Do you have any ideas that will help the middle class? I believe in the intrinsic value of education, however, I also think we need to be practical and take into consideration the realities of today’s economy. Kids should attend college but I think they should carefully consider their major area of study. Unless you plan to become a psychologist, for example, I do not recommend getting an undergraduate degree in psychology. You would need at least a masters in psychology to get a decent paying job after finishing school.
I do, however, recommend getting a degree in business with the intention of starting your own business. A degree in the health field may be a good idea considering the future demand for health care workers. Degrees in art, history or philosophy do not make sense to me at this time. There is too much luck involved in some of these fields. It is too chancy.
Financing an education for your children is becoming more and more challenging as college costs continue to rise. Two ideas come to mind: In Vermont, there is plenty of financial assistance available through the Vermont Student Assistance Organization and they have a very good outreach program.
In Florida (and I assume other states) there is a prepaid college program and I recommend enrolling your child in the program as early as possible and college will be paid for by the time he or she is ready to enroll.
Getting good grades….start early with encouraging good reading habits for your children. Require them to do 20 minutes minimum of reading every day from an early age including in the summer. They also need to comprehend what they read. Good grades lead to scholarships for college and children should be rewarded for getting A’s.
What ideas do you have? Please contribute to the discussion if you can think of ways individuals can use to increase their ability to make it in this hostile world. We need all the help we can get. Ideas such as how we can cooperate on things like car repairs, computer repairs, home repairs. Maybe barter??? Craigslist?
Renaissance 
Economic freedom is the best way to build and improve the middle class. Take a look at what’s happened in China. They actually have a larger middle class than we do. It’s over 200 million. It does help that they start with 1.3 billion.
It also helps to combat a popular belief system that big business is evil and making money is bad. These are basically long held beliefs that are religiously based. Remember Jeus and the money changers. Capitalism is based on access to capital.
At Christmas time you always here people talking about how we are becoming too materialistic. Imagine what would happen if everyone decided to cut back on their Christmas spending by 10%. On January 1st you’d have a lot of happy people who just lost their jobs because of what they did to their employer. Someone has to make a sell all that stuff. You don’t buy it, they don’t work. Not good for the middle class.
Finally, schools systems don’t create entrepreneurs. What you learn with your business degree is how to be an accountant. A good worker not a boss. What kids should read in grade school is how to start your own business.
I agree with kids learning how to start their own businesses. My own grandson has gone door to door selling services like car washing and yard work at age 10.
Here in Florida and in most states they have the Junior Achievement program (www.ja.org) which starts early teaching kids about money and entrepreneurship. I think they should have JA in every state. Unfortunately, there is no JA program in Vermont last I checked.
Once you learn how to sell, a lot of doors open up. It’s a life long skills that everyone needs. Funny…schools don’t have selling courses. I’ve heard, I don’t sell..I’m a school teacher.
I was wondering, do you had any more blogs?
My blog is http://www.learningatlightspeed.wordpress.com