--- description: Solar panel employee benefits, Oregon’s 13th year of school, drones for Internet access, America’s “political class,” and civic confidence. 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: October 23 by [The Aspen Institute](/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 23, 2014 4:01 PM CUT by [The Aspen Institute](/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 23, 2014 4:01 PM CUT **1\.** [**A “13th year” of public education combines the supportive environment of high school with the first year of community college — and more students are staying enrolled.**](http://www.slate.com/articles/life/education/2014/10/high%5Fschools%5Foffer%5Fa%5Ffifth%5Fyear%5Fof%5Fhigh%5Fschool%5F13th%5Fgrade%5Fis%5Fa%5Fgreat%5Fidea.html "undefined") By Rebecca Schuman in Slate **2\.** [**Imagine drones as solar-powered and mobile cell towers delivering connectivity to underserved areas.**](http://www.fastcoexist.com/3036865/these-drones-are-joining-the-race-to-bring-internet-access-to-the-entire-world "undefined") By Adele Peters in Co.Exist **3\.** [**Large employers offering employees at-home solar power at a deep discount could help scale and create demand for this critical renewable resource.**](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/23/business/solar-energy-discounts-become-employee-perk-in-new-program.html?%5Fr=0 "undefined") By Diane Cardwell in the New York Times **4\.** [**If “democracy” is intended to work for everyone, not just the political class in America, it’s clearly failing.**](http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-10-23/has-too-much-democracy-ruined-america "undefined") By Clive Crook in Bloomberg View **5\.** [**With each success, new community partnerships exercise greater strength, building civic confidence to solve persistent regional problems.**](http://aspen.us/journal/editions/septemberoctober-2014/building-civic-confidence-through-collective-impact "undefined") By Monique Miles 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/3534334/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-october-23/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3534334/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-october-23/"},"headline":"Five Best Ideas of the Day: October 23","datePublished":"2014-10-23T16:01:30.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:07:18.091Z","description":"Solar panel employee benefits, Oregon’s 13th year of school, drones for Internet access, America’s “political class,” and civic confidence.","url":"https://time.com/3534334/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-october-23/","keywords":["Innovation","politics","Internet","College","High School","Telecommunications","Drones","democracy","Community","Renewable energy","oregon","solar"],"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/3534334/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-october-23/","name":"Five Best Ideas of the Day: October 23"}}]}] ```