Education: The Crises Of The Next Decade

It's common knowledge by now; the Hispanic population is rapidly increasing in the Southwest region of the United States. Within in the next decade many states will join the state of New Mexico, the first state to boast a majority Hispanic population. We are beyond counting numbers, what's emerging before us is evident to all. The Latino population is quickly overtaking many school districts, which are inept to deal with specific issues plaguing Hispanics, especially among the children of immigrants.
An example is taken from California's Monterey County whose Hispanic student population is listed at 73%, while Soledad Union School District Hispanic population lists at 94%. Most school districts similar to Monterey's are quickly making changes to their educational delivery systems to meet this growing trend by adapting their curriculum and hiring more bi-lingual teachers to talk to and orient parents to how their child's educational system works. Another example is Texas, the Lone Star State, which now has a majority Hispanic population attending their schools statewide.
Facing the facts is not easy, especially for many school districts where the student population is shifting to reflect more of a diverse demographic, more so than a decade ago. What educators design and deliver within the next decade will decide America's future for the next fifty years. So what quality of life and culture will our children inhabit? Will Latinos be an undereducated and dependent class or an enlightened and competitive community adding to the wisdom in the ever-changing global market?
The educational system cries out for more money to improve education. This has been the cry for the past 30 years plus, and we've seen no national measurable results to justify more. We don't need more money, rather, we need innovative leaders who happen to teach; teachers who are empowered to innovate and introduce change to transform current systems of learning. We can no longer wait for problems to arise then counter them with ineffective measures. We must take a proactive, and at times an unpopular stance, to affect change and correct the current system. Therefore, we don't need managers of old systems, what we desperately need is more innovative leaders to advocate, experiment and introduce new systems of learning.
This is why we need more courageous leaders like Dwight Jones, our new Clark County School District Superintendent; a visionary leader with innovative ideas, who ruffles the feathers of the status quo establishment. He is currently on circuit sharing his vision with many local and influential groups, more recently with the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, for the purpose of mobilizing support for his vision to change and transform our educational system in one of the largest school districts in the nation. There are other advocates like Giselle Fernandez who are striking at years of establishment thought by hard-hitting research and advocacy.
In her recent Huffington Post article dubbed The Latino Education Imperative, she notes, "The stats say it all and cast the same frightening projection: By 2020, Latinos are expected to represent close to 25 percent of the country's 18-to-29-year-old population. In ten years, nearly ten million Latinos will be 15 to 24 years of age, accounting for nearly a quarter of the total US college-age population. But only 19% of Latino kids are graduating with an Associate of Arts degree, and only 12% with a Bachelor of Arts degree. This compared to 39% of whites, 29% of Blacks and 59% of Asians." These facts are cause for great concern among us. So what are Latino community leaders doing about it?
What role should Latinos play in our educational system? At this point a desperate one! We need to summon not just the educational leaders together but leaders from the various genres of culture. We need the faith and business communities to step up, and collaborate to create innovative strategies for new educational systems. I've always been an advocate for creating learning centers in faith-based organizations who employ educated staff with a minimum of a bachelor's degree. Many immigrants and their children attend church faithfully each week.
Why not create learning and tutoring centers at these locations? Immigrants have tremendous respect and trust in their faith leaders, and would follow their vision of education. A connection and dialogue with the faith community wouldn't hurt education but add wisdom to the current strategy. In addition business establishments can also add to learning by inspiring their best employees to give their time and talent to local educational centers to mentor, inspire and tutor marginal students.
The business community can also create learning centers with an internship program to teach workforce principles. In my experience, Hispanics are more prone to "hands-on" learning; therefore, an interactive approach to learning could enhance their learning experience. Education in the future must seek community oriented solutions rather than the centralized-status-quo mindset that exists in today's mediocre structure.

Latino Townhall exists to empower Latinos through education, leadership development and civic engagement to permeate, influence and transform the 7 Communities of Culture. The 7 Communities of Culture include Arts & Entertainment, Business & Commerce, Education, the Faith Community, the Family, Government & Law and the Media. Those occupying positions of leadership in these 7 Communities of Culture tend to influence, impact and shape our culture in positive or negative ways. It is our desire to develop all around leaders with the upmost character, integrity and leadership competencies capable of permeating and transforming culture.

How To Find Responsive Education Leads

Seeking New Education Leads
The job market has become competitive. How does someone seeking employment stand out from all the other applicants? One such way is through obtaining a degree in that field. Education has become increasingly important and much more available to everyone. With the "for profit" sector of education growing, the opportunities are available to any person who has earned a high school diploma or GED. Students no longer need to meet certain admission requirements to be accepted to universities, and the class schedules are flexible for the working student, with many even offering online programs.
With the competitiveness of the "for profit" universities, the more traditional campuses are following suite offering online programs including exclusive ones such as John Hopkins University. Creating new education leads for prospective students is a must. Some schools offer specialized degree programs in fields like Veterinarian Technician or Dental Hygienist: those schools do not have to work as hard generating new education leads because most student seek the schools out for those specific degree programs.
Other schools offer the most popular degree programs such as business or criminal justice. When a larger group of schools are offering the same degree program, each school must be proactive with recruiting new students. One way to help promote and recruit new students is by placing the institution on a mailing list, or an Internet search engine.
The mailing lists are compiled using the information of people who previously have researched degree programs online. The information is stored and the universities or educational institutions can then reach out and contact each prospective student personally. Search engines will also create new educational leads. When a person is researching schools, he or she must enter the degree that they are looking for. This helps each individual school know if the person is a good fit for that school, which also helps cut down on wasted time attempting to contact a person when the degree wanted isn't even offered.
It is important for all schools to be constantly generating new educational leads. Schools are constantly turning over students whether it is that they have dropped out, or because they have completed the degree program. By using a mailing list each school can create an ever-growing database of contacts to create those leads.

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Major Benefits of Investing in an Education Franchise Business

Education is a growing sector in India and offers potential business opportunities for those who wish to enter the business world. India has the world's largest youth population which wants to receive quality education with world class training systems. This allows new educational concept to enter the Indian market and become popular through franchising. Just see how KidsZee, Arihant Institute, British Academy For English School, NIIT are doing good business in the education sector and there branches can seen in different parts of the country. This has been possible only due to the concept of franchising.
Starting an education & training franchises business has become quite common nowadays as here the success rate is very high. There are many advantages of starting an education franchise business in India, such as:
High Success Rate: The best thing about investing in an education franchise is that you would be working on an already established business format that has a brand value in the market. This way investors and entrepreneurs don't have to struggle much to market their product to attract customers. As people are aware of the education firm and know about the brand, they won't be hesitating to buy your services. Moreover, it has been found that opening an education franchise business have at least 70% chances of surviving.
Full Support from the Franchisor: Whenever you plan to invest in an education franchise concept, remember that full support will be offered by the franchisor. As a franchisee, an investor will get all the equipments, training materials, instruction manuals, supplies and all the required assistance from the franchisor. This will surely help in starting a business in the education sector.
Marketing Benefits: Along with this, education franchise owners get benefitted from the different types of marketing campaigns started by the parent company or the franchisor. At times, franchisors also offer training to their franchises to help them manage their new business effectively and develop effective marketing strategies. Remember that the franchisors have adequate knowledge on how to operate and manage business successfully and are ready to help investors and entrepreneurs who are willing to take the franchise of their business.
Easy To Target Customers: The biggest advantage of any education and training franchises that a franchisee doesn't have to make many efforts to attract customers. The brand is already well name in the market with a good reputation. For instance a popular education franchise is KidsZee where 250 business partners join them in a year. The reason behind this is that this child education franchise has a brand name and is well renowned for imparting high quality education to small kids.
Financial assistance: It is comparatively much easier to obtain loan in order start a franchisee business. Quite often franchisors finance new franchise owners either directly or by arranging loan through lending institutions.
All these benefits make an education franchise business a great option for anyone interested in starting their own business. Opening an education franchise ensures great chances of success at a minimum of risk.

The "McDonald's-ization" of Education

McDonald's is astoundingly successful at purveying inexpensive fast food of consistently high quality.  They have achieved this primarily through standardization and quality control. If you purchase an "Egg McMuffin," or a "Big Mac" at an outlet in Seattle, or Milwaukee, Chicago or Miami, it will be almost exactly the same.
Standardization is increasingly making in-roads into education.  Once the realm of diversity (of opinion, thought, approach, teaching technique, classroom styles, etc.) and independence (academic freedom), the higher education classroom is being transformed into a "product" type delivery system.  The "products" in this case are the concepts, lesson plans, group exercises, assignments, etc. - indeed, the education itself.
The intent of this transformation is to provide a "standard" high quality student classroom experience  within disciplines, and across institutions.  With the student being the customer (consumer) of the educational delivery system, we want to make sure he or she is getting the highest possible quality product, and the key to this is "quality control" and standardization.
Instead of the after-the-fact quality control offered through instructor "evaluations," " classroom observations," and the like, the approach introduces a far more intrusive and directive model.  Lesson Plans, indeed, entire courses and curricula are loaded into pre-packaged modules, on thumb drives (USB) or onto computers, or servers.
As in the fast food business, manufacturing, or other product producing sectors, the product creation and delivery process is developed to gain the efficiency and effectiveness obtained in industry.
JUST LIKE McDONALD's
Just like McDonald's where the customer can expect to enjoy a standard, high quality product, served in a clean, well-designed environment, the student consumer can expect convenient delivery of the educational product, for his consumption, and enjoyment - "satisfaction guaranteed."
THE PROCESS
First, a product team is assembled.  In this case it consists of academic experts, curriculum designers, course writers, technology experts, product representatives, trainers, content specialists, etc.  The product development process is based on outcome objectives, i.e., "what do we want the student to know?," "what should he learn during this course?" and "how do we measure that?"  This "beginning at the end" philosophy is crucial.  It keeps the spotlight on the product, promotes quality, and ultimately, "customer satisfaction."
THE ENTERTAINMET COMPONENT
Gen Y students have different expectations from their predecessors, and are less likely to indulge obsolete or dated instructional methods and techniques.  They demand to be engaged.
Instructors are partially selected on their ability to "entertain" as well as "inform."  They are expected to be animated, humorous, engaging, and entertaining.  They are expected to convey knowledge in convenient, enjoyable, and satisfying, bites.
STEAMLINING THE EDUCATIONAL PROCESS
The more standardized the process becomes, the less latitude for the educator, the more prescribed the content, exercises and learning activities are, the more the business managers of the career and "for profit" colleges like it. This concept may, however, benefit the student as it concentrates on a quality, standardized, classroom experience.
IT'S EASIER
Once the instructor has mastered the technology, the whole instructional process is easier under this model.  Everything is pre-packaged.  No messy development of lesson plans - they're already done - and done well.  No thinking about creative learning activities and approaches -  they're already there.  You could almost do it in your sleep!  (if it wasn't for the requirement to be animated and entertaining.)
STUDENT NEEDS
Students in this new education model will be immersed in technology throughout their degree program.  This is the world of today, and the future.  They will participate and interact with SMARTboards, laptops, WiFi, simulations, business games, remote "clickers," interactive learning, real-world relevant projects, presentations, etc.  It's designed to match their learning styles and attention spans  It is preeminently designed to prepare them for their careers. Although many students are "comfortable" with technology, fewer are proficient, and fewer yet have an in-depth understanding. The curriculum should help them become more proficient and better prepared for the technology demands of the future business environment. The intensely technological nature of the classroom experience also addresses the various learning styles.  The auditory learner will have voice, music, and noise.  The visual learner will enjoy the videos, powerpoints, and other visuals.  The kinesthetic learner will appreciate the hands on components, especially the SMARTboard.
Student satisfaction is, of course, a primary objective.  Education, especially for-profit education, exists to serve the student, while running a business.  And, through serving and satisfying the student, ultimately the student will stay in school, graduate, and learn valuable knowledge and skills in the process.  These graduates will benefit the business community, and society at large.  An advanced society like ours is critically dependent on an educated and productive populous.
EMPLOYER NEEDS
What do employers want and need?  The link to employer requirements is a vital one.  Businesses need educated workers.  They require technologically adroit employees who can meet the demands of a rapidly changing technological environment and a highly competitive situation.
Ours is a productive society.  Businesses spend billions of dollars training and re-training their employees.  "Business Ready" graduates will be more productive from day one and employers will appreciate this.
HAS EDUCATION COME TO THIS?
Purists would argue that the more traditional approaches are preferable, and that academic freedom is being infringed upon.  They would say that instructors should be hired based on their knowledge, quality of education, expertise, research history and contributions to their field.  They would undoubtedly prefer to see pure "academicians" and "scholars" in the classroom.  However, there is room for an interesting debate here.  Is it about the instructor or the student?  Obviously, we understand that it's about both, but whose needs take precedence?  The answer has to be - THE STUDENT!  After all, the whole educational system is in place to meet the needs of the student, and ultimately, society.
Instructors with real-world, practical experience and without techno-phobia will be more adaptable to this new format, and perhaps better equipped to relate to the student.
THE BOTTOM LINE
In education there is always room for a broad range of opinions and approaches. Let's try this new one.  It works in business - why not education?  This is probably why Career Colleges are embracing the approach much more readily than their mainstream counterparts. The "for-profit" Career Colleges are definitely  the forefront of this initiative, and "early adopters."
We all know that "quality " is an issue in education.  Graduates with virtually identical credentials can have vastly different skills, knowledge, and abilities.  This is, and always has been a concern. This standardized, quality-assured model addresses that issue.
Sure, this educational model is controversial, as it should be!  But the end result may very well be that students have a reasonably similar experience, learn comparable skills, and become better "fits" within the business world.  Employers can be better assured and confident that graduates have the knowledge and skill base they require to be successful contributors.  They will probably, at some point, wish to be full participants in the curriculum development process.  In the globally competitive market, this might just be what is needed.
When we're teaching Business we must be business-minded.  Let's transfer those "best practices" from the business world to academia, keep our students involved, and better prepare them for their future careers.  And, the lessons to be learned from places like McDonald's may be more applicable to education than we might have ever imagined.
Copyright ©, 2009, Dr. Ben A. Carlsen, MBA. All Rights Reserved Worldwide for all Media. You may reprint this article in your ezine, newsletter, newspaper, magazine, website, etc. as long as you leave all of the links active, do not edit the article in any way, leave my name and bio box intact, and you follow all of the EzineArticles Terms of Service for Publishers.

The Effects of An International Education in Emerging Countries

The 21st Century has signified one great change in the way the people are Educated, especially in Emerging Countries. One example has been implementing International Education, into the local Educational system.

A good example of this is in Indonesia.

In the space of ten years, Indonesia has de-regulated the once rigid State Education system, and allowed localized private Schools to offer International Education to its own citizens, as well as expatriate children.

This has allowed Indonesian-based students to study locally Cambridge, International IB, and UK IGCSE programs in private Schools in the Cities, and Towns across the Islands of Indonesia. And produced some amazing results with Indonesian children often ranking alongside their British and American counterparts, equally.

Some critics of this policy have stated whilst the State provided Education system sometimes lacks the basic facilities, a new "elite" of Western Educated Indonesians are being created, who can afford the higher school fees to enter these Internationalized Schools.

But studies have showed that in the 1990's, this new educated "elite" were often sent to study in Singapore, Australia and the USA, and now their Western-educated Parents prefer them to study closer to home. It also allows more Indonesians to allow their children to get an International Education, when they previously could not afford to send them overseas.

Many Indonesians have always looked Westwards towards getting a better Education, with many Indonesians today working in the nations urban centers holding Degrees mainly  from American , and Australian-based Universities.

Local Critics cite the recent Economic meltdown in Countries outside Indonesia, claiming that perhaps as Economies failed - so has the Education system wstem that created the Leaders who presided over the economic decline of many of these Countries, and Indonesia imitates these Countries too much.

The "westernized" Education system these Schools offer ,are Internationalized- but also in the long term may teach values of Countries some say are alien to the local culture. Values that are based on "pop" culture, and Western ideas, rather than Indonesian "family values."

Some Academics see this trend as disturbing, when a new generation of "western" Educated Indonesians may run Indonesia, at a time when some economists do predict that China, and India could be the main influence on Indonesian society.

Other Critics state that students lose their cultural identity, and become less of a National Citizen, but more of a global Citizen. Identifying with the United States more than their own culture, and often migrating there, once they have finished studying.

Those that agree the changes are beneficial, claim that Indonesia will have a new generation of citizens both ready and able to cooperate, and compete in business with their Western counterparts. Bringing wealth to Indonesia.

However to most Indonesians, an International Education offers opportunities in Indonesian society and beyond, that a State system can only provide from certain Schools. And until that changes, hundreds of thousands of Indonesian children, will attend local Schools studying IB programs, and IGCSES, and in some cases gain higher examination results than their counterparts in the USA and Europe.