Gym class—the sharp sound of sneakers squeaking against a newly waxed gymnasium floor, the slowness with which time passes during schoolyard drafts, the musky scent of discarded sneakers and sweaty shirts in an old, tiled locker room—is, for many American K-12 students, a normal part of life. Yet the institution of gym class is precariously … Read more
The United States has a problem — a $40 billion problem. Our incarceration rate nears that of Soviet Russia at its peak, and we spend more on prisons than the Peruvian government has in its entire budget. And at that high cost, our prisoners are still being assaulted, hardened, released, and re-imprisoned. Like the oft-quoted … Read more
With what feels like a new mass shooting occurring every few weeks, Americans all along the political spectrum are trying to tease out a solution to our homicide epidemic. Both sides—those who believe stricter gun control laws will decrease the incidence of gun-related homicide, and those who believe looser regulations will—have cited studies and created … Read more
Last Monday the Supreme Court released its decision in the cases of Burwell v. Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood Specialties Burwell, which concerned the right of a “closely held” for-profit company to refuse to cover certain types of contraception for employees because of its owners’ religious beliefs. The Court ultimately ruled in favor of the … Read more
How so few can own so much—and how so many can own so little—is a question that predates economics, puzzling thinkers from Plato to Austen to Dickens. Is it God? Is it hard work? Values? Virtues? Birth? Genes? Intelligence? Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century should be your number-one summer read, as it sets … Read more
In response to multiple complaints filed with the Office for Civil Rights, a heart-wrenching personal account of sexual assault on campus, and a formal Title IX investigation, Harvard released its new sexual assault policy on July 2. A collaboration of a policy task force and its freshly appointed Title IX officer, Harvard’s new policy is evidence … Read more
My father originally came to the United Kingdom, and later, the United States, as a refugee of Saddam Hussein’s campaign against the Kurds. Several days ago, he took us to the house of one of the only other Kurdish families in the state. The dinner was sprawled out on a colorful Persian rug that … Read more