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Opinion Columns

12/09/10 5:12am

Smart Alec | Abolish final examinations

The current examination system is both unhealthy and unnecessary. Professors should eliminate finals altogether and replace them with continuous assessment.
12/08/10 5:49am

Ad-Libs | Assess teaching quality in intro lectures

There need to be more avenues of communication between professors, TAs and students about the (often shoddy) quality of teaching in introductory lectures.
12/08/10 5:41am

Say Anything | Touched by an agent

Bring on your pat-downs, Transportation Security Administration agents. I’d rather let an agent get to second base with me than let a terrorist get a bomb on my plane.
12/07/10 6:50am

Ryu's Clues | A necessary nest for night owls

Increasing the number of study spaces or extending the hours of those already available would provide productive environments for night owls.
12/07/10 6:46am

Berry Nice | Cure environmental apathy

In a lot of ways, Penn is sustainably hypocritical. We have notable resources in place to become a more green campus but not the student motivation to do so.
12/06/10 6:18am

Cosmopoli-Tanvi | Log on for some holiday cheer

The online Secret Santa program started by users of the social-news website Reddit in anticipation of the holidays reminds us of the power of interpersonal connections.
12/06/10 6:15am

The Sooner, The Better | In your DREAMs, UA

Supporting the spirit of the DREAM Act is a noble cause. But the UA has been blinded by delusions of its own grandeur and efficacy if it thinks its actions will have any real influence.
12/03/10 6:47am

Hassall-Free Fridays | Home for the holidays?

Start anew and pick your own traditions. Odds are, you don’t really enjoy at least a few of your family’s typical holiday activities, and there’s no reason to keep them up.
12/03/10 6:42am

Penn Name | Tech that doesn’t click

Clickers are used in hundreds of universities across the country to help professors take attendance and gauge whether students are doing their homework and paying attention. They certainly have downsides.
12/02/10 6:39am

Truth Be Told | Prejudice doesn’t discriminate

The amount of attention given to an incident involving the black Harvard and Yale university graduate students and alumni at Cure Lounge highlights just how little attention racial profiling really gets.
12/02/10 6:32am

Smart Alec | The trouble was trust

DPS had the ability to send an alert if there were an active danger and it didn’t because it wasn’t necessary. We were safe. And as helpless as it may make us feel, we should trust our police.
11/30/10 5:55am

Berry Nice | Slang is like Shakespeare

Though there are certain cases in which slang is unacceptable, generally, I’m in favor of its use. Slang, like Shakespeare, can offer new shades of meaning to our increasingly digital society.
11/30/10 5:51am

Southern Comfort | Free-thinking and proud of it

In his challenge to the Ten Commandments, Rev. Bo Turner exhibited the kind of behavior we all should follow.
11/24/10 3:48am

Ad-Libs | The real reasons I like Thanksgiving

My favorite major holiday of the year is Thanksgiving. But I don’t like it for all the Hallmark-card reasons. While the conventional reasons make Thanksgiving pleasant, here are my real rationales.
11/24/10 3:43am

Say Anything | Food fight: cake vs. pie

There is one war which wages on even as other fights are won and lost. You are either on Team Cake or Team Pie. I am on Team Pie. Pie isn’t just more scrumptious than cake. It is also more American.
11/23/10 3:31am

Berry Nice | Thanks to Penn perks

Impatient as usual, I decided to get a head start on the list of things I'm thankful for with a campus perspective. Here’s a list of a few campus perks that don’t often get the recognition they deserve.
11/23/10 3:28am

Ryu's Clues | With a little help from mentors

Whether our mentors have a great deal of real-world experience or are just a few years older, they can all provide students with perspectives on academics, career paths and more.
11/22/10 6:12am

Wiki-Pedia | A call to arms for more school spirit

Teams work incredibly hard with little-to-no student support — imagine what a boost we could give to athletics if students showed up to games. This is a call to every student who has never been to a basketball game.
11/22/10 6:07am

The Sooner, The Better | ‘Bravo’ to the orchestra

The Philadelphia Orchestra is a unique and sacred gem in the midst of revitalization, is a flagship for this city’s long-term health and offers a stunningly low cost of admission for college students.
11/19/10 4:07am

Lu-stick To The Point | Attention, attention, provide more info

The absence of explanations after fire alarms causes students to doubt a future alarm’s credibility. Students don’t get the satisfaction of knowing whether the alarm was for a major or minor reason.

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