--- description: America's military adrift, raising the age of criminal responsibility, repurposing old technology for the world's poor and more. 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: January 5 by [The Aspen Institute](/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 5, 2015 5:01 PM CUT by [The Aspen Institute](/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 5, 2015 5:01 PM CUT **1\.** [**After 13 years at war chasing shifting priorities and the wildly different visions of civilian leadership, America’s military is a force adrift.**](http://www.militarytimes.com/longform/military/2014/12/07/americas-military-a-force-adrift/18596571/ "undefined") By Andrew Tilghman, Hope Hodge Seck, Michelle Tan, Patricia Kime, David Larter, Steve Losey and Leo Shane III in the Military Times **2\.** [**Sending kids to jail only ups the chances they’ll commit crimes again. States should raise the age of criminal responsibility.**](http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/criminal-justice/stickup-kid/why-states-are-changing-course-on-juvenile-crime/ "undefined") By Sarah Childress at Frontline **3\.** [**95 percent of the world’s population doesn’t own a computer. Repurposing old or unused tech can help close the gap.**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WI-bhv1RqoA "undefined") By Revivn **4\.** [**We must build systems for overcoming subconscious racial bias.**](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/04/upshot/the-measuring-sticks-of-racial-bias-.html "undefined") By Sendhil Mullainathan in the Upshot **5\.** [**A new tool harnesses data to give teachers personalized roadmaps for professional development.**](https://www.edsurge.com/n/2014-12-08-amplify-takes-a-crack-at-personalized-professional-development "undefined") By Christina Quattrocchi in EdSurge  [_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/3653548/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-january-5/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3653548/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-january-5/"},"headline":"Five Best Ideas of the Day: January 5","datePublished":"2015-01-05T17:01:39.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:06:26.036Z","description":"America's military adrift, raising the age of criminal responsibility, repurposing old technology for the world's poor and more.","url":"https://time.com/3653548/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-january-5/","keywords":["Innovation","Military","Crime","Technology","Obama","Racism","Data topic","Pentagon","Jail","Prison","Teachers","troops","recycling"],"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/3653548/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-january-5/","name":"Five Best Ideas of the Day: January 5"}}]}] ```