'Something is clearly awry between Biden and the kids'
Opinion, comment and editorials of the day


'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.
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'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."
'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.
'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 Learning cursive is useful for reading historical documents.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."
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Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.
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