The Federal Reserve is one of those institutions that everyone has heard of but no one really cares to talk about. Sure, you’ll have the odd conversation with your friend about rising interest rates and how that means something, probably, but are you really passionate about it? Do you get the same rush to open […]
Tag: inequality
Environmental Justice and its Indisputable Ties to Health Inequality in America
On the 29th of September, heavy rainfall caused unprecedented levels of flash flooding in New York City, cutting off major transportation routes from subways to roadways according to NBC New York. Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York has since declared a state of emergency. However, this battle with rain and flooding is fairly new for […]
Facial Recognition Software Reflects Systemic Inequality
I paid for lunch today with my face. Well, not really—but I didn’t need cash or a physical debit card, courtesy of Apple’s Tap-To-Pay technology. I didn’t even have to touch the screen; Apple’s incorporation of Facial Recognition Software provides users with unparalleled convenience, allowing us to unlock our phones and use countless features with […]
A Case Against Higher Education
It is no secret that attainment of a four-year college degree is associated with an increase in earnings over the course of a lifetime; recent college graduates earn, on average, about $52,000, while high school degree holders have average earnings of $30,000 in the United States. This discrepancy is the cause of massive economic inequality […]
Education Is Not The Great Equalizer
We have all been fed a lie: “Education is the great equalizer.” That line dominates the public discourse on K-12 public education. However, it’s certainly not true in the Bay Area nor in California. Piedmont High School and Oakland High School are less than 3 miles apart. Yet the academic performance of their students couldn’t […]
A New Lochner Era
On February 22nd, 1975, members of Cesar Chavez’s United Farm Workers (UFW) began a 110 mile walk from San Francisco to Modesto, protesting the poor working conditions of the Gallo Winery. Only a few hundred joined Chavez at first, and he didn’t expect many more. By the time he reached the Central Valley, however, the […]
Brexit: An End to the Uncivil War
In July of 2019, Boris Johnson defeated numerous moderates within his own Conservative Party to become the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Political pundits immediately called him a lame duck. He had no mandate, no working majority and no realistic plan to pass Brexit, which loomed ominously over his premiership after destroying the careers […]
Malaysia: Lessons on Institutional Roadblocks to Climate Change Adaptation
It is one of the world’s most tragic ironies that the most detrimental impacts of climate change will accrue to the countries that have had only a minor role in bringing them about. The Southeast Asian island nation of Malaysia is a prime example. The country is already feeling the disastrous effects of climate change: […]
Recipe for a Successful Public School System
How properly implemented charter schools could aid students in historically poor areas Charter schools do not represent a desire to force capitalism further into the public school equation or a lack of desire to reform public schools that already exist. They represent the very real need to educate and do justice to the students that […]
AI (Part I): Anew Infrastructure
“Artificial intelligence” (AI) is sometimes jokingly used to label tasks that computers cannot yet do. Among these is possessing a sense of humor, which “requires self-awareness, spontaneity, linguistic sophistication, and empathy,” and extends beyond the wonky errors of Google Translate and auto-generated YouTube captions. However, in spite of its apparent shortcomings, AI has silently yet […]