Editor’s note: This segment was rebroadcast on Sept. 30, 2025. Click here for that audio. In the early 2000s, thousands of U.S. schools had their students race the clock to stack cups in gym class.

— Sitting in front of Ayaan Cheema were 12 green cups. After the start signal by his teacher, Michael Donovan, Ayaan began stacking those cups. Ayaan, a kindergartner at St. James Elementary, built ...