• As “the fastest-spreading technology in human history,” artificial intelligence has transformed education, enhancing students’ ability to cheat and allowing them to forsake critical thinking.
• Use of AI should be approached carefully, as smartphones and technology have had a measurable negative impact on children, serving as a distraction in classrooms and contributing to a decline in mental health.
• If utilized with discernment, AI allows teachers to differentiate instruction through bespoke worksheets and engaging teaching aids.

By: Neeraja Deshpande

• Critical minerals (CM), including aluminum, bismuth, cobalt, copper, nickel, and silicon, are essential for a wide scope of products from renewable energy technologies to defense mechanisms.
• In contrast to the U.S., the Chinese Communist Party produces 60% of the global supply of CM and processes 90% of REE.
• The U.S. has just one operational rare earth mineral mine, and about 70% of America’s REE imports came from China between 2020 and 2023.

By: Gabriella Hoffman & Meaghan Mobbs

• Indexing capital gains for inflation would “unlock capital for investment, increase wages, create new jobs, and grow the economy,” by incentivizing “investors to realize gains on their investments.”
• According to 2018 estimates by the Tax Foundation, indexing capital gains for inflation would grow the economy by approximately $22 billion over the long run.
• Proposed taxes on unrealized gains would be an economic disaster for asset holders, entrepreneurs, and the federal government.

By: Patrice Onwuka

• A 2024 report attributes over 100 allegations of sexual exploitation to UN peacekeepers.
• The UN lacks a definition of “women,” which has limited its ability to consistently and coherently protect women’s rights globally.
• Due to its bureaucratic structure and reliance on member states to police themselves, the UN remains unable to hold offenders accountable and champion positive change.

By: Meaghan Mobbs

• Replacing tried-and-true phonics in the 1990s and 2000s for Lucy Calkins’s “balanced literacy” contributed to a literacy crisis that has reached a climax—65% of American fourth graders can’t read.
• Savvas’ American history curriculum perpetuates Black Lives Matter rhetoric, including the notion that America suffers from “systemic racism” and “disproportionate police violence.”
• States and districts, insofar as they choose bad curricula, often do so because of status quo bias and ignorance more than any dearth of better options.

By: Neeraja Deshpande