Perhaps I did a poor job of relaying the original intent of this post. It wasn't to say that having kids was an inconvience as some have claimed. I used the example of two working parents and that the school system and most professional jobs don't make being there for your child convienent. When I write convienent, I'm not talking about taking the responsibility away from the parent and placing it on the school system. C'mon, folks, no one is saying to revamp our school system to turn it in to a daycare. That was far from my point. I was talking about revamping the school system to better prepare the student for the real world.
I went to some of the best grade schools and high schools in Ohio and they definitely prepared me for college but where the schooling system lacks is preparing the student for work in the real world. When I have time, I help recruit for my employer and what I look for is more than just a 4.0 student. A well rounded hard working individual with a 3.0 is more impressive to me than the book worm who has no work experience or outside activities.
Group work or project work is how things are done in the real world. Yes, you'll have some who won't pull their weight and that's apart of learning to be able to motivate those folks to get the job done or find ways around it. Being successful requires the ability to network, communicate, and manage. One could go through their entire education never doing any of that if they wanted to and I tell you, that person is going to be in for a shock should he or she decide to get out there in corporate America.
Learning how money works, investing, etc is very important and if it can be taught earlier in life the better. Too many are living for today and not planning for tomorrow. Look at the state of social security. One would be foolish to plan on any of that being there for their retirement. Very little of that is taught in our current educational system.
Again, the point was missed here so let me reiterate. No one is asking for our school systems to be nothing more than a better daycares. That's foolishness. I have heard good arguments on both sides of the coin for the summer vacation versus year round schooling. My only point was, when you get to the real work force, for most of us, there is no summer break. There is no time to sit back, relax, and clear our minds for months at a time. It's work, work, work!
