Part 2…

A study published by Editorial Projects in Education Research Center and released by America’s Promise Alliance stated only 52% of students in the sample population (United States top 50 largest cities) graduated high school despite what the prior estimates were projecting around 85%.

Marguerite Kondracke, president and CEO of America’s Promise calls today’s students “our next class of non-performing assets.”

With the number of citizens who plan to retire and live off of the social security system + a failed education system due to lack of funding and resources + one of the highest unemployment rates in the history + a collapsed real estate market, makes you wonder what solution is out there to fix the ever growing problem.

So what is the solution? I already discussed some ideas on how to change the education system from a class standpoint in college but what about students during the earlier years?

Funding.  One of the major reasons why students drop out or do not get the education they could is due to the lack of funding in our school systems.  Overcrowding in the classroom, and the lack of educational tools such as textbooks leads to students not getting the propert attention they may need nor the proper education.

ABC News recently reported states such as California are experiencing public school budget cuts which will prevent new textbooks being bought for at least 4 more years.  On top of that, students are also being required to print any handouts at home versus being distributed in class which adds to the rising out of pocket expenses for parents.

Well the good thing is at least the parents have jobs to pay for the rise in costs. Nope…unemployment is still at one of it’s highest in US history.

So where will the funding come from?

There are a few potential solutions out there including encouraging more US based jobs and less outsourcing which would result in decreased unemployment rates thus increase US consumer spending spurring the economy, decrease military spending outside the US, tax increases (which I cannot see do any good if people don’t have jobs to pay their mortgages let alone more taxes), or others.

What do you think could help fix this problem? Or do you feel the problem stems from something other than school funding?

First let’s start off with an example of this in action.  Let’s take the services of a real estate agent as an example.  Say Joe the real estate agent decides to send out a postcard mailing to a neighborhood near a local non-profit.  On the card Joe lists his services and reasons for using him but he also puts on the card “Any house I list/sell in the community around XYZ nonprofit, I will donate 15% of my commission to the non-profit.”

So is Joe losing money by donating it to the non-profit?

I say no but some others may disagree.

Enter case study, Ethos Water.  This company sells bottled water which can be found in Starbucks.  If you take a look at the bottle, you clearly notice a part of sale ($0.05 per bottle) is being donated to helping children get clean drinking water in other countries.

Let’s dissect the sale.  Consumer walks into starbucks and picks up the bottle of water and sees the “incentive”.  They decide to buy and for this examples sake let’s say pays $1.00 (don’t know the exact sales price).  Of that $1.00, $0.05 of that consumers money is going to the children.  Therefore it is the consumer’s money being given.  Some could argue its just accounting and technically the $1 comes in and Etho’s takes $0.05 of which and sends it off but I am strictly talking about the incentive here.

If we remove the incentive from the product (water) or service (real estate agent) and the sale does not occur without it (consumer kinda wanted water but the promise of a donation was the tipping point or the homeowner was looking at 5 real estate agents who seemed similar but Joe offered money to the community) then is Joe or Ethos truly losing any money?

No the sale was contingent upon the consumer wanting the incentive and would not have existed without it and thus just part of the pricing of the product/service.

Incentive based marketing leverages the psychology of the consumer along with their money to drive sales.  The product or service is priced with this incentive already built into the price model and the marketing is implemented on this idea to turn it into a profitable business model.

Disagree that this works? Take a look at:

Tom’s Shoes – For every pair bought they donate 1 pair to charity

Ethos

Charity Water

Nashville Flood T’s

Thoughts? Do you have any experience doing this?  Leave a comment below.

Mom: “What book do you have to get for summer reading?”

Son: “Fahrenheit 451 or something…I don’t know. I don’t need to get it.”

Mom “Why not?”

Son “Because I don’t want to read that.”

Mom “Ok. Let’s see if there is a movie and we can rent that.”

Hearing that made me think about a problem which I have seen for a while now.  That is the fact the United States education system is broken.

Why? Because it encourages conformity, regurgitation,  and does not encourage creativity and the willingness to follow one’s passion in life.  I think students are often persuaded to pursue fields such as accounting, law, and medicine.  Fields which will bring home the bacon.

All to many students graduate college and hate what they do in life. Assuming they work full time and get 2 weeks vacation lets look at how much of their life is spent doing what they hate.

40 hour work week x 50wks = 2000 hrs a year of work or 34% of your awake year (assuming you sleep 8hrs a day which leaves 5840 wake hours out of 8760 total hours in a year)

34% of your year being unhappy? And Im not even taking into account drive time, getting ready for work…all the time your subconscious is saying “Eghhh I have to do xyz when I get to work or…eghhh today was horrible, can’t wait for the weekend”

So here is where I think the system needs a tweak….

Elementary years for the most part are good as children learn the basics to be used in the real world. As one enters the high school years (mostly 10th-12th grade), you start to show individual interests.  Whether you find physics class more interesting than biology or vice versa.  But what happens if a student dislikes all of their classes?  Often times they are seen as a bad student and told “if you do not get good grades you will not get into a good college and not get a good job” which thus means “you will not go far in life.”

Is this really true on society? Now before you question this concept, let me clarify.  I completely understand and agree if you want to become a doctor you need to go to school to get the experience and knowledge from experts in order to be properly trained for your career.  However, what  if your interest is becoming an artist? Marketing? Does a college education truly benefit you?

I have spoken to a bunch of marketing students who recently graduated and asked them about marketing tools and concepts which are being used for present day companies.  Guess how many of them say they were taught these principles?…….0.  Some professions change so fast (especially marketing, graphic design etc) that a traditional text book educational system cannot keep up with.  The professors are not in the field (for the most part) as they spend all their time teaching instead of doing.

I know there are some points I am making that are neither black nor white but rather in a gray area but be open minded and think about my below suggestion for a fix:

Internships….Now before you say “I did an internship. What are you talking about?” let me explain.  When I was in college for zoology, we had our normal zoological course load coupled with all the standard core classes required by the college.  In my junior year we were required to do 1 internship (consisting of 8hrs a week) each semester but also encouraged to do more in our “spare” time.

There are only maybe 4 months you spend doing each internship bringing the grand total to 128hrs a semester.  That’s about 3 weeks of work at a job in your field. How is 6 weeks working in your field enough experience to enter the work force let alone be enough to get recommendations and compete with others who are applying for the same positions when you graduate?

The other option is to do more internships while in college.  Assuming you are like 80% of all other college students, you are broke and have no idea how you will be paying back the $80,000 student loan you will owe upon graduation.  So your 4 years are spent flipping burgers in the college’s cafeteria or selling books in the bookstore in order to get a slight break on your tuition as who would want to hire you in a field you have no experience in.  Adding a decent non-paid internship to your week is out of the question because you are too busy taking World History, Intro to Literature, Basic Math and other “core” classes the college deemed important.  Guess they lost your high school diploma when you applied which said you already have taken such courses.

What would happen if we removed the core courses, added experienced based paid internships (yes I know some exist but not many) and the ability to take more specialized classes per your field?  That in my opinion is the solution but the problem is the educational system…especially colleges/universities are a bandwagon kind of business (yes it is a business built around a service [education]) and unless they all shift, I do not foresee change coming any time soon.

Being 24, I have a very different look at life than say someone who is 44 with a family.  That is the fact that I can afford to risk it all.  Best way to know if you are willing to invest not only your time but your money into something is to live off the bare essentials.  Strip almost everything you can from your daily life (that daily starbucks trip, movie night at the mall, lunch out at the office, buying clothes every month, watching the 20 TV series you keep in the loop on).  Turn your food shopping into a survival trip, forcing yourself to be creative to get the most bang for the buck, learn how to get the best gas mileage out of your car or even walking/biking instead and so on.

Sure this may sound crazy.  Especially if you can afford to invest and still have the same lifestyle you are living.  But what is important is the fact you could be comfortable with the worst situation.  Because if that is the case, then what is there to fear?

Fear is the number one reason why people do not start their own business or do something in life they are passionate about.  Fear is the gatekeeper.  But what happens when you charge the gates and overcome the gatekeeper?…..lifelong happiness.

Life is too short to give up your only shot at pursuing what makes you passionate.

This raised an interesting thought to me, “Are you a tipper or non-tipper when you get take out from your local restaurant?”

What does this have to do with anything? One of my sources of income is from Real Estate (I am licensed in PA and hold my license at Long and Foster Real Estate) and a common complaint from realtors is how they do all this work for a seller or buyer and never get paid because the seller/buyer calls another realtor or does it all themselves after their education session.

Are we right to say someone should be compensated for their work regardless  of how much time it takes?  Do you judge tips based on the time it takes to do something or the time given to you?

Let’s look at some other professions:

• Attorneys – last time I checked if you asked an attorney to draft you up a letter to be used for whatever reason, he/she will be asking for a retainer or check for their time.  I know I have been billed for even 15min phone calls.
• Doctors – When you go to the doctor’s for that same yearly cold which you always get xyz antibiotic, you still paying your co-pay or out of pocket (in case you are one of many who are uninsured)
• Mechanic – Oil changes.  We know they only take a few minutes but if you told them “this is a freebie right?” they just might look at you as if you have two heads.

So if you answered “no” to my original question, I would be safe to assume you are not in a commission based income situation. What makes it cool to not compensate someone for a service they provided you?

I live my life as if I am in more than just my own shoes.  As they say to listen more instead of always talking, I do the same and imagine being in someone else’s shoes.  When times are tough, others have it worse.  When you feel like you are on top of the world and unstoppable, I think of those who have achieved far more.  Adds perspective to life and keeps you grounded.