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Not Everything Is Political 0
- Politics
- February 28, 2017
Many readers have probably heard, and a few may even have used, the slogan: “the personal is the political.” Though its original source is unclear, it first cropped up in the late 1960s and early 1970s (see this paper) within “second-wave” feminism. Back then, it had a legitimate point: women’s personal experiences and choices are
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College Sex Assault Investigations Are Scary 0
- Culture
- February 28, 2017
Grant Neal was in a bind. The sophomore athlete was being investigated by officials at Colorado State University-Pueblo for possible violations under Title IX—the federal statute that universities use to investigate students suspected of sexual misconduct. The allegations stemmed from a relationship Neal had with an athletic trainer. The trainer, identified as Jane Doe in
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Retina Scans at Airports Have Arrived 0
- Culture
- February 28, 2017
For some 15 years, airport security has become steadily more invasive. There are ever more checkpoints, ever more requests for documents as you make your way from the airport entrance to the airplane. Passengers adapt to the new changes as they come. But my latest flight to Mexico, originating in Atlanta, presented all passengers with
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How Historical Illiteracy Fuels Political Polarization 0
- Culture
- February 28, 2017
Greater knowledge of the past would help improve America’s public discourse. Once again, President’s Day has come and gone and Americans spent little time reflecting on their past leaders—in part, because Americans know so little history at all, even about the country’s most well-known Founding Fathers. For example, in a 2012 survey commissioned by the
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Why Schools Need to Go Back to the Basics of Writing 0
- Education
- February 28, 2017
Once upon a time in America’s schools, teachers were instructed to teach their students the basics of good composition. According to Bernard Sheridan, a school superintendent in Massachusetts in 1917, these basics included: An absolute mastery of ‘the sentence idea.’ Freedom from glaring grammatical mistakes. Correct spelling of all ordinary words. Unfailing use of the
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The Subtle Conditioning of Social Media 0
- Culture
- February 28, 2017
Like most Americans, I partake in the unparalleled commitment to digital eavesdropping that is social media. Some of the key vicarial activities participation in Facebook (I’m not a Twitter user) offers are to “like” and “share” posts. That sounds harmless, right? Of course, it does; but I would argue that, in liking and sharing posts, we’re actually
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