Education Marketing Council|The Future of America is in Education

I guess one can say that its a shame that it has come down to this, but one class today’s young generation needs is a class about basic life essentials, otherwise better know as common sense classes. Maybe its a class that wouldn’t be offered until later in high school but its a class that is needed.As the last few years have shown us, the need for such a class has never been greater.

Currently schools are structured to provide education in a manner which prepares students for a continued higher education, and we don’t disagree with that premises of getting students headed towards colleges and universities. However, the reality is that not everyone will get a college degree,  the drop out rates are high.  Additionally, even attaining a college degree doesn’t preclude individuals from needing common sense.

What would a common sense class be like and what would it teach?

The common sense class would teach the things people need to survive in life, for example.

Always have a plan B -  Life is full of curves and you never know when the next one will be through at you, therefore you always need to be prepared. Such has that you need to have 6 months of cash on hand for any emergencies that may come along.

Knowing the difference between good and bad debt – Aspirations of bling and rims are great if your Bill Gates but no so if your average joe, Aspirations of owning your own house are. Buying rims on credit is bad debt, buying your house which will appreciate in value while paying off the debt is good. Taking on debt to go to school which leads to a higher paying job is good. However, if you drop out before attaining your degree that debt will quickly turn bad.

Speaking of owning a house – Past performance is not an indicator of future performance, just because the house marking increased by 20% last year doesn’t mean you should expect it to increase by that amount next year. You also shouldn’t gamble with the value of your house by hoping to flip it or buying a house bigger then you could afford by using an interest only loan. That’s what got the United States into the economic mess that its in.

People should be also thought how to balance a checkbook, cooking meals at home is more healthy and makes more sense cost wise then eating out, that you should look at saving money when ever possible for example, when companies like Clinique offer a Clinique Bonus Time promotion its wise to take advantage of them or that purchasing some items in bulk is cost effective.

I guess schools think these items will be thought in life, or that they shouldn’t be teaching these types of life lessons to students, however, history has shown us that many people are not learning them in life or from their parents because as a whole, we have taken a step back with common sense. Our education system needs reforms, maybe during those reforms creating more life classes can be part of those reforms.

As students progress through the education system they tend to fall behind then rest of the developed world in education scores, leaving them unprepared to face the real world and global economy. Long term it has great effects on the United States ability to maintain its standing as a global economic power, military super power and a lead of innovation.

Areas of Reform

There are many areas that schools need to be reformed; one of the first should be in the area of teachers.   Teachers should be fired and hired based on merit.  Yes there are bad teachers out there and yes they should be let go. There shouldn’t be lifetime employment guarantees, which promotes mediocrity . In exchange teachers should have the ability to make more money, not saying that teachers are under compensated now, but teachers that are willing to go above and beyond and get their students to excel should be rewarded in the same manner, above and beyond.

What is thought in schools needs to change

Over time the level of education should increase, we shouldn’t dumb down the curriculum because students are unprepared when they enter the school year, and they may entail keeping students back.  While not all students head to college or universities they should be exposed to trade schools. They should also provided with basic economic and life survival skills such as car rims are not a good long term investment when say compared to Dividend Paying Stocks and that you should be able to buy only what you can afford and leaving beyond your means will gets you in the chexsystems database and yes they should also be prepared for college.

Parents need to be involved

Lastly teachers and schools can only do so much without the help from parents. They need to make sure that their children are completing their homework, they should be involved in the schools to find out what is being taught and how their children are being thought. They should also have the ability to say where they want to send their children to school, whether through open enrollment or a voucher type of system.

These are some of the reforms need to take place in order for our education system to be the cornerstone of our economy, to enable and shape our students for the future and as with any reform there will be push back from those who are either afraid of change or who want to maintain the status quo but for us to progress forward, change is need.

Over the last 10 years there has been a rising trend which has pushed abstinence only sex education in the classroom.

We understand the desire of some parents and government officials to push for abstinence only sex education but a school is a place of education, it is to inform and prepare students not only for further education but for life as well. A school is not a place where they should set the moral compass of students, that is the responsibility of the parents.

What is thought to students should be age appropriate but by the time students enter high school they should know about safe sex, they should know about the consequence of having unprotected sex, that it could lead not only to pregnancy but other diseases as well which some can kill you and others will stay will you for the rest of their lives or even that you can pass a yeast infection to a partner through unprotected sexual intercourse, yes man can get a male yeast infection.  It should also teach the emotional side of sexual relationships because there is more to sex then just the physical aspect.  Not only should the sexual relationship side be thought but so should the other aspects about the human body such as how to look for testicular cancer.

We understand that some parents may object to have their children exposed to this information and they should have the right to remove their children from school during the time that sex education is thought but they shouldn’t have the right to keep others in the dark or force their will on others.

There has been a lot of talk of an student debt epidemic. The reason we use the word epidemic is because over the last 7 years the amount of student debt quadrupled, with student debt surpassing credit card debt as the number one debt carried by consumers, with each current student averaging about 30,000 in debt when they graduate.

Having student debt isn’t epidemic on its own, but the reason were calling it an epidemic is because the inability of students to service their debt in the current economy. Just like people who bought houses on interest only mortgages only to see the value of them go down and payments increase once principle kicked in and there inability to either refinance or sell the home caused the housing market to crash so is the inability of students to find employment to service their student debt and in a sense its worse. With home owners their debt with removed with the foreclosing of their house, however there is no home to foreclose on for students, its not like they will take their diploma away and student debt for the most part can’t be shed through bankruptcy either.

In a slow economy with new grads unable to find gainful employment and with student debt payments headed down the pipeline the results will be catastrophic when the paths crosses. That’s not to say that students don’t have options available to them to reduce or remove their debt through student loan forgiveness programs but the majority will not qualify. How bad the destruction will be is still unknown but I would expect major changes not only to student financing of education but to the education system as well.

There are a lot of different ways people learn, most people learn by hands on experience, whether in life by having a good or bad experience or in school where you worked out school problems.

As a society, education is the fundamental building block, which powers our society and economy. As the economy changes the focus on education has become more important. Which has been shown by the recent unemployment numbers.  Those with a college education have had a lower unemployment rate than those without a college education.

Technology has also changed the way we look at education. With the introduction of iPads into the education system, people are looking at new ways of educating our youngsters.  In the future video and distance learning will play a major factor in education. As is the constant update of our information. No longer will students be issued outdated books as we have the technology to provide students with the latest books.

Another way people are looking at educating the new generations is through teaching students through games. Games like Words with Friends combined with an education environment can provide tremendous opportunities for students to learn which is different than the standard form, however no less effective.   Because in the end, no matter how people learn as they continue to learn is what is the most important.

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