Debate: Should Nora have left?

“It is better to debate a question without settling it than to settle a question without debating it.”

Joseph Joubert

At the end of A Doll's House, the protagonist, Nora Helmer, has to make a decision: Stay at home with her controlling, ego-driven husband, or to leave, setting a new paradigm for women. If she leaves, her 3 children will be raised without a mother. Torvald's treatment of Nora until this point in the play leaves much room for empathy; and indeed, most readers accept her decision to leave as a natural consequence of his treatment. But, upon further examination, Nora's decision is complicated: Just like her friend, Christine, Nora will risk social depravation without a husband. So, having set up the premises, my 10th graders engaged in an important debate: Was Nora right to abandon her husband and kids at the end of the play?

The 2 sides, affirmative and negative, spent time preparing their cases, crafting arguments around Nora and Torvald's relationship with a focus on societal expectations. The debate, just like the conclusion of the play, gave the audience a window into Nora's difficult decision. Below I will chronicle some highlights from the debate:

1st Affirmative (Nora was correct in abandoning her husband and children): The 1st affirmative came out strong with arguments that Nora could not develop as a person if she stayed with Torvald. This, they argued, was a basic human right that he had denied to her. They followed up this argument with a discussion about Nora’s inability to parent her children in her current condition — here they argued, that she was incapable of being a mother-figure for them.

1st Negative: (Nora was incorrect in abandoning her husband and children): The 1st negative came back strong: They argued that given the societal expectations placed on Torvald (and the family), should Nora leave, he would have his reputation damaged. Further, they argued, Nora chose to forge the signature on the document — whether or not it was necessary — and therefore Torvald had a right to get upset at her. They concluded with remarks about Nora’s sense of selfishness driving her decision to leave.

After both sides had the opportunity to ask questions, the debate moved into closing remarks. Here, students again emphasized their main points: The affirmative discussed Nora’s right to pursue her own life, free from Torvald; the negative reworked their argument about Nora’s dishonesty through the play.

Most impressive of all — though there were many impressive aspects— was the spirit in the debate; students presenting cogent, thoughtful arguments and engaging in the great intellectual tradition of debate. Students respectfully listened and responded to arguments from the other side, acknowledging the legitimacy of the points, but using sources from the text to refute them.

As election season wraps up, I am reminded of the importance of civil discourse, whereby disagreeing sides can come together — not to coalesce about their similarities — but instead to share in the ancient art of debate; a tradition that my 10th grade students engaged in this last week.

~Joel Neft
English Instructor

AP Latin

Even though I love teaching Vergil’s Aenied, I do have one major complaint with the AP approved course syllabus. While the curriculum does suggest that students have some familiarity with the Homeric epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey, it tends to use these texts to establish the epic tradition in which Vergil is writing and then simply to place them as mere background information for the Aeneid. In other words, knowing the basic elements essential to epic poetry and learning a few characters and events, for the purposes of the AP exam, can replace the reading of the Homer, which it absolutely cannot. This is not to say that one can’t read and enjoy the Aeneid independently from its predecessors. Quite to the contrary, it is a beautifully written work with well developed characters and exciting narrative. Nevertheless, Vergil was writing for an audience that had grown-up with, and had been educated by, the Homeric epics. Therefore they knew these poems inside and out. It was this intimate knowledge of the Iliad and the Odyssey, on which Vergil would rely when he would virtually transpose Greek passages from these epics into his Latin text, but with a twist on character, circumstance or context. What might strike a modern reader as copy write infringement was an ancient poet’s way of shouting out to his audience, telling them to compare his text to those that came before, and to use theses intra-textual connections to enhance the meaning of his work.


In AP Latin we recently worked with dialogue between Juno and Aeolus, king of the winds. In the conversation, Juno, the queen of the gods, approaches Aeolus, a lesser god, and asks for a favor - that he release the winds to create a storm on the sea that will destroy Aeneas and the Trojan fleet. We looked at the structure and language of Juno’s speech, which begins with flattery, slides in the “ask” and then finishes with a bribe - a beautiful nymph as a new bride for Aeolus. Juno’s supplicating demeanor and the bribe, in particular, strike not only the reader, but even Aeolus as little odd and unnecessary. In fact, Aeolus basically responds, “you don’t have to do anything for me. I have to carry out whatever you order,” and proceeds to unleash the fury of the winds. Yet this scene is not so awkward, when viewed along side a scene from Book XV of the Iliad, in which the god of sleep, Hypnos, refuses Hera’s (the Greek Juno) request to put Zeus to sleep while the other gods rejoin the fighting in the Trojan War. Fearing Zeus’ reprisal, Hypnos rebuffs Hera, until he realizes that she has something he wants - one of the graces as his wife. When Hera agrees to this quid pro quo arrangement, Hypnos, puts Zeus to sleep. Regardless of whether Juno in the Aeneid really feels that she has to take this deferential tone with Aeolus or whether she just wants to cut to the chase, skip the ensuing negation similar to the one she had in past (the Iliad) and thus hurry the Trojan destruction; Aeolus does not react as she expects and she only expects a particular reaction because of the scene in the Iliad. In fact, it is not clear if Aeolus ever takes her up on her offer. He simply obeys.

~Maureen Beabout
Latin Instructor

Pluralism in Action

As we were studying the first mishna in Berachot and came to Rabbi Eliezer’s opinion that we may recite the evening shema “when the kohanim enter the Temple to eat their teruma”, the hands shot up in the air. “We looked at the commentary”, the students said, “and we see that Rabbi Eliezer means that we can say the shema at nightfall, when it’s dark, because that is when the kohanim could eat their terumah food.” I congratulated them on figuring that out. They continued, “but if he meant nightfall, why didn’t Rabbi Eliezer just say that? Why the reference to the destroyed Temple and to no longer viable kohanim and teruma foods?"


“Excellent question,” I said.

Just then Rabbi Seltzer walked into the room…and a magical moment of pluralistic Torah learning began.

I, an Orthodox rabbi, answered the students’ question by pointing out that the Rabbis of the Mishna would constantly refer to the Temple and the rituals performed there not only to remind the people of their glorious past but also to emphasize their unshakeable faith that the Temple would be rebuilt and the practices of old will once again resume.

Rabbi Seltzer, a Conservative rabbi on the other hand, offered that the Rabbis understood the realities that lay before them and grasped that Judaism was forever changed by the loss of the Temple. The reimagining of Judaism required radically new thinking that made reference to the past as a way to establish credibility and authenticity. Their view of the future did not necessarily encompass the old ways of the Temple.

Two rabbis…two opinions.

And then the students began offering their ideas and opinions about what the Rabbis might have been thinking. There was no shouting, no dissing, and no rolling of the eyes.

There was conversation and dialogue. There was respect, integrity and a sense of community.

There was Torah.

And there were smiles on the faces of two rabbis at the Cardin School.

~Rabbi Yaakov Chaitovsky
Judaics Instructor

Bully Prevention Awareness

October is National Bully Prevention Month! Last week marked the kickoff of the counseling department’s Bully Prevention initiative. Mrs. Villet and Ms. Schein spoke to the students about the recent media attention on bullying.  Bullying can be physical, verbal, and non-verbal. The students discussed the recent Rutgers tragedy and other teenager suicides as a result of bullying. As a community, we want to make sure no student ever feels that desperate or left out.


The 11th graders participated in a classroom activity with Ms. Schein where they learned about many different types of bullying and the effects on victims, bystanders, and bullies. The students made posters advocating against the different types of bullying. These posters are displayed in the modulars and are meant to teach other students about the different types of bullying and how to recognize and prevent these types of behaviors.

Throughout the month, Mrs. Villet and Ms. Schein will continue to work with students, faculty, and parents on increasing sensitivity and empathy and creating a school culture free of bullying. The Cardin students always show tremendous derech eretz and the counseling department is hopeful that Cardin students will continue to be role models for tolerance and acceptance throughout our community.

~Hallie M. Schein
Director of College Counseling

Making Rock Candy

Given the time of year and all that candy in the aisles at your local grocery, the science department thought it might be nice to try and make your own candy at home.


Making rock candy is a lesson in supersaturated solutions, evaporation, crystalline structure, seeding, and deposition. Great vocabulary words for any budding scientist and all well worth the google search.

There are a number of recipes, but this is my favorite from “The Accidental Scientist, Science of Cooking” http://www.exploratorium.edu/cooking/candy/recipe-rockcandy.html

Gather:

• 4 cups sugar
• 2 cups water
• a small saucepan
• a wooden spoon
• a candy thermometer
• a small, clean glass jar
• a measuring cup
• cotton string
• a weight to hang on the string (such as a screw or galvanized washer)
• waxed paper
• a pencil (to suspend the string in the jar)

Directions:

1. Heat the water in the saucepan over medium-high heat until it comes to a boil.

2. Completely dissolve the sugar in the boiling water, stirring continuously with the wooden spoon until the solution grows clear and it reaches a rolling boil.

3. Remove the solution from the heat, and then carefully pour it into the jar. Cover the jar with a small piece of waxed paper.

4. Tie the weight to one end of the string, and then tie the other end to the middle of the pencil. The string should be about two-thirds as long as the jar is deep. Dip the string into the sugar solution, remove it, lay it on a piece of waxed paper, straighten it out, and let it dry for a few days.

5. Gently suspend the prepared string in the solution and let sit at room temperature, undisturbed, for several days. You can check each day to see how much your crystals have grown. It’s tempting, but don’t touch the jar until the experiment is finished—it usually takes about seven days.

6. At the end of the week, the crystals on your string should be clearly defined, with sharp right angles and smooth faces of various sizes. In the field of crystallography, these are called monoclinic crystals. Their shape is determined by the way the individual sugar molecules fit together, which is similar to the way the shape of a pile of oranges is determined by the shape of the individual oranges and the way they stack together.

Additions:

• Try adding food coloring or flavoring to your sugar syrup before making the rock candy.

~Dean Whitfield
Math and Science Chair

Cardin Athletics

The fall sports teams are moving along well with cross country in meets nearly every week and the girls and boys soccer teams continuing their full schedule.


In cross country, Zevi Lowenberg leads the pack, placing in the top 5 in every meet this year. Close on his heels, Ze’ev Beleck is running well, clearing the top 10 in the conference on a consistent basis. All of the runners continue to dedicate hours of running each week preparing for what is for surely going to be an exciting Conference Championship on October 28 at the Jemicy School.

Prior to the beginning of the girls soccer season, the boys soccer team kicked off their season in a situation that was less than ideal. Going into their first game, the boys team had multiple injuries putting them in the position of having to play a man down, or even having to forfeit. Arielle Bodner of the girls soccer team offered to play for the boys simply so they could have enough players for a complete team. The exciting part of this story is that the boys ended up winning the game 3 to 1 and Arielle scored two of the goals. Since that game, the boys have recouped and now have a full squad, playing very competitive soccer both in and out of conference. The team is led by goalkeeper, Matt Danoff, and stopper, Alex Verovsky.

The girls soccer team have also dealt with a numbers issue. It’s been a tough season and the girls have played some really competitive soccer over the last few weeks, but just couldn’t find a way to get into the win column. Last week all of that changed. The team refocused its efforts on communication and all-out hustle. In doing so, they jumped out to an early lead against Cristo Rey and never looked back. The final score was 3 to 1, but the more impressive score is that all of Cardin’s goals were scored by different girls, none of which were the leading season scorer for the team, Arielle Bodner. Showing that type of teamwork and positioning says a lot about this team. Early in the game, 9th grader Jessica Miller took advantage of a crossed pass by Bodner to start the scoring. In the second half, more impressive passing and communication took place as Leah Prince, Ally Richmond, and Chelsea Connor (Waldorf) scored off passes from each other.

Overall, the fall sports teams are doing very well and continue to improve. Please come out and support our students as they represent Cardin on the athletic field.

You can see all of our schedules on www.highschoolsports.net. Keyword: Shoshana S. Cardin School

~Foye Minton, CAA
Dean of Students and Director of Athletics

Engaged in History

9th and 11th graders have been actively engaged in some exciting history projects! We aim to achieve a deep understanding of the material and think beyond the text when exploring history.


This week in U.S. History, students are studying the American Revolution. For many years there has been a debate as to whether this was truly a revolutionary war or whether it was simply a war for independence. Though we have not come to a consensus as a class, the discussion was lively and fun! In addition to our discussion of how to classify this war, in two groups, we created journals from the perspectives of the British and the Colonists as they entered the war, and what they wanted out of it. They reflected on battles as though they themselves were fighting. It was amazing to watch students try and understand the perspectives of the people directly involved in the war.

While the eleventh graders were studying about the American Revolution, the 9th grade world civilizations courses began to study about Ancient Greece. We started with politics, culture, and geography, and we’re moving into literature and leadership. Students will be exploring the influence of Greece on our society today, and next week they will present PowerPoint presentations on people and events from Ancient Greece.

~Amy Fink
History Instructor

Oobleck

This week, chemistry students are learning about the states of matter. We know that there are three states of matter—solid, liquid, and gas. However, what happens when something doesn’t fit nicely into one of those 3 options? To explore this, the students made oobleck, a substance that’s sort-of-a solid, but sort-of-a liquid too.


We tried out two recipes to see what would work better.

Recipe 1: 2 tsp water, 2 tbs glue, 2 tbs borax, and food coloring

Recipe 2: 1 cup water, 1 ½ cups cornstarch, and food coloring

As a class, we had lots of fun playing with the oobleck and learned that this is a “non Newtonian fluid” because it has variable viscosity. We then discussed the difference between compounds and mixtures and the differences between chemical change and physical change.

We will fondly remember playing with oobleck as we examine more properties of matter and change this year in chemistry!

~Alexandra Sloane
Science Instructor

A Hebrew Debate

My Hebrew III-02 and III-01 class are learning about “youth movements” and about uniforms. When we finished learning the unit, in order to practice the vocabulary and the grammar we learned, I divided the students into two groups and they had debate for and against wearing uniforms at Cardin. Here are some of the ideas the students brought up in their debate:


Kate Scher:

"אני לא רוצה ללבוש תלבושת אחידה כי אני רוצה להיות מיוחדת. אם אני לובשת תלבושת אחידה, אני לא מרגישה מיוחדת. וגם, תלבושת אחידה היא סמל לעולם הישן! וילדים אוהבים ללבוש מה שהם רוצים ולא מה שההורים אומרים להם ללבוש."

Adina Golob:

"אני כן אוהבת תלבושת אחידה כי בבוקר אני עייפה מאוד ואני לא צריכה לחשוב מה אני לובשת... וגם כל הילדים לובשים אותו הדבר." "

Arielle Bodner:

" אני אוהבת תלבושת אחידה כי כל הילדים ניראים אותו הדבר וככה לא יודעים למי יש כסף ולמי אין כסף. וגם אם יש לנו תלבושת אחידה, הילדים לא חושבים על אופנה והם לומדים יותר טוב... " "

Avital Luny:

"אני לא רוצה ללבוש תלבושת אחידה כי אני אוהבת בגדים אופנתיים, האופנה יפה ואני רוצה ללבוש בגדים אופנתיים. " "

Yaakov Weinstein:

" בית ספר קרדין לא צריך תלבושת אחידה. הבגדים שהילדים לובשים עכשיו בסדר! אם כל הילדים לובשים חולצה לבנה ומכנסיים כחולים, זה משעמם מאוד! אם בית ספר קרדין רוצה תלבושת אחידה אז רק אחרי השנה הזאת..."

~Morah Zohara Chaban
Instructor of Hebrew

Connecting With An Audience

Cardin had been abuzz about the recent publication of an essay by a current senior, Alex Hershon. Alex's essay, "A Kid and His Kindle," was published in The Reader, an internationally respected literary journal. We're all proud of Alex's accomplishment--writing the essay, submitting it, and getting it published where his words can be widely read.

That's one of the big points of writing, isn't it? When your work is published, your ideas and images and stories connect with an audience. Publication can take many forms, especially with today's technologies: in addition to print books and magazines/journals, there's eBooks (as Alex talks about in his essay), online magazines, and online blogs.

There's also an "old fashioned" way to share your work with people in your community: the high school literary magazine.

A school literary magazine's main goal is to offer young writers their first chance at publication. It provides a showcase for many different types of writing: fiction, poetry, essays. It offers a nice way for artists and photographers to share their creativity as well.

The Cardin literary magazine is currently open for submissions, and we're interested in seeing all varieties of creative work from students (and--dare I say it?--from faculty). Help your work connect with an audience--send the editors some of your creative work to be considered for publication in the school literary magazine!

Cardin had been abuzz about the recent publication of an essay by a current senior, Alex Hershon. Alex's essay, "A Kid and His Kindle," was published in The Reader, an internationally respected literary journal. We're all proud of Alex's accomplishment--writing the essay, submitting it, and getting it published where his words can be widely read.

That's one of the big points of writing, isn't it? When your work is published, your ideas and images and stories connect with an audience. Publication can take many forms, especially with today's technologies: in addition to print books and magazines/journals, there's eBooks (as Alex talks about in his essay), online magazines, and online blogs.

There's also an "old fashioned" way to share your work with people in your community: the high school literary magazine.

A school literary magazine's main goal is to offer young writers their first chance at publication. It provides a showcase for many different types of writing: fiction, poetry, essays. It offers a nice way for artists and photographers to share their creativity as well.

The Cardin literary magazine is currently open for submissions, and we're interested in seeing all varieties of creative work from students (and--dare I say it?--from faculty). Help your work connect with an audience--send the editors some of your creative work to be considered for publication in the school literary magazine!

~Dr. Norman Prentiss
English Department Chair

Personal Finance

Wise money management skills do not come easy for many people. Most of us never received formal education in budgeting, saving, and spending. Thankfully, the 12th grade students in Personal Finance are being introduced to the basics of financial literacy. Many of the topics we cover are suggested by the National Endowment for Financial Education (NEFE), an independent nonprofit organization committed to educating Americans about personal finance and empowering them to make positive and sound decisions to reach financial goals.


Recently, NEFE commissioned a study examining impulse buying which showed that 80% percent of American adults say they’ve made impulse purchases in the past year. The NEFE survey found that 66 percent of adults who have made an impulse purchase this year say they later regretted that decision. Controlling our spending impulse is an important lesson to learn. Perhaps all of us would benefit from reviewing the following tips from NEFE.

~Jan Schein
CFO and Personal Finance Instructor

Take Control of Your Spending with These Tips:

• Prioritize. Before you head to the store, make a list and stick to it. You will avoid falling prey to enticing retailer displays and coming home with all sorts of stuff you don’t need.

• Return. If you end up buying something you don’t need, return it immediately. If you feel that you are unable to return to the “scene of the crime” without either spending more or exchanging for a lower-priced item, ask a spouse or friend to run the errand for you.

• Save receipts. Keep all receipts in a designated pocket of your purse or checkbook for easy recovery.

• Keep the tags on. Resist the urge to rip off the tag on an item after you buy it. It could have a defect you don’t see in the store, or you could decide you don’t like it the next day.

• Be patient. While shopping, if you see something you like, leave the store for 30 minutes. You might find you don’t want the item as much as you thought.

• Use cash. Leave your credit cards at home, and shop with cash. That way you know you won’t have enough money to buy extra stuff, even if you are tempted.

• Find a buddy. Shop with a trusted friend or relative who will tell you “no” if you feel the urge to spend needlessly.

• Avoid retail therapy. If you have had a bad day, the last thing you should do is go shopping. Find another activity, such as exercise, to make you feel better.