Photo: Tracie Van Auken

More colleges and universities are investing in interdisciplinary programs that send students away from campus for weeks or months at a time in an effort to strengthen students' connections to their education. Others are revamping general-education coursework so that entering students can immediately dive into age-old questions that help them find their place in the world. 

And some schools are creating immersive-learning courses and building them into majors, so that time-pressed students—or those hesitant to take on a less-structured or more time-consuming class—know that it will count toward graduation.

Photo Illustration by Slate

The benefits of tech training in prison were already known in 1970. People are less likely to return to prison if they have marketable skills that lead to jobs in high-demand fields with livable wages. 

But despite the promise of such programs, the pitfalls also remain the same: They can be costly; they can be difficult to scale; and they are subject to the whims of tech-averse prison officials.

Amid a renewed nationwide focus on police qualifications following the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols, a Portland lawmaker is introducing a bill that would require law enforcement officers to complete at least two years of higher education.

Reform advocates say that continuing education past high school can equip officers with critical life skills that could help improve their interactions with the public.