Recently TMC’s (News - Alert) Carrie Schmelkin presented, noting that as students are on summer holiday, educators are getting to work.
EverFi Technology is one thing schools are using to help their students achieve greater financial literacy. “The youth of America may not be as in the know about the economic climate as one would hope,” Schmelkin said, adding that on a recent financial literacy test, high school seniors scored 48 percent when tested on a series of questions having to do with such topics as credit, savings, retirement and insurance.
Seeing as how two or three of those four categories are about as relevant to the lives and daily concerns of American high school seniors as New Zealand geography, this reporter commends them for their job well done.
But others aren’t so sanguine. As Schmelkin said, to help boost these scores, education tech vendor has introduced a financial literacy platform for classrooms. It’s free for schools via donations from corporations, and teaches kids about finance. It’s in over 3,000 high schools.
And, rather depressingly, in this reporter’s opinion, Schmelkin noted that there’s the idea that schools should be doing away with that hallowed rite of passage, dissecting a frog. A high school in southern California is using anatomy software instead of scalpels. No doubt the people advocating such a move will also be the same ones in a few years’ time hence who will be loudly bewailing the continued erosion of basic scientific literacy among high school students.
And Schmelkin noted that Syracuse University is offering a chance for Syracuse students who are studying music education and the music industry to teach local high school students with learning disabilities about music recording and production techniques and technology.
Check out the full video below.
David Sims is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of David’s articles, please visit his columnist page. He also blogs for TMCnet here.Edited by Jennifer Russell