Week #9 Prompt: Why Education is Important

This week's assignment was to find a news article about why education and teaching are important.  My article is called Solutions Under Siege? Is prison the only answer?.  Now, you might be wondering how in the world that article is going to explain why teaching is important.  I shall explain.

The article discusses the violent crime that occurs in Chicago, but recognizes that the crime rates have dropped drastically.  The reason for the decrease in violent crimes, they say, is likely due to the Neighborhood Recovery Initiative that focuses on counseling, employment, education, and other events that will keep people off the streets.  Money was used to teach youth life skills such as conflict resolution and job preparation.  The state rep. is now suggesting cutting that program, a program that has saved lives and redirect that money to the rich suburbs.

The most important part, though, is who these programs were targeting.  They are targeting urban youth at risk of dropping out of school.  If kids drop out of high school, they are bound to be unemployed because they are not being educated well enough to get a job.  Currently 92% of African American teenage males are unemployed and walking the streets every day with nothing much to do.  A combination of characteristics in these men such as self-confidence, helplessness, and need lead to violent crime.  From a previous blog, I indicated that taxpayers spend more money on keeping people in prison for 4 years than they would paying for someone's private education for 13 years.  Based on this information, I would say that it's safe to claim that money spent towards a program like the Neighborhood Recovery Initiative would be beneficial in the long run.
Better education --> fewer kids on the streets --> lower unemployment --> lower crime rates --> less people in jail --> less cost for the taxpayer

So why is education important? Why is the teaching field important?  It's important to engage all students and encourage them to complete their high school degrees so that they will be employed and can support themselves.  The public education system is "free", or something taxpayers pay no matter what, so it's a resource that everyone might as well use.  It's a shame to see so many people dropping out.  If we had better, more qualified teachers we might see drastic changes in the poverty, fertility, and crime rates.

Citations
Muhammad, Richard B., and Ashahad M. Muhammad. "Solutions Under Siege? Is Prison the Only Answer?" Finalcall.com. The Final Call, 19 Mar. 2014. Web. 20 Mar. 2014.