The Milton Measure

Vol. CXXXII · July 10, 2026

Elizabeth Sim '27

Senior Editor

Opinion

Let Us Normalize Amateurism

During icebreakers, we often share our interests. “I sail.” “I like to play chess.” “I solve math problems in my free time.” Think back to the icebreakers that happened at the beginning of the year when everyone in your class took turns telling each other a few quick things about themselves. When someone said they loved doing something, did you automatically assume that they were skilled at it? That they’d had years of experience engaging in their passions? Upon hearing people list their hobbies, I myself have frequently made that assumption. Have you ever stopped to wonder why that assumption even takes shape in our heads in the first place?

By Elizabeth Sim '274 min read

Opinion

Wary of Authoritarianism at Home, We Must Also Study Democratic Trends in Autocracies

“Are We Losing Our Democracy?” asks the headline of the October 31, 2025 New York Times editorial. We might as well apply the same question to nearly a quarter of the world’s countries. The Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Institute’s 2026 Democracy Report points toward that 25% of nations currently experiencing “democratic backsliding,” when a country undergoes a gradual erosion of its democratic values and progressively exhibits signs of authoritarianism. Concurrently, according to a 2025 Cornell University study conducted by Rachel Beatty Riedl et al., recent scholarly discourse has increasingly directed its attention from democratization to democratic regression.

By Elizabeth Sim '274 min read

Opinion

A Freshman Views the World From a Tree

Quadchella, nighttime. A floodlight on the Quad illuminates at least a hundred students who mill around, bump into familiar faces, and discuss which activity to try next. Popular songs played by the live band The Undecided waft through the air. Like every student and adult at Quadchella, Nora Lu ‘29 hears the music—but not like the average Quadchella participant.

By Elizabeth Sim '274 min read

News

Speech & Debate Juniors Cite Time Commitment, Team Environment as Reasons for Mass Departure

“The Only Way Out Is Through.” I see the quote in a frame sitting atop a bookshelf on the far side of Kellner 229, Speech & Debate Coach Scott Caron’s classroom. Together, the rounded words of the quote create a white spiral against the dark green backdrop of the frame. Accompanying the quote frame is a nutcracker, another quote frame, and, of course, tournament trophies.

By Elizabeth Sim '2714 min read

Opinion

Does The Nobleman Measure Up?

On November 13, Shira Keitner ’27 and I shadowed Seynabou Seck ’27 at the Noble and Greenough School as part of the Milton-Nobles newspaper exchange. There, the two of us got to see The Nobleman, Nobles’ official news publication, in action by attending their editorial meeting. Unlike The Measure, which meets outside of school, The Nobleman lives within a credited Journalism course that meets four times a week during school hours. Little did I know, our meeting schedule was just one of numerous differences I would discover between the two school newspapers.

By Elizabeth Sim '274 min read

News

Without Cory Butler, School Events Wouldn’t Run

Manager of Events Cory Butler has the entire campus memorized. Not “memorized” as in the sense that she knows how to reach every building on campus, but “memorized” as in she knows the exact number of furniture in each room, and the room number of that room. She can immediately tell you that there are 379 seats in King Theater and that Apthorp Chapel can fit 209 people. If you give her a random room number, she closes her eyes and tells you what furniture characterizes the corresponding room. In contrast, most students can’t even claim to know the campus well. We only ever visit specific classrooms, the Quad, or Forbes Dining Hall—the spaces that matter to us. For Butler, the spaces that matter span all 130 acres of the school.

By Elizabeth Sim '274 min read