Jonathan Iwry

Our unforgivingly competitive and pre-professional environment teaches us to place getting ahead before genuine human connection. But too many people get caught up in the flow of “every man for himself,” and too many students bristle at sharing notes for fear that someone else might get a chance to excel.

Shawn Kelley is a LPS sophomore. His email is skelley@sas.upenn.edu. Jonathan Iwry is a 2014 College graduate. His email is jon.iwry@gmail.com

That’s the beauty of free speech: Every now and then, people might actually prompt us to rethink, revise or even reinforce our ideas.

We should be relying on universities to teach us not what to think, but how to think.

Jonathan Iwry is a 2014 College graduate from Potomac, Md. His email address is jon.iwry@gmail.com.

I should be able to identify as a Zionist without being called a fascist. I should also be able to criticize particular policies by the Israeli government without being anti-Zionism. As the debate stands, it’s all or nothing. It’s inaccurate and unfair to those of us who are looking for a middle ground. To put it simply, it’s unreasonable.

Conservative behavior might have yielded an advantage in more primitive times, but today, it lends itself too easily to xenophobia, negotiation through brute force and the persecution of religious minorities.

I don’t believe in taking this life for granted. Obsessing over what happens after death is often a disguise for obsessing over death itself, and fearing the inevitable casts a bitter and unnecessary shadow over the time we still have. Others might feel that their time on earth is spoiled by its lack of permanence; I think that makes it all the more precious.

Unfortunately, the cult of the natural has overstepped its bounds. These people are no different from the fanatically religious; they cling mindlessly to dogma, guided by simplistic maxims like “nature good, technology bad.” And their lack of insight is putting everyone at risk.

Jonathan Iwry is a 2014 College graduate from Potomac, Md. His email address is jon.iwry@gmail.com.