How Are You Affected By Our Educational System?

I heard someone say recently “I don’t care about the education system, I don’t have kids in school anymore”. That remark upset me very much. I understand that a lot of people do not have kids in school. However everyone is affected by the quality of the educational system.

If a child quits school when he is old enough, he misses our on many opportunities that he could have had if he had graduated for High School. Lets assume that he cannot find a job or the job that he does find pays only minimum wage. Who do you think it going to pay for his family to have food on the table? Who is going to pay for his families medical care? That is right, we are by paying taxes. Now don’t get me wrong. I know there is the rare case of a person who drops out of school and still gets a great job. Those cases are very few.

I knew a young man who graduated from high school and could not read on a fifth grade level. Who will pay for his lack of proper schooling? Well lets analyze this. He cant get his learners permit to drive without taking a test. He cant read well enough to take the test. So what are the choices?

1. The government will have to pay someone to read it to him

2. The government will have to have a tape made to record someone reading the test.

Either way, it will cost money. Our tax money will pay for it.

Now lets assume that the neighborhood kids do not have quality teachers because the state does not pay enough to attract good teachers. Who will be affected?

1. The students because they wont be able to get into a good college.

2 The parents because they will have to pay higher tuition fees if the child does manage to get into a college. They will however miss out on a lot of scholarships that are for students with more knowledge.

3. The tax payers because many low income families need the governments help to pay for college

Higher educated students are less likely to get into problems with the law. They are better readers so they read. They are better skilled in math so they can manage their money and bills better. Who pays when they get into trouble with the law? We do. We pay for the jails and prisons. We pay the power bills, purchase the food and hire someone to guard them.

Everyone is affected when the educational system is not up to par. We are all affected by it. Even if we don’t have kids in school. I am not saying that all of the above circumstances just involve individuals who did not get a good education. I am only saying that it is more likely to happen to them

The better educated our citizens are, the stronger the communities are.

The U. S. Department of Education has enhanced its site to be more user friendly. The site has features for parents, students, teachers and administrators.

They have added a new tool to help students and families prepare financially for college. It has great new tools added that will help to determine how much college will cost.

They have information on the “ No Child Left Behind” policy. How are they doing with that?

Something that just blew me away was “In a recent study, US 15 year olds ranked 24^th our of 29 nations in a math literacy and problem solving. That is not good to say the least.

According to the Achiever, May 2007 edition, ”A part of the president’s 2008 budget request, a proposed $25 million for the creation of the adjunct teacher corps would encourage well qualified math and science professionals to become secondary school teachers”. Where is this money going to come from? Taxes of course. If the students were better educated in Math and science, this would not even be discussed.

Education does affect all of us. We may not realize it but it does. Together, we can get the kids of our community a better education and save ourselves money at the same time. To learn more about education in the United States go to new user friendly U. S. Dept of Education site.