Changing The Culture of Involution

Ingrid Yeung ‘23

Nowadays, stress seems to be an experience shared by everyone, no matter your role in society, whether working or still in school. Competition is everywhere, and often stress becomes unhealthy as people begin to compete just for competing. Involution is a term not commonly used in the English language, but it describes the internal friction in our society, which leads to a harmful and stressful environment. Anthropologist Clifford Geertz originally uses involution to depict the stagnant phenomenon in agriculture when the amount of labor dedicated does not yield proportional economic return. Later, anthropologist Alexander Goldenwiese refers to culture to experience involution when it “cannot (or does not) adapt and or expand its economy, but continues to develop only in the direction of internal complexity and inefficiency” (Hui, 2009). This term has gotten extremely popular in China, especially among younger generations, to describe the stress and anxiety in competition and how people focus on defeating others rather than self-improving. The helplessness people feel when facing competition is an exact embodiment of Involution. So, how do we change this culture of Involution? Do we simply take ourselves out of every competition? 

In order to change the culture of Involution, it is necessary to understand why it happens. Often, involution results from the unhealthy competition: a competition that occurs at the expense of one’s well being. It can also result from “involuntary competition” when people are forced to participate in a contest they didn’t sign up for. This is much like school, where people are placed in a basket, evaluated only based on their performances. When we are stuck in a competition cycle, no one gains from working harder, but rather wasting energy and time on one task. For example, Student A and Student B are studying for the same test. Student A studies for one hour and B for thirty minutes. In the end, B receives one less point than A. In the next test, B strives to study more than A to make up that one point, so he reviews for three hours, but A sees him and proceeds to review even more. In the end, A still gets one more point than B, but none of them see significant improvement from their last test. This scenario illustrates how involution applies in real life, putting an overly large amount of effort into a competition but gaining no concrete returns. The idea of diminishing marginal returns from Economics can also explain this situation. There is an optimum input effort that can yield the most significant output. As more input is added, the marginal returns will eventually decrease, resulting in people feeling unaccomplished from all the hard work they put in. 

There are several ways to combat the culture of involution other than simply quitting the competition. One of which I see the most important is determining what is the most important to you. Is your math mid-term more critical? Or is it your small-stake project from another class? Prioritizing tasks can pull you out of many involuntary competitions as you divide up your time accordingly, avoiding over-investment in assignments that might not yield as much return. Another key to combat unhealthy competition is to accept imperfections. People often place themselves in the endless competition cycle by spending significant amounts of time perfecting a straightforward task. When you make a simple problem way more complicated than it should be, it signifies involution taking up your academic life. Realizing that perfecting every task is not what makes you learn the most. Instead of producing perfect works, accept potential flaws and create scholarly and thoughtful pieces. Another aspect of fighting involution is to deal with the anxiety such competition makes. A simple resolution is to focus on the “now” and focus on your health. Often, anxiety happens when people anticipate the future and the outcome, and having the present mindset, focusing on your effort now, will significantly reduce the stress. Remember that physical health contributes significantly to mental health. Maintaining a regular exercise routine and a healthy diet also helps increase stress tolerance. 

As a junior in St. Mark’s, I feel the pressure of academic, athletic, and social anxiety that mounts in living in a highly competitive and intellectually challenging boarding school. However, it is up to us to either accept it and live with the anxiety or find ways to fight against it. Utilize the resources offered on campus; school counselors, advisors, and academic support are all great companions in your fight against the culture of involution. So don’t give up; instead of quitting the challenge entirely and becoming a couch potato, try to focus on the present and your wellbeing while achieving academic goals. 

What is the Difference Between Being Anti Racist and "Not Racist"?

By Jonathan Hernandez ‘24

When discussing the ways in which an institution such as St. Mark’s is becoming an antiracist school, I  have had some conversations where I have often heard my peers question the school’s Anti Racist Strategic Plan as a whole.  “Why,” they ask, “do we need to be antiracist if we are already not racist?” I recognize how we as members of the St. Mark’s community can sometimes easily  confuse being “not racist” and antiracist. We often consider both being “not racist” and antiracist as the opposite of being racist and both being sufficient for fighting racism, but this is not the case. 

By definition, when someone is antiracist, they are acting in ways that oppose racism and promote racial tolerance. Being antiracist involves actively working towards dismantling systems of racism, and promoting racial tolerance and racial equity. However, when someone is simply “not racist,” they are not actively contributing to nor dismantling systems of racism. Someone who is “not racist” is simply labeling themselves; it is a passive stance and can often be used as an excuse to ignore racist practices and systems rather than working to actively dismantle and remove them. 

Differentiating between being antiracist and “not racist” is essential in fighting racism because when one recognizes that being active in dismantling systems of racism, they are able to make more meaningful changes than if they simply are not actively buttressing those systems. Being antiracist, not simply “not racist,” is what the members of the St. Mark’s community should strive to be, where we as a school community are recognizing that being antiracist helps fight racism. With that, there is the question of “how can St. Mark’s Students be anti racist in their school community?”

Students themselves are able to be antiracist and be actively promoting racial tolerance in numerous ways. For example, students can do so by attending a variety of affinity group meetings, examining their own biases and preconceptions of other groups of people, and by challenging the different institutions and their systems of oppressions that they interact with on a daily basis. In attending a variety of affinity group meetings, students are able to learn about the different experiences of different students who belong to different groups and how systems of oppression affect them. Students are then able to gain empathy and understanding and learn how they can help break down and reform racist systems. Further, by examining their own biases and preconceptions, we can become  more aware of how we contribute to and affect systems of oppression that affect everyone and thuis able to become more aware of how to dismantle such systems. Additionally, in challenging such institutions and systems of oppression, students can become more aware of patterns and cycles of oppression and break those cycles and essentially reform such systems and oppression. 

As St. Marks moves forward and continues to work towards becoming an Antiracist Institution, we as the members of the school community must recognize that we are responsible for ensuring that we are more than simply “not racist” and must strive to become actively antiracist. This requires all members of the school community (the administration, students, and faculty) to work towards fighting racist systems of oppression, examining our own biases and creating an inclusive environment for everyone at St. Mark’s.

Freshmen Speak About Third Form Core Course

BY KARRY KIM ‘25

For every third form student, after school meetings on Saturday mornings, it was a weekly routine to head to their Third Form Core classes. To give a short introduction to what the third form core classes are: each class, made up of one teacher and about ten students in each class, ran seven classes from September 18th until November 13th. The major themes of the Third Form Core classes were mindfulness and identity. Most of the classes were held in classrooms, with the structure of journaling prompts with the general theme of identity and having discussions later on in the class. As a long term project, all Third Form Core classes participated in creating a community garden, where classes rotated from week to week with the role of raking and spading the gardening area. Towards the end of the course and as a final assessment, students also created drawings and videos showing their identity. These activities and classes listed above were held with the initiative of “[being] introduced to the tools that are essential for you(Third Formers) to thrive at St. Mark's and beyond” (Course Description). However, despite this ideal goal of getting ready to ‘thrive’ at St. Mark’s, many freshmen students expressed negative opinions about the class. 

Community Garden in progress

One of the most dominant reasons why the course was not enjoyable was because the class was not informative. “I feel like I haven’t learned much from the classes. Learning about ourselves and our identity was very redundant from what we have done in TGS, and although it was nice going outside to garden, I did not understand the purpose of building a community garden. The class materials were also all over the place, jumping from our identity to study skills, gardening, and college application” (Rory Hutchins 25’). Students also suggest that the discussion prompts that heavily focused on abstract concepts such as identity and mindfulness made the discussions itself very challenging while not being practically helpful. “I think I do not have enough experiences yet to determine my identity. However, the course was constantly asking who I was and expecting me to be a unique person, which stressed me out. A lot of other people felt the same way too, which made the discussions upon these topics non informative and very redundant. Discussions on identity basically turned into telling classmates where they were born and raised and listing the activities(athletics) that people were doing at school” (Anonymous). “The questions and discussions that seemed like they were meant to target mindfulness, such as ‘Define Mindfulness’ or ‘Write down all the things you see around you’ also weren't helpful with mindfulness” (Anonymous).

Another prevalent reason was that feedback was not taken in actively. “I tried to tell my Saturday class teacher about why the activities were not helpful, but my teacher simply told me to talk to Ms. Nicks and Ms. Killeen, since they were the ones who were planning the course. This clearly did not work for me because I knew neither of those teachers and I couldn’t just randomly go and talk to them” (Anonymous). 

Students also say that class discussions were not productive, since people were reluctant to participate. “I sometimes felt awkward sharing my personal stories because the people in class were not close to each other. Everyone was just very quiet and not engaging with the discussions held in class. It seemed like everyone was sleepy and bored, even my teacher” (Anonymous). Many students suggest that the schedule contributed to making everyone so tired and bored. “The class running for two hours and thirty minutes straight made me very tired, along with the fact that it was Saturday mornings when classes were held. It felt as though the class was everlasting. Although there were breaks, the break times were given at very irregular and unplanned times, making the class seem like an array of never-ending activities instead of a well planned course” (Anonymous). 

Although students generally expressed negative opinions about the Third Form Core course, some activities gained positive feedback. “I enjoyed the Drop Everything and Read activity, where my class went to the library to read any book they like for 30 minutes. It’s been a long time since I sat down and read a book that isn’t for school” (Rachel Goldberg 25’). “While talking about meditation, I learned an effective meditation method from one of my classmates” (Anonymous).

While freshmen were struggling to make their way in the Third From Core class, the teachers were also struggling to make the course a pleasant experience for the students. According to Ms. Killeen, who planned the course along with Ms. Nicks, there was a desire to target mindfulness, community and equity, identity, adding on to TGS lessons, learning study skills, skills that build up to the Lion Term project in the Third Form Core classes. The challenge was to fit all these values into seven 2.5 hour classes. The community garden was made with the purpose of spending time outside, creating something that lasts for the community and contributes to St. Mark’s, and learning to appreciate our school faculties by experiencing the hard work that the faculty do for our school every day. 

There were some challenges in planning the course. She added that the transition from last year’s Saturday classes, which was reduced to about an hour each week, made the difficulty in scheduling and making the class effective. Another challenge was that not any feedback was given to her while the course was running, and since people’s experiences in mindfulness and identity largely differ according to different groups of people involved. She had no idea what people thought about the course. “Usually, I ask my students in my classes, ‘Did that work, or not?’ after a lesson and that is how I get an idea of how my classes are going, (but because for most of the classes were run by other teachers,) I did not have a chance to ask my students for feedback” (Ms. Killeen).

According to the interviews of third-form students who participated in the Third Form Core course and Ms. Killeen, who planned the course, each group had their own struggles in navigating throughout the class. The two groups’ common difficulty with honest feedback creates a guideline for what future Third Form Core classes should look like, and what we should avoid as teachers and students as a whole. 

Weekend Activities Bring much needed Break

By Vanessa Leung ‘25

Every Friday, an email sent out containing a Google Slides document provides a preview of the following weekend's activities. Documents will be open for sign-ups to trips outside of school usually after lunch. Once students sign up they will convene at the front circle where transportation is provided to the designated location. A time period of 45 minutes to an hour and a half will be allotted for the students to spend. After that students will be transported back. For weekend activities happening at school students simply have to show up at the specified place and time to participate. 

Weekend trips usually contain trips to Target, Natick mall, and to festivals or places slightly farther away where students have the opportunity to experience the culture and environment around them. On campus activities also include fun choices such as painting, decorating donuts, making pies, karaoke and so on.

Perhaps the only point of frustration that many students share is the way that signups are held. Giving students access to edit the Google Slides is an efficient way of allowing students to sign up by simply adding their names on the list, but this also means the possibility of students deleting other students' names to make space for themselves. While this action is really unfair towards the students who signed up early, there is no solution to this and the person that modified the list of names can not be easily found. The only way is for people to trust each other and to respect the ones who already entered their names. Online sign ups might not be the most effective way of signing up, but it is the best for now. 

Another suggestion is for the slides to include an esitmate how much time the trip might take, because oftentimes students might underestimate the time period the trip takes and lose time they planned on doing something else. 

All of these activities and trips outside of school have been really fun and enjoyable. Trips are a great opportunity for students to hang out with their friends in different settings rather than only school, and school activities are a great way of showing that our school is not just for academics. The balance between locations that sell necessities and places that provide entertainment in weekend trips are great. 

Ongoing Debate on Semester vs. Trimester System

Andrea Xu ‘24

After a year and half of remote learning, the comeback to normal school in September feels unprecedented and fresh. In retrospect, I still gasp at how much the world and our social behaviors have changed. In previous articles, the staff writers discussed the pros and cons of online learning. On the positive side, remote learning opened us to explore new hobbies and interests. On the other hand, it divested us of social interactions, and, is however unfavorable to our wellness. Understandably, adapting in normal school could be overwhelming. Time inches steadily toward the afar. In the blink of an eye, eight weeks passed. In this page, I want to consider the academic prospect of in-person learning. 

The end of Window One is November 5th. Arguably, the date induces widespread discontent. Seniors had to meet the college application deadline in early November, and teachers had to write insane amounts of recommendations while grading final assessments or projects. In addition, under-formers felt stressed from piled-on work in the following week. Some teachers alleviated the stress for freshmen by giving them delayed due dates.

Faculty interpreted this situation from their unique perspectives. Mr. Palmer, the Science Department Head, shared that Window Two feels the shortest, “first of all, Window Two is broken up into breaks- the Thanksgiving and Christmas. And from the end of Window One to Christmas, people want to accomplish something.”

Ms. Killeen, a History and Social Science faculty, expressed that the transition to St. Mark’s takes time, “I see Window One as a warmup, especially for freshmen. Figuring out St. Mark’s is a lot, sometimes too much.” Furthermore, she unfolded her outlook for Window Two: “Another thing is the winter practice schedule. In the fall, all the athletic teams have their own fields, whereas in the winter, there are not enough facilities to accommodate all the teams all at once.” As a result, the athletic department made decisions to stagger the practice times. Interestingly, some Junior Varsity and Thirds teams even have practice that runs into study hall and beyond. Occasionally, some days are harnessed under special schedules for events like evening chapel. Ms. Killeen opined that this lack of rhythm was chaotic. 

Biologically speaking, dullness sweeps through the winter because we have less exposure to sunlight. In our bodies, higher quantities of melatonins are activated, resulting in lethargy and symptoms of depression. 

Ms. Matthews, who teaches Writing Workshop and Literature on Trial, a senior English elective, metaphorically set out her teaching during the pandemic as a “beautiful censorship.” Jokingly stated, she had her first Thanksgiving in fourteen years without grading papers. “It was difficult,” she remarked. “I understand that kids missed a year and half of school. I only got to see them twice a week for 45 minutes!” Also, she gave varied weights to different windows, “I weigh Window One lower because everyone is learning how to become a student at St. Mark’s. The workload in Window One is low stakes. My students have a haphazard span of knowledge on grammar. I gave them diagnostics to do.” 

She continued, “I weigh Window Two higher. Everything is real work. High expectations. This feels like a heavy lift to freshmen.” 

While it seems, some propose a shift to a trimester schedule so that the first grading period ends on the start of the Thanksgiving break. 

Dr. Harwood, the head of the Classics Department, believed learning is a natural procedure,  “the learning process is organic. The student’s learning doesn’t necessarily fit into arbitrary units of time. If we want to create a holistic education, we should adopt the trimester system. For example, language learning takes place over a period of years, and it doesn't always fit into smaller time frames.”

During my interview with Dr. Harwood, she digressed from the trimester system to the assessment week. The assessment week is also known as the midterm. It happens in the last week before Christmas. Dr. Harwood highlighted that students need time to rest in order to synthesize and integrate information. “Deeper learning happens this way,” she added. This made me think about my own learning differently. Should I only seek results or make a report that displays my solidification for everything I have learned so far? 

Jacob Cifuenttes’ 24, a sophomore, alleged a preference over the quarters system. He generally feels stressful turning in assignments on time. Jacob finds frequently overseeing comments and applying them into the next term an effective approach to improve his learning. 

Diana Oh’ 24, another sophomore, agreed with Jacob, “The quarters offer a closer level of my learning progress. As opposed to a half year at the end, I like the conciseness of quarters. For me, trimesters are too long.” On the whole, Diana deemed that people tend to become demotivated from longer periods. Recurring motivations are important. 

Is St. Mark’s Reentering In-Person Learning Too Quickly?

By Ingrid Yeung ‘23

Into the third year of combating COVID-19, wearing a mask and discussing new cases have become the norm of our normal social life. This school year, before winter break, St. Mark’s has effectively contained the virus within the school. Even with the introduction of the intimidating Delta variant, the school, strictly following the health and safety protocol, managed to keep St. Markers safe and suppressed cases from growing. Just as things were going positively, a more transmissive variant Omicron emerged and quickly spread throughout the world in a few weeks. The United States even reported 1.35 million cases per day during the supposedly relaxing holiday season, possibly due to increased traveling and transmission. With Omicron storming the country, several St. Mark’s community members tested positive during the break. However, after serious consideration, the school still decided to maintain the regular return time for students and set a series of protocols and procedures to reenter the fully in-person learning. Then a question arose: Are we coming back too quickly? 

As students returned from winter break, St. Mark’s required all incoming boarding students to take PCR tests and immediately start quarantine within the dormitory before the testing result came out to return to the regular school schedule. During this time, all meals were taken out, students were not allowed to access other parts of campus, and all classes happened online. When PCR test results were released after two days, there were 17 positive cases made up of 11 boarding students, two day students, and four adults. Such results were much higher than we had obtained prior to winter break and concerned many students and parents, even though it only constituted 3.5% of our school’s population. After consultation with EH&E, the school still resumed in-person classes and activities to many’s surprise. 

Several other cases have been detected since the school resumed in person last Saturday, including students who have recently gotten their booster and are fully vaccinated. This pattern clearly shows Omicron’s highly transmissive nature and its ability to multiply within a close community like St. Mark’s. Many students have been stressed about the COVID cases and being close contacts here at school. Parents are even more concerned about their children’s well-being. Looking at the still increasing number of cases, did the school make the correct decision to bring us all back together? Students have started an online petition to call for Hybrid learning for students’ well-being, but such voices do not seem to be heard by the school. The stress level only increases for the students and community members seeing their friends testing positive and becoming close contacts. The Omicron is less severe than other variants, but that is only to say that most people have milder symptoms, and the relative percentage hospitalized is less. However, the total number hospitalized still surpassed last January, creating another record.  

The students and the parents have valid reasons to be concerned about the school’s decision and reports on COVID-19 cases. The school reported seven boarding students and two adults have tested positive in the most recent PCR test. However, according to student sources and our knowledge, there are far more than 7 cases of COVID-19 in our boarding population. Understandably, the school does not provide a complete list of people who contracted COVID, but news of positive cases spread fast among students themselves as a tight-knit community. Whether such information is exaggerated, it already creates enough tension around the school to reconsider in-person learning.  This is not to entirely discredit the validity of the school’s report, but just once more casting doubt on whether we went back to in-person learning too soon and whether or not the school is operating with extra caution right now. School life with constant discussion of contact tracing and positive cases can be very stressful. Potentially contracting COVID-19 and evacuating to quarantine can sound even rougher. After hearing friends test positive, a friendly hug in the morning could become worries at night. Those thoughts and common emotions can influence students’ life and academic participation even more negatively than remote learning. So again, did St. Mark’s resume in-person teaching too quickly? 

Fellow students, there is not much we can do at this challenging time but follow the health and safety protocol. Wearing surgical masks properly and covering your nose can significantly reduce the risk of contracting COVID- 19. When you notice symptoms similar to COVID-19, report to health services for a rapid test as soon as possible. And lastly, wear your mask properly, avoid crowded areas, and stay safe! 

Is Your Body Too Disturbing for the Community? Thoughts on the SM Dress Code

Suha Choi ’22, Yuslis Ramirez ’24, Victoria (Tori) Merlo ’24, Netty Andrews ’25, Julie He ’23

No spaghetti straps— but really, no showing shoulders. No leggings— but really, no showing tight legs. No blue jeans— but really, no representation of the working class. As St. Markers, we are accustomed to following many rules— all so neatly listed out in the SM handbook, the “SM communist manifesto” as some call it— in order to ensure our community values and RUSH. But that doesn’t mean we need to blindly abide by rules and traditions without ever questioning why they are written the way they are. In particular, the school’s dress code has had questions and a recently increased dissatisfaction in the way they are created. In the recent poll that the St. Marker staff sent out to all-school, 166 out of 205 students (81%) expressed that they would like the dress code to become more flexible and comprehensive. This overwhelming student consensus goes far beyond the mere teenager complaint about wanting to wear their hoodies all day long. The current dress code reflects upon what our community values and simultaneously, what issues we are neglecting— to name a few, sexual objectification of women, socioeconomic diversity, and the priority of making students feel “comfortable” and “at-home” in this community.

St. Mark’s has long emphasized their beloved words: “business casual.” Although many incoming students every year and even upperclassmen who have been at school for some time continue to be uncertain about what that term is supposed to mean anyways, they gradually adopt what other people wear: khaki pants, the Nike Airforce 1s, the list goes on. But let’s face it. As one student reflected on their poll responses, khakis and collared shirts are simply expensive: “To expect a student to be able to wear them five days a week is to demand a certain level of economic availability, which is something SM should strive to stay away from.” This is not to take away the atmosphere of a formal, college preparatory institution (again, whatever this is supposed to mean). From the discomforts that so many students expressed, a compromise between these two conflicting ideas would be most beneficial. Or as another student puts it, “Yes, it’s important to look professional and respectable however not everyone in our St. Mark’s student body is able to buy clothes that are up to ‘standard.’” After all, what is so wrong about seeing Nike shorts around the school day? Shorts that allow students to wear after school for sports without having to ask their parents for an extra set of “formal” clothes. Will Nike shorts be a threat to the school’s prestige and supposedly traumatize the prospective students and parents visiting for tour? These questions are not discussed enough in our community, and the consequence to silence is far-reaching. 

The dress code and the new dress code violation cards that were announced during school meeting, promotes a shame culture inside the SM community, whether we all know it or not. This shame culture is especially true for female students. The opinions that female students at St. Mark’s shared were incredibly overwhelming and disturbing. Here are some representations of the responses we gathered:

“The 4-inch requirement for skirts is really hard to meet, because it's hard to find them in any stores. I asked at least 8 of my friends and they all agree with this. Also, over the summer a friend and I found 10+ boarding schools that don't have this requirement.”

“What’s up with spaghetti straps and leggings and short skirts? Is it inappropriate and “not professional enough” if our legs and shoulders start showing? Are our bodies disturbing and against the “academic environment”? Why do they go against the “professional” and “respectable” environment? This is an implicit sexualization.”

So… Why do we have only a few faculty members decide the dress code without student discussion, when it is building rage and confusion among nearly half of our community members? Indeed, it’s not just girls. When the discussion starts flowing, you realize it is boys, too:

“I feel as though the dress code isn’t fair for the male side of St.Marks. Why can’t the male dress code be more relaxed? I find myself picking out the same type of pants and the same shirt every morning before school.” - anonymous male St. Marker

“I don’t understand why I am only allowed to wear a St. Mark’s sweatshirt to school. How about all my other hoodies that don’t even have anything offensive on them?” - anonymous male St. Marker

Living in a culture that already encourages a very limited form of masculinity, male students at St. Mark’s are taken away to express creativity and their identity, subconsciously pushing them to conform and dress up like every other male. Clearly, the dress code doesn’t take into account that everyone is shaped differently. In the words of an anonymous St. Mark’s student, “dress doesn't really impact learning (unless taken to an extreme). Professional clothing can be hard to access for some people. Professionalism is a social construct. What looks professional in one culture is different from another culture and another community. The dress code impacts girls/women disproportionately (skirt length among other things).” As a community, what do we want to value more, “formality” or the communal sense of being comfortable around one another? And of course, as many students brought up, compromises are always possible: perhaps, it is possible to capture both the school’s formality and the comforts of our students, but only once the school starts incorporating student opinions. 

Op-Ed: The Right to Bare Legs

By Julie He ‘23

As a small independent private school, St. Marks allows for freedom in many choices from religion to athletics. However, it seems the line is drawn when it concerns clothing. With the (arguably) strict dress code, St. Mark’s imposes a string of rules, including a ban on blue jeans, leggings, sweatpants, and more. Because of these regulations, SM students are often left with few choices. During the day, especially when considering weather, skirts are a popular choice. As an easy and fashionable article of clothing, skirts offer comfort and style to everyone. Because St Mark’s dress code requires the skirt length to be “4 inches past one’s fingertips”, this rule makes it hard for students to dress freely because of the length. The dress skirt length is too harsh and could use adjustments.

As times shift, so do fashion trends. Since the founding of St. Mark's, styles have developed, and shorter skirts have become the fashion norm. Furthermore, pictures of Southborough School (Girls School before it merged with SM) found in the school show girls wearing skirts, not of dress code length. If 1978 St. Mark’s are allowed such attire privilege, why can’t we?

One reason for the skirt length rule is to promote equality using the same length of bottoms for both boys and girls. However, while the intention is admirable, stores and malls do not support this notion. In stores, Bermuda-length shorts for boys are effortless to find. This cannot be said the same for girls. It is near impossible to find skirts the length of more than 4 inches below the fingertips, with most dresses found in stores today fingertip length or shorter. The length for boy’s pants is, in general, longer than for girls of the same size. The equality then turns to inequality when stores do not offer said equality.

At SM, athletic uniforms (Squash, Tennis, etc.) also force girls to wear skirts that are actually not of dress code length. What is the difference between the academic day and sports day? If modesty is the issue, shouldn’t sport skirts be longer since their physical movement should be more revealing than walking and sitting. Spandex shorts can also be worn underneath skirts should that be a big issue. 

While I understand St. Mark’s wishes for equality and protection, the rules could be tweaked to allow more freedom in dress choice. Our clothes have a significant effect on us whether in terms of confidence or comfort. For example, by changing the length to just the fingertips, we can ensure safety and a chance to wear skirts. This length is also imposed at many other private schools with no problems arising from it. Implementing this rule would provide more equality to students and allow them to express their individuality through clothing. Currently, I see no drawbacks of laxing the dress code to allow more skirts in the school. By loosening the restrictions, St. Markers will be able to dress more easily, express themselves, and stay fashionable.

What Is The Purpose Of Safe Zones?

Netty Andrews ‘25

Many St. Mark’s students have heard about the safe zones on campus. When I was first hearing about it my first thought was, why? Why would we need safe Zones if the whole campus is supposed to feel safe for students and faculty? First, let me provide some background.

Safe zones were established here at St. Mark’s a long time ago. They were made because some faculty wanted to provide students who didn’t feel comfortable sharing aspects of their identity out loud and in public, a place for them to do just that. These safe zones were open for all students, but I’m assuming they mainly focused on LGBTQ peoples, POC, and more people, since back then they were less welcomed in a private school setting and in society in general. 

*I would like to give a very big thank you to Mr. Vachris, who made time for me to ask these questions while he was preparing for a meeting.*

Mr. Vachris, Dean of Students, said that these safe spaces were a good start for promoting more acceptance for these groups of people at St. mark’s, and as the school evolved as a community it also indulged in more conversations about how to create more acceptance forming the space(s) we have today.

As we can see there was a huge purpose for safe zones when they were first created, but now we have to question if that purpose still exists anymore? And if it does, what hasn’t St. Mark’s done to make people feel comfortable? As said before, St. Mark’s has grown into a place where all types of people are welcomed, so it’s very hard to feel like one aspect of your identity is not shared with another person. This is also another reason we have Pathways and clubs, to find people that share our identity or interest and bond over it. 

I believe that here at St. Mark’s, students should not have to feel like they can not open up about themselves. Everyone should be able to express themselves at any place on this campus, but at the same time, there might be a story that I haven’t heard yet. A story where a student here does not feel safe, and they use a safe zone to talk about it. I can not guarantee that everyone feels safe on this campus through my words alone but through all of our actions as a community we can. Everyone has had moments in their life where they have felt unsafe or uncomfortable, long or short. Thinking back on that feeling, would you want anyone on this campus to feel the same way you did?