Dear teachers.

• Author: Zack, Ian
• Position: TEACHER'S EDITION - Editorial

Some of your students will soon be off to college or entering the job market, where tough times await them. Our cover story looks at why the unemployment rate is still so high for young people and at the unprecedented levels of student-loan debt college students are taking on. If that sounds bleak, one of the key economic lessons of the article is that college graduates fare much better in terms of salaries and employment over the course of their careers than those who don't get a college degree.

Iran frequently tops the news these days, with its suspected nuclear program sparking increasing anxiety among Western nations and with hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad often railing against the U.S. and its way of life. But when New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof took a recent road trip across Iran and spoke to...