Teaching Real Life

UPDATE: During the previous post I mentioned a good friend who had decided to remain in Little Rock despite having committed to moving to Texas for a job offer. About 2 weeks later the company offered him a slightly different job... and he took it. So apparently his reasoning the first time around wasn't too deeply entrenched.

Yesterday I began my second tour of duty with Junior Ahievement of Arkansas. Basically I have volunteered to teach economics and free enterprise to middle school students (9th graders). I've found this program taps into a passion I have of teaching people "real" stuff. I remember coming up through the public school system and learning algebra, and geometry, physical science, and history. I understand that a basic understanding of those concepts are incredibly important, if only to allow you to obtain a college degree. However, the most interesting and memorable times I remember where when we were exposed to real world examples of things... choices that had to made, ways to use what we learned, information about real jobs, stories about college experiences, etc.

The Junior Achievement program provides materials including a teacher and student workbook, games, posters, etc. Of course, I try to follow the lesson as closely as possible while adding some volunteer insight into my life and career. It was interesting to note that yesterday, though we talked for 1 1/2 hours, played a board game, and had fun... the time when the class the most engaged was when I was describing a decision I had to make regarding changing careers. Those students who were unattentive during class, suddenly began acting questions about how I made the decision. This discussion led to a fairly long discussion about base salary vs. commission jobs, benefits, vacation time, additional perks, etc. That's exactly what we are trying to do... get these kids thinking about their future... how important it is to stay in school, make good decisions, and follow their skills, interests, and values into a career.

I have two more visits scheduled for this class... my goal is to find more and more opportunities to engage these students in conversation about real life... I believe that's where the learning takes place.