'Something is clearly awry between Biden and the kids'

'Biden is alienating young voters'

Alexander Sammon at Slate

President Biden has an age problem, says Alexander Sammon at Slate. "It's not that he's 80: It's his dreadful standing with youth voters." He "has done basically zero communications outreach" to young voters. Polls show they want him to focus more on humanitarian aid in Gaza. "Turning student loan payments back on" didn't help. To win in 2024, Biden needs to "run up" the youth vote like he did in 2020. He's running out of time.

Read more

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

'A disaster for American democracy'

Matt Ford in The New Republic

The centrist group No Labels bills itself as a unifier, says Matt Ford in The New Republic. But the Democratic-aligned nonprofit Third Way argues that No Labels' plan to run "a well-funded third-party candidate in key states" in 2024 would "block President Joe Biden from getting a majority in the Electoral College." That would sidestep "the will of the American electorate" and send the 2024 election to the Republican-controlled House, where Donald Trump "would be virtually certain to win."

Read more

'Promote the habits of a free mind'

Greg Lukianoff at National Review

Donors cutting off funding to colleges over "Pro-Palestinian — even explicitly pro-Hamas — demonstrations" are squandering an opportunity, says Greg Lukianoff at National Review. Schools face calls to "condemn the Hamas attacks" in Israel because, when it's convenient, they rush to "weigh in" on issues like the Ukraine war or Black Lives Matter. Donors should use their influence to demand institutional neutrality, always, to make campuses the "oases of free speech and academic freedom" they should be.

Read more

'Society evolves and learning must evolve with it'

Nedra Rhone in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Keyboards made cursive writing "a lost skill, a relic of the past," says Nedra Rhone in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. So why has California, "one of the most progressive states," required teaching cursive to elementary students? Learning cursive is useful for reading historical documents. Studies show learning it "aids in brain development." But don’t panic if efforts to revive it fail. The important thing is teaching kids "to communicate clearly," even if it's in "block lettering." 

Read more