MONEY 50 - EDUCATION

THIS IS MY 50^TH POST ON UNDERSTANIDNG MONEY TOOLS

After writing Blog 49 my brain had a volcanic eruption and I wanted to cover other aspects of two separate topics, these being student loans/cost relating, and how several other countries deal with it.

First let’s hit education and student loans. Education has become very expensive in the last 30-40 years placing a great burden on young adults wanting to go to higher education. We realize there is a lack of job opportunities currently available and therefore the student graduates from college with a significant amount of debt. Hopefully, Congress will see that interest rates remain relatively low. Total student loan debt in the US is about $1 trillion dollars. Sustained lack of employment or higher interest rates will bring on defaults and this huge bubble will burst. Older people from 40 to 60 are now going back to school to try to get re-employed. In previous Blogs we discussed this and all the on-line educational opportunities.  I have a close friend in this situation. He is smart, needs new training and is 61 years old. He had no problem receiving a student loan quickly. The loan is enough money to help him live. Many Americans are resorting to this form of getting a loan, as banks are not lending money. Technology and employment demands are changing so quickly it is difficult to decide on which courses to take that will help a person get a job.

Where am I going with this?  I think the government needs to do more in support of higher, affordable education for America’s future. Many people want smaller US Government, until there is a crisis or need and then they cry for assistance. Human nature. A more efficient, honest government is all -important that supports education. A transformation is needed, and money needs to be spent in the right places.

Too many young kids are shying away from education. It’s the formative years that are important between birth and years 12, or so. The child needs to explore, imagine, have passion, emotion, and be mentally adventurous. Rote memorization like in a history class is fine, but we need minds that explore. There is good peer pressure and bad. The child needs mentors, parents and grandparents who encourage this.

As a personal example of this we were raised in a middle to lower income family as my father had gone bankrupt when I was about 7 years old. My brother who has since passed away got the top of the gene pool in the family, however we all strived to make something of ourselves. We did it on our own. My brother went into education as he saw needs, quit the regimented stereotype Milwaukee Public School System, moved to Oregon and started an alternative state approved school teaching progressive learnings, and mainly how children learn. He recognized that we are all individuals and each person learns and absorbs information differently. As he became more recognized, he taught at the high school level where most of his students went on to college, taught at the U. of Oregon, Eugene, in the summer, and was asked to teach for a summer in a special program in Russia. He elected to take along his oldest daughter and they loved the experience. The educators in Moscow and other cities arranged a tour of the country for them.

What did he have to show for his accomplishments as money was never the goal, but both personal satisfaction and awards. Until today he is the only teacher in the state of Oregon, to my knowledge, who has won “teacher of the year” twice and in different subjects, math and biology. He is also an award winner of the coveted Milken Foundation for better education. In addition he was asked to be part of, and then trained by NASA in Houston to teach math for aeronomics, which has its own specialties. If he can do that other people can do that.

We need to remove many of the fears associated with current education; failure, not being able to afford, being crushed by the education debt load, etc.

In the last Blog we brought up Germany in the context of education and a division at a certain age between going on to learn a trade or attending a university. In many European countries education is greatly subsidized by the government.  Do they have higher taxes, questionable.  Socialism, higher taxes?  You get what you pay for? Do we pay less in taxes than Europe and other countries?  We pay federal taxes, state taxes (in most states), county taxes, city taxes, alternative minimum taxes, special assessment taxes, sales taxes, and the list goes on. We define our taxes differently than other countries do, but in all we pay about the same.  In a similar way we hide real unemployment numbers.  Do most people think we have a lower unemployment than many countries in Europe? We say our unemployment is 6.3%, however there are so many people that aren’t included in this count that in reality unemployment is perhaps 18-20%. We are no different than Europe.

There are foundations that study demographics including peoples’ happiness. Do you know where we find these countries?  They are mainly Scandinavian countries. They have high taxes, their standards of living are high, but people are happy. The countries provide a standard of living that is comfortable, eliminate fears, provide health care, dental care, education, and more. We should learn, take the best from them and be more efficient. Do they have a relatively high suicide rate, and are drugs legal? Yes in some places. I do think that some of this is due to lack of natural light, as these countries are very far north of the equator. Darkness brings on depression.

China also is experimenting with better education. In many schools each student has a computer. Instead of each classroom and school having a separate teacher for the same subject they have the “best of the best” teacher on-line teaching. There is an administrative person in each classroom for organization and assistance. Not a bad idea, and maintains high standards. If you look at Silicon Valley, check out all the companies founded by Orientals and Asian Indians.