On March 7th, Congress defeated Ayanna Pressley’s proposal to lower the voting age to 16. Although it failed on the congressional floor, it didn’t fail to spark nationwide conversation. Appropriately enough, on the centennial anniversary of women’s suffrage, we are once again debating who should be granted the vote.  

Critics point out that rights and responsibilities, such as military service, marriage, and jury duty, all start at 18. Moreover, politicians across the country, including several supporting lowering the voting age, have supported bills increasing the age of smoking, firearm ownership and criminal responsibility. How, then, can we reconcile these movements that seem to want to simultaneously lower and raise the age of responsibility?

If we look through the lens of effect, rather than cause (age), the reasons for these discrepancies become clear. Raising the age of criminal responsibility is meant to protect children from sinking into a life of crime and poverty. Serving in the military and smoking can cause lifelong physical and mental damage, especially on a developing brain. The brain keeps developing until about 25, so brain development isn’t necessarily the best benchmark for the voting age anyway—while it’s true that teens tend to rely more on the amygdala (and, therefore, our emotions) for decision-making than adults, this is more pronounced in short-term decisions with an instant punishment or reward rather than thoughtful decisions like voting.

The most import difference, though, is that voting is a right with the desired effect of giving citizens an opportunity to choose policies that will affect their lives and ensure politicians’ accountability to their constituents. Even those teens who would abstain from the vote would benefit from having themselves represented in the constituency. With teens in the voting booth, politicians would have to start consistently considering our interests and the issues that affect our lives. Some critics have suggested that teens don’t have “enough skin in the game,” often pointing to the fact that we generally don’t financially support ourselves. While it may be true that most teens are dependents, not only do many of us work and get taxed, but the very premise of this argument verges dangerously into the territory of property-based democracy—employment and dependent status should never be benchmarks of qualifications to participate in democracy.

Regardless of employment, teens’ “skin in the game” shouldn’t be up for debate. Not only will we be living with the effects of long-term national policies on climate change, healthcare, immigration, and more, local policies are affecting us right now. Massachusetts ballot question 3, for example, which would remove gender as a protected class, was a critical issue for many teens, which is the age group most likely to be openly transgender, as reported by the Williams Institute. Moreover, those who supported the question often pointed to the potential dangers of allowing people into the “wrong” bathrooms because it would present danger to children. Shouldn’t those children have a say in that, then? 

The City of Boston recently initiated BuildBPS, a 10-year plan led by Mayor Marty Walsh to invest over $1 billion into Boston Public Schools. However, nobody currently enrolled in BPS had the chance to vote for our mayor, nor for any elected official who might have an impact on our education.

Perhaps the biggest argument about why teens aren’t qualified to vote is that we aren’t educated enough on civic issues. On one hand, I’m inclined to disagree. Teens, many of them ineligible to vote, were behind the March for Our Lives and the Standing Rock protests. Our own city boasts a rich tradition of youth civic engagement. The Boston Student Advisory Council (BSAC) has worked on initiatives including encouraging “action civics” and one resulting in the passage of a statewide law. The Mayor’s Youth Council, a group of 96 teenagers acting as drivers of city-improvement projects (one of which is lowering the voting age in Massachusetts to 16) conducts annual “youth lead the change” votes, in which 12- to 25-year-old Boston students, workers and residents vote on three capital projects to spend $1 million on. Past winning projects have included a homeless resource board, fans in schools, and a media center. Teens in Print, Boston’s only citywide student newspaper, regularly covers political issues, including BuildBPS, youth activism, and Ayanna Pressley.

That being said, however, I’d have to agree that public school civics education is lacking nationwide. Only nine states and DC require a full year of civics. But if the federal voting age was lowered, perhaps that would incentivize increased earlier civics education. In fact, that might be a good way to start the process: implement civics classes, then, after a predetermined number of years, lower the voting age to welcome a newly-educated population of engaged citizens.

Imagine that you are a seventh grader in a Boston middle school. You’ve been at this school since sixth grade, you have your group of friends, and you are getting used to the work. Then, one day, you hear an announcement that the school is shutting down. Now, all your school supplies have to go home and you will have to move to a new school and see new people. This is what could happen to BPS’s middle schoolers because of BuildBPS, a educational plan by Mayor Marty Walsh.

According to the Boston Public Schools website, BuildBPS is a 10 year plan supported by $1 billion that is supposed to strengthen our city’s education. One component of BuildBPS is to eliminate middle schools in Boston so that students experience fewer transitions. From 2012 to 2018, there was a enrollment decline at middle schools by 1,800 students. In response to this, BPS is closing down middle schools to merge them with high schools, creating 7-12th grade schools. 

When I was in sixth grade at the BTU, I found myself wishing I was in a middle school. Now, as a seventh grader at O’Bryant, I still sometimes think about how different things could be if I were in a middle school. I think O’Bryant is a good school, but my experience might have been different if it were a 9-12 instead of a 7-12. I remember when I first came to O’Bryant, I thought it was so crowded. That made me nervous. I started to get really distracted in class because there were so many people in the hallways. There was also a lot more homework in every subject. It would take me over an hour to finish it all. I also had to carry more binders and notebooks. My shoulders started to hurt.   

For middle school aged students, it’s important to be around other middle schoolers. I don’t want to be around little kids. I think they are annoying—they cry and scream, and teachers are always yelling at them. However, I didn’t want to be around older kids either, because they’re also distracting. They’re loud and scary. Middle schoolers who are only with kids their age can focus better, do their work, and maybe get better grades. 

Middle schools are also smaller. This makes it more comfortable for all the students everywhere. You get a chance to know everyone around you, so it’s easier to make friends. You can also get help from teachers or other students more easily in a middle school because there are fewer students. One time, I wanted to go in to talk to an English teacher at O’Bryant, but I didn’t, because I feel like my teacher doesn’t care about me. In a middle school, my teacher would know me and my work better, and then I’d feel more comfortable talking to him or her. 

When I first transferred to O’Bryant, I felt unprepared in some ways. Math especially was really hard. I got the worst grade I had ever gotten, a C. I feel like I’m adjusted to O’Bryant now, but it definitely took a couple of months for me to catch up. I think I needed more time to adjust to the responsibilities and the work that O’Bryant required. Middle school would have been a good transitional time where I could have learned to be responsible without getting bad grades. 

While BuildBPS argues that enrollment in middle schools is down and that transitions from school to school should decline, I believe that middle schools are worth it, based on my personal experience. Middle schools offer comfort, adjustment time, and increased focus for their students. That’s what kids my age really need. 

When I solved my first Rubik’s Cube, it was shocking for me and my parents. As I kept watching tutorials and solving cubes, I eventually remembered the whole algorithm. The fun thing about Rubik’s Cubes it that when you finally know how to solve a normal cube, you can’t take your hands off it. You want to keep mixing it up and keep solving it. And, once you solve a cube for the first time, you get the feeling that you want to solve a cube a little bigger than the original one.

In 1974, the first cube, known as the 3x3, was invented in Hungary by Erno Rubik. The cube was released worldwide in 1980. In the same year, it won the Toy of the Year award. Within a year, the toy hit millions of sales. Now, there are many different variations on the 3x3 cube, including a 2x2 and a 7x7. 

Speedcubing, or the practice of solving a cube fast, was born shortly after the cube itself. Ever since people learned how to solve the cube, they have wanted to solve it faster, and more efficiently. Some have devoted their lives to finding the most efficient way of solving every type of cube’s scramble. Others have tried to discover the maximum number of moves required to solve each cube, known as “God’s number.” Others focused on the speed aspect. The first speedcubing champion solved the 3x3 cube in 22.95 seconds, but now the 3x3 record is 4.22 seconds, set by famous speedcuber Feliks Zemdegs.

It takes me 45 seconds to solve a 3x3 cube, but I still see the benefits of speedcubing in my life. After I started solving Rubik’s Cubes, I saw benefits in my math skills. According to a New York Times article, learning to solve a Rubik’s Cube can help “with geometry, algebra, direction-following, memorization and perseverance.” That’s why a dozen schools in New York City introduced Rubik’s Cubes in their math classes. I think I’m getting good grades in math because I can solve a Rubik’s Cube.

Memorizing the patterns of Rubik’s Cubes also helped me with my memory. For example, I was able to remember 300 digits of pi because Rubik’s Cubes taught me to memorize. 

Most importantly, the Rubik’s Cube taught me that it takes time to be really good at something. If I keep trying to solve the cube, I will eventually achieve my goal, and if I want to solve a problem in my life, I know I’ll get it with time. When I started playing basketball, for example, it was hard at first because of my aim. But when I kept practicing for 3 months, it got easier. I didn’t want to give up when I practiced, just like how I don’t give up trying to solve a Rubik’s Cube.

My goals for Rubik’s Cubes is to solve the 3x3 in under 20 seconds and the 6x6 in 1 minute and 30 seconds. I also want to try out the 10x10. I hope someday I will be in a speed cube competition from 2x2 to 7x7. If I keep practicing,  I know I can accomplish my goals.

Do you see underfunding in your school? Would you like to see environmentally friendly buildings that last longer than the facilities we’re currently learning in? Do you think schools could be structured differently or more efficiently? The BuildBPS plan sets out to answer these questions.

BuildBPS is a strategic, ten year, billion dollar plan for investments and changes across the Boston Public Schools (BPS) district. The main focus is to improve Boston’s existing school buildings with features like motion sensor lights and efficient recycling, and build new facilities that meet 21st century standards. The plan looks for ways to revamp existing buildings in a “green” way, meaning they will be environmentally friendly. These new and retrofitted buildings have the potential to save money and energy, which is good for the environment and the district budget.

BuildBPS a “living plan”, meaning it is still being written and revised using community feedback, which allows the community to play a role in this process. 

As we all know, the West Roxbury Educational Complex is shutting down at the end of the school year because the building is falling apart. This is not something we want to see happen again. We do not want great school communities shutting down or separating due to preventable problems becoming too big to manage.

 We are calling on youth, parents, and anyone that wants to help BPS. We encourage young people to join our weekly BSAC meeting every Monday to see what we are about and find ways you can speak up at your school and make changes. If we speak up now about issues in our schools, we can potentially stop another school from closing because of avoidable disrepair.

If you aren’t comfortable speaking to someone of higher authority, feel free to talk to a BSAC representative—we are here to help! If you see an issue at your school, your BSAC rep can bring that issue back to our committee meetings, contact people within the district who can help solve the problem and ensure student voice is heard throughout the process. Another option is to submit an anonymous grievance through our web-based app BostonStudentRights.org. 

As the minutes ticked down from 8:45 a.m., students began to pile up in the third floor hallway of Fenway High School, wondering where their math teacher was. Although they were glad to have extra time before the start of class, the students were beginning to feel anxious when Chadwick Johnson finally reached the top of the stairs. Johnson arrived 10 minutes late to his 9th grade Algebra 2 class. His reason: he was attending a nearby protest for teachers’ rights.

The protest Johnson attended was for a contract of teacher rights and for the improvement of the schools. This includes smaller class sizes, enough desks for the students, full time librarians and nurses—and higher pay. According to The Washington Post, 73 percent [of Americans] have expressed that they would support public school teachers in their community if they went on strike for higher pay.

The amount that teachers make has always been a debated topic. Although it is true that most teachers in Boston are fortunate enough to live comfortably, it is no secret that the same cannot be said for other states. With the recent teacher protests across the country, national teacher wage inequality is rising to the surface. For example, according to CNBC, teachers in Oklahoma earn an annual mean wage of $42,460, while teachers in Alaska can earn up to $82,020.

Although our local teachers do get paid well, they still face challenges, especially with Boston’s high cost of living. Boston is one of the most expensive cities in the U.S., and it’s catching up with the teachers. 

Rodolfo Morales is currently a principal for the Phineas Bates Elementary School in Roslindale. He began his educational career at the Hurley K-8 Dual Language School and at the Hernandez School as a teacher, then moved his way up to his principal title. As a former teacher and principal, Morales understands the financial struggle of a teacher, both from a personal and administrative point of view. 

“There have been some big shifts in Boston, including the pandering to affluent transplants,” Morales said. “This has made it challenging for many lifelong Bostonians to stay in Boston. Gentrification has hit the city hard. It seems that each year, I know fewer and fewer teachers that can afford to stay in the city.” 

While many BPS teachers’ salaries fall within the $80,000-$100,000 range, a study by research site SmartAsset estimated that rent for the average two-bedroom apartment in Boston costs nearly $40,300 per year. This means that a single renter will need an income of at least $143,800. There are many people who believe all teachers deserve more than this.

Siri Carr is a teacher at Match Middle School. She has worked as a teacher for three years, and earns $52,500. Although she earns a comfortable salary, Carr believes that a teacher’s work is worth more than they often earn. 

“I think teachers should be paid on par with how much doctors are paid, because I think there are a lot of parallels in our work,” Carr said. “We both work long and hard hours, and our jobs work with the public.”

Morales recognizes the teachers in his school who go above and beyond in their job. 

“I have teachers that enter the building with the custodian who opens the doors at around 7 a.m. I then have teachers that stay until the doors are locked after 7 p.m.,” he said.

Johnson, along with many more of the Fenway faculty, stays in school after hours, meets with students during lunch and even comes in early to help those who are struggling in class. It is teachers like these who prove to the population how important teachers are.

Students who grow and mature through the help of their teachers have sympathy for them. They too agree with the notion that teachers deserve more than they get. Vladimira Amado is one of these students. 

“I don’t think they get paid enough for what they do, especially the teachers that cover more than one class,” she says.

However, despite these challenges, there are still people who enter the teaching field, passionate about education. Jocelyn Cespedes, for example, wants to become a teacher. Her plan is to become an accountant to be able to raise enough for savings and insurance, then study to become a second grade teacher. The way she plans to jump these hurdles demonstrates a teacher's persistence. 

The recent protests in California, West Virginia, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Arizona and Colorado have all brought up a messy yet important issue. How do you put a price on the education of America’s future? The truth is you can’t, and the patient and devoted teachers in our schools deserve more. So the next time you see your teacher, say thank you, because it is well earned.