歪歪漫画

What is the value of an education? We can explore this question on so many different levels.

For the purposes of this short article, I would like to explore this question from a vantage point of value to society as opposed to the individual value. Put simply, the value of an education is that it improves our democratic process and economic vitality.

Education improves our democratic process. Our form of government depends on an educated and informed citizenry who critically analyzes and selects the leadership of our country.

Congress realized the importance of education early in the history of our country, setting aside land for schools with the passage of the Northwest Ordinance. Our fledgling country had to guarantee that a basic education was provided in order for citizens to take part in the governance of the nation.

The need for literacy remains important as it allows for the expression and debate of various ideas on the governance of our nation. Our system of government depends on the ability of all Americans to understand other people's points of view, express our own points of view and critically think about the issues facing our country.

Education improves our economic vitality. Receiving a quality education is more than understanding a set of facts. Our economy is driven by our workforce鈥檚 ability to learn how to do a set of skills and more importantly how to take learning and transfer it to various different situations.

We know that many of this year's graduates will become experts in fields that are either just starting, radically changing or may not even exist right now. They must learn to be adaptable and realize that true learning means that they must be able to transfer learning to other situations.

歪歪漫画s teach more than just what is contained in the textbooks of our curriculum. 歪歪漫画s introduce students to collaboration, creativity and problem solving as these are the soft skills that are in demand in our workplaces and businesses.

These soft skills are extremely important to many employers as one employer once stated, 鈥淚 can train employees to do the work, I can鈥檛 as easily train employees how to problem solve.鈥�

Our country鈥檚 entrepreneurial spirit is not a product of rote memorization, but of creative processes that connect current knowledge with a future product or service. Do you remember movie rental stores?

At some point, someone transferred the idea of renting movies and connected it to the digital age with the advent of renting videos online and then eventually merging this with the digital subscriptions that we are all familiar with today.

歪歪漫画s never taught a student the progression from a brick-and-mortar video store to internet streaming for movies.

What schools did teach was that learning is about the transfer of knowledge from one situation to another. What schools encouraged was the creative application of problem-solving and collaboration to solve problems and create innovation.

So what is the value of an education? Education improves the lives of our students by setting them up for success in an environment that may look much different than today.

Education also plays a vital role in our democracy by empowering our citizens to debate ideas and make informed decisions. Education is just as valuable today as when the founders of our country first envisioned our system of education.

Jeremy Olson is the superintendent of Bemidji Area 歪歪漫画s. He can be reached at (218) 407-9645 or dr_jeremy_olson@isd31.net.