View from the Hub
Burning the Midnight Diesel
Rapid transit has been a quirky fascination of mine since I was a little kid. Back then, the only form of transportation I ever really took was the back of my mother’s minivan, and the thought of a train that ran underground piqued both my terror and my curiosity.
I was therefore fairly surprised when I came to Harvard and started hearing scores of disgruntled New Yorkers complaining about the MBTA’s dearth of late-night service. Being from Massachusetts and thus having grown up making New York the frequent object of a half-joking derision, I chalked up the complaints as mere snobbery and a lack of appreciation.
Carrying on the Mantle of Reform
As Massachusetts State Senator Barry Finegold (D-Andover) moves to pass a landmark education reform bill in Massachusetts, the high achievement of earlier reforms is being drowned out by the controversy surrounding charter schools in the Bay State. That controversy threatens a bill with enormous potential to provide a quality education to even more Massachusetts students.
Charter schools have constituted a part of the state’s educational landscape since 1993, when the first of two education reform bills allowed the state to grant charters for nontraditional schools. In 2010, the second major reform bill raised a mandated cap on charter schools while giving the state broader powers to reform underperforming traditional schools.
Fighting for Change in the Trenches
Politically minded Harvard students have a lot to be excited about this summer, with several high-stakes political races unfolding in the Bay State. There’s the dramatic election to replace John Kerry in the Senate, and due to Congressman Markey winning the special U.S. senate election, another will be held to represent his current Congressional district—which happens to include Cambridge.
It makes sense, then, that Harvard students would be excited about these nationally covered elections. We come from across the country and around the world, after all, and young people are naturally drawn to campaigns where they see the opportunity to put their idealism to use: to effect some positive change.