Category Archives: Opinion

Safe Spaces Make Healthy Disagreement Much Harder

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By Anna G.

When I came to the Princeton Summer Journalism Program, the first thing I heard from counselors was that disagreements and arguments are encouraged, and that this is a “safe space” for arguing. I remember the sweet and reassuring tone with which my counselor said it. But I believe that “safe spaces” for disagreement are not possible in society.

Originally, the concept of “safe space” was created in queer communities to discuss the issues they shared, but in recent years it has spread across college campuses. Some people believe that safe spaces are necessary for people not to feel triggered by sensitive topics, but they also stop people from disagreeing. When someone voices a different opinion and is judged for it, then they feel outcast, like they can’t express their opinion.

“Safe spaces” are about maintaining an easygoing atmosphere among students, where they aren’t challenged. This comfortable bubble can prevent people from learning and adapting to life’s challenges, writes Liz Stillwaggon Swan, a professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder: “The fittest in the competition for survival are those that can adapt to face challenges and overcome them.”

A comfortable bubble doesn’t include outsiders’ opinions. When people are presented with a different opinion, they aren’t so likely to consider it. The avoidance of triggering topics makes this even more severe because instead of accepting challenges or respectfully debating the opinion, people will try to avoid and judge those who hold different opinions. 

Some argue that “safe spaces” prevent harm. But think about the feeling of psychological pressure when everybody is looking at you with disagreement and judgment. This proves that even “safe spaces” may feel uncomfortable for sharing opinions. There is not really a “safe space” for arguments, as nobody can regulate people’s thoughts. 

In our society, people rarely accept the fact of their wrongness, and they will judge those who have different opinions. But we can change this. By being less prideful and more accepting of other opinions, we can make our society closer to an ideal world, where understanding people are open to discussion and not judging others for their opinions.

Sordid Secrets: How Museums, Art Institutes, and Private Galleries Condone Highway Robbery Toward Indigenous Communities

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By Maira P.

Theft is a crime, and for good reason. The act of willfully depriving someone of their property, for whatever cause, is immoral and selfish. It is no surprise that the American government has endorsed countless anti-fraud campaigns and doled out hefty punishments in even the most trivial situations related to the devious act, largely to protect potential and existing victims. But these initiatives disproportionately snub one key group: Native Americans.

Since the dawn of colonization in the 15th century, Indigenous populations across the United States have borne the brunt of the government’s foul conduct and brutality. Perhaps most devastating, however, is the irreparable cultural damage dealt to these communities as a result of the blatant burglary of priceless antiques, such as arrowheads, clothing, and, in especially horrifying instances, the bones of Native Americans themselves. 

According to the Associated Press, an estimated 870,000 Native artifacts, including 110,000 human remains, are still held in the custody of various public and private institutions of the United States, ranging from well-funded universities to furtive but no less illicit private collections of invaluable heirlooms taken directly from tribal lands. 

These actions are in direct violation of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990 (NAGPRA), which bans establishments like museums or colleges from keeping tribal relics. In spite of the law, the federal government has done little to actually mitigate these transgressions. 

These injustices not only emphasize the inherent ineffectiveness of such lax and unenforced regulations but also expose the United States’ gross mishandling of indigenous affairs as a whole. As Indigenous leader Charlene Nijmeh, chairwoman of the Muwekma Ohlone tribe, said to ABC News, “Everyone in Indian Country knows that the federal [repatriation] process is broken, it’s corrupt and needs to be revised.” 

Without proper action taken to ensure the protection and redistribution of these heirlooms to their rightful place, Native Americans will continue to suffer as more and more of their culture is erased. Their history has been stolen. It’s time to give it back.

Trump: Serial Killer of the ‘American Dream’ 

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How Trump’s policies are destroying the American Dream of higher education

By Mai E.L

Americans love rags-to-riches stories. We root for underdog characters who climb the socioeconomic ladder and chase the American Dream in some of our most beloved books and movies. Now, that dream is being slashed by President Donald Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill in one fell swoop, as policies lower the lifetime cap for graduate student loans, making it much more difficult to earn an advanced degree. 

From 1995 to 2017, graduate school debt increased tenfold, climbing to $94,141 on average among federal borrowers, according to the Education Data Initiative. That number is much higher for PhDs and degrees from private universities. Under Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill, the lifetime cap for non-professional graduate loans is $100,000. About one in five master’s students borrow above that proposed limit, according to Preston Cooper at the American Enterprise Institute.

Although the prerequisites to be eligible for graduate education have shifted, one requirement remains: money. The cost of education has inflated in recent years, but resources for low-income students have also increased. Graduate students can currently borrow up to the cost of their graduate program. By July 2026, that won’t be the case. President Trump’s recent legislative actions have compromised the accessibility of higher education for working-class learners, effectively keeping the poor poor.

The BBB was signed on the 249th birthday of the United States, a nation originally built on hard work and education. While the stated goal of this policy is to push colleges to match their tuition to the lowered loan cap, the true consequence will be that students who rely on loans to pay tuition will be left behind.

Trump, a man known for opening up his playground of politics to the rich, is now pursuing policies that will trap Americans in a generational cycle of poverty. Without intervention, we can rest assured that the American dream will soon be dead. 

Your Favorite Fruit Could Be The Cause of Unpaid Labour

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By Leslie S.

If you look at your strawberries, what do you see? At first glance, you see delicious fruit — but that fruit is a symbol of the suffering that undocumented workers have to endure. Many wake up every day and face the reality of going to work in the fields under inhumane conditions. Now that President Donald Trump is back in office, these circumstances are highly unlikely to change any time soon. 

As of March 2025, there are a reported 18.6 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States, with at least 283,000 working in agriculture, according to the Center for Immigration Studies. Forced to labor in extreme heat, many of them have limited access to amenities like clean bathrooms and clean drinking water. Corporations profit from this exploitation, and consumers get the convenience of purchasing strawberries for the low price of $3.80 per pound. But the hidden cost of affordable fruit is the suffering of the undocumented workers who produce it. 

Only 32 percent of crop farmworkers are U.S.-born, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Americans don’t want to do this essential work, but someone has to. You may ask yourself: Why does anyone put up with these working conditions? For undocumented immigrants, speaking up could cost them a job that they can’t afford to lose. Out of fear, they stay silent.

Next time you go to the grocery store, consider how the food ended up on the shelves. Instead of choosing the cheapest option, try to purchase the ethical option. Was it made sustainably? Were the workers treated humanely and paid a fair wage? Consumers have a responsibility to know what their money is supporting. For us, the difference is just a few dollars or cents. For undocumented workers, the stakes are much higher.

The Blueprint

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By SeMya H.

Today’s trends are reused, repurposed—and most importantly, appropriated. Whether it’s “slay,” “tea,” or “period,” current slang is almost always credited to chronically online Gen Zers. The origin of these terms is lost in the assumption that they’re generational rather than cultural—but that simply isn’t true.

Black people have a dialect that directly reflects our background. These words and phrases are being stolen daily. So what happens when our language gets colonized?

The language formed in Black communities has had a significant impact on the way the world speaks. Phrases we grew up with and used within our circles are now seen as mainstream.

Black identity has been turned into a marketplace—something for everyone to shop from freely. But when the African-American community leans into our culture, it’s perceived differently than when others dip into it. The way we present ourselves has long been associated with derogatory terms like “thuggish”—until non-Black people conveniently discover the style.

Appropriation isn’t the only problem. The sting of blatant theft is only made worse by poor imitation. When African-American culture is repackaged, the result is a watered-down version: edges rebranded as “sticky bangs,” bonnets renamed “sleeping caps.”

One group particularly affected is Black women. Their contributions have always been overlooked and underappreciated. From long acrylic nails to statement hoop earrings, Black women have influenced fashion and style for generations. The constant disregard for these women—and the fact that they are responsible for the popularization of styles still worn today—has created a stigma around self-expression in our community.

Nareasha Willis, founder of the former brand Black Vogue, said it best:
“Ghetto until proven fashionable.”

This quote captures both the criticism inflicted on the Black community and the shift that happens once our style is misappropriated.

While we may not be able to reclaim every “jacked” style, we can give credit to the originators.

There are Black creators and businesses across the globe who represent and celebrate Black culture with integrity. There are also influencers whose unique creations deserve the same support their white counterparts receive.

The biggest trend today?
Still not recognizing Black contributions.

The Illusion of Safety: Vapes Were Never the Better Option

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By Meagan K.

Instead of launching with clear warning labels, vapes debuted in neon colors with flavors like blue razz ice, cotton candy, and dulce de leche — all in an effort to cater to younger audiences. They were supposed to be a better alternative to smoking: no smell, no risk. But that illusion is cracking as the consequences of vapes are emerging. To no one’s surprise, the youth are paying the price. 

One Juul pod contains approximately 20 cigarettes’ worth of nicotine. Nic salts absorb rapidly and hit harder than nicotine found in cigarettes, explaining why 53.1 percent of past 30-day users reported being “a little” or “very addicted.” The largest group of vape consumers is 18 to 25, closely followed by kids aged 12 to 17. Young adults who believed vapes were fairly harmless are getting diagnosed with illnesses like popcorn lung, EVALI, and lipoid pneumonia. 

The true danger isn’t the chemicals in the device, but its convenience: Vapes are discreet, and users can partake more often and with few social consequences. Step into any school bathroom today, and you’re likely to find a group congregated around the sink, nonchalantly passing a community vape around. And when they’re done, it’s tucked into a sleeve, and that’s it — no penalties incurred.

The only way to reverse this trend is to treat vapes the same way we do cigarettes.

Cigarettes lost popularity thanks to anti-smoking campaigns in the 1990s and 2000s, which led to smokers being embarrassed to light one up. Then came smoke rooms and, finally, no smoking indoors. While vapes don’t have the same repulsive smell, they can still induce asthma attacks in bystanders. If stigma is the only way to address the vaping crisis, it’s about time we brought it back.

The United States could also learn from Australia, which tightened regulations last year. Now, vapes can only be sold at pharmacies, and only to help smokers quit. The country also restricts flavors to mint, menthol, and tobacco, and packaging must adhere to plain pharmaceutical standards. Maybe if we stopped camouflaging these vapes as toys, kids would stop treating them that way.

Social Media’s Unintended Effects

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By Alibek Asanbaev
Vernon Hills, Ill.

IN MODERN society, almost everyone has a social media account, in large part because people have FOMO, or “fear of missing out.” This fear causes people to keep mindlessly checking social media apps like Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, TikTok, and Facebook in order to stay informed about what their friends are doing. People also use these apps in order to interact with friends, family, and even strangers. But often, people use social media simply because they want to be entertained and pass time when they are bored.

But despite its important role in our lives in the 21st century, social media is detrimental to our lives overall. It negatively impacts our mental health, personal relationships, and happiness.

While many people say they enjoy social media, it tends to elicit many nega-tive feelings that are harmful to mental health. A study conducted by University of Pennsylvania psychologist Melissa G. Hunt found that greater usage of social media apps increases feelings of loneli-ness and depression. Conversely, “using less social media than you normally would leads to significant decreases in both depression and loneliness.” Al-though social media apps are intended to help users feel more connected with each other, they actually cause users to feel isolated and unhappy. 

Humans are social creatures who have a natural need for real-world, face-to-face interactions in order to feel happy. Social media isn’t a replacement for that real connection. According to HelpGuide.org, a nonprofit mental health website, social interaction “requires in-person contact with others to trigger the hormones that alleviate stress and make you feel hap-pier, healthier, and more positive.” These hormones are not triggered by staring at a screen or talking through the phone.

It’s also important to realize that people tend to only post the best parts of their lives online. Everyone on social media wants to depict themselves as being attractive, rich, and happy. When other people see these kinds of posts, though, they often feel a sense of envy that they don’t live the dream life that they assume others are experiencing. Yet the very same people who try to portray themselves as having those enviable lives are likely experiencing anxiety and depression of their own. Social media causes everyone to feel bad about themselves when they assume that others are living a better life than them. Overall, social media is a giant public facade that masks private despair.

To be clear, I’m not suggesting that people should quit using social media altogether. It is true that social media is a useful tool for spreading valuable information, and an easy way to interact with people. Learning about important news and becoming friends has never been easier thanks to social media, and apps can catalyze change by rallying many people together to fight for a cause they all believe in. Social media also enables people to share their opinions and perspectives, which is an integral part of democracy.

Social media has its positives but, for the most part, it is full of unrealistic, useless, time-wasting, and harmful qualities. Our culture thrives on staying informed and constantly seeking pleasure, but while social media is a powerful tool for gaining essential knowledge, it becomes futile, and even detrimental, when used exces-sively and for the wrong reasons.

America’s History of Erasing History

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By Eunice Choi
Fresno, Calif.

Many often say, “The past is the past.” So why study history? Through history, we can learn how past societies have changed and evolved based on the blueprint of our actions and mis-takes. Understanding previous accounts of history is essential. But many in the United States seem to think that our students shouldn’t learn about America’s history with depth and breadth. 

In American schools, history is being left behind and erased. As schools increasingly pro-mote STEM disciplines and states lack in providing enough support for the pedagogy, many students are stifled from learning history. According to a study conducted by the Southern Poverty Law Center in 2017, a mere 8 percent of high school seniors surveyed were able to pinpoint slavery as the principal motive of the Civil War.  Research from the SPLC further reveals that more than 90 percent of teachers are “comfortable” with teaching the history of slavery, and 40 percent of teachers believe that states do not provide sufficient support to this instruction. A whopping 58 percent of teachers find textbooks inadequate for teaching. 

Not only is our education system at fault in teaching the course, there is also a tendency to simplify and distort certain events and timelines of the past by “whitewashing” the material. In Texas,  a 2015 state-adopted textbook referred to enslaved people as “immigrant workers.” It was not until 2018 when the Texas State Board of Education revised the curriculum to finally highlight that slavery was the primary cause of the Civil War. Even though Texas did the right thing by revising their curriculum in 2018, it’s a case of two steps forward, one step back. In July, the Texas Senate passed a bill to remove requirements that schools teach specific writings from Martin Luther King, Jr., Susan B. Anthony, and Cesar Chavez. 

Of course, it’s not easy to learn about the oppression of marginalized communities in the classrooms. But these events are an imperative part of America’s history. Its continuation can have far-reaching consequences, too. We choose to continue to oppress minority communities with the perpetuation of historical myth-making. The only way we can learn and eventually move on from the past is if we accept the truth and reflect on our mistakes to foster a better society from these bygone days. And it starts with education.

Students are constantly told that the truth can set us free. Then why do countless in-structors, parents, and officials find it challenging to accept the truth? This educational malpractice isn’t history, it’s a false narrative. Students must understand how the present ties back to the history of the United States in order to become better citizens and scholars. Historical accuracy is needed, and this flawed mindset must be fixed now.

Blast Off, Bezos!

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By Leslie Nevarez
Brownsville, Texas

KIM SHIFLET, NASA

ON APRIL 12, 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin became the first human to ever travel into space. Eight years later, during the Richard Nixon presidency, Apollo 11 allowed Neil Armstrong to become the first person to land on the moon. In July 2021, two renowned billionaires—Richard Branson and Jeffrey Bezos—rode into the mere surface of space for a total of about 12 minutes combined. While an alarming number of Americans are losing their jobs and barely making ends meet, Branson and Bezos got the spot-light they needed to get richer.

On July 11, 2021—just eight days before Bezos’ trip—Branson, the founder of Virgin Galactic, became the first-ever to fly into space using a rocket he helped fund. Branson lifted off from Truth or Consequences, New Mexico along with two pilots and three crewmates and experienced around eight minutes of weightlessness. 

During the 52nd anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, Bezos also went into space and experienced weightlessness for roughly 4 minutes. Bezos, along with three crew members, lifted off from West Texas on the Blue Origin flight, according to CBS News. 

In the ten days that have passed since the billionaires took field trips to space, I could not help but think that there was an even bigger message that rich people (like Branson and Bezos) wanted to send to the rest of the country and even the world. Is flying into space what power looks like to them? Is this a way for the rich to gloat? Or is this the continuation of the infamous Space Wars: Billionaire Edition? 

In 2020, the United States lost 20.6 million jobs in March alone, when COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO). Yet in the midst of it all, Bezos, former CEO of Amazon, had a revenue of $386 billion according to Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index, with a total net worth increase of $73 billion. Similarly, Branson had a net worth in-crease of $1.3 billion since July of 2020.

While millions of individuals had to adapt to survive a global pandemic without a stable income, the rich kept getting richer. While Branson’s trip to space cost him $841 million, Bezos spent around $5.5 billion to get the astronaut experience for 4 minutes. This kind of money could have been put to better use back on Earth, such as helping the world get vaccinated against COVID-19, giving financial assistance to those who lost a job during the peak of the pan-demic, or even helping fund education. But such generosity wasn’t shown by the people who could afford to give it. 

The takeaway is simple. The once-metaphorical phrase of “sky-rocketing” income has become literal for billionaires. Sadly, showcasing their wealth while millions of others struggle is the most integral aspect of this “mission.”

Is Social Media Doing More Harm Than Good?

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By Julia Francisco
Los Angeles, Calif.

WE ALL know social media can be helpful, but is it possible that it is doing more harm than good? Posts and likes con-nect people by the minute around the globe through platforms like Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and Twitter. These platforms can bring business, awareness, connections, and even acceptance. Yet they can also cause manipulation, toxic-ity, and mental health problems.  

Social media users range across all ages: kids, teens, and adults. With unchecked content posted around the clock, it is no surprise that misinformation circulates widely across platforms, across the country and across the world. It may not seem like a big deal, but when impressionable audiences start to believe and share the information they come across on social media without fact-checking, our collective knowledge is tainted. 

Many times, misleading information centers public figures. When enough angry people have liked, commented, and shared the information, users collaborate to “cancel” the person. “Cancel culture,” as it’s called, shuns people from society and allows for them to be publicly “dragged” and harassed by the users on these platforms. It is seen as a form of justice, but is it really justice or just bullying?

Social media is also a performative space, where people are made to believe that they have to appear flawless in front of their audience. Many social media feeds include dance routines, selfies and makeup trends. These posts may seem harmless, but when users—especially young people—are constantly re-minded of what they don’t have, it can take a toll on their mental health. Many start to compare them-selves to celebrities and influencers. They wonder why their bodies aren’t shaped like an hourglass, or why their skin doesn’t look perfect. Others value themselves only by the number of followers and likes they’ve accumulated, and some deal with trolls and hateful comments. Numerous users do find a community of acceptance online, but many also find a world of toxicity. 

Although social media was de-signed to keep people connected, with all the lies, hate, envy, and dismay it produces, social media has actually brought disconnection to the world. We have to remind ourselves that social media is just a show, and that we are perfectly imperfect beings. I do not mean to advocate for the deletion of social media, but simply to encourage the occasional reprieve. Consider this a reminder to take breaks from the cyber world to protect yourself and your mental health.