By Becky Gorelov ’14 and Siddarth Kannan ’14, Editors-in-Chief

Recent discussion on the place of feminism in the Newark Academy community culminated yesterday during a thoughtful all-school morning meeting. In a “fish-bowl” format, several students aired their ideas concerning several facets of gender inequality, including but not limited to “slut-shaming,” “bro culture,” “rape culture,” and pay inequality. While the Academy is certainly not a workplace (for students), the former three definitely present themselves in the student body to varying degrees. For us, this presentation was a wake-up call, both on feminism and other social justice issues: Newark Academy is not as far ahead of the curve as we’d like to be – we have begun to take the open dialogue at our school for granted.

Sophomore Anna Hope Emerson’s comment on the disdainful reaction among the school audience to such presentations was especially pertinent. Many of us are certainly guilty of rolling our eyes during presentations on social issues. Yet, this presentation revealed why we should not do so; it was incredibly engaging and pulled no punches. Its in-your-face tone had shock value, using words such as “bitch,” “slut,” and “whore,” as examples of a negative attitude towards women that is all too prevalent in the school and beyond. Some may dismiss the presentation as overly aggressive, but we at The Minuteman feel it was necessary to grab the attention of a jaded student body. It stood in contrast with much safer presentations throughout Black History Month; while important, they began to elicit a few groans from the student body. As one anonymous student put it, “I remember the days when morning meetings were about clubs, dances, and Diminuendo presentations. Now, it seems they are having social justice presentations simply for the sake of having them.”

How do we reconcile the need for “social justice” with the attention span of the average student? Many would argue that there could never be too many presentations on undoubtedly essential topics as Black History or feminism. But we cannot shame the anonymous student, who we all know is speaking for a large portion of the student body. The harsh reality is that at Newark Academy, we are only on our way to becoming accepting adults. Immaturity plagues us all. No matter how hard we try to act grown-up in morning meeting, there will always be the obnoxious guy who makes jokes directly afterwards, as pointed out by sophomore Erin Mooney as she spoke about the issue of feminism at Newark Academy.

Regardless, we should never give up. We go to this school precisely so that we can grow up, and so that we can become not only functional members of society, but to become caring intellectuals who contribute to social progress. Without these presentations, we may never be exposed to these perspectives. Whether or not a student agrees or disagrees with the content of yesterday morning’s presentation, it undoubtedly stirred up the student body and started a myriad of conversations. It is this type of thinking that is imperative to our development as the “global thinkers” that the Academy hopes to produce.

This is the final set under the current staff of The Minuteman, and as we are two seniors writing this editorial, we have taken all the Academy has thrown at us. At least one of us has been that “obnoxious guy” in the past, but he has come a long way since then. So, as the Editors-in-Chief and soon-to-graduate seniors, we implore you to take all of the voices in our school community seriously. We applaud yesterday morning’s presentation for doing everything right: saying what needed to be said, delivering with passion, and igniting a debate. It does not matter whether you immediately agree or disagree. Just listen.