The all girls boarding school in the U.S. wins our monthly award for the second time for its creative engagement with News Decoder in an Ethics class. Westover has now won the Decoder in the Spotlight award twice for its creative engagement with News Decoder. (Photo...
Most cities are built and governed by men. Experts are taking into account the needs of women as they reshape our urban spaces. Women collect water near Bhopal, India, 2 May 2020. (EPA-EFE/SANJEEV GUPTA) More than 83% of Egyptian women have been sexually harassed...
My family fled civil war in Liberia to a refugee camp in Guinea in West Africa. I learned the power of resilience and the value of diversity. The author, in white next to the woman on the right, at the Kouankan refugee camp in Guinea This story won first prize in News...
News Decoder’s goal is to create a global community, and Varlee Fofana has added his unique voice to the conversation with an essay about growing up in a refugee camp in Guinea. Not many News Decoder students have had to flee civil war as Fofana did, yet many play football, as the author did to connect with other refugee children. Gathering wood, plowing farmland or selling kerosene might not be common chores for most News Decoder students, but they, too, face challenges. Ask your class to read Fofana’s story and then, in up to 600 words, describe a personal experience that shaped their life and character. Encourage them to follow Fofana’s example by using simple words and an unassuming tone to draw readers into their world.
Worried that COVID-19 could hurt the fight against malaria, aid groups have redoubled efforts to save lives in Africa. The worst may have been avoided. Mobile clinic in Central African Republic treating people against malaria (Ton Koene/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images)...
California student Lucy Jaffee interviewed renowned free-speech expert Floyd Abrams to write a forward-looking article on a landmark court case. Lucy Jaffee Lucy Jaffee was researching a complicated U.S. court case involving students’ right to freedom of speech....
For years, Ivory Coast has been split politically and at times torn by outbursts of violence. Youth are working for peace in the West African nation. Voters at a polling station during the first round of Côte d’Ivoire’s presidential election in Abidjan, 31...
Ivory Coast has a complex political story, but Adayé Sosthène Yvan N’guettia keeps it simple in his story about youth working for peace in the West African nation. Many young people are upset over the state of the world that they will inherit, but N’guettia shows initiative by interviewing three activists toiling for change in Côte d’Ivoire. He listens and offers telling quotes, using a deft hand to drive home his message. Growing up is about discovering the world, and some students — N’guettia among them — see the challenge as a learning adventure. Ask your class to read N’guettia’s story, interview three activists and, using the activists’ words, summarize what they’ve learned.
In our latest podcast episode, two students at Thacher School in California examine how COVID-19 is affecting youth climate change activism. The coronavirus pandemic has forced many young people around the world to stay home. So how is COVID-19 affecting young...
A U.S. school district wants the Supreme Court to overturn a landmark free speech case and let it punish a student for criticizing her school online. Students protest for the right to free speech outside the Supreme Court in Washington, DC, 19 March 2007. (AP...
Lucy Jaffee of La Jolla Country Day School tackled a complicated topic — a court case involving a student’s freedom of speech and social media — by interviewing two experts, including the foremost authority on the U.S. First Amendment, Floyd Abrams. The lesson: If you put effort into understanding an issue, experts will be glad to speak to you. Students should contact experts because they will offer unique insights and help answer the question, “What next?”
The case Jaffee’s article focuses on lends itself to classroom discussion because it engages a matter of great interest to students. While students may instinctively side with the young woman whose Snapchat post triggered the controversy, there may be other off-campus outbursts on social media — Holocaust denial, racist language — that they might like to see sanctioned. Like so much in life, First Amendment issues often lie in the gray zone.
Two savvy Africans urge frustrated youth activists to drive political change by holding officials to their word and harnessing innovative ideas and words. Are you a young person yearning for change and a better world? Do you feel that global leaders are not listening...
Oil-rich Nigeria is Africa’s biggest economy but spends little on healthcare, with dire consequences for its teeming population. Its census could help. A health clinic in Nigeria in 2008 (Ton Koene / VWPics via AP Images) This story won second prize in News...