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March Vocabulary Challenge

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March Vocabulary Challenge

Every school day, we define a new vocabulary word in our Word of the Day column and provide an example of how the word has been used in The New York Times. But you don’t have to be a Times journalist to contextualize a vocabulary word within a piece of writing — students can do it, too.

In our first-ever monthly Vocabulary Challenge, we invite middle and high school students to write a 50-word story using as many of our Words of the Day from the past month as they can.

This is our first time trying this challenge and we admit that it is a bit of an experiment. Post any questions or feedback you have in the comments, or write to us at LNFeedback@nytimes.com.

Start by getting familiar with the 18 vocabulary words published in February, which are listed below. It may help to read the linked definitions and examples of how the words have been used in The Times.

Then, create a 50-word piece of writing in which you correctly and creatively use as many of the month’s words as possible. Submit your story (or poem, or song) by commenting on this post between March 1 and March 25, then use the “Recommend” tool to vote for two of the best entries from other students.

Here is what we are looking for:

  • It is most important that you use each vocabulary word correctly according to its definition. We will not consider any entries in which a word is used incorrectly, and neither should you when you recommend other students’ comments.

  • Try to use as many vocabulary words as possible, without crossing a line into gibberish or inanity. We provide an example below of how six vocabulary words can be used in a 50-word story.

  • Finally, we are looking for pieces of writing that are creative, original and make sense. Your comment can be fact or fiction, silly or serious; we care most that you learn new vocabulary and have fun.

And here are a few more rules:

  • Your story must be 50 words or fewer.

  • Identify your vocabulary words by writing them in ALL CAPS (see the bottom of this post for an example).

  • Entries must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. Pacific time on March 25 to be considered.

  • It is acceptable to use a word in a different tense or to use the plural of a word that is listed in the singular.

  • However, you cannot change a word’s part of speech. Since the word “hyperbole” is listed as a noun, you cannot substitute the adjective “hyperbolic.” You cannot use the adverb “haplessly” in place of the adjective “hapless.”

  • Students ages 13 and older in the United States and Britain, and 16 and older elsewhere, can submit by commenting on this post. Please submit only one story per student.

We hope to recognize some of the most impressive submissions here on The Learning Network. Stay tuned.

Your piece of writing should draw from the words below. Each word links to a Word of the Day post with the word’s definition and an example of how it has been used in The New York Times. To find more usage examples, consult the Vocabulary.com online dictionary.

punctilious
tangible
aberration
vernacular
torpor
hapless
modus operandi
stolid
sobriquet
conflate
summarily
resplendent
aficionado
plethora
hyperbole
ambivalent
ambiguous
oasis

Here is an example of what we are looking for. This 49-word story uses six of January’s vocabulary words. Your story should use the Words of the Day posted in February, which are listed above.

When Nina VAUNTED her new Nintendo Switch, Adam DISPARAGED her. “You already have a GLUT of gaming consoles,” he complained, “It BEFUDDLES me that you got another.” Nina tried to retain her SANG-FROID but felt angry anyway. If Adam hadn’t been so CAPTIOUS, she might have let him play.

We look forward to reading your entries.

How Should Parents Support a Student Who Has Fallen Behind in School?

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How Should Parents Support a Student Who Has Fallen Behind in School?

Students in U.S. high schools can get free digital access to The New York Times until Sept. 1, 2021.

Try to name as many reasons as you can why a student might fall behind in schoolwork — reasons that are particularly relevant to the challenges of the current school year. Why can it be difficult to pull oneself out of a downward academic spiral or “homework hole”?

What do you think teachers, parents, family members or friends can do to help a struggling student? What would you do if a student who is stressed out about school came to you for advice? What would you suggest? Why?

In “How to Help a Teen Out of a Homework Hole,” the psychologist Lisa Damour writes about the reality many students face: Not only have they fallen behind in school, but they also feel they won’t be able to catch up. The article begins:

Pandemic school is taking its toll on students, especially teens. A recent study, conducted by NBC News and Challenge Success, a nonprofit affiliated with the Stanford Graduate School of Education, found that 50 percent more kids in high school report feeling disengaged from school this year than last. In December, Education Week reported that schools were seeing “dramatic increases in the number of failing or near-failing grades” on report cards.

A major symptom of school disengagement is not turning in homework, a problem that can easily snowball. The further students fall behind, the more overwhelmed they often become and the less likely they are to feel that they can catch up.

Ms. Damour then gives three pieces of advice for parents, though they might equally apply to anyone else who wants to help a struggling student, beginning with a reminder that “empathy will get you further than anger.” She writes:

At this point in the pandemic, finding out that your child has let schoolwork slide may trigger an angry response. Everyone is worn down by the demands of pandemic life and many parents are already operating on their last nerve. Getting mad, however, is likely to cause kids to adopt a defensive or minimizing stance. Instead, try to be compassionate. What students who have fallen behind need most are problem-solving partners who want to understand what they are going through.

If you’re having trouble summoning your empathy, bear in mind that there are many good reasons a student could fall off pace this year. For instance, Ned Johnson, a professional tutor and co-author of the book “The Self-Driven Child,” noted that most teens have very little experience managing email, which is now a main source of information for those in remote or hybrid arrangements. “We know how overwhelmed we as adults are by email. Imagine not being comfortable with it, and then suddenly getting everything — from Zoom links to assignments — that way.”

Some students learning remotely may also have unreliable broadband service; others may miss key information because their attention is split between the teacher on the screen and distractions at home.

“Many adults are having the exact same issues,” said Ellen Braaten, a psychologist and the executive director of the Learning and Emotional Assessment Program at Massachusetts General Hospital. “They are really productive when they can physically be at work, but may find themselves less attentive in the unstructured environment of working from home.”

Even teens who are attending school in person and using familiar systems for tracking assignments may be having a hard time managing their work now. The mental skills that help us stay organized — commonly called executive functioning — are being undermined by psychological stress, which is unusually high among today’s teens.

Next, she recommends working with the student to diagnose the problem:

Finding out that your child is in academic trouble can tempt you to jump to solutions. It’s best, however, to properly diagnose the problem before trying to address it. Liz Katz, assistant head for school partnership at One Schoolhouse, an online supplemental school, suggested looking into the reasons students fall behind at school. Some don’t know what they’re supposed to be doing, others know and aren’t doing it, and still others “are doing their best and just can’t meet expectations.”

As you talk with a teenager about where things have gone off the rails, be kind, curious and collaborative. “This isn’t about you being in trouble or getting off the hook,” you might say. “It’s simply about figuring out what’s going wrong so we can solve the right problem.”

Students who are struggling to keep track of what’s expected of them may need to reach out to their teachers, either for clarification about specific assignments or for general guidance on where and when they should be looking for information about homework. As a parent or caregiver, you can coach them on how to approach their instructors. Start by pointing out that teachers are almost always eager to lend support to students who seek it. You can also offer to give feedback on a draft email to an instructor explaining where the student got lost and what they have already tried.

“For many students, the ability to ask for help is not fully formed,” said Ms. Katz, “or it can feel like an admission that they’ve done something wrong. Normalizing and praising self-advocacy is so important.”

For students who know what they’re supposed to do but aren’t doing it, other approaches make sense. They may be having a hard time sustaining motivation and need support on that front, or they may be swamped with commitments, such as caring for younger siblings, that make it impossible to complete their schoolwork. Here, parents and students will want to work together to make a realistic plan for addressing the biggest priorities in light of these circumstances. This might mean coming to an agreement about where the teen’s energies should be directed or exploring what additional support might be put in place.

Finally, Ms. Damour suggests that people who want to help should “step back and see the big picture.” She concludes the article:

“We all need to be easier on ourselves,” Dr. Braaten said, “and to sort through what students really need to do and what they don’t.” Well-meaning parents might hope to motivate students by emphasizing the importance of high grades, but that can make it harder for kids to recover from a substantial setback.

As students start to work their way back, give some thought to how comprehensive their turnaround needs to be. Do they really need to get equally high grades in every class? Could they instead direct their energy toward getting square with the courses they care about most? Could they work with their teachers to agree upon trimmed-down assignments for partial credit? According to Mr. Johnson, “Lowering expectations, for now, can actually help kids to get back on track.”

Dr. Braaten also noted that much of what students gain from school is not about content, but about learning how to solve problems. Engaging teens in constructive conversations to figure out how they fell behind can be an important lesson unto itself. “Having a 16-year-old who understands, ‘When I’m stressed, this is how I react,’” says Dr. Braaten, “may put us further ahead in the long run.”

In any school year, students learn a great deal beyond academic content. This year, more than most, might be one where students gain a deep understanding of how they respond when feeling overwhelmed and how to ask for help or rebound from setbacks — lessons that they will draw on long after the pandemic is gone.

Students, read the entire article, then tell us:

  • What two pieces of advice in the article do you think would be most helpful to a student who is facing academic challenges? Why?

  • In moments when you were stressed about school, did anyone try to help you? If so, were the strategies similar to or different from anything you read in the article? What, if anything, that the person said or did seemed to help you, academically or with regard to your mental health?

  • Consider the three reasons Liz Katz says students fall behind in school. Suppose you were trying to help students whose troubles with school fit neatly into one of the three categories. How would your approach differ from student to student? Explain.

  • Have you ever experienced anything described in the article? For instance, were you encouraged to tell a teacher that you were in need of support, or did you prioritize some of the work you had to accomplish before moving on to other tasks? Based on your experiences, what worked and what didn’t?

  • The article states that stress levels are high among students, but also suggests that this challenging year could give them the skills to effectively deal with setbacks and feeling overwhelmed. What are your thoughts about this? Have you gained more coping and problem-solving skills? Or, has stress gotten to the point where you can’t see it leading to any positive outcomes? Do you and your friends talk about stress, and if you do, what sorts of things do you share?

  • Finally, the psychologist Ellen Braaten is quoted in the article as saying, “We all need to be easier on ourselves.” Respond to this statement. Are there ways you can ease up on the expectations you have for your grades and for life in general? Or does that not seem possible? If not, why not?

About Student Opinion

• Find all of our Student Opinion questions in this column.
• Have an idea for a Student Opinion question? Tell us about it.
• Learn more about how to use our free daily writing prompts for remote learning.

Students 13 and older in the United States and the United Kingdom, 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: abate

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Word of the Day: abate

1. become less in amount or intensity

2. make less active or intense

_________

The word abate has appeared in 72 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on July 17 in “China’s Swimwear Capital Can’t Wait for You to Go Back to the Beach” by Raymond Zhong:

Across the globe, pools, beaches and water parks are reopening only cautiously. Travel and tourism are still mostly nonstarters. Perhaps never in recent history has so little of humankind had any need for new swimwear.

And so, with a peak season’s worth of sales already largely lost, Xingcheng’s factories are scraping by an order at a time, waiting for world governments to get a grip on the illness. For fear to abate and economies to mend. For more people to venture back into the water — or even just near it, a beverage in hand.

Can you correctly use the word abate 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 abate can be used in a sentence, read these usage examples on Vocabulary.com.

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.

Lesson of the Day: ‘What Students Are Saying About Race and Racism in America’

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Lesson of the Day: ‘What Students Are Saying About Race and Racism in America’

Oh, and there’s one catch: You can only use 10 words or fewer. Here’s Mr. Gold’s example: “I am a gay, Jewish-American, millennial, fitness-obsessed journalist.” How would you complete your “I am” statement in 10 words or fewer? Think about all parts of your identity: race, ethnicity, religion, gender, class, sexuality, passions and hobbies. What makes you who you are?

Part 2: How Much Racism Do You Face Every Day?

Now, think specifically about your racial identity. Is race something you included in your 10-word self-description? Why or why not?

Do you remember the first time you were aware of your racial identity? Did you become aware of your race because of something someone said to you? Or was it as you realized you were different from someone else? How did it feel?

Last year, we asked students about how much racism they face every day. The writing prompt was inspired by a Times article that surveyed readers about their daily experiences with racism and compared their responses to the responses of 101 Black teenagers who answered the same questions. If you have time, you can take the quiz or respond to our student prompt, but in the meantime, consider these questions in writing or class discussion:

  • Have your parents or family members ever talked to you about your racial identity? Are people at your school or in your community comfortable talking about race?

  • Have you ever been teased or discriminated against because of your race? Have you ever witnessed or been part of teasing or making fun of someone else because of their race?

The featured article includes 36 student comments divided into nine sections. Each section’s header is a short excerpt from a student comment. Read the entire featured article (available here as a PDF) and annotate it using the following prompts. You can choose to highlight, underline or respond directly to things in the article that stand out. Here are some things to look for:

  • A comment that challenges a belief you have.

  • A comment you relate to based on your own life experience.

  • A comment that makes you think of something you have witnessed or heard someone else talk about.

  • A comment that resonates with how you see the world or understand the issue.

  • A comment that reminds you of things you have heard friends or classmates say.

  • A comment that is moving or evocative in some way.

  • A comment that prompts another question or further inquiry.

Look back at your annotations and choose one comment that stood out to you — to which you will write a reply. We encourage you to pick a comment that challenged your beliefs in some way, but if you are inspired to pick a different comment, that is OK too. Reread the comment carefully. Then write a reply.

Some questions to consider as you craft your response: Do you agree or disagree? How does the comment make you feel? Can you relate personally to anything they said? Do they use any evidence to support their opinion, and if so, do you find it compelling?

What’s Going On in This Graph? | March 3, 2021

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What’s Going On in This Graph? | March 3, 2021

Students in U.S. high schools can get free digital access to The New York Times until Sept. 1, 2021.

In 2019 in the United States, nearly 14 percent of adults aged 18 years or older smoked cigarettes. This is a decline from 20 percent in 2005. Cigarette smoking is responsible for more than 480,000 deaths per year in the United States.

After looking closely at the graph above, 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 for students to click on “Email me when my comment is published.” This sends the link to their response which they can share with their 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 3, 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, March 5, we will reveal more information about the graph, including a free link to the article that included 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 a slide show of 60 of our favorite graphs.

• 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 and how and why other teachers are using this feature 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, professional development opportunities, and more.

Students 13 and older in the United States and the United Kingdom, 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.

Should There Be More Gender Options on Identification Documents?

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Should There Be More Gender Options on Identification Documents?

Students in U.S. high schools can get free digital access to The New York Times until Sept. 1, 2021.

Do you think that identification documents like passports and birth certificates should include a gender option for people who do not identify as male or female? Why or why not?

Do you think of gender as a binary, or as a broader spectrum? How do the people in your life talk about gender and gender identity? Have you observed a change in those conversations over time? Have you weighed in?

In “Passports May Soon Include a New Option for Gender Identity,” Valeriya Safronova writes about activists pushing President Biden to add a third gender option, “X,” to passports and other federal identification documents.

Passports, social security cards, residence permits and other federal identification documents may soon offer a third gender option: X.

Already, at least a dozen states and Washington, D.C., have amended their laws to offer an X gender designation on some identifying documents, including driver’s licenses and birth certificates.

But federal rules have not changed much since 2010, when Americans were first able to apply to change the sex marker on their passports. That application has always required medical certification and is only available for those who have transitioned from one gender to another; the State Department, which issues passports, asks applicants to select either male or female.

President Biden has promised to change that, and the American Civil Liberties Union is pushing him to take action soon.

The organization has been talking with White House officials about adding a gender neutral option to all federal identification documents and records, and allowing people to affirm their own gender without a court order or medical certificate.

The article continues:

A petition that the A.C.L.U. started last month, which calls for executive action, has more than 34,000 signatures. The organization plans to share the petition with the White House on March 31, the International Transgender Day of Visibility.

It is difficult to measure exactly how many people would choose a third gender designation on official documents. The category would provide an option for individuals who have transitioned but do not identify with either “male” or “female,” individuals who are nonbinary and those who are intersex, as well as others. Some people (and countries and international agencies) argue that there is no need for a gender designation on documents at all.

Ms. Safronova also describes the difficulties of updating one’s gender designation on some identification documents:

The bureaucratic hurdles to update or change gender on important documents, such as driver’s licenses and passports, can be insurmountable for many individuals.

According to a report from Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law, about 42 percent of transgender people who are eligible to vote in 45 American states — they estimate that’s more than 350,000 people — do not have identification documents that reflect their correct name, gender or both.

A huge challenge is medical authorization, especially in the case of passports. “You have to go to a physician and get a formal letter on the letterhead,” said Mx. Christian of the A.C.L.U. That poses a problem for people “who don’t have insurance, live in rural areas and aren’t out to their providers, or haven’t had certain kinds of medical treatment for various reasons. It’s a big barrier to getting an updated ID.”

Students, read the entire article and then tell us:

  • Do you think that a third, nonbinary gender option “X” should be added to passports and other federal identification documents? Are there any other options you think should be added? Why or why not?

  • The article describes Dana Zzyym’s experience suing the State Department after being denied a gender-neutral passport. Why is it important to Mx. Zzyym to have a gender-neutral ID? Why did the State Department argue that a binary sex designation is necessary? Who do you think makes the more powerful argument?

  • What purposes do gender designations on IDs and other important documents serve? Do you think they are ever unhelpful, or even hurtful? Why do you think some countries and agencies have done away with them altogether?

  • Has something about you ever been misidentified by someone else? Has anyone ever incorrectly assumed your gender? How does it feel, or how do you think it might feel, to see your name or gender inaccurately reflected on an identifying document?

  • Do you think that the way we talk about and denote gender should be more inclusive of individuals who identify outside the binary? What do you think of efforts to use more inclusive pronouns? How have you interacted with these issues in your own life?

  • What questions do you have about gender identity? What do you want to learn more about?

About Student Opinion

• Find all of our Student Opinion questions in this column.
• Have an idea for a Student Opinion question? Tell us about it.
• Learn more about how to use our free daily writing prompts for remote learning.

Students 13 and older in the United States and the United Kingdom, 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.

Behind the Curtain

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Behind the Curtain

Students in U.S. high schools can get free digital access to The New York Times until Sept. 1, 2021.

What do you think this GIF is saying? How does it relate to or comment on society or current events? Can you relate to it personally? What is your opinion of its message?

Tell us in the comments, then read the related article to learn more.

About Picture Prompts

• Find all our Picture Prompts in this column.
• Have an idea for a Picture Prompt? Tell us about it.
• Teachers, discover more ways to teach with our Picture Prompts and learn how to use our free daily writing prompts for remote learning.

Students 13 and older in the United States and the United Kingdom, 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.

Lesson of the Day: ‘NASA’s Perseverance Rover Lands on Mars to Renew Search for Extinct Life’

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Lesson of the Day: ‘NASA’s Perseverance Rover Lands on Mars to Renew Search for Extinct Life’

First, pose a question you would like to know the answer to, such as: How does NASA design a Mars mission? Why is Mars the best planet on which to look for signs of past life? What are other countries looking for on Mars?

Then, see what you can discover through research. One place to start is The Times’s Mars topic page, or perhaps one of these past articles:

You might also visit the NASA website for more Perseverance news and information. You can sign up for NASA’s Mission To Mars Student Challenge, where you will learn how to design, build, launch and land a Mars mission.

Additionally, using Instagram on your smartphone, you can .

Finally, report back to your class about what you learned. Did you find the answer to your question? What additional questions do you now have?

Option 2: Why does the NASA mission matter?

The cost for the Perseverance rover is $2.7 billion. Do you think space exploration and research are worth the high price tag? Would you fund this and future explorations of Mars? Why or why not? How important is it to search for alien life? How skeptical or hopeful are you that the current NASA mission will uncover life?

In an Opinion essay, “Aliens Must Be Out There,” Farhad Manjoo argues we should be looking for extraterrestrial life:

The sun is not special. I know that’s a churlish thing to say about everyone’s favorite celestial body, our planet’s blazing engine and eternal clock, giver of light, life and spectacular Instagram backdrops. Awesome as it is, though, the sun is still a pretty ordinary star, one of an estimated 100 billion to 400 billion in the Milky Way galaxy alone. And the Milky Way is itself just one galaxy among hundreds of billions or perhaps trillions in the observable universe.

Then there’s Earth, a lovely place to raise a species but, as planets go, perhaps as unusual as a Starbucks in a strip mall. Billions of the Milky Way’s stars could be orbited by planets with similarly ideal conditions to support life. Across all of space, there may be quintillions of potentially habitable planets, or even a sextillion — which is more than the estimated grains of sand on all of Earth’s beaches.

So isn’t it hubris to assume that we’re the only life around?

It concludes:

Aliens are almost certainly out there, and finding even circumstantial evidence of other beings — even long-dead civilizations — would alter humanity in deep ways, almost certainly for the better. We might gain perspective on our most intractable problems, we might discover novel technologies, and we might learn of unseen dangers in our future.

All we have to do is open our eyes and look.

Do you agree with Mr. Manjoo? Do you think it is “hubris to assume that we’re the only life around”? Do you believe that life exists — or has ever existed — somewhere besides Earth? Is it worth searching for life on Mars or other planets and celestial bodies?

Option 3: Do you want to travel to space?

Have you ever dreamed of becoming an astronaut or working for NASA? Are you fascinated by outer space or space travel? Why do you think so many of us are captivated by space and its mysteries?

South Africa Youth@Work – Empowering Young People with the Power of Alison

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South Africa Youth@Work – Empowering Young People with the Power of Alison

[email protected] is a South African organisation devoted to providing access to work placement, internships and educational programmes to young people in South Africa. [email protected] is both an Implementation Partner of the state’s Youth Employment Service and an Alison collaborator. The Alison Blog caught up with [email protected]’s Director Erica Kempken, as well as two successful [email protected] graduates, to find out more about this inspiring project and to learn how free education and training are helping to empower young South Africans.

[email protected] prides itself on producing “employable, empowered, and well-rounded individuals”. By providing young people with quality hosted placements in school settings, [email protected] give young South Africans the opportunities to gain invaluable experience in teaching as well as other skills fundamental to running a school, such as accounting. They also facilitates dynamic and supported work experience with small businesses and local initiatives. As well as gaining access to all-important experience, all participants are paired with supervisors who provide mentoring and coaching.

[email protected] uses Alison’s free online learning to help empower the young people they’re helping set out on the road to employment. “We have been collaborating with Alison for almost two years now and have had many of our youth complete a number of the courses on the Alison platform,” says Director Erica Kempken. “Since September 2020, we have youth registering for the courses through the portal on our website. We have noticed the value of the courses to our youth and would like to strengthen our work with Alison and promote the courses more widely.”

[email protected] avail of Alison Groups, a tool which allows them to monitor the progress of their students by seeing what courses they are taking and the grades they are achieving. “The Groups functionality works well,” says Erica. “We use it as a tracking tool. The capability of seeing how far an individual has progressed is useful and allows us to engage with the youth to explore why they are not progressing further.”

 

[email protected] have provided over 1200 young people with placements this year and foresee huge growth in the immediate future as the covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the crisis in South African education, as well as exacerbating the challenge many young South Africans face in gaining employment. However despite the pandemic conditions, [email protected] have had countless success stories in the last twelve months, including Sabelo Ngcobo and Molemo Mashigo.

Sabelo Ngcobo is from the province of KwaZulu-Natal, south of Durban. After matriculating from high school, he studied Business Administration as well as Financial Literacy with ABSA bank. 

Sabelo, tell us about your experience with [email protected]

“I got involved with the [email protected] programme through my previous college, where I was studying Business Administration. After finishing my studies, I received a call from them telling me about the opportunity and I was happy to take it. My experience with [email protected] was amazing. Thanks to them, I now have two years work experience. [email protected] offered me the opportunity to be part of their programme and, through the programme, I was placed at a school as a teacher’s assistant for one year. After that year, I was offered a School Governing Body post for six months. (The School Governing Body is a committee elected by parents to represent them and to make sure that the school operates efficiently.) I also got the opportunity to be part of the presidential programme. (The presidential programme is an initiative by the President of South Africa to reduce unemployment.) 

How did you find using Alison?

[email protected] introduced me to lots of other helpful platforms to help me further my studies, like Alison. I enjoy studying through Alison and I have gained the following qualifications: Dealing With Difficult People In Life & Work, Diploma in Supply Chain Management, Merchandising and Data Capturing. Alison courses have helped me a lot in my career. I am now able to apply for different jobs and I also learned a lot from their courses that assisted me in growing my gardening business.

Where are you working now?

I am currently working for Mbalasi Primary School and I also have my own gardening services company and currently employ three people. My hope is that, in the future, I will be one of the most successful business people in KwaZulu-Natal.

Molemo Mashigois a football player, coach, photographer and graphic designer from Gauteng Province.

Molemo, how did you get involved with [email protected]?

“My [email protected] journey began in January 2020 with a workshop aimed at teaching us how to conduct ourselves as professional coaches. Coaches have a duty that is often overlooked by society. It’s considered unimportant that we coach children for a few hours each week but we play an important part in the children’s lives. We instill morals and values and build social skills. How we carry ourselves in our roles is important and this was highlighted during the course. A few weeks later I was fully introduced to Erica and the [email protected] team.”

How has [email protected] affected you?

[email protected] has greatly impacted me and it’s been a fun journey of discovery through the modules that [email protected] encouraged me to take. I could see the difference in myself as I was doing things with more purpose. I wasn’t just waking up, showing up for work and leaving but instead understanding the dynamics of a community and how everyone is important. 

Tell us about your experience of studying with Alison. What courses have you taken?

It was challenging in the beginning as, with self-study, there is no one there to baby you to study and complete courses. I was curious about Photography, Graphic Design and Social Media. The coronavirus course was also insightful and informative. The global pandemic has affected so many healthcare systems and economies and so much is rapidly changing. Alison courses encourage students to experiment and read more on the topics and to put theory into practice. I found using Alison Groups helpful during assessments. If we didn’t get it right the first time around, we could keep trying and guide each other.

How have Alison courses helped you in your career?

 So what am I doing with the knowledge I’ve gained? Well, I started Clueless – a sports show on Instagram appreciating women in sports. There are so many clueless people when it comes to women in sports, so I interview athletes and share their stories and break the stigma that women can’t be professional athletes. My show developed into Clueless Media – photography, videography and content creation for both events and products. I approach small and medium sized enterprises and offer to create a package that will assist them by giving them a professional look with custom logos and also marketing strategies to increase sales. This has all been made possible through pointers from Alison modules. I’ve brought it all together to improve my life. And not just for me, but for my parents, who are both well over sixty. The work enables me to provide medication, food and other essentials. It’s fulfilling because they have taken care of me all these years. Now its my turn to look after them.

Click here to learn more about South Africa [email protected] and the great work they’re doing to empower young South Africans through education and training.

Should We End the Practice of Tipping?

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Should We End the Practice of Tipping?

Students in U.S. high schools can get free digital access to The New York Times until Sept. 1, 2021.

Do you ever tip people for their service? For instance, after riding in a taxi, receiving a food delivery or eating at a restaurant? Why or why not? And if yes, how much money do you generally pay? A dollar? Ten percent? Twenty percent? More?

Have you ever received a tip while working? If so, did you feel pride or satisfaction? Or was it awkward or perhaps even insulting?

In your opinion, do you think tipping is an appropriate way to show gratitude and reward excellent service? Or is it an antiquated, unfair and harmful practice?

In “Tipping Is a Legacy of Slavery,” Michelle Alexander argues that we need to abolish what has become a subminimum wage for many workers, especially in restaurants:

Once upon a time, I thought that it was perfectly appropriate for restaurant workers to earn less than minimum wage. Tipping, in my view, was a means for customers to show gratitude and to reward a job well done. If I wanted to earn more as a restaurant worker, then I needed to hustle more, put more effort into my demeanor, and be a bit more charming.

I thought this even when I was a waitress, working at a burger and burrito joint called Munchies during the summers when I was a college student. Collecting tips gave me a certain satisfaction. I liked sweeping dollar bills and coins off tables into the front pocket of my blue apron. Each time someone left me a big tip, anything more than I expected, a tiny jolt of dopamine flooded my brain as though I had just hit a mini jackpot. I got upset when people stiffed me, walking out and leaving nothing or just pennies — a true insult — but whenever that happened I reminded myself that I might get lucky next time. Or I would do better somehow.

Never did it occur to me that it was fundamentally unjust for me to earn less than the minimum wage and to depend on the good will of strangers in order to earn what was guaranteed by law to most workers. I had no idea that tipping was a legacy of slavery or that racism and sexism had operated to keep women, especially Black women like me, shut out of federal protections for wage labor. I did not question tipping as a practice, though looking back I see that I should have.

Ms. Alexander describes how she grew to question and turn against the system and practice of tipping:

After I graduated from law school, I became a civil rights lawyer and began representing victims of race and gender discrimination in employment, as well as victims of racial profiling and police violence. But it wasn’t until I read Saru Jayaraman’s book, “Forked: A New Standard for American Dining,” that I learned the history of tipping in the United States. After the Civil War, white business owners, still eager to find ways to steal Black labor, created the idea that tips would replace wages. Tipping had originated in Europe as “noblesse oblige,” a practice among aristocrats to show favor to servants. But when the idea came to the United States, restaurant corporations mutated the idea of tips from being bonuses provided by aristocrats to their inferiors to becoming the only source of income for Black workers they did not want to pay. The Pullman Company tried to get away with it too, but the Black porters, under the leadership of A. Philip Randolph, formed the nation’s first Black union to be affiliated with the American Federation of Labor and fought and won higher wages with tips on top.

Restaurant workers, however — who were mostly women — were not so fortunate. The unjust concept of tips as wages remained in place for them. And in 1938, when Franklin Roosevelt signed the nation’s first minimum wage into law, it excluded restaurant workers, a category that included a disproportionate number of Black people.

American businesses after the Civil War sought to make tips the only source of income for Black workers they did not want to pay, like restaurant workers and railway porters.

In 1966, when our nation’s minimum wage was overhauled, restaurant workers were even more formally cut out with the creation of a subminimum wage for tipped workers. Today, 43 states and the federal government still persist with this legacy of slavery, allowing a tipped work force that is close to 70 percent female and disproportionately Black and brown women to be paid a subminimum wage. A nation that once enslaved Black people and declared them legally three-fifths of a person now pays many of their descendants less than a third of the minimum wage to which everyone else is entitled.

The essay concludes by arguing for the passage of the Raise the Wage Act in Congress:

Fortunately, the subminimum wage for tipped workers might finally come to an end if Congress enacts the minimum wage policy in President Biden’s new $1.9 trillion relief package in its entirety. The Raise the Wage Act, if passed, would not only raise the minimum wage to $15 minimum wage but also fully phase out the subminimum wage for tipped workers. This would be good news for women and people of color who’ve been denied a living wage and forced to endure harassment on the job, but it would ultimately benefit all tipped workers — and restaurants too. Workers in the seven states that have One Fair Wage receive similar or even higher tips as the workers in 43 states with a subminimum wage, and restaurants in those seven states have higher sales.

Students, read the entire article, then tell us:

  • Do any of the experiences described by Ms. Alexander working as a waitress and earning tips resonate with your own? How do your experiences of tipping or being tipped shape your views on the practice?

  • Ms. Alexander argues that “the subminimum wage for tipped workers isn’t simply born of racial injustice; it continues to perpetuate both race and gender inequity today.” Do you agree? How persuasive do you find her argument that tipping is “fundamentally unjust”? After reading the essay, do you think we should end the practice of tipping? Why or why not?

  • While the essay begins with her personal experiences, Ms. Alexander presents a lot of historical and statistical evidence to support her contention that tipping is fundamentally unjust, such as that the nation’s first minimum wage signed into law in 1938 “excluded restaurant workers, a category that included a disproportionate number of Black people.” Which historical connections did you find most eye-opening, surprising, memorable or persuasive and why?

  • What do you think can be done to improve or fix the current tipping system in the United States? Should more states pass One Fair Wage — a full minimum wage with tips on top? Do you think Congress should enact the Raise the Wage Act, which would both raise the minimum wage to $15 and fully phase out the subminimum wage for tipped workers? Why or why not? What other solutions would you recommend to address what Ms. Alexander calls a “racist, sexist subminimum wage” for service workers?

About Student Opinion

• Find all of our Student Opinion questions in this column.
• Have an idea for a Student Opinion question? Tell us about it.
• Learn more about how to use our free daily writing prompts for remote learning.

Students 13 and older in the United States and the United Kingdom, 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.

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