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(01/08/19 7:05am)
Wearable technology is expected to be one of 2019’s biggest fitness trends. Many major companies and institutions are interested in promoting innovation in these areas, such as universities across the country. For instance, Oral Roberts University in Oklahoma requires students to purchase a Fitbit and walk at least 10,000 steps a day for a letter grade. As of September 2018 the insurance company John Hancock now provides discounted premiums to individuals enrolled in their Vitality life insurance program who use activity trackers and opt to report this data to the company. Individuals in the program automatically receive 20 to 40 percent discounts on these wearable fitness devices. While linking fitness to one’s health is a positive goal, however, insurance companies should not have access to fitness data because of data errors, privacy concerns and the negative impact of fitness trackers.
(09/20/18 6:00am)
You’re walking to class and you see a penny on the sidewalk. Do you take a moment to pick it up or do you walk past it? According to an analysis by the New Yorker, if you spent more than 6.15 seconds to pick the penny up, you could have better used your time.
(09/13/18 6:20am)
Earlier this summer, plastic straws were in the news. Seattle banned plastic utensils from bars and businesses, Starbucks announced it will stop using plastic straws by 2020, and major companies such as McDonald’s are joining the movement to end the use of single use plastics. It’s hard to imagine a time without plastics, but widespread use only dates back to the early 1950s. Over the past six decades, we’ve produced over eight billion metric tons of plastics – a number that continues to rise exponentially – of which only nine percent has become recycled. The plastic straw movement draws attention to the importance of replacing single use plastics once and for all. While the cost of change may appear prohibitive and daunting, we need to replace single use plastics with more durable materials, as the former damage the environment, food chain, and human health, both within our communities and around the world.
(05/15/18 6:00am)
For students considering pursuing a career in either the government or nonprofit sectors, the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program may seem ideal. For example, the average medical student’s debt is $190,000. But as over 75 percent of hospitals are public or nonprofit, 95 percent of these loans are eligible for forgiveness under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program. Teachers, Peace Corps workers and many other professionals are also eligible.
(04/26/18 6:10am)
Democrats and Republicans agree that change is needed in the pharmaceutical industry, whether it be via regulation or innovation. One of the areas often targeted in reform efforts is in the advertising of drugs, known as “direct-to-consumer” ads. In 2011, Pfizer spent 29 percent of its revenue on selling, information and administration expenses and only 13.5 percent on research and development. Despite the fact that television ads are dwindling in favorability among younger generations, they are still a prominent force in our society, as indicated by the amount of money allocated to them by pharmaceutical companies. While prescription drug ads can provide useful information to patients, their goal of promoting patient health is hindered by a lack of complete information.
(04/12/18 6:00am)
“[It] is about connecting with the world and our friends. It’s where stories are made and legends created.” This is a quote from the September/October 2015 issue of the New Hampshire Wildlife Journal. With its emphasis on camaraderie, outdoor enthusiasm, and lifelong memories, the description could easily apply to the Dartmouth experience. But it’s not; the quote is from a hunting publication. Fellowship is one of the main motivations for hunting. Environmental philosopher Gary Varner claims that there are three main reasons for — and thus types of — hunting: subsistence, therapeutic (killing one species to protect an ecosystem), and sport. However, certain hunting practices cannot be explained by either animal or environmental ethics; sport and trophy hunting are neither ethical nor practical.
(03/27/18 4:15am)
When you think of a typical economics major, who comes to mind? One of the predominant stereotypes is the “econ bro.” A glance around an economics classroom during my Dimensions experience last spring provided evidence of a gender imbalance in the major, a suspicion that was reinforced while taking economics courses my freshman fall and winter. Economics is Dartmouth’s most popular undergraduate major. As the gender gap in economics fails to shrink in graduate education and in the workplace, it needs to be addressed at its roots.
(03/02/18 5:30am)
From their experience during exams or competitions, students are used to the pressure of the clock. Yet the U.S. national debt clock brings pressure to an entirely new level. Those who observe it are immediately drawn to the $20 trillion figure on the top left. Boston University professor Laurence Kotlikoff estimated that the U.S. government had unfunded liabilities worth close to $210 trillion. Fiscal sustainability is not a complicated concept — it is a term that describes whether or not the government is capable of maintaining its policies and programs without risking insolvency or defaulting on its promises. With programs such as Social Security and Medicare driving costs higher, change is imperative.
(02/13/18 5:30am)
Affordability and accessibility are particularly valuable for college students, especially when it comes to food and dining options. With busy schedules and varying needs, students seek out options that are convenient. To make the most of Dartmouth Dining Services’ meal plans, students tend to eat at places that accept College dining dollars, like the Class of 1953 Commons or convenient campus snack bars. Many first-years rely on venues that accept meal swipes, particularly during their fall terms when the SmartChoice 20 plan is mandatory. As a result, local restaurants, which rely heavily upon student engagement, can be crowded out. Dartmouth and its students should support local restaurants through building community character and economic advantages.
(02/01/18 6:00am)
In the 21st century, authenticity has become a brand value. We seek products and personas that are real, whether it be in global cuisine or live singing. Yet the search for the real can blind us to the benefits of the synthetic. Making real leather harms animals, leather-tannery workers and nearby communities, while synthetic leather has no victims. While fur-free movements have made an impact over the past few decades, leather has often slipped under the radar. However, leather production is equally harmful to human health, animal rights and the environment.
(01/09/18 5:15am)
Money matters, and some college students quickly learn the value of saving it. But money management does not enter mainstream conversations or the classroom nearly as often as it should. Only 17 states require high school students to take a financial literacy course, and that number has remained constant since 2014. As a result, students entering college often lack knowledge of topics such as financial aid and budgeting; this lack of knowledge correlates with lower credit scores and higher debt delinquency. All 50 states should therefore require high school students to learn personal finance skills before they graduate.
(01/04/18 5:15am)
Colleges rarely cancel classes, and Dartmouth is no exception. Only once per term, fall excepted, are classes postponed or canceled in observance of a holiday: In the summer, July 4th; in the spring, Memorial Day; and in the winter, Martin Luther King Jr. Day. On the second Monday of winter term, rather than learning inside lecture halls and seminar rooms, we transition to auditoriums and chapels. Yet to truly honor MLK Day, in light of its 2018 theme at Dartmouth centered around “Borders,” we must engage outside the “Dartmouth bubble.” Meaningfully celebrating MLK Day requires an element of service learning, answering King’s call to instill and encourage lifelong civic responsibility.
(11/02/17 4:45am)
As a 17 year old, I can earn minimum wage and drive a car. I am therefore impacted by labor and employment, distracted driving and police misconduct. Until I am 18 years old, however, I do not have the right to vote on the national, state or local level.
(10/19/17 4:15am)
As a high school senior, the colleges I visited prided themselves on their undergraduate experiences. Admissions tour guides emphasized the depth and breadth of the opportunities available — study abroads, spring break internships, corporate recruiting partnerships and more. College was depicted as an all-you-can-eat buffet, where the idea that there was a single route to a degree was preposterous. At the same time, these same admissions tour guides spoke glowingly of their colleges’ four-year graduation rates. Dartmouth was no exception. But spending a greater number of years in higher education should not be so universally considered as indicative of failure. The benefits of a longer undergraduate education, which allows students to undergo a broader and deeper range of academic and non-academic experiences, outweigh the costs, financial and otherwise.
(10/10/17 4:45am)
Earlier this term, a floormate told me how guilty she felt for watching YouTube videos unrelated to coursework, something she had never felt in high school. While Dartmouth students have a reputation of being laid-back, even as a first-year I have seen how deeply imbued students are in the corporate recruiting world. As week five approaches and the term reaches its halfway mark, this balancing act becomes a juggling one. We manage academic and athletic schedules, friendships and relationships, healthy eating and declining DBA. This seems logical — most of us are Dartmouth students because we are wired to take advantage of every opportunity we can. But despite the extent to which our classmates pretend to have it all, not everything is possible. Unless we consciously change it, America’s emphasis on stress and corporate culture begins during our four years at college.
(09/26/17 4:30am)
Dartmouth encourages and aspires for us to become citizens and leaders of the world, and an international perspective is a critical indicator of an enriching education. Yet gaining this perspective begins with how we read the world. To read it insightfully and critically, we require intercultural competence, knowledge about one’s own culture and other cultures and the ability to bridge these divides through dialogue. For many of us, especially those not fortunate enough to currently be studying abroad or completing an internship, our source of literature is the news. When we watch the news, we should consider issues in an international perspective to achieve our goals, to fulfill our civic responsibilities and to expand our minds.
(09/15/17 4:30am)
Health, according to the World Health Organization’s Constitution, is defined as “complete physical, mental and social well-being.” Drug abuse can take all that away. Opioid addiction is not a “moral issue” as the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors claims. It is an illness and deserves to be treated as such.
(08/04/17 3:05am)
Most of us sympathize with the cute baby animal photos that the Dartmouth Student app conveniently provides. Many of us understand that meat production contributes to world hunger and climate change. And yet, most of us are neither vegan nor vegetarian.
(07/28/17 3:30am)
As an incoming freshman, I do not know much about the campus, but I do know why I chose Dartmouth. The College cultivates learning in both the arts and the sciences, but above all, it embraces community. Dartmouth alumni, faculty and current students alike are eager to share their experiences here. As I wait to join my Dartmouth peers this upcoming fall, I hope to find the following statement to be true: “At Dartmouth, differences are embraced and ideas are challenged.” Yet at Dartmouth, like at many other colleges across the nation, the right to freedom of expression is under debate. As a fundamental right and a pillar for democracy, why is it an issue of such controversy?