While our nation's "leaders" debate how we're going to "bail out" the U.S. economy (here's a thought: how about stop "sinking us further into debt!"), perhaps we would benefit by preparing students today on the "price they will have to pay" for decades to come. That might take a few lessons in Macroeconomics. (FYI: Macroeconomics is a branch of economics that deals with the performance, structure, and behavior of a national economy as a whole.) I know, I know, try to find that on the state standardized tests. Yet given we seem to be on the brink of a financial meltdown that potentially will be worsened long-term by an ever-expanding government, overextended entitlement programs, and debts that are becoming impossible to honor, we may all need to pay attention and respond appropriately.

Watching a movie might be faster and easier than getting into a macroeconomics class, so check out I.O.U.S.A. This film boldly examines the rapidly growing national debt and its consequences for the United States and its citizens. There's even a byte-sized 30-minute version...

Since no child will be left behind in dealing with this mess, perhaps we should seriously consider expanding the teaching of financial literacy and related civic activities for middle and high school students around the country.

http://www.iousathemovie.com

Parents who spoiled their kids growing up are now surprised how "entitled" these same kids seem to be as employees? The price employers will pay for what many parents and teachers did to carrot-and-stick their kids to "do what they told them to do" might challenge the workplace. That's according to Ron Alsop, a contributor to The Wall Street Journal and author of The Trophy Kids Grow Up: How the Millennial Generation Is Shaking Up the Workplace.

Apparently, managers are starting to see how many Millennials "flounder without precise guidelines, but thrive in structured situations that provide clearly defined rules." Perhaps that's because kids born between 1980-2000 have always been told "what to do and when to do it?" Let's face it, there's little time to "figure things out for yourself" when you're being shuttled from one adult-led activity to the next as a child growing up.

Imagine what your attitude would be growing up with most of your time spent as a student mainly being motivated with carrot-and-stick incentives-and-threats? So much for developing self-motivation. Upon graduating into the workforce would it be a surprise that you would respond to any given task with: "What will I get if I do?" and "What will you do if I don't?"

To his credit, Ron does admit that "in the final analysis, the generational tension is a bit ironic. After all, the grumbling baby-boomer managers are the same indulgent parents who produced the millennial generation."

Art, debate, drama, music and sports are what kept Tom Chapin involved in school. Yet, today these subjects are “not on the test.” So in many schools, according to The Center on Education Policy they’re not even on the schedule. Tom Chapin and John Forster’s satirical song for NPR’s “Morning Edition” on January 1, 2007 expresses their disappointment in educationally focusing only on the test. So much so, that the test has become the reason to teach and study in public schools.

For more information and facts about the arts in education, check out:

http://www.notonthetest.com

http://www.musicforall.org

http://www.americansforthearts.org

http://www.supportmusic.com

As teachers go back to school, doing what some would consider "hero's work" at times in many of our nations schools, a thoughtful article ties together the School Wars in America (over how best to "fix our schools"). Good Magazine offers its education issue detailing the fight over public education and asking if anyone is really winning as we strive to leave no child behind.

"It's easy to shake your head at the oft-repeated statistics about how many kids don't know what a verb is, or can't find the United States on a map. But in our fear about what will happen if every child doesn't know the quadratic formula by heart, we've created a far more damning problem: We've taken all the fun out of learning."

The article articulates that while politicians, billionaires and many educational mavericks all want to "fix public schools" - they really won't! The answer he says (surprise, surprise, surprise) is parents. Hmmm, wonder why he didn't mention teachers?

Deloitte is a major employer of young adults. In fact, over 80% of their employees who work directly with clients are under the age of 35. As such, Deloitte actively engaged in addressing the topic of generations at work and freely shares their findings with others outside of Deloitte.

Listen to this special Career Connections edition of Total Picture Radio. Peter Clayton shares a thoughtful interview with Stan Smith, national director of Next Generation Initiatives (NGI) at Deloitte LLP. Stan's responsibility is to study demographic and workforce attitude trends with the purpose of coming up with practical ways to deal with their impact on businesses. He is the author of the book entitled Decoding Generational Differences: Fact, fiction... or should we just get back to work?

Podcast with Stan Smith, Principal, National Director, Next Generation Initiatives Talent, Deloitte LLP:

http://www.totalpicture.com/content/view/556/214/

Download and read Stan Smith's book Decoding Generational Differences: Fact, fiction ...or should we just get back to work?

http://www.deloitte.com/dtt/cda/doc/content/us_Talent_DecodingGenerationalDifferences.pdf