US state of Education

[Nightman]

This is what no one talks about that actually needs a lot more focus. Our whole educational system is the same as it was 50 years ago yet our world has changed considerably in the last few decades and the normal ways of doing things need to change to adapt to that.

We live in a country now where to get a college education you either have to go to low-level colleges that will not look very impressive on resumes or you have to go into debt for the next 10-20 years just to get a degree.

In many cases, that degree does nothing for you but maybe open doors to interviews. Even then, only certain degrees matter to employers and to make matters worse, the ones that matter to them change every so often so getting a degree in a high-demand field today may have little demand in 3-4 years or may be saturated by people by then who followed the same path you did.

What we need to be doing is getting young people ready earlier for the real world. We don't have to take away their childhoods or their "fun" but we can replace a lot of worthless crap our educational system subjects kids to in high schools and below with vocational training and then invest in and promote more vocational schools as viable career paths to students after high school.

There is a stigmatism about vocational schools being "less than" college educations and that they only lead to lower paying jobs throughout your life. While college degrees are very important in some fields of course, there are plenty of well paying professional careers that do not care where you got your education as long as you can do the job or are capable of learning the job in a reasonable amount of time.

We need to be supplying kids with multiple paths to success so they can choose what makes them happy while also putting them in a position to have a successful career and life.

The easiest, fastest and cheapest way of doing that is to provide vocational training as part of the high school and below educational process which will expose kids to a variety of possible careers and give them a better idea what they may want to do with their lives. At worst, it gives them ideas for things to fall back on if their post-high school education path does not work out.

Then we need to promote and expand post-high school vocational schools and courses so people of all ages, not just 18 year old kids, can not only learn new careers when the job market changes but also continue their education throughout their lives so they can do more with their lives and continue to go after better paying jobs.

Right now, our whole educational system is the same as it was 50 years ago and the world is a much different place.

A lot of right here

Even if it isn't full on vocational training, many kids can benefit from real World experience over more college

I always thought that kids should take 2 gap years and either intern, travel/volunteer or join the military..... find out what you are interested in......if you know your major then go right to college but don't feel like you need to get a Doctorate just to get a good job

A lot of service industry and retail jobs can lead to management positions that don't require a Liberal Arts education

And High School shouldn't be messing around trying to get into a better college......don't be afraid to fail and challenge yourself......your GPA is not your education...... learn a second language........read more books.......forget the standardized tests...... learn to balance a checkbook and type a letter...... learn how the government works and why voting is important.....take more gym classes and exercise more instead of shrinking lunches and banning snacks, even the sugary ones

I fully believe in Charter Schools and vouchers for Parochial Schools....parents should have a choice.....we are paying 15k for Public Schools and something isn't working......why not try something different...... competition for the better teachers and tax money should only increase the level of learning