#stephanie wang

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Chloe & Mamma Stephanie Wang

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ISB Students Benignly Deterred From Artistic Endeavors

BY: Stephanie Wang, Staff Reporter

Our parents are our best friends, whether we acknowledge that or not. They only want the best for us and expect us to reach the best through hard work and determination. But do they know what “the best” actually is always? Is it to attend a prestigious university, have a lucrative career, and gain happiness because of our successful careers and stable lives? Often, there is a certain disparity between our parents’ and our definition of “good,” “success,” and “value.” Our interests may sharply contrast with theirs, especially in the case of artistic endeavors.

As an eighth grader moving onto ninth, I felt compelled to join the high school orchestra. Although I enjoyed playing the violin, I wasn’t keen on taking a course that required me so much commitment. But I felt guilty that I didn’t want to continue because it meant that in a sense, I did not meet my parent’s expectation. In the end, I joined the orchestra out of half-hearted interest, but mostly because of guilt and parental expectation.

Among many of the plans our parents may have concocted for us to be successful, one of the prime examples is the emphasis on and expectation to “complete” a classical education. This “classical” education is primarily focused on what many consider the “core subjects”: Math, English, Sciences, Social Sciences, and in some cases, Foreign Languages. The Arts, however, have often been unfairly neglected and relegated to the lowest rank in the hierarchy of education. The exception to this discrimination lies within the musical arts. At a young age, many of us are pushed to study the musical arts and learn how to play a musical instrument—most typically, classical instruments like the piano or violin. Or even better, we learn two instruments. 

It seems that parents often place musical arts in the upper tier, leaving performing and visual arts such as theater, painting, and film in the lower tiers of educational value. The distinction between the musical arts and the visual arts lies within the consideration that some may view the musical arts to be more sophisticated. While some may not understand some of the themes and emotions in an art piece, one can easily recognize Mozart’s Turkish March or Beethoven’s Ode to Joy. To be able to proficiently play a well-known musical piece may characterize one as “accomplished,” while the ability to create a painting may not impress others as much simply because of the difficulty to discern whether it is a “great” work of art or not. The coupling of the musical arts and the core classes would then form the “classical” education of a potential member of the “elite” and “well-educated” society. The value of such an education is believed to be immensely beneficial and essential to one’s well-being and upbringing. However, emphasis on completing a “classical” education solely through the musical arts could inhibit us  from pursuing other artistic interests.

The commonly held belief of parents that the arts have little to no benefit in the students’ future is because only a minority of filmmakers, actors, musicians, and artists are successful. Even though parents cite insecure career paths as the reason why their children should not concentrate on the arts, these students are still strongly urged to become proficient at an instrument in order to ‘complete’ their education. A common parental expectation is that a student will start learning an instrument at a young age and continue playing it throughout middle school and high school. Eventually, the student’s dedication to the practice of the instrument may or may not end up on a college application; after all, what better way to show commitment than years of honing a certain ability or talent? This dedication may be initiated by the student’s interest in the instrument, but more often than not, it is part parental expectation and part guilt that drives the student to continue playing. The idea of our parents frowning upon artistic avenue other than music unconsciously steers us away from exploring new artistic options because we fear the potential disappointment from our parents.

Our parents may not realize it, and perhaps we may not even realize it, but expectations, guilt, and fear of disappointment benignly deter us from pursuing other artistic endeavors. What students and parents both need is, perhaps, to establish a mutual understanding about certain expectations imposed so that we can chase after a genuine interest that we can foster—and, in the idea clase, use in some shape or form in the future.

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Toilet Talk

BY: STEPHANIE WANG, Staff Reporter

When you walk into an ISB bathroom, nothing is particularly striking. The bathroom stalls are grey, the walls are grey, and the floor tiles are grey. However, the design of the bathrooms is beside the point. We’re usually only concerned with the practicality of bathrooms – whether the toilets flush and whether the sinks work.

If you enter the bathroom on the second floor across from the English offices, however, you will find yourself in a bathroom designed for Barbie and Ken. Bathroom users are bombarded by a bold pink in the female bathrooms and by a baby blue in the male bathrooms.

For students worried about the colors of the bathrooms, fret not. Not all of the bathrooms will be equally pink and blue. Yet. According to Jason Wang, the Facilities Assistant Manager, “the bathrooms are only samples, but in a year or so, they could become the new layout of all bathrooms in ISB.” On the bright side, Mr. Wang says, “The new installments of automatic hand driers and motion-sensor sinks are a part of an effort to become more environmentally friendly and to minimize the spread of bacteria. With the hand-driers, we don’t have to use paper towels and the motion-sensor sinks mean that people don’t have to physically touch the sink and spread germs.” Such efforts seem to be an environmental improvement from the older bathrooms. In addition, the larger floor tiles are easier to clean thereby giving the bathrooms a “clean and fresh” appearance, as described by Erik Wolter (11). The grey bathrooms are at least ten years old, and aren’t as environmentally friendly as their colorful counterparts.

However, a couple of issues have been brought up. Jinghan Zhao (9) doesn’t “like the color pink.”  “Why not white?” She questions. “White is neutral.” Zhao also complains that “the toilets don’t even flush until you open the door [to exit.] Or sometimes they don’t flush at all.” Mr. Wang notes, “the toilets need ten to fifteen seconds to register that a person is in the stall and is using the toilet. Then the toilets will be switched to the water conserving mode.” He also added that for the time being, “there won’t be a button to flush, but in the future, a button could be added just in case the automatic flushing doesn’t work.”

When asked about the color palettes, Mr. Wang explains, “it took us a long time to choose colors. We chose blue because it is one of our school colors and it was more masculine. For the female bathrooms, we consulted some of the women in our office, and they said that pink was fine. It’s a more feminine color. But if people have problems with the colors, they’re always welcome to come to me and give suggestions.”

So the next time you make a snap judgment about new bathrooms, just bear in mind that while the new bathrooms may have their flaws, they do have some benefits.