Opinion
Comparing Pingry Anywhere to Other School Models
By Zoe Wang (V) By the middle of March 2020, the coronavirus pandemic sent schools and educators into a frenzy. Phil Murphy, the Governor of New Jersey, announced that all public and private schools were to be immediately closed to prevent the virus's spread. The...
How do Pingry’s Research Programs Compare to Other Schools?
By Jessica Lin (VI) Pingry’s various research programs are one of the school’s greatest strengths. From the renowned Pingry Research Exhibit to the newly added Humanities Independent Research Team (HIRT), our programs are rapidly developing and expanding. We...
To Mr. Levinson: End the AP Era at Pingry
By Aneesh Karuppur (VI) Some time back, I wrote a commentary regarding AP-designation courses at Pingry, and how Pingry ought to consider phasing them out. Given the events of the past few weeks, I would like to update that message: I feel that it is now...
Parting Pictures of Jake Ross: A Rhetorical Analysis
By Noah Bergam (V), Justin Li (V), and Aneesh Karuppur (V) June 18, 2020 On the evening of June 11, the Pingry community received an email from Head of School Matt Levinson and the Board of Trustees confirming that Mr. Jake Ross was fired from The...
The Coronavirus Endgame: What’s Next?
By Noah Bergam (V) The first night my dad came home from treating COVID-19 patients at Newark Beth-Israel Hospital, I asked him what the situation looked like. His immediate response: “No one knows anything.” Ground zero, according to him, was a welter of confusion....
Beefing Up Economics Education at Pingry
By Noah Bergam (V) The bipartisan government report on the 2008 Financial Crisis and the Great Recession paraphrased Shakespeare in its analysis: “The fault lies not in the stars, but in us.” I read parts of this report, as well as numerous other sources, for a...
Positivity During COVID-19
By Andrew Wong (IV)
In this time of great struggle and uncertainty in our nation, and indeed the entire world, it has become evident that it is fear, not reason, that drives the decision making of not just the two aforementioned characters, but also that of the entire world. We’ve all seen the news. Videos of people fighting over the last bag of rice at the supermarket. Lines stretching out the door of big box stores. As my friends across the world can confirm, there is not a single scrap of toilet paper to be found on store shelves anywhere. People are fearful, and it is evident that hope, just like toilet paper, is nowhere to be found.
In Defense of Gap Years
By Grace Barral (IV) When my parents told my brother that they wanted him to take a gap year before starting school at Trinity College, let’s just say he was less than pleased. To be more precise, he was mortified.
The Light Behind the Dress
By Brynn Weisholtz (VI) April 22nd was supposed to be the night of my senior prom, a night that my friends and I have looked forward to since walking through the clocktower doors many years ago. I find myself in a state of limbo, walking from floor to floor and room to room all within the walls of my home. I silently wonder, how can my senior year be slipping away this quickly?
An Investigation of Teacher Turnover at Pingry
By Justin Li (V) In the last year-and-a-half, the departures of teachers such as Mr. Peterson, Ms. Taylor, and Mr. Thompson did not pass without controversy and speculation. Despite the uncertainty clouding most of these departures, it is undeniable that each one...
Has the Record Gone Soft?
By Eva Schiller (V)
Are we openly and accurately reporting Pingry news, or have we gone soft?
Why Pingry Needs to Remove AP Courses
By Aneesh Karuppur (V) A few weeks ago, I got to participate in my first Pingry Career Day; I found it to be just what I expected. The alumni were engaging, knowledgeable, and insightful, and my only complaint was that I didn’t get to spend enough time with them....
A Look Into Pingry’s Academic Life
By Christine Guo (IV)
The Pingry Record recently sent out a survey to 75 Pingry Upper Schoolers about the school’s academic life.
The Mental Health Stigma
By Mirika Jambudi (III) Four out of five people will be affected by a mental illness or neurological disorder at some point in their lives. Whether you or a loved one is affected, the mental health crisis has touched the life of every single human, placing...
Prorating the Priceless
By Noah Bergam (V) The Pingry tuition for the 2019-20 school year was $42,493. Lunch cost $1,378. Those are significant numbers in my life, numbers that, for over six years, have hovered over my head, acting as a reminder of what doesn’t go to my younger siblings each...
When the Peace Candle Blows Out: A Continuation to On Peace Candles and Being Ignored
By Monica Monica Chan (V)
As a leader of the Asian Student Union, this time has brought many questions to me.
Big Fish Refuted
By Noah Bergam (V) Lights. Silence. 390 seconds of glory. Ever since I first watched in sixth grade, I knew I wanted to do LeBow. From the win of Katie Coyne ‘16 to the two-year reign of Rachel Chen ‘18 to the...
Curriculum Changes in the Upper School English Department
By Brian Li (IV) and Carson Shilts (V) In the past year, the Pingry Upper School English Department has undergone major changes involving the Junior and Senior curricula. Previously, the Junior/Senior electives were a collective affair;...
A Complicated History of U.S.-Iran Relations
By Meghan Durkin (V) It’s February 1979. The phone rings. The clock reads 3 a.m. as my grandfather holds it up to his ear. It’s 11:30 a.m. in Iran, where the Shah, Mohammad Raza Pahlavi, had fled in response to insurgency a month earlier. At the time, my grandfather...
Freedom to Choose
By Brynn Weisholtz (VI) At Pingry, a student’s academic coursework is primarily determined by the administration and follows a fairly regimented path. There is limited flexibility for a student to “choose” any portion of his or her schedule in the early...
ShopWrong: An Argument Against Arguing the Negative
By Noah Bergam (V) When I was a little kid, I got angry when I heard my name. Noah. I heard the word ‘No.’ Somehow that just pushed me over the edge. My older siblings, realizing my dislike, would further taunt me by calling ShopRite ShopWrong. I...
Never Doing Enough: Stress as a Measure of Success
By Helen Liu (V) I have a very close relationship with my parents. I’m open to them about almost everything, and they encourage and support me. Ever since I can remember, they’ve been drilling the importance of hard work, compassion, and virtue into my head to make me...
A New Version of History
By Brian Li (IV) “What’s even the point of history class? Nothing actually matters now.” Last year, I took the World History 9 course, a survey of “history from the emergence of civilization in ancient Mesopotamia to the Age of Exploration.” I thought...
Maybe It’s Time to Phase Out the In-Class Test
By Aneesh Karuppur (V) When I entered Pingry as a Form III student, I was excited to engage in the team-based, critical-thinking-style learning that Pingry has splashed all over its marketing materials. I bought into the idea of building my foundational...
The Value of Humanities in the 21st Century
By Andrew Wong (IV) Last year, my history teacher started the year with a thought experiment. He told our class, “History is irrelevant. If the only reason why we learn history is not to repeat the mistakes of the past, then in today’s world, it is useless and...
All the opinion articles of The Pingry Record.
The views expressed in these articles are those of the authors do not necesarily reflect or represent the views of the Record or The Pingry School.
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