PHS students are subjected to.

PHS students are mandated to take two electives per year, but more unique courses are often dodged in favor of classes you could find at almost every high school in the country, for a couple of reasons.

Many misguided PHS students think that they have to take classes at Princeton University in order to get into a “good” college. This leads much of our student body to pour hours and hours into subjects they don’t actually like that much. Some kids AP Stats in junior year simply to exhaust the math curriculum and get into a class at the university, when taking a unique elective in that slot would actually be more beneficial for both their mental health and academic pursuits. Plenty of kids take advanced math classes, but a student who learns everything there is to know about Game Design might be more appealing to an Ivy League.

Plenty of students are scared to try something out of their comfort zone. Unless an elective perfectly lines up with everything a student is passionate about, they refuse to branch out and try new types of classes, instead sticking to what they’re already sucessful at. This leads to self proclaimed “theater kids” just taking Choir and Musical Theater as their electives for all four years, even though they might discover that replacing Musical Theater with Engineering one year would be a more rewarding choice for them in the long run.

The widespread attitude at PHS that students need to take as many AP classes as possible also hurts students’ involvement in these kinds of electives. Classes like AP Macroeconomics, while fun courses, often attract students that don’t end up getting a lot out of them, and who only wanted to put yet another AP on their schedule.

There are tons of schools that only offer Band and Choir extracurriculars. Plenty of students that would absolutely love to take Cisco III, or Contemporary Crisis, or Dance. We’re privileged at PHS to have the number of distinctive extracurriculars that we do, and it’s high time that students started taking full advantage of them.

In defense of our stranger electives


It’s impossible to say that we don’t care about college. While that has been the aspirational message of PHS administration in an attempt to diverge from the cutthroat academic culture fostered at the school, students still overwhelmingly focus on their next four years. By taking an overwhelming course load, taking on extracurriculars, and losing sleep (and then complaining about the stress), PHS students shape their lives in pursuit of that coveted acceptance letter. But hard work doesn’t always equal success. The metaphorical scale that is meritocracy is unfairly tipped in favor of the privileged by the systems that benefit them. In the context of college acceptances, this system is legacy and faculty admissions, which makes it easier for students to be admitted to universities that their parents attended or work for.

The blame, however, can never be placed on the individual. No one expects legacy and faculty students to not want to pursue a quality education. But the system that benefits them is the one to blame. Rich kids get into top schools to get a good degree, making them even richer. Their kids will continue the same pattern, creating a cycle that leaves wealth consolidated at the top, while lower socioeconomic Americans are trapped on the outside looking in.

Education is, without a doubt, the key to success; virtually all high paying jobs require a higher education. A college degree from a prestigious institution opens doors that would have otherwise been closed. But the people who need these opportunities the most are those who find them the most difficult to attain. While the college admissions process is comprehensive, oftentimes the different components of an admissions profile are still impacted by the financial status of the applicant. Wealthier kids can afford private tutors, standardized test preparation, essay readers, and extracurricular opportunities that poorer students can’t even fathom. While systems like affirmative action and need-based financial aid benefit lower socioeconomic applicants, they still don’t make the admissions process equitable in the slightest. A 2017 New York Times study found that 72 percent of Princeton admits come from the top 20 percent of American earners and only 1.3 percent of admits come from self-described poor families.

Wealth inequality is as American as apple pie, and as time goes on, this inequality gets worse. The thriving middle class is no more, access to opportunity is becoming slim, and government support for social progress is deemed too radical. Working two minimum wage jobs just to provide food for your family isn’t even enough to stay above the poverty line anymore. Despite their hard work, these citizens still fail to attain financial stability. Every day, many Americans face the fear of simply dying because of their societal status. For a nation that attributes success to hard work, denying opportunity from those same hard workers seems contradictory. It seems anti-American. Immigrants move to this country under the impression that their family will attain their own version of the American Dream, only to see that it was just all a lie. The sad reality is that working-class Americans are incessantly deluded into believing this farce. Opportunities that are meant for underrepresented individuals are redirected to serve the wealthy and powerful. Working Americans aren’t stupid. They understand that they are being robbed of their American Dream.

The college admissions process is hard. Writing supplemental essays, conducting research, and doing interviews can be overwhelming. But hearing of yet another student who has connections to your dream school can be a frustrating obstacle in your path. For students with these affiliations, acknowledging your privilege is the first step. Yet on a larger scale, dismantling these systems is what will make education more accessible and equitable

The unseen college edge

Pulling up to school in luxury vehicles with five-dollar coffees in hand, many PHS students are a far cry from normal. The opportunity to go to farmers’ markets in our senior parking lot on Thursdays and take courses at Princeton University are symbols of comfort and wealth. Especially compared to the school districts around us, PHS is a pillar of privilege. And while much of this privilege is used for good, it’s still strange in comparison to the districts around us. While we got MacBooks, West Windsor-Plainsboro North got Chromebooks, Monroe got iPads, and some schools got nothing. On top of that, some schools have crumbling infrastructure, an issue that they can’t even afford to solve. Meanwhile, Princeton Public Schools has begun construction on a multipurpose studio for yoga and dance.

Solving this pressing issue of inequity doesn’t completely fall on PPS, though spending millions on construction alone is still quite a contentious choice. Rather, American public school funding is what needs to be scrutinized. Education is supposedly a human right, but the government rarely supports this, chronically neglecting struggling public schools. And, like always, it comes down to the policy. The funding of American education is anything but equitable. A large part of public school funding comes from property taxes, a source of money that varies by location. Low-income areas with low property taxes will have little financial support for their schools. Therefore, quality of education is determined by geographic distribution of wealth. Education is also the foundation of success, yet we withhold quality education from people who need it the most. It’s impossible for low-income Americans to lift themselves up out of poverty without quality education, but our current system almost ensures social stagnation. Unless property taxes in poor neighborhoods radically increase (which they won’t, because living in poor neighborhoods isn’t exactly desirable), these schools will simply never get funding.


graphic by [credit name = "Emily Qian"]
But the United States is one of the only developed nations that relies on property taxes as heavily as it does for public education. Many other countries have similar but more effective mediums of securing money for public schools. For instance, some compensate with national or federal aid; their public school financial support comes from supported legislative acts and federal-level taxation, not just from local sources. In the United States, though, much is left up to individual states. Just by looking around us, we can see the necessity for a policy shift. The property value in Princeton is significantly higher than the surrounding towns (just check Zillow), and as a result, our education is significantly better. Students in under-funded schools often feel that their teachers don’t care; at PHS, however, teachers’ passion for learning is evident. Even the resources we get compared to the surrounding schools is baffling. With some exceptions, PHS activities remain well-supported across the board. From clubs to athletics to the arts, student life is highly funded and prioritized by the school. Being able to open your Instagram and see our orchestra in Italy is typical of Princeton High School; bands in most public schools outside of our district couldn’t feel the same. Access to quality education is directly associated with socioeconomic status, and classism in America underscores nearly every issue discussed in Congress. Representatives tend to focus on the hot-button issues while neglecting substantial reform. It is our responsibility to vote in legislators who genuinely care about righting the wrongs in the education system. If we value our education and the privilege it affords us, we should aim to ensure that everyone has access to an equal and quality experience. Education and democracy go hand in hand because both are emblematic of the human capacity to achieve more. So if we truly value our trips to Italy and our sports resources, we need to vote with education in mind.

Princeton’s privilege: rethinking public school funding



After a year of quarantine, stepping into the school building and seeing all your friends and teachers in person almost seems normal. Yes, precautions like masks and social distancing give the whole situation a touch of surreality, but seeing classmates instead of black boxes, talking freely instead of having to unmute in Zoom, and navigating the ever-tricky hallways of PHS have all been reminders of how much progress has been made in the past year. However, these same “mundanities” are also reminders of what we’ve taken for granted, and if we want to stay in-person, we need to continue being cautious. We also need to recognize that being in person comes with new challenges, both academic and social, that will take time to adjust to. As such, the administration, teachers, and students should all recognize that when things are disorganized or messy, many are due to a result of our adjustment that is slow but steady.

In the past year, many teachers did away with the idea of late work. Of course, there were still deadlines for assignments, but teachers were generally much more lenient and understanding when or if homework was turned in at a later date. Now, however, things are starting to change, with many teachers slowly putting back more expectations on turning in assignments on time (many of us probably got an explanation of late work policies on the very first day.)  is change, though with positive intention and many positive benefits, can be disorienting for many who are more used to getting extensions. Similarly, participating in class may be a different experience for those who are used to not speaking as much on Zoom because of technical issues or other extenuating circumstances. Without the privacy of a screen, it can be more stressful to volunteer ideas, but in-person discussions can also lead to less awkward and more in-depth conversations about the topic at hand.
And in general, it can be difficult to  find the motivation to do work a er a year of staring at computers and sitting in our own rooms. Building up our work ethic again will happen gradually, but it will prepare us better for the future. While there have been several academic changes with the new in-person format, they are largely for the better: We just need to learn how to learn again.

Socially, having spent what seemed like forever on FaceTime, iMessage, and Instagram, talking to friends in person can feel like more of a challenge than it has to be. What used to be fully charged social batteries are now drained power sources, unable to support the demands of in-person interaction. Many students’ once-thriving social groups have dwindled down to merely a few, a number easier to stay connected to online. Simply put, talking to people is hard now, even for the most exuberant extroverts. Dealing with this social fatigue on top of an already grueling high school schedule seems like a daunting feat.  is upcoming year will undoubtedly be characterized by the jarring, yet necessary, transition back to in-person life — both socially and academically. While academic burnout is more commonly discussed, social burnout is an equally real and devastating issue that many students will inevitably face over the next few months. Expecting students to seamlessly ease back into in-person school would be extremely destructive to student wellbeing.

Yet burnout doesn’t just affect students’ lives within school, it also impacts students’ lives as a whole. Emerging from a pandemic, many students have experienced grief, loss, and suffering. Almost everyone knows someone who has been personally impacted by COVID-19. Whether that be a friend quarantining for 2 weeks or witnessing a grandparent in a hospital bed, every student is coming into the school year with baggage, regardless of the size, magnitude, or capacity. Overcoming this hurdle is already a lot for so many students, even before they have to confront the transition back to in-person school.

Saying that this year will be different is an understatement — this year will bring back memories for some of us while being completely new to others. Yet everyone will be facing an adjustment period regardless, and we should recognize that as we navigate the academic and social obstacles and surprises that are to come. Forcing ourselves to adapt suddenly won't happen. Instead, we need to slowly change with the world, and, more importantly, be kind to ourselves.

The reality of the new year


In extremely competitive schools like PHS, students often prioritize their academics at the expense of everything else. For the most part, this sounds completely rational. In fact, it sounds like a good thing that most students here care about getting good grades. But we cross the line when we value academic success over our physical health. In a regular school year, many of us are all too familiar with going to school even when we’re sick. Despite runny noses and dry coughs, we force our exhausted bodies from class to class because we fear an absence, or worse, missing out on an entire day of classwork. The thought of returning from a sick day to the pile of work awaiting us on teachers’ desks is a fear so paralyzing that students subject themselves to long school days, even when this means that they are hurting themselves and everyone around them.

Now, school goes on as usual, but it seems as though a PHS student gets COVID every week. And whether or not we have gotten sick ourselves or have just been affected by the mental and physical strain of online learning, every student has felt the impact of our new lives on our bodies. From the migraines we get by staring at our screens all day to the mental fatigue of the monotony of jumping from Zoom call to Zoom call, the once-familiar physical exhaustion of a common cold has been joined by a variety of new illnesses reflective of our new reality. And just because our problems may look different doesn’t make them any less valid. With the even greater blurring of our school and home lives, we have to be more careful with our bodies. Too many overly tired students choose to attend class, and it’s a trend that’s made much easier when all we have to do is log into class and turn our screens off. Yet what do we gain from doing these things? We’re only making ourselves sicker in hopes of keeping up with schoolwork, but it’s far easier to rest first and then make up late work, especially during a time when most teachers record their classes and post materials on their class pages. Though it’s tempting to stay up and complete the work, we end up setting ourselves up for long-term failure.

We need to care more about ourselves and our health. In such volatile and ever-changing times, we must prioritize our own well-being before we get swept up in the chaos. This all begins with dismantling our fear of missing a day of school and our fear of that dreaded pile of make-up work, a lesson that we need to remember even once life returns to normal. It really isn’t that deep. Missing one day of school won’t kill you, but what could harm you is continually neglecting your health. Ironically, in this situation, the smartest kids make the dumbest decisions.

In sickness or in health

When asked to justify their actions, many corporations claim that they create wealth for not only themselves but all Americans. Sometimes, it’s true. But when investments go wrong, the people bearing the greatest burdens are more often than not the lower and middle classes. The most recent example is that of the 2008 housing crisis. Large banks, which used predatory lending tactics backed by flawed statistics, eventually collapsed and caused many middle-class families to lose their homes. Yet the same large banks that were responsible for this crisis received significant bail outs from the U.S. government. This, along with many other events, has not only tarnished the image of Wall Street but has also convinced many lower- and middle-class Americans that games of finance are played by the wealthy to benefit only themselves.

But at the beginning of the month, amateur investors, aided by Reddit, worked together to  influence the stock market, and unexpectedly, the values of various companies rose drastically. Hedge fund executives were stunned when Gamestop shares skyrocketed from roughly $20 to a high of $483 on January 28. How had a company, stagnating for so long, suddenly become so valuable?

The answer lies in a trading tactic called “short selling.” An investor borrows a stock, sells it, and then later purchases it to return to the original owner. The hope is that the stock will decrease in price, thus making the purchase price lower than the selling price, resulting in a profit. With a company like Gamestop, slowly being pushed out of business by online retailers such as Amazon, investors swooped in to try and make as much money as possible. However, changes to the company's board of directors indicated that they were developing a digital strategy, and this, along with excitement generated by the r/WallStreetBets community on Reddit, prompted independent investors to buy these stocks, increasing their value and causing large hedge funds to lose significant amounts of money.

These actions weren’t the results of people being bored or investing in their free time: rather, they should be considered a form of protest. For years, the stock market has been seen as a playground for the elite, and ordinary investors have increasingly felt that financial institutions work against them. According to the St. Louis Federal Reserve, in 2019, the top one percent held 36.92% of U.S. wealth while the bottom 50% owned just 7.44% of assets. The amateur investors who took on Wall Street successfully have sent a powerful message: Though inequality seems impossible to combat, movements against the establishment are possible and turn the tide in favor of the common people. In turn, everyone can advance in their path to achieving the American Dream.

In Princeton, wealth inequality can seem to be a minor issue as everyone is assumed to be upper-class. However, this view of our community not only oversimplifies internal differences but also prevents us from seeing farther than our community. Instead, we need to recognize the various injustices around us and stop ignoring problems just because they don’t affect us. Gaining this understanding will allow us to work more effectively in targeting problems and solving them.

As students, this greater sense of socioeconomic awareness can help us better understand our positions in society and how we can best produce change in the world. Most importantly, we should hold on to the belief that our actions can create progress. We certainly don’t have the capital of bankers or the sway of politicians, yet Reddit has proven that even the most unlikely movements can lead to significant change. Whether this takes the form of discussions in class or political organizing outside of school, knowing that we have the ability to alter our world is a prerequisite to unified action and clear communication.

By late February, Gamestop had fallen to roughly $40, a far cry from the prices just a month before.Yet independent investors who’ve taken the stock market to unpredictable places don’t seem to be giving up any time soon in fighting Wall Street, and we, too, shouldn’t forget about the wealth inequality that permeates our lives.

What Reddit can teach us about inequality

Kobe Bryant’s death on January 26, 2020 came as a shock to the public. Twitter became a platform for the hundreds to express their devastation over his passing. Soon after his death, a retweet of an article relating to Bryant’s rape allegations in 2016 from The Washington Post reporter Felicia Sonmez led to a wave of hatred throughout the platform. Kobe fans began to threaten Sonmez’s life and her inbox was filled with hate. This incident brought up the question of whether or not the comments were warranted towards Sonmez or whether the negative aspects of Bryant’s life should’ve gone ignored. 
	When Sonmez received hate for retweeting the article, she deleted her retweet immediately. But she continued to defend herself and her actions, later stating that “Any public figure is worth remembering in their totality, even if that public figure is beloved and that totality upsetting.” This statement completely captures the essence of Bryant’s death, a man who’s mainly remembered for his basketball career, rather than his rape allegations, which appear to be pushed aside by many.
Throughout his life, Bryant did great things. He was a basketball legend who related to the public; the public who fell in love with him instantly. He didn’t let this blind him and he lived a charitable life. He also raped someone. In the age of #MeToo, we tend to tread on eggshells around sexual assault, but even in the early 2000s actions like that were intolerable. While Bryant is still seen by the public as an inspirational figure, his rape allegations are an important part of his life to remember.
Everyone should be viewed in totality, both the living nor the dead. But should an exception be made for a celebrity? Someone who lives their life in the public eye, who serves as not just another citizen but a fixture that many hold dear to their heart, is an instrumental influence over how several Americans make decisions. And in order for these decisions to be made with good morals and a sound mind, these influences should be of high quality. 
Bryant was idolized by America since his time at Lower Merion High School, where he won four Pennsylvania state championships. Since the beginning of his career, he was surrounded by adoring fans who immediately idolized him and plastered his posters around their bedrooms. Children and adults saw Bryant as almost having superhuman athletic abilities. He was a role model, however, his talent was far beyond any that his followers could hope to achieve. Bryant was seen more as a God than a human, and it was this detachment that validated fans to disregard Bryant’s rape allegations in 2003. Even he attempted to distance himself from the allegations, as he said that the sex was consensual all while reaching a settlement with the victim.  
While Bryant definitely embodied several admirable ideals throughout his career, they do not erase the fact that he embodied some dishonorable ones too. The undeniable truth is that Bryant made the decisions that placed him in the middle of a sexual assault case, and, whether or not he actually raped a 19-year-old hotel employee, he still did something of some capacity to make the victim uncomfortable. The truth is also that Bryant was a man of charity. The two are not mutually exclusive. Rather, they exist completely independently. We cannot compare apples and oranges, just like we cannot weigh the positives and negatives aspects of Bryant’s character. We must rather decide to accept the man in full, instead of leaving out the sections of his narrative that make us feel uncomfortable.
As teenagers, students at PHS are those most impressionable to false idolization. We’re the ones who see past the bad and fixate on the good. The tragic death of Bryant should in no regard be dismissed or forgotten. However, tragedy does not swipe one’s plate clean of past errors. We will forever remember Bryant as a loving father and an inspiring basketball star, yet if we wish to remember the real Bryant, we must also remember the sides of Bryant that might not necessarily fit his role model aesthetic. Still, this multifaceted version of Bryant reminds us that nobody’s perfect, including our idols. And in a way, by allowing their mistakes to humanize them, we enable role models like Bryant to be more relatable and more impactful on our lives.

The Tower

Laasya Gadiyaram's Work

The Tower