A new concept emerging in many communities is the idea that the primary goal of education is to produce better workers. Our schools should support our economy. As might be expected, the people advocating such an approach tend to be employers.

It is not clear that this strategy is the best. One question that immediately emerges is, What job are we training our students for? The “Did You Know” video that is popular on the Internet points out that the average worker will hold about a dozen jobs before the age of 40. So if we are training a workforce, for what job are we training them? And how could we ever train them for that many different jobs?

Even if we made the poor assumption that we are training our students for just one job, the skill sets necessary for any position will change constantly. This is true for even the least-skilled jobs. Even menial workers will need, more and more, to work with computers, new equipment, and understand the potential liabilities inherent in any work. As the job description enlarges with moving up the organizational lader, the necessary skills accelerate at an ever-increasing rate.\. So even if there were only one career track for each student, we are committing ourselves to enormous, continuous ongoing training costs. That is, if our students are incapable of training themselves. That is our first insight here.

Another problem that emerges is that in traditional educational approaches, we have to decide whether we wish to train leaders or employees. The education of the doctor, the engineer and the attorney focus on broad, theoretical education and in-depth analysis. By contrast, the training of the nurse, the mechanic and the paralegal, focus more on practical skills, narrow guidelines, and clerical tasks. And even minimal experience has shown us that it is impossible to predict where any student will end up in the business. So if we train the employee, we fail the leader; and vice versa. This supplies us with another clue.

Next, there is a problem of accountability here. Businesses want our schools to train workers. Why should we have to pay for that out of our personal taxes? Corporations have much more money at their disposal than you or I do. Let them pay for their own expenses.

Which bring up a deeper ideological question. The corporation almost always argues for less government, for lower taxes, and for privatization of everything possible. Given that, why should corporations now insist that government pay to train workers? if privatization is the superior strategy, here is a perfect opportunity for corporations to prove it. Is business arguing for workforce development simply to avoid the costs? If so, it appears that business has subjugated concerns for education to the desire for someone else to pay the costs. If corporations bear the costs, then by their own arguments, the pressures of the free market will produce the best solutions. This approach does not move us toward our conclusion, but it does expose a major flaw in this sort of thinking.

Workforce development is also at odds with the tenets of the democracy. Consider for a moment that workforce development is what totalitarian regimes target (and we must remember, poorly-run businesses can be eerily similar to totalitarian regimes). The last thing an oppressive organization– government, corporation, or church– wants, is thinkers. Highly centralized organizations do not want hard questions asked by their minions, they do not want workers who will question the status quo. All manner of dictators want mindless workers, who will tacitly and faithfully serve the desires of the leadership. The needs of the dictator vs. the needs of the democracy is the last clue, and points up more than anything the problem of equating education to workforce development.

This is because the concept that education should exist to train workers is much too low of a target for a healthy democracy. It is said that in America, any child can grow up to be President. This is not entirely accurate, because in America, EVERY child grows up to be President. When our citizens step into the ballot box, they each become our Head of State; we all run the country.

Historically, this is interesting. Socrates (via Plato) cautioned his pupils of the dangers inherent with democracy, and likened it to allowing everyone access to the ship’s wheel (this is where we get the concept of the “ship of state”). Socrates was wrong, of course, and his fear is our triumph. It is through collective decision-making that the advanced countries excel.

However, that is accurate only when the population consists of robust, self-reliant, and intelligent thinkers. In the weariest parts of the world, where there is is insufficient education and no tradition of free independence, democracies collapse. Free, democratic governments only survive where the voters think for themselves, and act accordingly.

Seeing these things, we can understand that training our children for jobs is not the answer, not at all. Vocational preparation is insufficient for the democracy. Democracy absolutely must have discerning citizens who have a grasp of multiple complex disciplines. As do our neighborhoods, our churches– and our businesses.

We should not be educating a workforce; we should be educating a citizenry. We should be educating a population who have a grasp of history, economics, the sciences, and particularly, a grasp of the many complex cultures of the world. America is at war in two countries, and though the country is divided on the necessity and management of those wars, it is clear to everyone that grave errors were committed because we did not understand the history and the cultures we were dealing with. Since we cannot possibly prepare our citizens for every eventuality that might arise in our nation’s future, we should also educate a population who will continue to educate themselves throughout life.

We need citizens who are flexible and broadly educated, who have a grasp of how science and history and literature and traditions commingle to produce cultures, communities– and citizens and nations. And yes, the citizen will also be able to hold a job; but she will also be able to hold down many different jobs, because she will be able to quickly learn and re-train herself to the accelerating changes in the modern market.

And once we have educated the enlightened citizen-worker, she will also work for equally well-educated citizens, those who are mindful and respectful of the critical skills of their employees and their customers. And these enlightened managers will be able to take the input from all of these diverse viewpoints, and synthesize them to create business models that look less and less like the outmoded aristocratic structures of the past, and more and more like the democratic structures of today, and of the future.

We need so much more than employees. We need members of the democracy, those who can think and learn at a level equal to the demands of the modern world. And we need them in the voting booth, the council meeting, the church, and the civic club– in addition to the workshop. So if we target employees primarily, or even first, then government, schools, and neighborhoods will all fall, and our businesses will fall with them.

But if we graduate broadly-educated citizens, all will flourish.

Not only is this article important for older, supposedly wiser, persons to read, but it’s doubly important for those who are younger and just starting out.

Most people don’t set out to be careless with personal credit, but that is exactly what happens. They find it encouraging that they are getting credit card offers and most of us have a get it now and pay for it later exposure. It can be difficult to see others having those things you really want to have too. One rule of thumb to live by is if you can’t pay off your credit cards at the end of the month you shouldn’t make the purchase unless it is an emergency. This means you don’t want to take a nice vacation and they have to pay for it over the next year.

Don’t be in a rush to establish your personal credit just so you can say you have a few credit cards in your wallet. You need to really think hard about the needs you have before you apply for credit. Too many applications out there for credit is a red flag to lenders that you are desperately trying to secure funds. Even if you are only trying to compare rates you need to be careful.

A very common mistake with personal credit it using it because you have it readily available. The best way to make sure you aren’t tempted is to not even have it accessible. Most people don’t realize that the amount of credit you can access can affect your credit score. Some lenders won’t give you additional credit because you may access the other credit you have in the process and then not have enough to pay all of your payments. Lenders don’t like to get burned and so they take precautions at all turns.

If you work hard to establish your credit, you can also call the shots with lenders. Let that car dealership know that if a 7% rate of interest is the best they will offer you then you will go somewhere else. Of course you can’t say this if you haven’t been responsible with your credit. The rate of interest is very important as part of your disposable income is going to be eaten away by it. Why give lenders more than you have to? Car loans are often five years and home loans thirty years. Over that length of time the amount of money you can save with a lower interest rate is substantial.

Make sure you have enough money in savings to cover two months of your regular expenses. This way if something unexpected happens you will be able to take care of your payments without being late or getting a bad mark on your credit. It can seem like forever when you are trying to get caught up. You also don’t want to have to rely on credit cards to pay for your essentials as the interest will eat you alive.

If you can’t make your monthly payments, you need to contact your creditors immediately. They may be able to help you find a good solution to reduce the payments or for you to get an extension due to a hardship. If you don’t contact them, they will assume you don’t care. This can result in negative information being placed on your credit rating. This can result in you not being able to get future credit that you need.

It can be exciting as a young person to have some financial freedom from your parents. The complications come in though when you don’t have the skills to manage it all. You may want to enroll in a budgeting or credit counseling course to assist you. Many high schools and colleges are offering them for students as well to help prepare them for their future. Establishing your personal credit is very important but making sure the information on it reflects that you have been very responsible. One day you will want to buy a new car and your first home, don’t let that be destroyed due to poor choices you make today.

If regular lenders aren’t helping you, don’t take it at face value when someone else contacts you. Chances are they will offer you credit that you think you need but the cost of it will be unbelievable. This is going to result in long term financial troubles for you compounded with what you are already dealing with. Even though you may be tempted because you need the credit, don’t let yourself fall into these types of traps. Do all you can to be responsible with person credit and you will be able to benefit from it in the long run.

Student Credit Cards: What Every Parent Must Know

Your young adult offspring is heading off to college for the very first time. Chances are she is well equipped with all of her bedding, music,laptop computer, compact refrigerator, and a whole assortment of other…To Continue Click Here