Tyler+H’s+Final+AmEx+Speech+2017


 * Education**

I’m going to start my speech by taking a survey. Raise your hand if you have ever used calculus to calculate the tip for dinner? Now have you ever used a titration formula from Weldele’s class to make chocolate milk? Lastly, how many of you had to synthesize 5 sources into your job application? Wait wait, how many of you have completed a job application or made a resume? As for the survey, it has made its point and it is just what as I thought… The core classes that are DRILLED into our heads every day crumble with ineptitude when put to the test in the adult world. That is not to say that these skills are completely useless, as many specialized jobs utilize your abilities learned in high school and college.

Calculus is used by the greatest mathematicians to solve the most difficult problems, while titrations help with cutting-edge science, such as finding new densities for silicon molds. As for synthesis, well synthesis helps Amexers score a 9 on our DBQs.

While these are all fine and dandy, they only help with the sophisticated side of life, where we push our human brains to the limit, overcoming the world’s problems. But let’s take a step back and return to the basics. How many of you know how to balance a checkbook? How many are creating and following a financial plan, not only for college but for the rest of your life? How many can cook 5 meals that don’t use a microwave or toaster? How many of you know all your options regarding contraceptives and how to prevent unplanned parenthood? The list goes on and on.

The problem that we face as students is one that causes us much trepidation. As we approach senior year there is much to fear. What college will I be going to? How am I going to find my career? After Senior year we are thrown out of the frying pan and into the hellish fires of life. LIFE my friends, and how the adult world functions are some of MY biggest fears.

The system established to prepare us for life is failing at its task. YOU HAD ONE JOB SCHOOL! While Math and English are a great launching point for a more diversified education in college, I find that schools are forgetting to teach the utmost basic skills that adults have seemingly forgotten to teach students in the name of a higher education. Schools have taught us how to become good test takers rather than creative thinkers and functioning adults.

One of the biggest problems I see in the current education system is the lack of financial talks that are given to the students. Although everyone is different when it comes to finances, once out of high school, everyone will be playing the ‘financial game’ with the government, and I find that it is a school’s duty to teach everyone how to play. Students should come out of high school not fearing the IRS and tax day, but instead feeling prepared. I don’t ask that you feel good about it, but be prepared.

I am lucky enough to have a dad that has an interest in finances, and he explains the finances of life in this beautiful little metaphor. Your financial life is like a stool. Imagine you exist on a platform and that platform is held up by one leg called social security. If you continue growing up relying on this one leg, the slightest tremor will bring your stool down and with it, your life! However, by making a 401K, Roth IRA, investing in real estate, or even finding a job with a pension, your stool will become more stable as you add these legs.Those who thrive in life are those who have a stable base to support all their ventures. Like Maslow's hierarchy of needs, everyone requires a base on which to build upon.

Talks such as this are necessary for classrooms, as many teens carry the fear of money into young adulthood. The fear of finances is what has driven many young adults out of marriages and back into the households they were raised in. According to Pew Research Center, for the first time in the modern era the number of young adults age 18 to 34 living with parents, is greater than the number living with a spouse or partner. The leading cause is fear of financial insecurity.

While it may seem like a new trend, the dim-witted spendings of Americans began in the 1920s as banks began allowing individuals to purchase on credit. By buying items before they could be paid for, American mindsets began shifting to a new kind of consumerism of brainless shopping. Internet stores such as Amazon only furthered the epidemic with adults losing all sense of savings and buffers. By spending money as soon as they get it, we have condemned ourselves to a life of just scraping by.

Aiding our fellow students into an adult life takes priority over prepping them for college. While many students look forward to college after high school, some see it as the beginning of the workforce. This only furthers the urgency schools need to take to prepare their students for the real world, not the academic one.

Besides being financially well off, students are neglected the knowledge they so desperately need about safety, specifically sex education. 3 in 10 girls will get pregnant at least once before the age of 20, and with a child costing from birth through college around 1.1 million dollars, teen pregnancy is a sure way to destroy a life economically. While the school is constantly trying to meet the demands of both the government and the parents, they often overlook what is best for the student. Although abstinence is the only way to 100% protect from STD’s and unplanned pregnancies, it is simply not a practical lesson. What is the best way not to die in a car accident? Don’t drive cars. Of course, since both are integrated into our lives so heavily, cars and sex, I doubt it’s feasible to give up either. These lessons are depriving students of a full education, and although some parents wish for their kids to only learn about abstinence it is simply unfair to the child. As soon as that student becomes an adult they will choose to be sexually active regardless of anyone else’s opinion and therefore should have at the very least an understanding of how to conduct such matters safely.

By educating the students of America with more practical and applicable lessons they can use to conduct their lives, maybe more teenagers will be prepared for the world after high school. I want and hope to see an America where its children come out of high school prepared for the world. One where the only thing young adults have to fear are the unexpected bumps in life. One where college students can make a real meal every so often, opposed to their top ramen and mountain dew diet. An America with a new kind of education system that properly fulfills its role in educating its children. Thank you.