JEHRYL RICHARDS

New York State Testing Becoming Too Hard for Students

August 12, 2015 by JEHRYL RICHARDS

It’s almost the end of the school year and summer vacation is right around the corner. Students should full of joy and excitement but a quick look at their body language says otherwise. “The end of the year is probably the most stressful time for any student,” says Omarie Tash, a rising 8th grader who attends Mott Hall IV, a school in Brooklyn. “It’s when all the big test come up.”

For students young as 8 to 14 years old know this too well. With the yearly New York State english and math exam being changed to seem harder and more logical students in 3rd through 8th grade have experienced a new type struggle.
The standardized test is graded on a scale from 1 to 4. A one means that students are well below proficient in standards for their grade. A two shows that students are below proficient in standards for their grade and a three means students are proficient in the standards for their grade. Finally, a four shows that a student is exceling in standards for their grade.

“The DOE mad a lot of changes to the test,” said Mr. McKenzie, a middle school English teacher at Mott Hall IV. “But one of the major ones is that they changed the passing score from a 2 to a 3.”

When it was time to take the test students weren’t fully aware for what they were about to take. “This morning’s ELA exam was pure child abuse,” Leonie Haimson an English teacher posted on her blog. “There were 5 passages, Each passage was 2+ pages long… Most of my children didn’t finish and were very upset that they might have disappointed me or their parents when in truth many adults wouldn’t have.

According to The New York Times “New York’s exams are considered some of the toughest in the country; last year, only 31 percent passed the reading tests and 36 percent passed the math exams.”

Students of all grades struggled with the test, hundreds of teachers and parents are furious with the DOE because of these new changes. Parents and teachers didn’t want their child to feel like they let them down because they were struggling. This then led to protesting by some schools and teachers, people didn’t want their children to take the test.

Statistics from Syracuse.com showed that in New York State 150,000 students skipped the math exam and 193,000 students boycotted the ELA.

Some people don’t know why the Department of Education would make the test more difficult. However, Mrs. Jackson, a parent of a former 8^th grader that attended Mott Hall IV, believes that, “I think that the board of education made these test harder so they can try to get students prepared for high school. But if they see that students aren’t getting high scores as they use to they shouldn’t take the test.”

“Making the test harder was a bad idea” said Mr. Pyram, a math teacher who also works at M.S.271. “ If students had trouble passing the test last year what good would it do to make it harder.”

The Food That Stands Out

August 6, 2015 by JEHRYL RICHARDS

Weather reporters say that it’s one of the hottest days of the year and people should avoid staying in the sun for too long. Dozens of people stormed the shady areas around the food stands with their famished stomachs shouting orders. It’s lunch time.

For Li and Hussain this isn’t the time to relax and eat like everyone else. The owners of two unique food stands, the Prince of Egypt and the K Food, they are hard at work during this rush hour. To them it’s just a normal day at work and, with the heat from the sun and the grill beating down on them, Li and Hussain are trying to deal out orders as fast as they can.

When asked how they deal with the stress, Li, the owner of K Food, a rare Korean cuisine food stand outside the Baruch College vertical building said, “It’s very hard trying to keep my cool in this sun. I’ve seen other cooks crack under this kind of pressure. For me, it’s different. I like trying to see how fast I can cook under pressure.”

Hussain, the owner of a popular halal food stand, The Prince of Egypt, has a different viewpoint on how he deals with the stress. “I don’t know how I do it, but I do know that rush hour is the time that I make the most money so I can’t let people leave because I am too slow,” he said.

This is what Li and Hussain have to deal with every day but there are other commitments they have to make. “The business is very hard and tiring,” Li said. “I wake up every day at 4:30 in the morning so I can get here and set up on time.”

They also must deal with the competition. Around Baruch there are about 16 different food stands but Li and Hussain are holding up very well at the fierce competition.

“Business is going great since I am one of the few halal food trucks in the area. People look forward to either trying something new or getting food they’re accustomed to,” Hassain said.

Li said “There aren’t a lot of Korean places to eat in the area so I am one of a kind. People love coming to me to try my different takes on food.

“I eat at K Foods mostly every day,” said one of Baruch’s rising juniors. “The food reminds me of something my parents would cook, especially that delicious chicken teriyaki.”

DeAndre Jordan was held hostage by his own team

July 29, 2015 by JEHRYL RICHARDS

On July 8, 2015 DeAndre Jordan, the starting center of the Los Angeles Clippers, had to make one of the hardest decisions of his life, whether to stay with the L.A Clippers or sign with the Dallas Mavericks. After Jordan made his decision to sign with Dallas the Clippers had another idea and decided to hold Jordan hostage in his own home to keep him with the team.

DeAndre Jordan is one of the best big men in the NBA now. He averages 11.5 points per game, 15 rebounds and 2.2 blocks per game in his 82 regular season games. At the end of the season the Clippers lost to the Houston Rockets in the playoffs after being up 3-1 in the series. The franchise once again failed to earn a spot in the 3rd round.

During the off season DeAndre Jordan decided to explore his options as a free agent and look at other possible team that would interest him. DeAndre saw that the Dallas Mavericks as a better fit for him. Jordan decided to go to Dallas mainly because of some personal issues he had with his teammate Chris Paul, the starting point guard of the Clippers. “Jordan and Chris Paul had gotten into it more than once, which led Jordan to start seriously contemplating what it might be like to play elsewhere in 2015-16,” Kevin Arnovitz, a staff writer for ESPN, wrote in a story. “He was tired of Paul’s constant barking and petty gestures, like distributing high-fives to the three other guys on the floor following a timeout but somehow freezing out Jordan.”

DeAndre then turned down a 5 year $109 million contract with the Clippers for a 4 year $80 million with Dallas. Although, DeAndre verbally agreed to sign with Dallas, he never did. When it was time for him to fly to Dallas to sign his new contract, the Clippers saw that losing their prized center would decrease their chances to getting past the second round of the playoffs. The Clippers went to Dallas and try to find a way to convince DeAndre to stay with them. On the night of the signing the Clippers kept DeAndre hostage at his home for the night.

“Clippers believe DJ is returning to LA but I’m told they are staying at his house until he can sign at midnight.” Ramona Shelburne a senior writer for ESPN.com tweeted.

Another tweet from Adrian Wojnarowski an American sports columnist, said, “So far, Clippers able to keep everyone else out of house, including Cuban, agents. Everyone. They’re in four-corners until midnight Eastern.”

Blake Griffin one of DeAndre’s teammates posted on twitter “Don’t agree with the furniture layout but I’m not an interior designer,” a picture of a chair blocking the door preventing anyone from leaving or coming in.

Another tweet which said “Alright everybody goodnight!” with a picture of a tent showing that they were camping out there for the night.

DeAndre however didn’t look like he was making an attempt to stop them. Reports from Yahoo shows that they were enjoying themselves and having fun. “Clippers, DeAndre Jordan meeting was short. It was clear he was returning to them. Then they started to play cards”. Adrian Wojnarowski tweeted.

DeAndre Jordan is now returning to the Clippers. Under the current circumstances this was probably the best way to handle the situation because now the Clippers are in a position to finally get to the 3rd round and maybe a shot at the championship. Clipper fans should be excited for the season ahead. As for the Dallas Mavericks, they need to find another overpowered center to fill their starting role because DJ is coming home.