We asked a bunch of economists what they would say if they were giving a commencement address this spring. Here's what they told us.

Taking a page from the playbook of decades past, college students are once again pressuring schools to pull investment funding from specific sectors. This time it's big oil and coal companies. But these campaigns have effects beyond the university — they're launching a new generation of activists.

The Department of Justice has reached an agreement with the University of Montana to resolve an investigation into the school's response to accusations of sexual harassment since 2009. The federal inquiry will continue to examine how Missoula city officials have handled such cases.

Science education standards, issued in April, recommend teaching climate change for the first time. But one nonprofit says kids aren't learning enough, soon enough, about how their world will change in the coming decades. The group aims to remedy this with presentations in schools nationwide.

Faculty at San Jose State University are rebelling against pressure from their own administration to integrate MOOCs — massively open online courses — into their teaching. Across the country the issue is being debated on campuses and in state houses. Commentator Alva Noë's dips his toe into the conversation.

Learning is an integral part of human nature. But why do we — as adults — assume learning must be taught, tested and reinforced? In this hour, TED speakers explore the ways babies and children learn, from the womb to the playground to the Web.

Alison Gopnik's research explores the sophisticated intelligence-gathering and decision-making that babies are doing when they play. She offers a glimpse into the minds of babies and young children, to show how much and how fast they learn.

Stephen Schwarzman, co-founder of Blackstone Group, is launching a $300 million scholarship program in Beijing. He says his goal is to help to improve the understanding of China and ease Western fears about its growing economic power. "There'll be complete freedom of expression [and] discussion," he says.

At Harvey Mudd College in California, about 40 percent of the computer science majors are women. That's far more than at any other co-ed school. And it's thanks in large part to the school's president, Maria Klawe. She has worked hard to keep women interested in computer science and empower them to succeed in the field.

In Washington's Ward 7, where only 33 percent of students graduate from high school, a program called Life Pieces to Masterpieces is sending nearly 100 percent of its graduates to college or post-secondary education.