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Even as congressional negotiators near a deal with the White House on raising the U.S. debt limit, avoiding default isn鈥檛 a foregone conclusion. That鈥檚 stirring criticism of the debt limit process itself.

Europe is seeking a joint approach with Washington to regulate cyberspace, but the U.S. prefers voluntary action by businesses over Brussels鈥� legal prescriptions.

Those in Germany鈥檚 large Turkish population often feel caught between two worlds: that of their physical home and that of their psychological home. How much is Germany fostering that by banning dual citizenship?

Adult learners can鈥檛 always devote two or four years to a degree. Can certificate programs help bridge the gap to better employment, and help companies fill labor shortages?聽The Monitor, in collaboration with six other newsrooms, is examining the challenges facing U.S. community colleges 鈥� and potential solutions 鈥� in a series called聽Saving the College Dream.

The truly courageous part of doing something, our essayist finds, is to begin it. You cannot persevere if you talk yourself out of it. Once you鈥檝e begun, you need only keep going.

For decades, New Jersey has been a national leader in the legalization of gambling, from casinos to online sports betting. Now in a state where the percentage of compulsive gamblers is three times the national average and half of middle schoolers gamble, legislators are weighing a bill that would teach high school students the difference between luck and predictable reality.

鈥淲e should do everything we can to help these kids understand the risks [of online gambling] and how to make rational decisions,鈥� Assemblyman Dan Benson, co-sponsor of the gambling education bill, told the SportsHandle website. One of the bill鈥檚 more rational mandates: provide students with lessons on 鈥減robability versus predictability.鈥�

Efforts to help young people change their views about luck would be a timely antidote to the latest survey by the NCAA. The college sports giant found 58% of 18- to 22-year-olds engage in at least one sports betting activity and, among the riskiest players, 70% believe 鈥渃onsistent sports gambling will increase their monetary earnings.鈥�

The NCAA prohibits athletes or coaches from participating in sports wagering on any sports activity. Yet nearly a quarter of male collegiate athletes bet on sports last year. With a majority of states having legalized sports betting since 2018, the NCAA is finding it difficult to maintain what it calls the 鈥減urpose and meaning鈥� of sports 鈥� let alone support universities in teaching the superiority of reason and knowledge over the superstition of luck. Sports-betting scandals this year at NCAA schools in Iowa and Alabama have further forced the association to beef up education programs aimed at preventing the corruption of games by athletes and staff.

The college scandals have served as a wake-up call for all youth sports. 鈥淟et鈥檚 maintain the purity of high school sports鈥� from the rise in gambling, said Karissa Niehoff, head of the National Federation of State High School Associations, in a May 24 video.

No other country has so much of its gambling market focused on unpaid amateur athletes, according to the National Council on Problem Gambling. The sudden increase in sports betting among young people has finally led to a rethink of new ways to preserve the honest competition of sports 鈥� with its displays of excellence 鈥� as well as the teaching of virtue and merit over a belief in luck. If the New Jersey bill passes and students are taught to discern what is predictable and true, the state may become a leader of a different sort.