Gay Marriage…Thoughts?

Gay Marriage…Thoughts?

Two of many opinions on the debate around Gay Marriage from students working with Teenedge. What do you think? Are you for or against gay marriage? Why? What created those beliefs in you? What supports those beliefs? What challenges them? Have your opinions changed? Go.

Actual Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2a91n_jpuH8

Voices from the Movement

Voices from the Movement Flyer

The “Voices From the Movement” project is a cooperative effort between American Baptist College, Fisk University, Lipscomb University, and the Nashville Public

Library. The events are open to the public and are free – so grab a friend and come on out! It should be a fabulous experience for all! Topics range from civil rights, hip hop, theology, and community involvement.

See the write up by Lipscomb University on the latest event!

Sit in from the 1960′s in Nashville, TN

Social Mobility factored into College Rankings!

Washington Monthly recently published their college rankings – but their methodology was a bit more interesting (and realistic) than that of say, Princeton Review.

Check this out:

The social mobility score is more complicated. We have data that tells us the percentage of a school’s students on Pell Grants, which is a good measure of a school’s commitment to educating lower-income kids. But, while we’d also like to know how many of these students graduate, schools aren’t required to track those figures. Still, because lower-income students at any school are less likely to graduate than wealthier ones, the percentage of Pell Grant recipients is a meaningful indicator in and of itself. If a campus has a large percentage of Pell Grant students—that is to say, if its student body is disproportionately poor—it will tend to diminish the school’s overall graduation rate.

We have a formula that predicts the graduation rate of the average school given its percentage of Pell students and its average SAT score. (Since most schools only provide the 25th percentile and the 75th percentile of scores, we took the mean of the two.) Schools with graduation rates that are higher than the “average” school with similar stats score better than schools that match or, worse, undershoot the mark. Four schools had comparatively low Pell Grant rates and comparatively high SAT scores, and had predicted graduation rates of over 100 percent. We left these results alone to keep the metric consistent. In addition, we used a second metric that predicted the percentage of students on Pell Grants based on SAT scores. This indicated which selective universities (since selectivity is highly correlated with SAT scores) are making the effort to enroll low-income students. The two formulas were weighted equally.

How fantastic! Check out the interesting results HERE!

Here’s a report CBS did about the college rankings:

Also, to see more on college access – check out Teenedge‘s own College Access Report!

What puts a gun in the hands of a 14-year-old boy?

Below is a piece written by the Nashville City Paper with additions by Teenedge staff. 

What puts a gun in the hands of a 14-year-old boy in the middle of a school day? That is the question Nashvillians are likely asking themselves today after the community lost by all accounts one of its kindest stewards.

Classie “Mama” Wilson, the 70-year-old owner of the Cahal Market in East Nashville was shot to death Monday allegedly by a young man from the same neighborhood she acted as a mother figure to for decades.

Metro Police arrested 14-year-old Rodzell Mason who police say confessed to the crime.

At a vigil yesterday on Cahal Avenue, residents of the area were clearly griefstricken. They questioned the policing strategy of the area and bemoaned not only the loss of Wilson but the alleged poor choices of Mason.

As startling as the crime was and as tragic as the loss seems, a statistic given by police Tuesday is even more chilling.

Mason is the 13th Nashville juvenile this year to be arrested on homicide charges. These kinds of statistics and the overall rise in juvenile crime on our streets and in our schools cries out for a holistic, broad-based approach to literally saving Nashville’s youth. To see more on the crime statistics of young adults, watch this Channel 2 news story.

Nashville as a community must rise up against this kind of senseless violence. There has been a great deal of talk about the future of Nashville’s youth in the last several years — talk about turning around our public school system and talk about fighting gangs. The effort must exceed even those daunting goals.

This crime and the accompanying statistics are yet another stark reminder Nashville is at a fork in the road.

Will we fall into the despair and depression of other major urban cities in this country whose schools fail and jails remain full? Or, will we as a community help our young people reject violence?

It would be easy to put this responsibility on Mayor Karl Dean’s shoulders as he ran largely on improving schools and combating juvenile crime. Now would be a good time to hear the new mayor’s juvenile crime plan.

This effort though will require nearly every facet of the community, from government and schools to civic groups and faithbased leadership.

It is not clear what form a new effort to combat juvenile crime will take, but it will require every resource the city has available.

 

Inequality in Dress Code? – No, surely you jest.

The Tennessean reported on September 27 that Metro schools are enforcing the dress code with different levels of veracity.

The new dress code for Metro schools regulates the colors and types of clothing that can be worn by students. The dress code is district wide. However, some schools have a higher number of dress code violations, while others have a minimal number.

*COUGH*

Let me rephrase that.

Schools like Stratford HS, McGavock HS, and Hunters Lane HS have a higher number of dress code violations, and schools like Hume Fogg Academic MAGNET, Martin Luther King Jr MAGNET, and Nashville School of the Arts MAGNET have far fewer. A breakdown is listed below and to find information on your school, check out this site.

School Name Total Recorded Violations:

• Stratford High School 24 OSS, 20 ISS 44
• McGavock High School 1 OSS, 78 ISS 79
• Hunters Lane High School 30 OSS, 424 ISS 454
• Hume-Fogg Academic MAGNET 21 ISS 21
• Martin Luther King, Jr. MAGNET 1 ISS 1
• Nashville School of the Arts MAGNET 1 ISS 1

(OSS = out of school suspension, ISS = in school suspension)

What does this mean? I am not trying to suggest that Magnet school students are somehow more adept at dressing themselves according to certain guidelines. What I am stating is that the dress code, both its implementation and its enforcement highlights the inequality across Metro schools. Magnet schools are not made to be as concerned with the dress code violations as other schools. In fact a conversation with Hume-Fogg student, Leah Flynn, revealed that she had worn stripes, and a non-collared shirt to school that day and no one had said anything of it. Once again, the inequality in Metro schools benefits the privileged and magnet schools.

-Corey Ann

For another look at the different experiences of high school students, check out Teenedge‘s own article, entitled Life Inside the Walls of Nashville High Schools.

Mayor’s Meeting Swayed by HS Student

As you may or may not know, Nashville recently elected a new mayor – Mayor Karl Dean. Last night, September 24th, he held the Mayor’s Town Hall Meeting on Education at Pearl-Cohn. The Oasis Center‘s own Darius Teasley decided he wanted the microphone to share some very important opinions with the group.

Darius steps to the mic and introduces himself as an Stratford High School sophomore and says that he is speaking on behalf of all of the students in comprehensive high schools. Darius tells the Mayor (with most of the school board present and about 100 parents and community members) that students at comprehensive high schools want and deserve the same things, the same opportunities as the students at the magnet schools.

Darius received the first applause by the audience for any question to that point.

Darius’ courage to talk about equity inspired 3 or 4 subsequent questions by audience members that addressed equity in the schools. One woman told the Mayor that he needed to have one of these Town Hall meetings with the students!

Tayo Atanda, another member of the Oasis Community Impact group, stepped up and asked that four year plans include accountable development of the futures of students. He finished by telling the Mayor that he would be glad to help coordinate the Student Town Hall Meeting.

At the end of the evening, Mayor Dean said he needed to get a gathering with the students together. Oasis Community Impact will be following up on this and are looking forward to developing a student only town hall meeting with Mayor Dean.

This goes to show the power each of us possess. Darius’ comments were the catalyst that changed the face of the dialogue and put equity and student involvement at the front of the discussion. Congratulations, Darius!

Welcome!

Hello hello! Welcome to the Teenedge Blog – a blog based on Teen’s opinions! Here you’ll find links to specific blogs by current teenager activists. They’ll range from political commentary to general social fun! Check back for updates and videos!

Here you’ll find the latest posts by all of our authors. To check out a specific blog – look to the right under “Blogroll” and check out individual writers!

Don’t forget to check out our main page at www.Teenedge.com for information and events in Nashville, TN.