A New Gadget or a Good Education?

From the desk of "Online Tutor"

One phone call today says a lot to me about what is really happening to education. Within a few minutes I had a new student. This is not a rare event and I suppose being so easy to reach is a good thing, both for for parents eager to help their children do well and for Tutor Help. It's being one phone call away that can actually make the difference and that's where the new SKYPE tutorials and consultations will make a difference to a lot of people, who need some urgent action.

The difference I see today is that some parents are quicker to spend money buying a mobile device or a gadget, than they are to spend money on their children's education. I agree everyone has the right to make that choice, but the consequences can affect those children for a life time. It's the difference between struggling to learn and getting good grades in school and even, escaping the poverty trap.

Missing the Basics and the Poverty Trap

Education is closely tied to getting a well-paying job and social economic status. Usually the parents that pay for tutoring are either well-educated themselves, or understand the benefits. The people that do not get a tutor when they need to one, will watch their children struggle and do nothing, and the children will most likely repeat the performance with their children, as we tend to become more like our parents as we mature.

The writing is on the wall and it says - "the times they are a changing". Once upon a time you could leave school at 14 and get a laboring job and somehow survive. Those days are gone. Today we live in a rapidly changing world and we must have new skills. Reading and writing skills are basic. If you don't have them you will be caught in the poverty trap. Even if you have them, they may not save you.

Applying the Basics

The reason is that you need to find a way to pay the bills and the likeliest way is by learning to apply new skills to solve problems. You must also have the skills that the new world wants and seeming we love technology and it rules our lives, the chances are that you will either be affected by it, develop it, or use it to earn your living. In order to do this it means going way beyond reading and writing and anything you learned at school.

Do parents understand this? I doubt it, because education does not have the same importance in the eyes of ordinary people as for example, "sport". It's a case of some seeing education as LESS important than others and this will lead to some very big errors.

Let me ask a question at this stage: Would you like your doctor to be educated? Would you trust your health to one that has a mediocre education?