--- description: Madeleine Albright on containing Putin, America's racially divided schools, and the public health power of reality TV. title: These Are Today's Best Ideas 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: September 5 by [The Aspen Institute](/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 5, 2014 4:29 PM CUT by [The Aspen Institute](/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 5, 2014 4:29 PM CUT **1\.** [**Our nation’s racial divide starts early: America’s public schools are still highly segregated.**](http://blog.metrotrends.org/2014/08/americas-public-schools-remain-highly-segregated/ "undefined") By Reed Jordan at the Urban Institute **2\.** [**The Pentagon is getting bad advice about responsibly managing its budget and our national defense.**](http://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2014/09/why-more-not-better-plan-us-defense/93080/?oref=d-river "undefined") By Nora Bensahel in Defense One **3\.** [**“We need to step up our game to make sure that Putin’s rules do not govern the 21st century.”**](http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2014/09/04/a%5Funited%5Ffront%5Fmadeleine%5Falbright%5Fnato%5Frussia "undefined") By Madeleine Albright in Foreign Policy **4\.** [**Over a lifetime, and despite the high cost of tuition, a college education is still a great deal.**](http://libertystreeteconomics.newyorkfed.org/2014/09/the-value-of-a-college-degree.html "undefined") By Jaison R. Abel and Richard Deitz at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York **5\.** [**Reality television – MTV’s “Teen Mom” and “16 and Pregnant” – triggered a plunge in the teen birthrate.**](http://aspen.us/journal/editions/septemberoctober-2014/%E2%80%9Cteen-mom%E2%80%9D-effect "undefined") By Phil Schneider in the Aspen Journal of Ideas  [_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/3273905/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-september-5/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3273905/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-september-5/"},"headline":"Five Best Ideas of the Day: September 5","datePublished":"2014-09-05T16:29:17.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:43:04.136Z","description":"Madeleine Albright on containing Putin, America's racially divided schools, and the public health power of reality TV.","url":"https://time.com/3273905/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-september-5/","keywords":["Innovation","putin","School","College","Race","Pentagon","Budget","TV","NATO","Defense","tuition","Black","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/3273905/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-september-5/","name":"Five Best Ideas of the Day: September 5"}}]}] ```