Vol. CXXXII · October 9, 2026
2,400 years ago, Socrates recounted a story of a king and a god debating the value of a particular invention. It seemed to make people wiser and improve their memories, but could potentially “produce forgetfulness in the minds of those who [learned] to use it.” This invention was writing.
On Tuesday, May 26, The Guardian ran the unanticipated headline, "Dog shoots woman with shotgun at Nebraska convenience store." We would likely not, however, encounter the headline "Man shoots dog." In many journalism classes, students will encounter a similar comparison: while "Dog bites man" rarely makes headlines, the extraordinary and unexpected "Man bites dog" will.
“Can we move the test?” As AP exams have continued to empty classrooms this past week, this question has grown increasingly common. Two members of the Senior Editorial Board saw their multivariable calculus assessments pushed back nearly two weeks because so many classmates were taking AP exams rather than sitting in class. Nonetheless, some students had forgotten about—or never even knew of—these exams.