Teaching the Future

Why I Didn't Buy an iPhone or Why I Love Economics

2011-07-09T12:53:00.000-07:00

Your logical brain might be saying "that's a strange title for a blog post," but I hope to show you that it actually makes for sense than you might think.

I can remember walking into my first economics class in college, scared to death, having been told by my friends that economics courses had one of the highest fail and dropout rates. I didn't know what to expect from the class. My high school economics class was a joke and and I knew that I was going to be in for a world of hurt.

After a few classes I discovered that economics was my favorite subject, which is great for me because now I get to teach it as part of the curriculum as an 8th grade teacher. It also developed my interest in personal finance and gave me new tools to view my life with.

I am the keeper of the books in the Peters' household, it is much easier to put one person in charge of that domestic need. After finally finding gainful employment after a year of searching I began creating a preliminary or "fake" budget based on my future income. The thought came to me..."I can get an iPhone now and pay my very own data plan bill that comes with it!" I decided to not jump the gun and did some extensive research and shopping around and found that maybe it wasn't in my best interest to buy any type of smart phone.

I came across and interesting article on Get Rich Slowly that discussed a funny comic showing what someone could do with the money they saved by not buying an iPhone (or any other data plan phone). The assumptions are a bit extreme but the basic principal is sound. SAVE!!!

As a person paying back gobs of student loan debt every purchase I make sends a message to the back to my head, "thats one less dollar you could be putting towards Sallie Mae the devil incarnate." So like any rational adult I don't buy things that I don't need.

And now for the economics part.

Early on in economics we learn about a few basic principals that structure the entire content of the field: scarcity, incentives, and opportunity costs. Those three things form the building blocks of economics and how people make their choices whether they think about them in those terms or not. My choice had everything to do with opportunity cost or my next best alternative to the choice to getting the smartphone.

A data plan would tack on around $30/month onto my phone bill and yes with some simple math that came out to $360/year or $720 for the life of my 2-year contract. My opportunity cost was that I would be losing $720 that I could do anything else with...anything. Most importantly, pay more to my student loans. After crunching the numbers I found that by adding the additional $30/month to my loan payments I could pay them off and entire year faster! The choice was obvious...no iPhone for me.

I don't want anyone to think that they should not purchase an iPhone or data plan but that we need to always think about our choices and the unintended consequences that could come from those choices. In America specifically we need to be careful of "Conspicuous Consumption" or the act of buying a product to keep up with the latest trends. I love my tech gadgets just as much as that next geek but sometimes we need to slow down.

What is your Opportunity Cost?

High Education Tunnel Vision

2011-06-23T17:59:00.000-07:00

“So where are you going to college next year?”
“What do you want to major in?”
“Are you excited to go off to school?”

These are just some of the questions that were directed towards me when I finished high school. Just to be fair my parents never pushed me to go to school and was not required of me, they just wanted me to be happy. Well, my dad wanted me to be a lawyer...but he was never very serious.

When I was trying to figure out what I was going to do after my final year in that real world security bubble called high school most of my guidance signs pointed to college. The four year (five for me) real deal right off the bat. I had blinders on and thought that if I could get a degree I would be set. It didn’t matter what it was in because I would have a college education! My life would be great!

Wrong...

That is the pretty picture that we paint for high school students, at least when I was in school. We tend to view higher education as the Holy Grail in our society. That you are nobody without one or that you are looked down upon. The usual statistic is dangled in front of impressionable minds that goes something like this...

With a college degree you will make 1 Million more your lifetime than somebody with a HS diploma.

Except they left one little part out: *depending on your major and job that you accquire*
Oh, I almost forgot this one as well: *are mom and dad footing the bill or are you financing?*

Those two things have a major impact on your future not just holding a degree itself.

Let me give you some examples:

Student #1
Degree: Electrical Engineering
Debt: ZERO. Mom and Dad paid the bills
Starting Salary: $70,000 *this will no doubt vary by location*
Lifetime: 2.45 Million (assuming no raise)

Student #2
Degree: Social Work or Education
Debt: $30,000 (will pay 10-15 K in interest or more)
Starting Salary: $40,000 *this will vary by location*
Lifetime: 1.4 Million (assuming no raise)

There are many different combinations you could throw around and I have seen them all. The above samples are just a taste.

I don’t think I need to explain the lifetime disparity between the two individuals and their chosen career paths. Both are very important and needed in our world but are held up on different pedistals.

The Problem:
We tell our young ones that with a college degree they will do just fine in this world and that I will lead to a better life and that is not the full truth. We tend to tell people that advancing your education means the world of difference but over the past decade things have changed. Certain “traditional” degrees will give people a leg up: ie Engineering (of any kind), Mathematics, Physics, Computer (Fill in the Blank). A degree in English is not what it used to be!

The Solution:
We need to show our students and children what certain degrees pay out vs the cost of education and how you pay for that education. We need to stop depicting four-year degrees as the Holy Grail and widen our vision.

Ever heard of trade schools? Not everyone is meant to go the path of the college degree. In Manhattan, KS (where I live) HS graduates can attend Manhattan Area Technical School were they can earn certifications and ASS degrees in fields ranging from Refrigeration to Nursing. All of these things are done in two years or less at a fraction of the cost!

Dental Hygienist...who knew they were in demand? I do now!

As a teacher I hope to shed the light (truth) on my students future by spending time showing them what their options are after they finished school. I don’t want them to think that a traditional route is their only option and that it may not be in their best interests.

Yes, we do need more engineers and doctors but we also need roads and buildings constructed properly. I love the fact that I have an awesome barber who can cut my hair just the way I want it and paraprofessionals who provide support for me in the classroom. We need to stop holding traditional higher education on a pedestal and take a reality check.

To clarify this you should watch Mike Rowe give his testimony to Congress on the lack of skilled labor in our country...very interesting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3h_pp8CHEQ0

An Engineer who says his degree isn't worth the debt.

The Declutter

2011-06-07T19:33:00.001-07:00

I have to make a correction from my last post before I continue on with this one. Originally, I had decided to make this blog all about my teaching experience but I realized that I have another passion: Minimilist Living.

My interest in Minimilism started while I was in college trying to find ways to increase my productivity. I scoured the internet looking for any resource I could find and discovered the concept of Zen and Minimalism. I discovered how to be more productive and reduce my stress: LESS.

I have decided that I want to include my interest in Minimilism and simplification in this blog and how I am going to take those concepts into my teaching and running my classroom.

Teaching the Future will remain the title of my blog because while I am literally teaching the future I also hope to teach people to make their lives more peaceful and discover how to live with LESS.

Decluttering Our Lives

Over the course of a few years I have been limiting my "stuff". My wife read a book that had a strong message:

"80% of the things we own we use 20% of the time, 20% of the things we own we use 80% of the time".

That was all I needed to hear. We had clothes that neither of use wore, random tools, extra blankets, movies we never watched, books we never read...you get the picture.

We took our entire Sunday and decluttered out office, bedroom, bathroom, and storage closet. (We literally ran out of time so the kitchen will be later).

The Outcome:

We got rid of 3 plastic tubs that contained binders and papers that had no relivance, significantly reduced our wardrobe, emptied two plastic 3-drawer tubs (extra dresser space), threw out all of our movie cases and put them into a CD binder (two tubs into one 10"x10" binder), and many other items were removed.

We have decided that whenever we make a new purchase we will get rid of something we already own. The "One In, One Out" method to stop us from accumulating more "stuff" that will just end up being thrown away or never used. Having less lowers your stress and helps you focus on the things that are most important to you.

How does this apply to my classroom?

While I do not plan on having bare cinder block walls and bullitan boards for young students to walk into. However, I will simplify my procedures, rules, materials, and organization that I implement in my classroom. I believe that a simplified classroom will help students focus and understand what is expected of them. It will reduce student confusion and provide for a productive classroom.

Introductions & Future Plans

2011-05-25T13:35:00.000-07:00

Introductions are in order I believe. My name is Jesse Peters and I am a teacher. A newly hired teacher in fact, anxiously awaiting my first day in my own classroom. I will be teaching 8th grade Social Studies in Manhattan, KS in the Manhattan-Ogden school district. To be honest I am not one for small talk so I will leave the introductions to that and we can get on to the purpose of this blog.

I am entering the teaching profession at a cross roads in the educational field. Teachers have been put under the microscope over the past decade and educational reform as been at the forefront of every news media outlet. Adequate Yearly Progress test scores are the performance criteria that we attach to each student at the end of the year to gauge their learning (worth?). Billionaire philanthropists are trying to create the schools of tomorrow by throwing as much money as they can into the system. The organization Teach for America is trying to eliminate the achievement gap in inner city schools by putting the best people in the worst schools.

And the funny thing is...it isn’t really working. (I am speaking in general terms. There has been some success with these ventures, but not overall.)

Sure, our students test scores have gone up over the past decade in alignment with No Child Left Behind but students are still failing / dropping out of school and schools are not preparing children for the new 21st century world that they will occupy.

I personally equate the problems in education with three major factors:

1. The lack of motivated, caring, and hardworking teachers.
(This statement will inevitably get some people fired up and defensive. I have spend plenty of time in the educationally world already as a student intern and a paraprofessional to know from first hand experience that many teachers are just there to get a paycheck at the end of the month. Teachers must be willing to change with the times and I have not observed that.)

2. The growing level of poverty and the cyclical trap that it puts many children in.
This is the biggest factor contributing to low academic achievement and overall lack of concern many students have for their education. More families fall bellow the poverty line every year due to the lack of adequate jobs combined with rising costs. Many parents do not display correct priorities (needs vs wants) with their children. When a child comes to school with a poor night of sleep, little emotional support, and no food in their stomachs they will not be able to function well at school. Maslow was right after all...interesting.

3. The diminishing investment in education by state and federal governments.
Our nation believes that spending money on testing and new school buildings will have a dramatic effect on student performance...well it doesn’t. We need investments in technology to meet the needs of today’s learners and incentives to draw the best people into the teaching profession. Schools can only use the tools given to them, so we need to give them the best possible tools.

I am not saying that I am absolutely right or that there are not other factors that contribute to the problems in education but my experiences have pointed to those to main ideas.

I am starting this blog to help keep myself focused and to constantly reflect on my endeavors in the classroom, both positive and negative. I hope to spend my entire career in the classroom and I hope to be constantly learning and trying new things. I will be spending this summer planning and preparing for the hardest job I will ever have. I have a passion for discovering innovative ways to teach historical concepts and to help students find ownership in their learning.

To give you an idea as to what I will be talking about on my blog I have made a list of topics for future exploration. I will always leave my blog open for comment by anyone that wishes to leave constructive advise or opinions.

Educational Technology - big focus (I want to be a teacher who prepares students for the future)
Instructional Strategies
Things I wish they would have told me in the College of Education
Professional Development
Educational Reform - news media coverage and debate on how to “fix” our failing system
Book Reviews - History, geography, economics, and educational
Misc / Random - you never know...sometimes things just pop up!

I hope to update this once a week to keep my self consistent. I’m sure I will not be perfect with this but I will do my best.