The Badger Pause Volume 10, Issue 4 14510 N. Cheshire Street, Burton, Ohio December 2014 Color those winter blues... purple by Samantha Hargis, BP Staff Writer We all look forward to winter break, ing the Berkshire Basketball Holiday right? The funny thing is, after a few Tournament on Saturday, Decem- days boredom sets in. Most of us have ber 20. They also play at home on grown up in these snowy, cold, bleak Tuesday, December 23, at 7:30. The Ohio winters, but we struggle with girls varsity basketball team plays at beating the winter blues. Are you home against West Geauga on Tues- in need of fun things to do over the day, December 30, at 7:30. Our ath- winter break? Here are some ideas: letes love a home crowd! Our wres- Many of us love sleeping and eat- tling team will be at Kenston High ing excessively during the break, but School on December 27 and 28 also. spending so much time alone can get Of course, you can always grab your monotonous. Change it up by curling gift cards and hit the mall for some af- up with a friend and watching all kinds ter Christmas shopping. Find exactly of movies. Bad, good, sad, funny – what you wanted but didn’t get! Take start a movie marathon! If you can’t an evening drive and check out all the pick, go with the classics. Everyone sparkly Christmas lights before they loves at least one Disney movie, right? disappear for another year. Take the What about a comedy classic, Tommy RTA Rapid Transit trains to Tower City Boy? Baking and cooking could be an- Photo courtesy of www.thetimes.co.uk and see the beautiful holiday decora- other satisfying option. Take a look at Beat the winter time blues and make yourself a snow buddy! tions lighting up Playhouse Square, or what’s in the cabinet and make up a new your mind be temporarily transported ding, skiing or snowboarding. Some take the train all the way to the West recipe, or bake some holiday cookies. into another world. Build a ginger- local places to try are Alpine Valley, Side Market. The Christmas Story For those who love video games, play bread house, and then eat it! There are Punderson State Park in Newbury, House in the Tremont area is a favorite your favorite game and beat the story many things to do while staying warm. Chapin Forest in Kirtland, Orchard place to visit for fans of the movie, A again or build a new world! Search Are you sick of your bedroom walls Hills Park in Chester Township. The Christmas Story. Cleveland is a beau- the craft stash and make ornaments for and up for a snowy adventure? Stay- Metroparks Toboggan Chutes would tiful city and has many sights worth people on your gift list or for your own ing warm and cozy inside is nice, but be bold group activity. It may be cold, seeing, despite the snow and cold. tree! Take a quick trip to your local a winter break excursion can be just but snow sure can be exhilarating. Don’t waste our few days of free- craft store, find wooden or ceramic or- as exciting! Grab some friends and If snow isn’t your favorite, head up dom from classes. Use this winter naments you can paint, and make them go out and make snowmen. Have a to the school, and support one of our break to bust out of your normal personal. Read a great book. Explore snowball fight. Go to a nearby snow Badgers teams at a sports event. The routine. Happy Holidays and have an a genre you don’t usually read and let hill and spend a day on the slopes sled- boys varsity basketball team is host- adventurous break! How was your year? Consumer- pic See highlights from Segregating Sexes in Schools E ism + Credit 2014 on page 8 by Erin Wiggins, BP Staff Writer Cards = Rap A Carlson may just be a quick fix for failing school Family Learn how to dodge those systems across the United States. Instead Battles Rant awkward questions asked of tackling greater problems at hand like page 2 page 7 by family on page 3 grading scales and core curriculum, some- one decided to separate the classrooms be- tween boys and girls and call it a fix. The truth is the workplace is not segregated by gender; the world is not segregated by gen- Did cavemen eat ham der. Eventually, these boys and girls are go- ing to have to work together at universities, and go to Grandma’s? Photo courtesy of blogs.telegraph.co.uk in offices, and even in the grocery store. by Gwen Losasso, BP Staff Writer Is gender-oriented education the way to go? Over the past century, a large amount of progress has been made toward Holiday traditions range from hanging stockings, to going to Grand- What if I told you that schools across blurring the lines between men and ma’s, or to eating ham. Every family has their own way of celebrating the country, over the last ten years, have women in the workplace, working to- the holidays, or a gift that has become tradition to receive. Some family been segregating their classrooms based wards equality. Reissuing this divide traditions have developed out of ease, taste, or preference while others on gender? You would probably think between genders in this new generation will have come from generations before us, such as receiving an apple or that we hopped in a time traveling ma- take back all of that progress. These kids are orange in stockings. This gesture began in the Great Depression when chine and landed in the 1950s, but you’d going to be the heads of this country some- fruit was an infrequent treasure, and money was scarce. Now it has be wrong. Surprisingly, this is 2014. day, but they won’t know how to conduct become a tradition in many families, and serves as a reminder of what But before we all grab our torches themselves around the opposite gender. generations before us have gone through and the hardships they’ve and start screaming about gender equal- And what about transgender or gen- faced. It also teaches us to be grateful for what we have, because maybe ity, we must ask some very important derqueer children? How will they fit into an orange isn’t Apple’s new iPhone but it was once treasured too, and questions: Is there a science behind this? the equation? Biologically, these indi- can still be appreciated just the same. This holiday season some of Can there possibly be some kind of neu- viduals are born a certain gender, but that Berkshire High School’s students and staff were asked traditions their roscience that proves gender-based edu- doesn't mean they fit gender learning ste- families hold, and here are their answers: cation is the way to go? Do boys and reotypes. If anything, segregation will “Everyone in my family receives pajamas on Christmas Eve and then girls biologically learn differently? just build up intolerance for people who we wear them all day on Christmas.” Numerous experiments and studies have don’t fit the stereotypical gender norms. “My Grandma buys me a diva robe every year for Christmas.” shown that boys generally tend to like a All in all, more harm than good can “My family is of Swedish descent—we like to have Swedish meatballs, more competitive, darker learning envi- be expected from segregating children in herring, and potato sausage for Christmas dinner, but my aunt didn’t ronment. Girls tend to like chatty, warmer a learning environment. This is just an- like any of those so now we also have mac & cheese and red Jell-O.” learning environments. This means the other quick-fix for America’s failing pub- “I get lottery tickets in my stocking every year!” majority of boys and girls react better to lic school, and I suggest the men in suits “We always have Swedish Sausage.” different environments when they learn. find a better one because this is just not “Every year my Dad gives me a Dr. Seuss shirt.” Although there has been some research going to cut it. We have to ask: separate “Is eating too much a tradition?” to support this movement, many think this but equal education? Sound familiar? Continued on page 4 2 Features December 2014 of the news stories saturating cussions are becoming more the media about NFL, college, widespread, according to the A bruise to the brain and high school athletes who organization Cleared To Play, turn to violence and suicide “concussion rates more than by Anna Carlson, BP Staff Editor after having suffered numerous doubled among students age She’s running down against the interior of concussions. 8-19 participating in sports like the soccer field. She the skull at the point of In fact, the Center for Ad- basketball, soccer and football plays defense so she’s impact as well as the vancing Health (CFAH) report- between 1997-2007, even as cutting at an angle to opposite side. ed that “teens with a history participation in those sports de- intercept a forward Basically, the brain of concussions are more than clined.” These statistics don’t who’s driving towards ricochets within the cra- three times as likely to suffer even take into account the the goal. She’s calcu- nium. Due to this, con- from depression as teens who numerous concussions suffered lated right, meeting the tusions (bruises) form have never had a concussion” by college and professional offensive forward at on the two damaged and Jeffery Max, a psychiatrist athletes.