Today I have a special guest for you! Tim from Soge Shirts, a funny t-shirt shop, is here to share a few thoughts on education. You can find him on Twitter or Facebook throughout the week supporting all of us bloggers. And we love him for all the support!
My parents both had teaching careers lasting over 20 years. My dad taught for thirty and retired a few years ago and my mom is in her 20th and final year of teaching. Education has always been important to me, and I still think it needs to be viewed as being even more important. Transitioning into adulthood I find that there were things in high school and college that my education completely skipped over. Sure as kids in school we learn about the Civil war and the periodic table of elements, but we often leave the educational system without proper job skills.
How about some mandatory classes in high school about how to manage ones finances? How to handle credit responsibly and plan for retirement? How to deal with banks and open an IRA account? Things like this in my education I never received from school. Luckily we have Google and my dad gives pretty good advice. Still there are people out there that have limited access to computers or don’t have educated parents. Mandatory classes on finance during high school or even junior high could have a huge impact on the future of our economy as a whole and individual financial success. Realistically knowing every president in our countries history is a fine and admirable thing but it doesn’t help our economic futures much.
Also I feel schools should help prepare their students better for the work force. It seems few majors in college actually help one land a job. If you are studying to be a doctor or lawyer and are at the top of your class then you will find work quite easily. However if you are in political science, communications, or any other general major you can still get a job, but it will be harder. I majored in communications and while it taught me how to write better all I was qualified to be out of college was an unemployed soul with no sense of direction. Luckily I decided to get into online business on my own and have since learned much more educating myself how to make it in business then I ever would have learned in school. My point is that while memorizing facts and figures is great for passing tests I’m not sure schools and colleges do great for preparing one for the real world.
Tim is a consultant for Interactive Music Teacher where they teach online music lessons
