David Kanter | Putting too much stock in paper

Jan. 20, 2009, will be a historic day. George W. Bush (Yale, Harvard MBA) will no longer be the president of this nation, ending a reign that I will generously term disgraceful. After eight years of incompetent decision-making and leadership, Obama and Co.

David Kanter | A wedding to give thanks for

A wedding, much like Thanksgiving, gives us one of those rare opportunities for everyone, friends and family alike, to come together and enjoy each other's company. As no small bonus, a wedding allows us to celebrate the time-honored traditions of union and love.

David Kanter | More time for giving thanks

This time next week, I'll unfortunately still be here at school. Don't get me wrong - I love being here. It's just that the next day is Thanksgiving, one of the few times during the year my family gets together anymore. But I have classes the day before Thanksgiving, thanks to the structure of our current fall semester calendar.

David Kanter | Sucking it up

A few weeks back, Wharton sophomore Keith Williams and some friends entered the McDonald's on 40th and Walnut streets during the hours between Saturday night and Sunday morning. As you probably already know, Williams and his friends were called "stupid school kids" and deliberately given bad service, despite treating the staff respectfully.

David Kanter | Focusing on what really matters

If your major is in the social sciences or humanities, chances are your major has no practical value. Now before you get all upset, hear me out. I'm saying your major probably has little or no value for what you're going to end up doing in life, but your classes, whatever they are, have a lot.

David Kanter | A double standard toward scalping

For all those diehard Phillies fans out there, this coming week should be special. For the first time in 15 years your Phils are back in the Fall Classic. But if you want to make it down to Citizens Bank Park to watch the Series in person, it's going to cost you - listings on the ticket resale Web site StubHub.

David Kanter | Offering an online option

As I awkwardly balanced the clipboard on my knee, I scribbled my information onto a voter registration form. While I walked away from the Obama campaign worker who assured me that my registration was now all set, I commented to my friend that the whole voter registration system seemed remarkably inefficient.

David Kanter | Preserving an independent curriculum

Now that the firestorm surrounding the Logan Hall-Claudia Cohen Hall Fiasco has died down, we can put the whole episode in a little bit of context. Frankly, the name of the building won't compromise the quality of your Philosophy lecture in Logan/Cohen 17.

David Kanter | In teaching, experience matters

Unless you've been living under a rock for the last two weeks, you've probably seen the Teach for America advertisements around campus. TFA is certainly doing a good job getting its message out, and it's paying dividends: 27 College graduates from the class of 2007 reported to Career Services that they signed on with the program, making it the College's top employer.

David Kanter | Thinking before we speak

In my ninth grade sex-ed class Ms. Dorado one day tried to explain that the use of the word "gay" as a pejorative could be quite offensive. "No, no Ms. Dorado," retorted a classmate of mine. "We don't use it to offend anyone. We just use it to say that something is stupid.

David Kanter | Bringing Fenway to Philly

I kind of felt like I'd been there before. Maybe it was the shameless opportunists selling Obama '08 buttons - one for $2, three for $5 (how could I pass one up?) I guess they did sort of remind me of those annoying venders hawking foam fingers and pennants along Yawkey Way and Lansdowne Street.

David Kanter | Our doctors are not for sale

When you grow up in a medical professional's home, you kind of get used to the fact that every pen and notepad is emblazoned with the name of a drug company or one of its high-priced prescription drugs. In my house, Pfizer always provided more pens than Bic.

David Kanter | This is America - tolerate some diversity

Last time I checked, the United States didn't have an official language. English may predominate in the Land of the Free, but Spanish, or any other language for that matter, can rightly claim to be just as American. Yet if you stop by Geno's Steaks in South Philly, you might think otherwise.

David Kanter | Closing the door on political activism

For far too long college students have avoided the political process, neglecting their right to vote. This theme is old and tired, but true. In 2004, only a bit more than 40 percent of 18-to-24-year olds voted in the presidential election. Nevertheless, as statistics start to roll in from yesterday's primaries in Texas and Ohio, the national media will remind us once more this election season that young Americans are finally voting.

David Kanter | A tale of two tragedies

Two Thursdays ago, tragedy struck the campus of Northern Illinois University. A disgruntled former student burst into a lecture hall and opened fire, killing five students before taking his own life. Within hours, camera crews swarmed the scene, and the media quickly spread the devastating news.

David Kanter | Sharing the riches of a Penn education

Reaching the end of an economics scenario, professor Rebecca Stein said, "Let's go ahead and draw our production possibilities frontier." She drew the graph, helping me understand a concept that had been a bit confusing when I had first tried to understand it from my textbook.

David Kanter | Fighting for feedback

The first time I got a paper back from a professor here at Penn, I was a little confused. Other than a few perfunctory, illegible comments found scribbled in the margins, insightful, constructive criticism was nowhere in sight. I thought (incorrectly, I suppose) that I would receive extensive feedback on each assignment.

David Kanter | Getting your money's worth

Most students at Penn and other highly selective institutions are smart - at least book smart. Throughout high school, they received good grades and earned top test scores. Four years at an elite college or university is then supposed to accelerate their academic growth.

David Kanter | You can go your own way

A six-figure salary and an apartment in Manhattan are hard to part with, especially when you're 23. Yet that's just what 2002 Wharton and College alum Doug Tansey did and he hasn't looked back. During his high school years in Sacramento, the lucrative, fast-paced lifestyle of his aunt and uncle, both of whom were investment bankers, intrigued Tansey.

David Kanter | Defying The Daily Show

'We would like to return to work with our writers. If we cannot, we would like to express our ambivalence, but without our writers we are unable to express something as nuanced as ambivalence." With characteristic wit, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert announced their intentions to resume their respective Comedy Central shows last week without their striking writers.