Our Education System Must Change

Is the goal of our education system to prepare our children to enter the job market? Does our current system meet those goals? An argument can be made that our education system fails to meet these goals and changes are dearly needed.

Our education system has become outdated and too expensive. From the time a child enters kindergarten, the learning process is to get them ready for college. In reality only a small percentage of students will ever attend a college or university. However, our system is to force every student to learn curricula that is required for college entry. We do this in an effort to be fair, so that all students have the same opportunities. What this has really created is an unfair system that does not address the needs of the majority of our students.

Education must become tailored to the student's needs. All students must be taught basic reading, writing and math skills, which should be accomplished before they reach high school. By the time a student reaches high school they should be tested to determine a track for continued education. Unfortunately our education system has stigmatized any form of education that does not include college. This is where the system is unfair as most students would be better off attending a trade school rather than being forced to take classes they are not capable of learning. Students who are not academically inclined should be diverted to schools that teach them job skills. Aptitude tests should be used to determine a students natural abilities. The type of education a student receives should be based solely on testing.

In addition, our colleges and universities must also change. Even this education must become more like a trade school and be narrowly targeted to the career the student has elected. Students are graduating from colleges with degrees that do not prepare them for the job they will enter. Our college education system is so broad that it often takes five years to get a four-year degree. This is not necessary and entirely too costly for the student and the country. If a student attends college to become a doctor then teach them what they need to know to be a doctor. Broader areas of education that do not need to be learned to perform the job skill should not be required. Surely half of the currently required classes could be eliminated if our education system was more narrowly tailored to the area of profession chosen by the student. The broad system we currently employ leads to students being saddled with thousands of dollars of debt. This would seem to put the emphasis on funding schools rather than teaching students. Students would be better prepared for the work force if the education system concentrated on the education they needed rather than the broad area of learning we have now.

An example of waste in higher education is the requirement to learn a second language. Learning a second language is a worthy part of either lower or higher education. However, students are required to take two years of language courses and a large majority cannot speak the language at the end. If the goal is to teach a second language, then our school system is failing miserably. What should be adopted is one of the commercially available language software programs that teaches you to read and actually speak a language. If students were required to do this for one year, they would become proficient in speaking a second language and the goal would actually be met.

With the advent of the Internet the possibilities for teaching our students is endless. The need for brick and mortar schools will become obsolete. Parents will have more options than the current public school system. Schools, colleges and universities will have to adapt in order to exist. Preparing our students to enter the work force should be the goal. Parents can no longer afford the cost of tuition and it is criminal to saddle our students with thousands of dollars of debt before they even enter the work force.

Most job creation in this country is done by small businesses. A lot of very successful small business owners do not have college degrees and don't consider having one to be a great asset to them. Especially when the degree is not tailored to their business. If a college degree is going to be the student's highest achievement on their resume, shouldn't it be specific to the job they are seeking?

Change is coming whether our educators and government want it or not. We should embrace this change and make educating our children about preparing them for the job market.

In my career as a Police Captain for a mid-size Florida police department, I managed more than 70 employees. I also managed an IT department for the City I worked for. My wife and I own a successful small business that was started in 1991. I have reviewed hundreds of resumes over my career. My experience puts me in a unique position to know what an employer is looking for in a resume. I have used this knowledge to write A Guide to Getting a Job Interview to teach applicants how to get their resume noticed. If you want the benefit of my knowledge go to [http://www.ineedaninterview.com]

Ronnie Holt

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