--- description: Confronting the gap between white and black America, beating #ISIS in the war of ideas, teaching code w/Minecraft, and making community colleges free. title: These Are the Best Ideas of the Day image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Ideas](/section/ideas/) ## Ideas Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Innovation](/tag/innovation/) ## Innovation Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Five Best Ideas of the Day: August 29 by [The Aspen Institute](/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 29, 2014 4:00 PM CUT by [The Aspen Institute](/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 29, 2014 4:00 PM CUT **1\.** [**We must confront the vast gulf between white and black America if we want to secure racial justice after Ferguson.**](http://www.thenation.com/article/181387/renewing-struggle-racial-justice-post-ferguson "undefined") By the Editors of the Nation **2\.** [**As ISIS recruits more western acolytes, it’s clear military might alone can’t defeat it. We must overcome radical Islam on the battleground of ideas.**](http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/commentandblogs/2014/08/29/we-have-to-defeat-islamism-on-the-battleground-of-ideas/ "undefined") By Maajid Nawaz in the Catholic Herald **3\.** [**Kids spend hours playing the game Minecraft. Now they can learn to code while doing it.**](http://www.wired.com/2014/08/learntomod/ "undefined") By Klint Finley in Wired **4\.** [**One powerful way to raise the quality of America’s workforce: Make community colleges free.**](http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-community-colleges-should-be-free/ "undefined") By the Editors of Scientific American **5\.** [**Restrictions on where sex offenders can live after prison is pure politics. They do nothing to prevent future offenses.**](http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2014/08/sex-offender-housing-restrictions-are-pointless.html#jumpLink "undefined") By Jesse Singal in New York Magazine’s Science of Us  [_The Aspen Institute_](http://www.aspeninstitute.org/ "undefined") _is an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, D.C._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3222002/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-august-29/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3222002/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-august-29/"},"headline":"Five Best Ideas of the Day: August 29","datePublished":"2014-08-29T16:00:39.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:43:04.654Z","description":"Confronting the gap between white and black America, beating #ISIS in the war of ideas, teaching code w/Minecraft, and making community colleges free.","url":"https://time.com/3222002/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-august-29/","keywords":["Innovation","politics","College","Video Games","Minecraft","Racism","ISIS","America","Laws","Prison","Community","ideas","tuition","Ferguson topic","segregation"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"The Aspen Institute","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/innovation/","name":"Innovation"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3222002/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-august-29/","name":"Five Best Ideas of the Day: August 29"}}]}] ```