Explore
Search results
Far too many students in the United States and around the world face challenges when seeking a quality education; this untapped potential is a waste of societal and economic resources. In this session, education and civil society leaders will talk about their efforts to engage underserved and refugee youth, and their successes and failures in helping those youth overcome b...
Over the past decade, Walter Isaacson has explored the minds of history’s most curious innovators. Leonardo da Vinci. Benjamin Franklin. Albert Einstein. Steve Jobs. Jennifer Doudna. And now: Elon Musk. All geniuses, to be sure. What were the talents that allowed certain inventors and entrepreneurs to turn their visionary ideas into disruptive realities? What led to their...
Achieving shared prosperity requires internal and external investments in both skills development and the tools that enable financial mobility. Corporations are recognizing and prioritizing these investments to empower a multi-generational workforce better suited for the future. Panelists will examine the complexities that corporate leaders are facing like how to establish...
Is America turning its back on the humanities? The evidence seems real when we see declining enrollments in the studies of arts, history, literature, language, and philosophy at colleges and universities across the country. Declining enrollments preface limited budgets for broad areas of inquiry as the promise of STEM curricula woos students to jobs and career paths. I...
At a moment when decades of academic achievement have been lost, can we amplify the benefits of A.I. equally across society, or will we allow a deeper digital divide to leave out even more students? Khan Academy founder and CEO Sal Khan talks about the potential for this nascent technology to transform education, activating and engaging an entire generation to create chang...
Join Richard Barth, CEO of the KIPP Foundation, and Rich Buery, chief of policy and public affairs for the KIPP Foundation, in conversation with Ross Wiener, executive director of the Aspen Institute's Education & Society Program. Hear about lessons learned in running one of the country’s most successful public charter school networks, and participate in a discussion of th...
Do American universities have an obligation to educate their students to be the next generation of citizens and civic leaders? What does it mean for a university “to offer students an education that will promote their flourishing as human beings, their judgment as moral agents, and their participation in society as democratic citizens”? Join a workshop with leaders from th...
In his remarkable book, The Third Wave, AOL founder and tech leader Steve Case describes how we are moving beyond the internet as a communications tool to an era where it will be the hub of all we do. This “internet of everything” will create a level of connectivity that will allow forward-thinking entrepreneurs to reshape every major sector in society. But, he argues, mor...
The public’s opinion of institutions of higher learning is diminishing. Whether it is because of the high cost or perceived ivory-tower elitism, or due to worry about an overly liberal mindset, Americans are debating the state — and even the necessity — of higher education today. What happens when swaths of society devalue the academy? How should institutions promote the...
A school year unlike any other is starting for students and educators across the United States. The pandemic and social unrest around racism make it a challenging time for students, teachers, and administrators, but it’s also a period of opportunity.
Technology is redefining who we trust, and this shift in trust has fundamental consequences.
Today's kids are coming of age against a backdrop of political, social, technological, and economic upheaval. While these circumstances are shaping a precocious generation that is changing society and redefining cultural norms, kids are also struggling with mental health issues, the pressures of social media, and the ongoing impacts of COVID-19 on key developmental years....
What is a university if not a true marketplace of ideas — a place where scholarly pursuits in history, science, literature, philosophy, art, and mathematics can be nurtured and questioned, where crosscurrents of diverse thought and perspectives can co-exist? Today, students are challenged by the notion of an open society, tested on the one hand by values of free expressio...
Americans now owe a staggering $1.5 trillion in student loan debt, according to Forbes. With growing online opportunities catered to self-taught learners and the ever-evolving digital nature of work in the modern world, do we still need to sit in classrooms to get a college education? Are companies and government institutions rethinking the long-standing requirement of a f...
Higher education was once one of our most trusted sectors in American society. But today, colleges and universities are struggling to hold onto that trust. Accused of being educationally ineffective, too expensive, obsessed with their own elitism, inept at dealing well with the explosion of depression and anxiety among their students — the list of criticisms is long. Many...
Traditional notions of college are changing, so what is college supposed to be about?
Within our lifetimes, AI will, by design, begin to behave unpredictably, thinking and acting in ways which defy human logic. Big tech companies may be inadvertently building and enabling vast arrays of intelligent systems that don't share our motivations, desires, or hopes for the future of humanity. Is it too late to change course and realize a human-centered future for a...
Katharine Hayhoe is an atmospheric scientist and Chief Scientist for The Nature Conservancy. Ahead of Aspen Ideas: Climate next week, we caught up with Dr. Hayhoe to discuss tips for talking about climate change with anyone, how her faith informs her climate activism, why environmental guilt-tripping never works, and how to develop real, muscular hope.
Last month the University of Chicago started the first School of Molecular Engineering in the United States. If the university world had the equivalent of a venture backed unicorn, this might well be the role model. Starting with an idea, Bob Zimmer worked with his faculty to conceptualize an effort around designing and building from the molecular level up. Starting at...
With many students returning to school from the comfort of their living rooms, educators are using this unique period to address long-standing problems of equity.