You’ve probably been hearing the phrase “global village” for your whole life, and the phrase is usually associated with warm and fuzzy feelings about the interconnectedness of all people and the universality of the human condition. The reality, however, as we’ve been seeing recently, is not especially warm and very far from fuzzy. What’s gone …
Continue reading “Mistrust and friction”: Nicholas Carr on today’s global village
Every day, it seems, there is a new revelation of sexual misconduct by a public figure, and every day we’re less shocked, more sickened. What can we do? How can we move forward? These are not easy questions, but they need to be addressed. Author Kate Harding proposes some concrete steps in this November 2017 …
Continue reading Changing the culture: Kate Harding on accountability for sexual misconduct
Avoid salt. Avoid sugar. Avoid fat. Avoid meat. Avoid avoidance. Hah! You weren’t expecting that last one, were you? Aaron E. Carroll, Indiana University professor of pediatrics, offers some unexpected diet advice in this November 2017 New York Times essay. Read it here: Carroll, "Relax, you don’t need to ‘eat clean’” To support his argument, …
Continue reading Scary foods: Aaron E. Carroll on healthy eating without fear
We’ve been hearing a lot lately about free speech, and we know that it’s a core value—so important that it is protected by the US Constitution. But do we all agree about what free speech really means? Ahh. Not so simple. Princeton professor Eddie S. Glaude, Jr. addresses some of the free speech issues currently …
Continue reading “Special snowflakes”: Eddie S. Glaude, Jr. on campus free speech debates
Something must be wrong with my TV. The video of my football game is perfectly clear, but the announcer’s voice is too high-pitched. Oh. Wait. The announcer is a. . . . WOMAN?! Avid football fan and fantasy writer Claire Wallace responds to the historic milestone with shock and delight in this September 2017 Huffington …
Continue reading First and goal: Claire Wallace on a woman’s place in football broadcasting
It’s a pretty simple proposition—a full-time worker ought to be able to live on the pay received for that job. Still, there is plenty of debate about the issue, with words flying around in every direction. Reporter Will Perkins states his position in this September 2017 essay in the Richmond Register of Kentucky. Read it …
Continue reading Enough to live on: Will Perkins on the minimum wage
If you follow professional tennis closely, you may get an impression that the men on the circuit are covered very differently from the women. It’s more than just an impression, though; there is empirical evidence to show just how large the disparity is. Harvard University economics professor Sendhil Mullainathan wrote this examination of the topic …
Continue reading Give us a twirl: Sendhil Mullainathan on sexism in sports journalism
When was the last time you used the quadratic equation in your real life? Yeah, we didn’t think so. Still, agility with mathematical concepts and operations is important. Does math education need a makeover? Emeritus political science professor Andrew Hacker assesses the situation in this July 2012 New York Times editorial. Read it here: Hacker, “Is algebra …
Continue reading Polynomials and apple pie: Andrew Hacker on obligatory algebra
The terrible events that occurred on the University of Virginia campus in Charlottesville and their ripple effects have been well-documented in media across the US and the world. What about the local media? Brendan Novak, an opinion editor for the Cavalier Daily, the University’s student newspaper, wrote this editorial a few days after the marches. …
Continue reading (Alt-) right and wrong: Brendan Novak on Charlottesville
Dorm life. Whether you love it or hate it, avoid or envy it, you likely don’t imagine it being very different from what it already is. Los Angeles Times staff writer Conor Friedersdorf proposes an interesting transformation of college dormitories in this July 2017 column. Read it here: Friedersdorf, "Ban elite college dorms” Friedersdorf admits …
Continue reading “E Pluribus Dorm”: Conor Friedersdorf on dorm life at elite schools
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