Middle school students need to have an understanding why they need to work hard at learning material now so they can be financial secure later.
The New York Times, Sept 11, 2013, has an article written by Eduardo Porter who shows some facts about education through history.
The United States was one of the first countries to have education available for everyone. In Europe only the elite were educated.
One important fact - "American workers with a college degree are paid 74 percent more than those with only a high school degree."
"Historically education in the United States was the great equalizer." My grandfather only had an 8th grade education but he went on to be a very good accountant. But he made all three of his children obtain a college degree. All three became teachers. But my dad went on to be awarded 3 masters degrees and a law degree. Of course my brothers and I went to college. I have only obtained 2 master degrees and a second bachelor's degree. I didn't catch up to him.
But now in the States it seems the underprivileged are not being able to attend college. My son worked for an Indian Tribe in Nevada, where there were scholarships for a free education but no students worked hard enough to qualify.
I understand college is expensive, but when it is almost free why aren't high school students working hard to qualify for college?
Is it truly that teachers who work with the underprivileged are not doing a good job or is it something else? Somehow nations like Canada and Japan have learned ow to educate socially disadvantaged children.
So take the class and have each student survey how much pay is awarded to certain jobs. So income for 10 years, 20 years and have them discover why we want them to learn and succeed in school.
