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In defense of the common good
Our country is living through a fragile time. The divisions we face cut deep. Seeping into families, neighborhoods and the spaces where we once found common ground. Every tragedy seems to be politicized. Every hardship is turned into fuel for outrage. And every cycle of mistrust leaves us more likely to fracture than before.…
Read MoreA thank-you to my parents
Honor generational sacrifices with gratitude, not guilt. If you stop me on Locust Walk for a fit check, most of what I am wearing started in my mom’s closet. My apartment tells the same story, furnished with the “good” hand towels, the sturdy pots, and the dishes my parents once kept for guests. But…
Read MoreSave young men
How are young men doing? Terribly. We are unemployed, depressed and sexually inactive. We are struggling in education, job placement and social flourishing. We are the perpetrators of our country’s recent mass shootings and political attacks. After many generations of male dominance in almost every public realm, it can be hard to comprehend that men today are struggling. The collapse…
Read MoreTake the Road Less Traveled By
“I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.” Robert Frost, from “The Road Not Taken” A recent front page article in the New York Times re-kindled the never-extinguished fires of passion around gifted and talented (G&T) programs in New York City’s public schools. Aptly characterized as a “hornet’s…
Read MoreThe language of tribalism: How political shibboleths are destroying discourse
[Editor’s note: Our archives contain several years of excellent articles, most of which remain relevant and important to today’s young people and the adults who work with them. This one is a “Director’s Choice” that we are reposting this week.] We live in a world dominated by the sound bite, the clip and all…
Read MorePublic service still serves the public.
This year has been unlike any other for the School for Public and International Affairs (SPIA) and its Scholars in the Nation’s Service (SINSI) program. For almost 20 years, SINSI has guided Princeton students toward careers in public service through fellowships and internships with government agencies. But as academia and the federal workforce have…
Read MoreInsights for Navigating Adolescent Friendships
As a middle school head, I frequently hear from parents who are worried about their children’s friendships—and for good reason. Social dynamics become more complex during adolescence, and parents want to support their kids through these new challenges. The problems vary: My child was the subject of a mean group text. My daughter’s friends…
Read MoreYou don’t need to party in college to have a good time
[Editor’s note: Our archives contain several years of excellent articles, most of which remain relevant and important to today’s young people and the adults who work with them. This one is a “Director’s Choice” that we are reposting this week.] Throughout middle school and high school, I always dreamed of going to college —…
Read MoreHow to navigate college as a Black girl from a white suburb
When I was 10 years old, my parents decided it was time for a change and moved us to the small town I now call home. In my most formative years as a child, they had moved us to a predominantly white neighborhood — something I was not prepared to experience. There, the most…
Read MoreKeep academic authority in human hands
In an otherwise insightful, hopeful, and at times even beautiful, piece in the New Yorker in April, Princeton Professor of History D. Graham Burnett makes one critical error: Compared to the rise of AI, he remarks, the Trump administration’s frightening invasions into university affairs seems like a “sideshow.” But these are not two separate problems on two parallel tracks.…
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