Education
Great minds lead to great solutions. Our education section features solutions and innovations directed at strengthening educational systems around the world.
New Jersey now mandates climate change education in schools
With powerful storms impacting its coastline and algal blooms affecting its lakes, New Jersey is already quite familiar with the damaging effects of climate change. Now, K-12 students will familiarize themselves further with the urgent need to curb climate change as the state becomes the first in Read More...
This man started a father & daughter coding startup after being in prison
Antoine Patton had a difficult childhood. He got his first full time "dead end" job when he was just 14 years old. He became a father when he was still a teenager. And a few years later he was committing crimes. But Patton sought inspiration in the darkest place — prison — which he describes as Read More...
University of California says pencils down to SAT and ACT tests
High school students across the US aren’t taking standardized SAT and ACT tests this year due to COVID-19 shutdowns, but students applying to the University of California (UC) in the future will never have to take the tests at all. The UC system voted unanimously to phase out ACT and SAT test Read More...
Educating kids: Sesame Street addresses racism in 60-minute TV special
There are a few topics that are difficult to explain to children. When it comes to racism, Sesame Street is here to lend a helping hand. On Saturday, June 6, 2020, the kids' television show Sesame Street teamed up with CNN to broadcast a 60-minute special titled “Coming Together: Standing Up Read More...
Earth School aims to keep kids connected to nature while stuck at home
With 1.5 billion children out of school right now, due to the coronavirus pandemic, many parents are scrambling to figure out how to continue their education. Some schools have provided guidance, but it's nowhere near what children usually receive in classrooms. And the Internet is so full of Read More...
Understanding whiteness: The first step to ending racial discrimination
The Optimist Daily is first and foremost a platform dedicated to solutions and the people behind them. But this week it has become more blatant than ever that there is a problem in our country in dire need of a solution—and this time it is us who need to be the ones coming up with the Read More...
How teachers can revitalize themselves after this difficult school year
As the school year comes to a close, many educators are realizing that it’s hard to find focus and stay passionate in times of disaster and uncertainty. The speed of school closures and the rapid move to distance learning allowed little time for proper planning and training. Educators weren’t Read More...
MIT just elected its first-ever black woman as student body president
As is the case with many of the issues that The Optimist Daily covers, solving issues like racial or gender inequality is not something that happens overnight. Progress comes in the form of small steps from around the world, which form a big impact altogether. One hugely positive development Read More...
How the Baltimore Museum of Art is stepping up to support local artists
The art world, which relies on galleries for survival, is taking a hard hit during the pandemic, but one museum is doing its part to keep local artists and galleries afloat. The Baltimore Museum of Art is using $100,000 diverted from its spring speaker series to give back to the local art Read More...
Engineers create UV-light machine that decontaminates 600 N95 masks an hour
During the coronavirus pandemic, the Optimist Daily has been dedicated to sharing solutions and the stories of human ingenuity behind them. Most recently, we wrote about an all-girl robotics team in Afghanistan that is working quickly to make ventilators using old car parts. Today, we bring you a Read More...