![](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/66eee91f-3270-410f-acae-c4596ed8cdfe/53823335620_1f8b7695d2_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&q=80&rect=0%2C858%2C8256%2C4646&w=800)
The Case for College
Setup
In “Mindset Matters,” Daniel R. Porterfield advances the argument for the value of undergraduate education and suggests ways to improve education for new generations. Three college graduates join to talk about how the experience helped them launch the lives they’re living.
- 2024 Festival
- Education
Explore More
Education
![Walton Family Foundation Presents: Dreaming Our Futures — A Fireside Chat on Mentorship and Education](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/37d39ad7-512c-4f9d-9092-3b10db3aebf5/240627_dreaming_futures_007.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=600&q=80&rect=1111%2C0%2C1778%2C2667&w=400)
The Walton Family Foundation’s latest research with Gallup shows that young people need a sense of purpose in school and work to feel happy—and the right adult mentors and gui...
![Academia at a Crossroads](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/84db7fff-d2f7-4f59-9e67-0ab4f888b774/academia.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=225&q=80&rect=0%2C242%2C4650%2C2616&w=400)
Academia is beset by challenges related to free speech, admission policies, donor pressures and soaring costs. University leaders are simultaneously negotiating these minefiel...
![How To Dismantle Structural Racism in Health?](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/26db16fe-9f06-4ff3-88be-c9edd1717752/53806498237_abd97894b4_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=225&q=80&rect=0%2C0%2C4651%2C2618&w=400)
Structural racism, reflected in uneven access to care, inequitable community conditions, and the wealth gap, drives persisting racial disparities in health. Unconscionable dif...
![Mental Health Matters](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/d5c21063-2d3c-4924-bfd8-5fa27f606309/53806482912_f582492ae7_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=225&q=80&rect=5123%2C1751%2C3222%2C1801&w=400)
Mental health crises are plaguing Americans. Despite parity mandates that require mental health services to be reimbursed like any other medical service, clinician shortages,...
![How to Dance in Ohio: Celebrating Neurodiversity](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/3231a015-3b05-4b1e-9cae-e2fbf38a2df6/53807727889_051dc811b0_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=600&q=80&rect=2581%2C0%2C3093%2C4639&w=400)
The Broadway musical “How to Dance in Ohio” is the true story of a group of young people with autism preparing for a formal dance. Based on a documentary of the same name, the...
![A World Worth Fighting For: Katharine Hayhoe on Communicating Climate Change](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/b5d8cdce-9c40-40e3-9241-767f8a658c9b/AIFStockHeroImages16.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&q=80&rect=1508%2C0%2C3377%2C3375&w=400)
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 t...
![Aif Stock Hero Images 2](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/01e44384-391e-4e6f-a5f3-76f1b1da51f7/AIFStockHeroImages2.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&mono=ac473e&q=80&rect=1602%2C0%2C3377%2C3375&w=400)
![Aif Stock Hero Images 2](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/01e44384-391e-4e6f-a5f3-76f1b1da51f7/AIFStockHeroImages2.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&q=80&rect=1602%2C0%2C3377%2C3375&w=400)
Shakespeare is ubiquitous in literature classes and theater, but the avenues of relating to his work are not always clear to young people and modern audiences. Some, such as S...
![Aif Stock Hero Images 15](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/fdd4fce3-8f25-434e-bc38-703de78f0d7d/AIFStockHeroImages15.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&mono=7d247d&q=80&rect=2395%2C0%2C3377%2C3375&w=400)
![Aif Stock Hero Images 15](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/fdd4fce3-8f25-434e-bc38-703de78f0d7d/AIFStockHeroImages15.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&q=80&rect=2395%2C0%2C3377%2C3375&w=400)
When Sal Khan created Khan Academy, he was trying to scale up the successful experiences he’d had tutoring his cousins one-on-one in math. He saw how effective it could be for...
![Educating for Democracy (workshop)](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/e4e6eee4-c1cf-48dc-acda-0399848cd093/53014282440_04a5387dfd_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=600&q=80&rect=4275%2C0%2C3674%2C5504&w=400)
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 stu...
![Harnessing A.I. for Education](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/8958eebd-4801-42fd-9508-7217959ddb76/53011954595_cfff34ea6b_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=225&q=80&rect=0%2C64%2C5870%2C3294&w=400)
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...
![Flipping the Script on the Digital Divide](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/5badbf69-a89c-4b53-976f-b46f4e0acc7b/53008874482_8ef6a1711b_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=225&q=80&rect=0%2C0%2C8256%2C4640&w=400)
Digital skills open doors to jobs in tech, media, and across all industries. Connecting diverse students and workers with the education and training needed for the 92% of toda...
![How Philanthropy Can Drive Change in Public Education](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/01ecddf3-d2a8-49af-bb6a-7f7baca926fe/53008416589_4e25d515ec_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=225&q=80&rect=0%2C0%2C6000%2C3377&w=400)
As members of the Giving Pledge, Melanie and Richard Lundquist have given more than $400 million over the past decade to critical causes ranging from educational opportunity t...
![Classroom 2050](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/61ec4767-1e76-486a-b34c-5161124aa3f4/230628_classroom_2050_004.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=600&q=80&rect=62%2C0%2C1774%2C2667&w=400)
With students learning in more places and different ways than we have ever seen, the pace of change in education is dizzying. Join our panel of education experts in a discussi...
![Wicked Problem: Affirmative Action — Who Wins?](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/52133bca-9974-475e-a883-546b080e5a76/53007142404_707e91b700_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=225&q=80&rect=0%2C0%2C8256%2C4640&w=400)
In this new Aspen Ideas format, all attendees gather each morning to kick off the day by exploring a current issue of deep complexity. This year, the Supreme Court is once...
![Wicked Problem: What Should We Know and Who Decides?](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/fd263779-29e0-4ae7-a15a-3f375c2845e4/53001886049_f0a9bda0eb_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=225&q=80&rect=0%2C666%2C8256%2C4646&w=400)
In this new Aspen Ideas format, all attendees gather each morning to kick off the day by exploring a current issue of deep complexity. Debates over the content of our hist...
![What Makes Art a ‘Public Good’?](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/6775d251-688e-4826-bf81-3d76b4ed4ff5/53001161237_9763736859_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=225&q=80&rect=0%2C442%2C5504%2C3110&w=400)
Why is there resistance to the idea that public funds should be used for art? What does it mean for the stewardship of cultural and educational organizations and the support o...
![Aif Stock Hero Images 1](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/ffcacfc0-6502-4a1a-9368-65299484a673/AIFStockHeroImages1.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&mono=b78045&q=80&rect=2431%2C0%2C3241%2C3240&w=400)
![Aif Stock Hero Images 1](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/ffcacfc0-6502-4a1a-9368-65299484a673/AIFStockHeroImages1.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&q=80&rect=2431%2C0%2C3241%2C3240&w=400)
The desire to try and stop people from reading certain printed material has been around since material was first printed. In the modern era, book banning has waxed and waned i...
![Making the Grade: Helping Kids (and Parents) Thrive](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/6786d809-a1f9-44ff-8c5f-6551eb02e484/AIFStockHeroImages.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=267&q=80&rect=550%2C0%2C4863%2C3240&w=400)
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 tha...
![Aif Stock Hero Images 1 school](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/65f4208f-9bb0-4f28-b4b8-40adc98f513e/AIFStockHeroImages1.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&mono=b78045&q=80&rect=2186%2C0%2C3242%2C3240&w=400)
![Aif Stock Hero Images 1 school](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/65f4208f-9bb0-4f28-b4b8-40adc98f513e/AIFStockHeroImages1.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&q=80&rect=2186%2C0%2C3242%2C3240&w=400)
Parents have always cared about what their kids are learning in school, but education debates have become particularly explosive in the U.S. in the last couple of years. All o...
From blockchain to back to school and virus-hunting to bridging divides, speakers at the 2021 Aspen Ideas Festival addressed issues in a new kind of world—one touched, and cha...