World Affairs – A Student Publication of the Roxbury Latin School

COVID-19 has changed the world as we knew it

Rumors abound, but the origin of the coronavirus is uncertain

By Ethan Phan II

November 17th was a gray, foggy day in Wuhan, China. The past couple weeks had boasted subtle winds, warm weather, and clear skies, and this particular Sunday marked the beginning of gloomier forecasts in the region. But no one could have predicted just how gloomy things were about to become.

The pandemic is affecting all schools similarly, but their responses are different

By Chris Zhu I

As the COVID-19 pandemic has caused a global shutdown and sent everyone into quarantine, schools around the world have been focused on resuming normal activities online. In this unprecedented time, institutions have embraced the use of online media to connect students and teachers and digital teaching platforms on a scale never seen before. Just like embracing the many other parts of current quarantine life, adjusting to an entirely online system hasn’t been an easy process and has required frequent adjustment. RL students have experienced this themselves – after a somewhat unpleasant first few days of long online school days, the school thankfully responded to students’ feedback and consequently adapted to fewer online classes and a longer lunch break. In the spirit of recreating the school environment remotely, RL has also run occasional online Halls and homerooms to simulate community gatherings. While our community has made significant progress with successful remote learning, it is interesting to see how other schools have responded to the crisis. I polled a few friends from ISL schools and some other nearby schools to see what their experiences were with the new online system.

The question on every graduating senior’s mind: What will colleges do?

By Will Specht II

College – the next step. Between taking standardized tests, applying, and finally deciding where you want to go, this process students commit to every year is undoubtedly long and complicated. However, COVID-19 has drastically changed this process. Applicants, accepted students, and current college students alike have all had to face the unknown as colleges scrambled to cope with the new global reality. Across the country, colleges have had to turn virtual for all students, both prospective and enrolled. Most colleges have closed to students and have also closed tours for potential applicants. At the same time, the SAT and SAT subject tests have been postponed, while AP tests are now online. With these massive changes, colleges have chosen how to handle these new circumstances while some prepare for another semester online.

Zoombombing slows meteoric growth of video-conferencing company

By Tim Smith I

In this time of self-isolation, the resultant decline in consumption outside of necessities has caused the stock of many successful companies to decline. The opposite has happened for Zoom Video Communications. Their stock was steadily climbing due to the increase in working and learning from home, but this recently changed due to privacy concerns within the company. That lack of privacy has been exploited in a popular yet controversial way: zoombombing.

U.S. Armed Forces face a different kind of challenge: the battle to stay healthy

By Daniel Berk II

As the outbreak of COVID-19 worsens and we are forced to observe social distancing and quarantine for much longer than we would like, both a pressing and polarized issue has arisen: whether the American public should go outside and brave the virus or play it safe indoors. However, it is not just the American public that faces this issue. The armed forces must deal with the same quandary but with much more impactful consequences.

Tactics of big-spending candidates raise questions about campaign financing

By John Harrington I

The fight for the Democratic nomination for the presidency in 2020 included a very interesting and diverse race. The initial field was massive, including young startups Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Andrew Yang, experienced moderates Joe Biden and Amy Klobuchar, progressives Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, tenacious representative Tulsi Gabbard, along with a full cast of relatively minor players who dropped out along the way. Perhaps the most notable pairing in this array were the two billionaires, businessman Tom Steyer and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

The Nevada Democratic Primary Debate on February 12, 2020

Rapid research efforts offer pandemic hope

By Raj Saha VI

Throughout the past two months, many organizations have sought to prevent the social, economic, and health impacts of coronavirus. While much emphasis has been placed on the social and economic implications, we must remember that this a health crisis at its root. The invisible clouds of fear encircling our communities and the plunging of stock markets are simply ramifications of an insidious virus amongst us. So, if we were able to create a remedy and neutralize the virus, all social and economic consequences would diminish. Thankfully, there is hope. With the collaboration of brilliant minds from biotech and pharmaceutical companies, government agencies, and academia, we have developed our own intellectual army to combat COVID-19. All of these people are together in the quest to substantially reduce the mortality rates of this virus, hopefully to levels similar to influenza (flu) virus.

Economic downturn is a national crisis

By Aidan Cook I

There is no question that the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic rivals the scale of some of the biggest crises in the history of the United States. As of April 16, over 22 million people in the country have filed for unemployment aid since President Trump declared a national emergency. The public health crisis has caused small businesses to shut down and layoff workers and even large companies have cut back production. These unemployment numbers, continuing to rise as the pandemic approaches its eighth week in the United States, are close to reaching Great Depression levels.

Biden’s VP pick is the key to his lock on the presidency

By John and Robert Balson II

As Covid-19 has dominated the news cycle for the past 2 months, the once incessantly followed 2020 Presidential nomination process and election has been largely an afterthought. Joe Biden continued his strong performance after his domination of Bernie Sanders in South Carolina and again the following week on Super Tuesday. Seeing no clear path to the nomination, Senator Sanders dropped out of the race on April 8th, guaranteeing that Vice President Biden would be the Democratic nominee for president in 2020. He will be running, of course, against the incumbent President Donald Trump. One of the last major questions that is yet to be answered is who Biden will select as his running mate. He previously guaranteed he would select a woman, meaning his choice will likely be one of the following: Stacey Abrams, former minority leader of the Georgia House of Representatives and Democratic nominee for Governor of Georgia in 2018; Kamala Harris, senator from California and former-Attorney General of California; Amy Klobuchar, senator from Minnesota; Gretchen Whitmer, Governor of Michigan; Catherine Cortez Masto; senator from Nevada; or Elizabeth Warren, senator from Massachusetts.