So I was messing around on youtube and got hooked on watching this documentary on American Schools. Here's a link to the first of seven parts:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AK_11KajyY

Watch some of it.
Watch all of it.
Leave a comment.
Start a new topic on it.
I'd love to hear some opinions!

I watched the first part of the youtube video thus far and it is full of astonishing statistics about American education. We need to step up and increase the amount of students that are going to college instead of remaining static in those regards. Other countries are going up exponentially in the amount of students that are going on and getting higher education. It makes sense that the cost of collge went up, however unfortunate it is, since the value of money has changed so much over the past decades.

How are we as teachers going to help our students realize the importance of higher education? Not just for the fact of having the "titles" but so they are bettered as individuals and have more knowledge...

I think that more than anything it comes down to dollars and cents these days in regards to higher education. With the economy's continued failing and qualified experienced workers being laid off it is going to be down right essential for todays youth to have a college degree before going out into the job market. If a student was to ask me today why they should go to college i would simply say if their was a stack of resumes on an employers desk and it was a fortune five hundred company all the way down to a mechanics shop or a mcdonalds drive through, the person who has a degree is already one step ahead of those who don't when it comes to who they are going to hire. Then when you are hired in some positions if you have a college degree your yearly income is higher than those who don't. It is a statistical fact that those who graduate from college on average will make over $1,000,000 dollars more in their lifetime than those who do not. Then i would say do you plan on having a family, a car, a house, vacations of course they will say yes to some if not most of those and that is reason enough to not only want but need a degree especially at this day and age.