Op Eds
Collaboration and its Discontents
What is the role of others in our own intellectual development?
Technology and Decisions
Read Receipts reflect society’s movement away from traditional methods of long-distance communication and toward a more realistic model of in-person communication.
Mandarin? No, Thanks
Despite the possible benefits the language may offer, the recent boom in Mandarin teaching seems to be shortsighted and excessive. Simply put, Mandarin is not the language of the future.
Some Humean Advice
You should indulge in intellectual pursuits. But don’t forget about your humanity, and be an active participant in this human society.
Good Answer, Mr. President
But it was not until Wednesday, when President Barack Obama became the first sitting President of the United States to express full support for same-sex marriage, that I felt again that same stunned joy I’d felt back in 2004.
What Student Protest?
Before a journalist suggests, yet again, that Harvard students never put their feet on the ground about issues they care about, it’s important to point out the impressive nature of this school year’s student activism.
Education by Culture
In some ways, those hours spent reading a book or watching a movie are even more impactful on intellectual, moral, and behavioral development than what is traditionally considered “educational.”
#RacistTweets
New internet news sites like Buzzfeed and the Huffington Post—which scour Twitter for the latest eye-popping trends—have elevated the tweets of no-name wackos to the status of news.
Latino Studies in Arizona
The establishment of Chicano Studies programs in universities across the country was a decades-long struggle led by Mexican-American faculty and students, and it would be a shame if it were all laid to waste in Arizona by a politician with irrational fears of a Reconquista, a supposed plan by Mexico to re-conquer the lands it lost in the Mexican-American War.
Our Digital Legacy
By archiving seemingly trivial websites, our generation allows archeologists, artists, and social scientists to gain a comprehensive image of our lifestyle, hopes, and worries.
The Dangers of Armchair Activism
Armchair activism can be very effective in raising money and generating petition signatures, but we must realize that taking a small action like signing a petition does not excuse us from further action. We are not done.
Keep Student Loan Interest Rates Low
We have to educate our way to a better economy. And as President Obama has stepped up to meet the challenge, I hope leaders in Congress will step up as well.
Vilifying the PBK Inductee
Harvard is first and foremost an academic institution with a duty to honor academic achievement using standard metrics. If PBK students are more academically focused than other students, then so be it.
Another Kind of Extinction
We have so much to gain by preserving the world’s linguistic diversity—and even more to lose with language extinction.
Housing Heartbreak
Every house has its merits and deficiencies, but the bottom line is that there is no such thing as bad housing at Harvard.
