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How Important Are College Rankings to You?

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How Important Are College Rankings to You?

Do college rankings matter to you or to the people you know? Should they?

Every year U.S. News & World Report ranks the best colleges and universities in the country. This year, Columbia University rose to No. 2 from No. 3, tied with Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and surpassed only by Princeton.

But colleges self-report the data that the publication uses to make the rankings, such as the amount of money a school raises and spends. And there is little, if any, independent monitoring. Even so, millions of high school students and their parents rely on these annual rankings as a way to determine which schools to apply to. Should they?

In “U.S. News Ranked Columbia No. 2, but a Math Professor Has His Doubts,” Anemona Hartocollis reports on the debate over the value and accuracy of these rankings.

Everyone knows that students buff their résumés when applying to college. But a math professor is accusing Columbia University of buffing its own résumé — or worse — to climb the all-important U.S. News & World Report rankings of best universities.

Michael Thaddeus, who specializes in algebraic geometry at Columbia, has challenged the university’s No. 2 ranking this year with a statistical analysis that found that key supporting data was “inaccurate, dubious or highly misleading.”

In a 21-page blistering critique on his website, Dr. Thaddeus is not only challenging the rating but redoubling the debate over whether college rankings — used by millions of prospective college students and their parents — are valuable or even accurate.

Columbia said it stood by its data. Officials said there was no accepted industry standard for the data that goes into college rankings — every rankings project does it differently — and they strove to meet the technical requirements as set by U.S. News. But, they said, the university was not necessarily defending the process.

The dispute has seized the education world, and university officials are in the awkward position of trying to defend themselves against the sleuthing of one of their own tenured faculty, while not alienating him or his colleagues.

Students, read the entire article and then tell us:

  • How will you determine where you want to go to college? To what degree do qualities such as academic rigor, fields of study, total cost, social life, athletics, size, location and reputation weigh in your decision? Which characteristics are most important to you?

  • Will the rankings by U.S. News & World Report or another publication factor into your decision making? Are these rankings helpful in any way? Why or why not?

  • In a 2012 Opinion piece, Joe Nocera wrote, “U.S. News likes to claim that it uses rigorous methodology, but, honestly, it’s just a list put together by magazine editors. The whole exercise is a little silly. Or rather, it would be if it weren’t so pernicious.” And in the article you just read, Ms. Hartocollis wrote, “Critics of the rankings say that the criteria that go into them — such as class size and instructional spending — can be manipulated, and that the very act of rating schools has produced conformism in the race to the top.” Do you agree with these critics that the annual rankings are not only unreliable but harmful, too? Why or why not?

  • With so many colleges and universities from which to choose, how can students and their parents sort through all the information? Is there a better alterative to the rankings by U.S. News & World Report to help prospective students find the best schools for them? If yes, what might it be?

Word of the Day: in absentia

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Word of the Day: in absentia

The term in absentia has appeared in 29 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on March 14 in “Dolly Parton Bows Out of Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Nomination” by Joe Coscarelli:

Dolly Parton does not feel rock ’n’ roll enough for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

The country singer, known for crossover hits like “Jolene,” “I Will Always Love You” and “9 to 5,” said on Monday that she wished to be removed from consideration for the annual honor after earning her first nomination in February.

… Other artists have balked at inclusion in the club before: John Lydon, better known as Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols, thumbed his nose at the band’s induction in 2006, with the band opting not to show. In 2012, when Guns ’n Roses made it, Axl Rose said he would decline to participate and asked that he not be inducted in absentia. Both acts were inducted anyway.

Can you correctly use the term in absentia in a sentence?

Based on the definition and example provided, write a sentence using today’s Word of the Day and share it as a comment on this article. It is most important that your sentence makes sense and demonstrates that you understand the word’s definition, but we also encourage you to be creative and have fun.

Then, read some of the other sentences students have submitted and use the “Recommend” button to vote for two original sentences that stand out to you.

If you want a better idea of how in absentia can be used in a sentence, read these usage examples on Vocabulary.com.

If you enjoy this daily challenge, try one of our monthly vocabulary challenges.

Students ages 13 and older in the United States and the United Kingdom, and 16 and older elsewhere, can comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff.

What To Do If A Job Posting Doesn’t Disclose The Salary

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What To Do If A Job Posting Doesn’t Disclose The Salary
How to ask what salary is during job interview

When you’re reading tech job descriptions, it’s easy to get distracted by shiny perks, like the option to work remotely or unlimited vacation days. But there’s often a very important detail that you may not see in a listing: the salary range.

“It’s not very common for companies to post compensation at all,” says Danny Roberts, Senior Technical Recruiter at Codecademy. This is changing, as states and cities across the U.S. implement salary transparency laws aimed at closing gender and racial wage gaps.

In New York City, for example, employers are required to give a minimum and maximum wage range in every job listing starting in May. Colorado-based employers are required to include compensation in job postings, and notify employees of promotional opportunities. And employers in other states, like Washington and Connecticut, are mandated to provide salary information if a prospective employee asks.

So, how do you ask about the salary in a job interview? Here’s what you need to know, according to a recruiter, plus lines that you can use to start the conversation.

When and how to ask about salary

The “right time” to ask the big salary question is as soon as you feel comfortable. Asking early in the process is wise, because you don’t want to waste your time if the recruiter’s entertaining a position that pays below your baseline salary requirement.

You can even broach the subject at the end of your first call with a recruiter, Danny says. “A lot of people are afraid to ask because they don’t want to come across as being overly focused on compensation at that stage,” he says. “Part of it is framing it in your mind that it’s okay to ask.”

Approach the question with curiosity, Danny suggests. For example, you can say: “I don’t know if this is the right time to talk about this, but are you able to share compensation bands for this role or what your goals are?” Compensation or salary “bands,” are clearly defined pay ranges that are determined by data, and a good sign that the company has equitable compensation practices.

Or, another way to phrase this is: “What is the salary range budgeted for this position?” Basically, you want to open the door for the recruiter to fill in salary information, Danny says.

Don’t forget this follow-up question

It’s equally important to ask a recruiter or hiring manager how the company determines compensation for roles, Danny says.

“There should be a clear process for coming to compensation, because a lot of companies — especially a lot of startups — just make up or throw out numbers,” Danny says. “Then you suddenly end up with teams across different levels with wildly different compensation that makes no sense and that’s not equitable.”

For example, you could ask: “How does your organization determine compensation for roles?” or “Can you tell me more about how this company ensures that it follows equitable hiring practices?” The recruiter might answer by explaining that salaries are based on market data, competency, and the region where you live, for example. But they should definitely say something — if the recruiter dodges the question or can’t speak to it, that could be a red flag that the company doesn’t have consistent, unbiased hiring practices, Danny says.

Another response that a recruiter might give? They may flip the question back to you and ask what your compensation goal is. This is a tricky scenario, because you don’t want the recruiter to lowball you because you provided a lower salary range than they’ve actually budgeted for the role.

If you’re in the early interview phases you could say, “I don’t know enough about the role and responsibilities to be able to provide a salary range at this time. Can you tell me more about total compensation and what that would look like?” That way, recruiters can share more about the entire compensation package, including paid time off and healthcare benefits.

Of course, you shouldn’t be so coy that you never share what you’d like to make. “It’s a delicate dance where both of you are trying to develop trust in each other,” Danny says.

When it’s time to provide your salary requirements, it’s a good idea to give a range that’s higher than your actual baseline. You can phrase it like this: “Everything that I’m interviewing for falls between $X and $X.” Ariel Lopez, a former tech recruiter and career coach in Atlanta, says this specific framing helps because it points to market data to determine your worth and hints that you’re looking at other companies.

Keep in mind that if a recruiter really thinks you’re the right candidate, but you’re outside of the salary band for a role, there’s still room for negotiation. “We have levers that we can pull to help close the gap,” Danny says.

Ultimately, asking about salary is just step one of the negotiation process. Although talking about money might feel awkward or uncomfortable, it’s important to know your worth and be prepared to advocate for yourself. Do a little research on sites like Glassdoor and Levels, to see what people typically make in similar positions. And when the time comes to weigh a job offer, here’s a negotiation script that you can use.

Want more tips for navigating the job market in tech? Check out our Career Center for courses, portfolio projects, and interview advice.

All Courses & Tutorials | Codecademy

Explore our full catalog of programming courses, Skill Paths, and Career Paths for complete beginners, advanced learners, and everyone in between.

Digest #160: Neurodiversity Celebration Week

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Digest #160: Neurodiversity Celebration Week

By Megan Sumeracki

This week, March 21-27, 2022, is Neurodiversity Celebration Week. Siena Castellon founded Neurodiversity Celebration in 2018. In Siena’s words, the week was founded because “I wanted to change the way learning differences are perceived. As a teenager who is autistic and has ADHD, dyslexia, and dyspraxia, my experience has been that people often focus on the challenges of neurological diversity. I wanted to change the narrative and create a balanced view which focuses equally on our talents and strengths.”

In honor of this week, we’ve rounded up our resources and resources by others all about supporting and celebrating neurodiversity.

1) Neurodiversity Celebration Week Founded by Siena Castellon, @NCWeek

The resources on this website seem endless. You can sign up for specific neurodiversity celebration week events (they have 24 events this year) or just browse their static resources. They have resources for:

2) Digest #48: Tools for Neurodivergent Brains

This digest was created by Alyssa DeYesso, and we published it on our blog in 2017. At the time, Alyssa was a student at the University of Massachusetts Lowell studying Psychology, Disability, and Education.

3) Digest #153: Neurodiversity in Education

This digest was created by Carolina Kueper-Tetzel of the LEarning Scientists and Chiara Horlin, an Assistant professor at the University of Glasgow and expert in neurodiversity and education. She also co-founded The NeuroDiversity Network featured in the digest.

4) Digest #156: Learning (More) About Neurodiversity

In this digest that I (Megan) created, I cover a lot of resources to help readers understand neurodiversity. My favorite was resource 5, which was a compilation of TEDx Talks with individuals sharing their own stories.

5) Podcast Episode 59 – Neurodiversity in Education

In this episode, Carolina interviews Dr. Chiara Horlin. Chiara provides a definition of neurodiversity and talks about challenges in education and ways to overcome them. In conversation with Chiara, it becomes clear that we need to embrace neurodiversity as a real opportunity in education that will enhance learning for all, but it is also important to acknowledge challenges that neurodivergent students and neurodivergent teachers may face and how we all can be allies.

What’s Going On in This Graph? | March 30, 2022

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What’s Going On in This Graph? | March 30, 2022

Special Announcement for March: The American Statistical Association is now running its annual This is Statistics Spring Contest. Students can showcase their statistical literacy and journalism skills by submitting their clear and compelling headlines for New York Times graphs in March’s four weekly challenges. To learn more, visit This Is Statistics.

This word cloud was produced by The New York Times using survey data collected by Morning Consult in mid-February. About 2,200 people were asked to name specific products and services whose higher prices have stood out to them over the past year. Shown here are only the items that received seven or more responses.

On Wednesday, March 30, we will moderate your responses live online. By Friday morning, April 1, we will provide the “Reveal” — the graph’s free online link, additional questions, shout outs for student headlines and Stat Nuggets.

1. After looking closely at the graph above (or at this full-size image), answer these four questions:

  • What do you notice?

  • What do you wonder?

The questions are intended to build on one another, so try to answer them in order.

2. Next, join the conversation online by clicking on the comment button and posting in the box. (Teachers of students younger than 13 are welcome to post their students’ responses.)

3. Below the response box, there is an option to click on “Email me when my comment is published.” This sends the link to your response which you can share with your teacher.

4. After you have posted, read what others have said, then respond to someone else by posting a comment. Use the “Reply” button to address that student directly.

On Wednesday, March 30, teachers from our collaborator, the American Statistical Association, will facilitate this discussion from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Eastern time.

5. By Friday morning, April 1, we will reveal more information about the graph, including a free link to the article that includes this graph, at the bottom of this post. We encourage you to post additional comments based on the article, possibly using statistical terms defined in the Stat Nuggets.

We’ll post more information here on Thursday afternoon. Stay tuned!

More?

• See all graphs in this series or collections of 60 of our favorite graphs, 28 graphs that teach about inequality and 24 graphs about climate change.

• View our archives that link to all past releases, organized by topic, graph type and Stat Nugget.

• Learn more about the notice and wonder teaching strategy from this 5-minute video and how and why other teachers are using this strategy from our on-demand webinar.

• Sign up for our free weekly Learning Network newsletter so you never miss a graph. Graphs are always released by the Friday before the Wednesday live-moderation to give teachers time to plan ahead.

• Go to the American Statistical Association K-12 website, which includes teacher statistics resources, Census in the Schools student-generated data, professional development opportunities, and more.

Students 13 and older in the United States and the Britain, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public.

Our 13th Annual Summer Reading Contest

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Our 13th Annual Summer Reading Contest

This announcement is available as a one-page PDF to hang on your class bulletin board.

Every year since 2010, The Learning Network has invited teenagers around the world to add The New York Times to their summer reading lists. So far, more than 80,000 have done so.

If you are looking for ways to offer students more “voice and choice,” we hope our open-ended contest can help. Every week, we ask participants to choose something in The Times that has piqued their interest, and then tell us why. At the end of the week, judges from the Times newsroom pick their favorite responses, and we publish them. It’s that simple.

Though our goals include some that appear on many educators’ lists — helping students become more aware of the world and their place in it; learning how to navigate sophisticated nonfiction; and practicing writing for an audience — we also hope that students will realize that reading the newspaper can be fun. As you’ll see in the guidelines below, students can choose anything that was published on NYTimes.com in 2022. The subject matter isn’t important; we just care about why they chose it.

Any 11- to 19-year-old anywhere in the world is invited to join us, if you are in middle or high school, or if you graduated from high school in 2022 and haven’t yet started college.

Every Friday starting on June 10, we’ll post a fresh version of this question: “What got your attention in The Times this week?” We will link to each week’s version here. Here is an example from last summer. How you respond to this question will depend on your age:

  • Students ages 13 to 19 in the United States and Britain — and ages 16 to 19 elsewhere in the world — can submit by posting a comment on the post itself. Watch the GIF above to see how to do that.

  • If you are a teacher, parent or guardian of a student or child who is ages 11 to 12 in the United States and Britain — or ages 11 to 15 elsewhere in the world — then you should submit an entry on the student’s behalf using the form embedded at the bottom of each week’s post.

All entries from the comments section and the form will be judged together.

_________

Here’s how the contest works:

1. Every Friday beginning on June 10, we will publish a post asking the same question: “What got your attention in The Times this week?” That’s where you should post an answer any time until the following Friday at 9 a.m. Eastern, when we will close that post to comment and open a new one that asks the same question. On Aug. 12 we’ll post our final question of the summer, open until 9 a.m. on Aug. 19.

You can always find the proper link to the place to post at the top of this page, updated each week. You can also always find it on our home page.

To see how this works, visit this post from July 2021 and check out the student comments that were submitted at that time.

2. You can choose anything you like that was published in the print paper or on NYTimes.com in 2022, including articles, Op-Eds, videos, graphics, photos and podcasts. To see the variety of topics winners have written about over the years, read this column.

3. You can participate as often as every week, but we allow only one submission per person per week.

4. Responses must be 1,500 characters or fewer. We have a contest rubric as well as a guide for students that details four simple ways to make your response stand out.

5. Any teenager anywhere in the world is invited to join us, if you are in middle or high school, or if you graduated from high school in 2022 and haven’t started college yet. See above, How to Submit, for more details.

6. Make sure to provide us with the complete URL or headline. For example, “A Man Found 15,000 Bees in His Car After Grocery Shopping” or https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/01/us/bees-car-new-mexico.html.

7. Every Tuesday during the contest, starting June 28 and ending Aug. 30, we will publish the previous week’s winner or winners in a separate post you can find here. We will also celebrate the winners on Twitter and Facebook.

8. The children and stepchildren of New York Times employees are not eligible to enter this contest. (Teenagers who live in the same household as a Times employee are also ineligible.)

We have many resources to help students practice for this contest before summer begins. They include:

  • Webinars: Teachers, to learn more about this contest and how you can teach with it, watch this free on-demand webinar from 2020. And, to get ideas for supporting your students’ independent reading and writing, watch this on-demand webinar from 2021.

  • Our Rubric: This is the rubric our judges will use to judge this contest. We’re looking for writing that includes personal connections, critical thinking, references to the source material, and voice and style.

This contest has been running more or less the same way for years, but please write to us at LNFeedback@nytimes.com if your question is not addressed below.

Q. What kinds of responses are you looking for?

A. The subject matter isn’t important; neither is whether you loved or hated it. What we care about is what you have to say about why you picked it.

If you don’t believe us, scroll through the work of previous winners. They have written on weighty topics like the coronavirus pandemic, racism, Alzheimer’s disease and the dangers of vaping, but they have also written on handbags, hummingbirds, power naps, junk food, Beyoncé, Disney shows, running and bagels.

Whatever the subject, you’ll see that the best responses year after year make personal connections to the news and discuss the broader questions and ideas that the topic raises. We have even created a guide that outlines four simple things you can do to make your responses more powerful. We will use this rubric to judge entries.

So whether you were moved by an article, enlightened by an essay, bowled over by a photo, irked by an editorial or inspired by a video, simply find something in The Times that genuinely interests you and tell us why, as honestly and originally as you can.

Q. Who will be judging my work?

A. The Learning Network staff, a team of as-yet-to-be-named New York Times journalists, and some educators from across the country.

Q. What is the “prize”?

A. The prize for winning any of our contests is having your work published on The Learning Network.

Q. When should I check to see if my submission won?

A. Every Tuesday from June 28 and ending Aug. 30, we will publish the previous week’s winner or winners in a separate article that you can find here. We will also celebrate the winners on Twitter and Facebook.

Q. How do I participate in this contest if I don’t have a digital subscription to The Times?

A. NYTimes.com has a digital subscription system in which readers have free access to five articles each month. If you exceed that limit, you will be asked to become a digital subscriber.

However, all Learning Network posts for students, as well as all Times articles linked from them, are accessible without a digital subscription. So if you use any of the articles we have linked to on our site, they will not count as part of the five-article limit.

And, each time we pose our question — “What interested you most in The Times this week?” — we will link to about 25 recent articles that you can choose from if you don’t have your own subscription.

You can also find copies of The New York Times at most public libraries, and some even allow you to access NYTimes.com with your library card.

And remember: You can use anything published anytime in 2022. This post, “21 Things Teenagers Can Do With a New York Times Subscription,” can help you find everything from breaking news to advice for “smarter living” to fun diversions you probably never knew The Times offered.

Q. How do I prove to my teacher that I participated?

A. If you are 13 to 19 in the United States and Britain — or 16 to 19 elsewhere in the world — and are submitting your response by posting a comment, make sure to check the box that asks if you would like to be emailed when your comment is published. If you do so, the system will send you a link to your comment, which you can use to show your teacher, your parents, your friends or anyone else you’d like to impress. (Please note that you will not get an email until the comment has been approved, which may take longer over weekends.)

If you are younger and an adult is submitting your response via the embedded form, the adult submitting on your behalf will automatically get an email thanking you for participating.

Another method? Some teachers ask students to keep a Google Doc of all their submissions, while others instruct students to take screenshots of their comments before they hit “submit.”

Q. How can teachers, librarians and parents use this challenge?

A. Through the years, adults have told us over and over that participating in this contest has made students both more aware of and more interested in what’s going on in the world. Many see it as a low-stakes way to help teenagers start building a news-reading habit. And at a time when a global pandemic is threatening us all, and an “infodemic”— the spread of misinformation, lies and rumors about the coronavirus — is contributing to the danger, keeping up with reliable news is especially important.

If that’s not reason enough to assign it to students, our contest is also an easy way to add more nonfiction to your students’ reading lists — and to encourage teenagers to make their own choices about what to read, as anything published in The Times in 2022 is fair game.

Participating also meets the recommendations given in this joint statement on independent reading issued by the International Reading Association, the National Council of Teachers of English, and the Canadian Children’s Book Center.

And for some teachers, assigning the contest over the summer helps them to quickly get to know their new students when school starts. In our related webinar, Karen Gold, English department chair at The Governor’s Academy in Byfield, Mass., details how she uses the contest in this way.

But maybe the most compelling reason to assign this contest is what students themselves say about it. At the end of the summer of 2020, many teenagers told us that the weekly reading and writing helped them through a difficult time. For instance, a participant named Ava wrote:

This year’s summer reading contest has helped me learn not only about the world around me, but about myself. After seeing other students’ responses on race, the teenage experience, and the coronavirus, I felt a little less alone about my complicated feelings during this tumultuous year. After all, there has never been a time in my life during which it’s been easier to fall into social isolation. However, because the articles I chose to write about were those that I could easily relate to and express my opinion on, I found comfort in my weekly submissions.

In 2017, Emma Weber, a student from London, posted that, thanks to the contest, “I feel grounded in my views and understand what’s going on in the world. It’s amazing what a change 1,500 characters a week make.” In 2020 we invited Emma to help judge the entries, and here is what she had to say after Week 10:

I know firsthand that the Summer Reading Contest has the ability to change the way one engages in the news — I went from passively reading to actively thinking and questioning. The more you reflect on what is going on in the world and what interests you about it, the more you will understand your place within it. I urge all those who enjoyed participating this summer to continue reading, reflecting and writing.

Thank you for making this contest a hit year after year, and please spread the word that it’s back for its 13th season.

Good luck!

What Students Are Saying About Anti-L.G.B.T.Q. Legislation, Multilingualism and Nature’s Wonders

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What Students Are Saying About Anti-L.G.B.T.Q. Legislation, Multilingualism and Nature’s Wonders

Growing up in a multilingual family definitely affected me and my environment that other kids who aren’t multilingual don’t experience. English isn’t actually my first language. I learned to speak Gujarati since the day I was born, and I constantly was submerged into the language as I grew up…

I love being bilingual. I love being able to talk in a different language with my family when I don’t feel comfortable talking in English. It’s a sense of security that I don’t feel like other non-multilingual people will understand. Not only that, I’m able to communicate so much more freely with my older relatives who don’t speak or understand English. Language is the bridge that connects me, a first generation child in America, to my family and it is constantly helping me learn more and more about them and vice versa everyday.

— Rahi, Block 2 Hoggard High School in Wilmington, NC

There are often times when the right word doesn’t come to mind in one language but it does for the other. For example, if I am extremely embarrassed, to the point where it is impossible to describe just how strongly I feel in English, the only words I can think of are “Jjok palyuh”, which in Korean translates to “My face is sold” …

After being in the American school system for nearly 11 years, English has become like second nature to me, and the real testament to this is the fact that my thoughts are in English. Although I speak Korean with my parents, I see the world through the lens of an English speaker. Like the family in the article, my family sometimes speaks in one language but uses a word or two from another language in the same sentence because it’s easier. And THAT is what makes being bilingual so amazing. Oral language is art; it flows off the tongue and moves like music. Our mind is the paintbrush, speaking through the canvas, and through another language emerges a completely new color palette.

— Teak, Hoggard High School in Wilmington, NC

There are many disadvantages and challenges to being multilingual. Whenever I am around my mother and we are having a conversation in Spanish a lot of people give us weird looks, or they talk about us and say rude remarks. Some of the challenges include that sometimes I forget to switch back to English or a lot of people try to get me to teach them how to speak spanish. Many strangers when they find out that I am multilingual, question me about where I am from, or how much I know about my heritage. They also ask me why I’m white if my mom is from Cuba, and sometimes it gets very overwhelming to deal with everyone questioning me about it.

— Kilee, Hanover-Horton High School

My parents are from Bangladesh, so Bengali was the first language I learned. Yes, it’s nice to be bilingual knowing how to speak two different languages, especially my native one but learning English as my second language made me face some hardships throughout my early childhood. When I went to preschool I would always mix up my words with Bengali and it gave me a hard time learning English and speaking with other kids and my teacher. They eventually put me in ESL from Kindergarten till 3rd grade even though I didn’t really know what it meant to be in that class that young. Looking back I wish I had learned English first, which would’ve helped me overcome the barriers of my struggles in English and in grammar, and then slowly learn Bengali as I get older.

— Emily, Hoggard High School In Wilmington NC

I think it’s extremely important to know another language, and students should start learning them earlier. It’s incomprehensible that students aren’t even offered a foreign language class or even an extracurricular option in elementary school. When presenting kids with seriously learning a language at the age of 12, are they really going to become fluent? Maybe yes, maybe no, but at the end of the day it’s much harder to become fluent in a language if you’re learning it with an almost fully developed brain revolving around different concerns and objectives. I love learning Italian and plan to become fluent, but I wish I started learning it in 1st or 2nd grade so that by now I would be mostly immersed in the language. Learning a language in school can be extremely useful in terms of life skills, but with the way the education system goes about it, not many students will take their world language class seriously.

— Christina, W.T. Clarke Highschool, Westbury

Film Club: ‘Yaren and the Sun’

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Film Club: ‘Yaren and the Sun’

“Yaren and the Sun” is an 18-minute Op-Doc film that touches on themes of loss, community and learning. It profiles Yaren, age 10, who lost her mother at six. She felt alone in her grief — until she attended a camp for kids who have lost someone important.

How do you deal with grief? What can you learn about processing loss from Yaren’s story?

Students

1. Watch the short film above. While you watch, you might take notes using our Film Club Double-Entry Journal (PDF) to help you remember specific moments.

2. After watching, think about these questions:

  • What questions do you still have?

  • What connections can you make between this film and your own life or experience? Why? Does this film remind you of anything else you’ve read or seen? If so, how and why?

3. An additional challenge | Respond to the essential question at the top of this post: How do you deal with grief? What can a ‘grief camp’ for kids teach us about healing?

4. Next, join the conversation by clicking on the comment button and posting in the box that opens on the right. (Students 13 and older are invited to comment, although teachers of younger students are welcome to post what their students have to say.)

5. After you have posted, try reading back to see what others have said, then respond to someone else by posting another comment. Use the “Reply” button or the @ symbol to address that student directly.

6. To learn more, read “What a ‘Grief Camp’ For Kids Can Show Us About Healing.” Renate Raman and Joren Slaets, the filmmakers, write:

Three years ago, we came across a short article about Missing You, a summer camp in Belgium where children struggling with grief can come together and bond with their peers. It struck us as an incredibly pure idea, and we wanted to know more. What does a grief camp look like? Is it a sullen, sad affair? Does it really help the children? And what do they do there?

In our research, which was funded by the Ket & Doc program for youth documentaries, we found that children who lose a parent or a sibling can feel profoundly alone in their loss. Suddenly, they’ve got no one to turn to, not even their friends. After all, who wants to talk about grief?

When we met Yaren, 10, the central figure in the short documentary above, she immediately stole our hearts. She showed us what grief really looked like — how it’s a part of her but it doesn’t define her. She told us how painful it was that some people started avoiding her after her mother died, just because they felt uncomfortable talking about it. And above all, she showed us how you can still be happy even while carrying a burden as heavy as hers.

We are honored to share Yaren’s story and those of so many other grieving children. We hope it can encourage everyone to be a little more open about grief.

Want more student-friendly videos? Visit our Film Club column.

Students 13 and older in the United States and Britain, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public.

Mask Withdrawal

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Mask Withdrawal

A recent Times article explained that while most people can’t wait to take off their masks in public, for some teenagers, the prospect is nerve-racking.

According to the article:

They worried they may be deemed less attractive. They worried about acne that had been exacerbated by face coverings. They worried about getting sick or getting family members sick. And they worried about whether wearing, or not wearing, masks might align them with certain political beliefs.

Can you relate to any of the worries described above? In general, how have you felt about mask mandates being lifted? Has shedding your mask brought great relief or heavy anxiety? How does your comfort level compare to that of your peers?

Tell us in the comments, then read the related article to learn more about why some kids have been hesitant to ditch their masks.

Want more Picture Prompts? Find them all in this column.

Students 13 and older in the United States and Britain, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public.

Word of the Day: circumlocution

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onlinefreecourse
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Word of the Day: circumlocution

The word circumlocution has appeared in two articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on March 15 in the Opinion essay “Making the SAT and ACT Optional Is the Soft Bigotry of Low Expectations” by John McWhorter:

When we expect less of people, it’s often because we think less of them: In 1974, the linguistic anthropologist Elinor Ochs documented that in rural villages in Madagascar, women were associated more with direct and therefore less refined speech than men. Their culture heavily valued circumlocution — diplomatic, even delicate speech — but it was still considered socially acceptable for women to speak bluntly, sometimes even coarsely, because less was expected of them.

Can you correctly use the word circumlocution in a sentence?

Based on the definition and example provided, write a sentence using today’s Word of the Day and share it as a comment on this article. It is most important that your sentence makes sense and demonstrates that you understand the word’s definition, but we also encourage you to be creative and have fun.

Then, read some of the other sentences students have submitted and use the “Recommend” button to vote for two original sentences that stand out to you.

If you want a better idea of how circumlocution can be used in a sentence, read these usage examples on Vocabulary.com.

If you enjoy this daily challenge, try one of our monthly vocabulary challenges.

Students ages 13 and older in the United States and the United Kingdom, and 16 and older elsewhere, can comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff.

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