Public Education Is Failing Our Youth
I want to start off by saying this article is completely my own opinion, and my thoughts only. There will be people who agree wholeheartedly with me, and there will be those who disagree. Both are fine. I like to make us all think on a deeper level about things going on in our society (like public education) and in business. This article is no different.
For 12 years, we all go through schooling—assuming you don’t drop out. Some of us decide to go on to college and further our education. But why can’t some of what is taught in college be taught in those first 12 years? Why exactly am I learning things like algebra that I will never use in any part of my life? Algebra seems like such a niche thing to learn. Why not teach us real life things like sales and marketing? Let’s look at a few different things.
Time for the real world!
You’re an 18-year-old version of yourself and you just graduated high school. What an accomplishment, right? What skillset do you possess to go out in the real world and get a job from public education? None? Ok, let’s talk about that.
For 12 years in public education, you have been learning about geography, biology, chemistry, history, English, maybe a foreign language, whatever. But what skillset do you truly possess? Do you know how to sell? No? Do you know how to market? No? There are people out there saying, “But Matt, I don’t want to go into sales or marketing, so why would that even matter to me?” Here’s why… you need to market and sell yourself every single day of your life. You need to get out there and show people that you are the real deal, that you know what you’re doing, that you’re an asset, that you can handle the situation. When you go for a job interview, what are you doing? Marketing and selling yourself. Back when I was in school (and the curriculum might have changed since then), no one taught us how to interview or to write a resume. No one told us how we should act, important things to sell to the prospective business. So, why don’t we focus more on sales and marketing in school (high school/public education)?
Why is it that some schools have “tech” where students go and learn about working on cars and other things while the rest of us sit in our classroom learning about things we really don’t care about? Why isn’t there a “sales” or “marketing” or “entrepreneurship” piece of public education that after half of the day we get to leave and go learn about like the “tech” kids? After all, THAT might be what interests us, right?
We go into debt trying to follow our passion
Looking at statistics from 2015, on average, those who followed their passion and went to college end up having a little over $35,000 worth of student loan debt when they graduate. That’s not including going on for their master’s or doctorate. The average salary for those of all educational levels at the age of 22 (using that number as a reference regardless if you didn’t go to college or if you went and graduated at 22) is $32,500 per year. You’re not even making more than your debt on average. Obviously, if you graduated college with a bachelor’s degree, you could be making closer to $50,000 per year.
Regardless, all the money made from our new career won’t pay off our debt anytime soon—heck no. We continue to go into debt. Welcome to the real world! Now you need a place to live! Now you find yourself with college debt from your loan, a mortgage, possibly a car payment, expenses due to utilities, healthcare costs, insurance, etc. Those bills all add up. Research has shown that it takes on average around 21 years to pay off student loans from college.
So, for 21 years you’re paying off that education you wanted to get to further your passion for something and make your dreams come true. Anyone see something wrong with this? Why is education so expensive these days? It’s almost getting to the point where it doesn’t pay for some people to go to college, and many are skipping college and jumping right into the workforce. They are able to learn the skills they need with on the job training and can still make a living for themselves without the debt that comes with student loans. There are even very successful entrepreneurs who never went to college. Heck, there are some successful entrepreneurs who never even graduated high school. What are we missing here? While we appreciate free public schooling, why can’t the curriculum expand a little bit and give students a better opportunity to graduate with some real skills? Quite frankly, I don’t care what the capital of Mongolia or Macedonia is. I don’t care to dissect Shakespeare’s work. What real-life application does that have other than useless knowledge? Knowing these things will not change my life or give me a tool I need for the real world.
Teachers aren’t the problem with public education
I want to start off by saying I have the highest respect for teachers. There is no way that I have the patience to have anywhere from 15-20+ students in a classroom at one time and have to ensure every single one of them understands the concepts and principles I’m are teaching. But let’s face it, for many people having their kids going to school is free daycare. It’s as if teachers are watching your kids and educating them for free while you go out and work to provide for your family. There are two occupations that I don’t think get enough credit and enough payment for their work—teachers and doctors. God bless them. I couldn’t do it so I tip my hat to each and every one of them.
If teachers aren’t the problem, then who is? It’s not an individual, it’s the curriculum. I think we need a complete overhaul of the public education curriculum in order to help our youth. It seems like there are key areas being overlooked and there are many things that we can probably eliminate to make room for the necessary elements like sales and marketing that can help in every aspect of their life, not just with business. If given the opportunity, I’d love to sit down and discuss curriculum change if districts would be willing. I feel our youth is graduating without the tools necessary to truly make a difference in the workplace. Hopefully, we can make some change and give them the tools they need to not only help them, but to help our country.
*This article is the thought and opinion of someone not in public education or a school system
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