The American dream — owning your own home, a car, a well stocked retirement account and overall financial independence —seems to be coming to a close for current and future generations. Escalating costs, easy consumer credit, careless status-driven consumer spending, crippling student loans and, now, mandatory health care taxes may be the reason.
Another unfortunate factor is that many young people see the American dream as more of an entitlement that our culture will bestow on them, rather than a reward they achieve through diligent effort.
That’s the glass-half-empty version of the future of the American dream; the glass-half-full version is that it is still possible to achieve the American dream: to own your own home, car and well-funded retirement plan. But, it will not happen by accident.
Our teens and young adults will have to be taught that success takes careful planning, discipline, creativity and a willingness to work hard. Our primary and secondary educators, overburdened teaching the basics, do not have the time, or the budget, to teach self reliance, financial literacy, work readiness and entrepreneur skills. They simply do not have the time to help develop and nurture the next generation of business leaders and job creators.
The truth is…it’s our responsibility. Local business leaders need to support organizations that develop the necessary entrepreneurial skills in the next generation to help them succeed in the future. One such place is Junior Achievement.
“It’s so important to reach children at a young age,” said Kirk Klein, a member of the local Junior Achievement Board of Directors and a managing partner at Koss Olinger, who added that young children are at the phase “when they are forming habits they’ll use for the rest of their lives.”
He continued, “It’s our responsibility — as parents, teachers and business leaders — to teach financial literacy, career-readiness and entrepreneurship skills so (children) can make good decisions and build a foundation for success. At Junior Achievement, we work with students kindergarten through high school to help them find their path to economic success.”
Junior Achievement partners with the local business community, educators and volunteers to bring youth hands-on programs that teach leadership, entrepreneurship, business problem-solving skills and money management.
And it works!
During a recent Junior Achievement seminar at Buchholz High School, students learned financial responsibility through the JA Finance Park program in an exercise called Living a Virtual Life.
Buchholz High School teacher Linda Byrd recounted the exercise: “Throughout the virtual experience, students could be heard exclaiming “Children are expensive!” and “A lot of money is spent on groceries!” and “I’ve got to budget better!” For many of the young students, this was the first time they saw their home financial resources as finite.”
Across town at Eastside High School, students in Carrie Davis’s classroom learned about different career paths. One of the students had a look of surprise when he realized his skill was logistics — he scored 98 percent! Excited but confused, he asked, “What does it mean?”
Jose Reyes, Junior Achievement volunteer and an employee of AvMed Health Plans, was right there to explain. These kinds of mentor-driven interactions are the hallmark of Junior Achievement programs, as all materials are presented by enthusiastic, caring and successful volunteers from the community who share their expertise to positively impact students.
Since 1919, Junior Achievement has been the nation’s largest organization dedicated to giving young people the knowledge and skills they need to own their economic success. Arguably, the 21st-century workplace is and continues to be demanding, requiring increasingly sophisticated skills. Junior Achievement is responding by developing STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) programs that emphasize critical thinking, responsibility and teamwork in an effort to help tomorrow’s business leaders compete successfully in the future global marketplace.
Today’s Junior Achievement understands the way children learn best — through active learning — and know how to engage their natural curiosity and energy.
“The teens were challenged when asked to put together a simple single color jigsaw puzzle…without talking and in less than two minutes,” Byrd said. “They quickly learned about non-verbal communication, positive leadership, teamwork and problem-solving without falling asleep.”
Down the road at Shell Elementary,third graders learned how to open their own hot dog stand!
One of the young participants said, “Math class was fun today because I had to figure out how many hot dogs to cook, how much to charge and, most important, how many I could eat!”
“Junior Achievement currently reaches over 22 percent of Alachua County students, but our next goal,” said Klein, “is to reach every school in the county and ensure every student has the opportunity to grow and learn sound financial concepts with an emphasis on their skills, interests and values.”
An ambitious goal no doubt, but Junior Achievement’s involvement in Alachua County has grown from one class in 1985 to its current goal of reaching 350 classes.
“That’s over 7,000 students by year–end,” Smith said.
“Our volunteers are the best in the state. Some volunteers have taught for over 25 years, others teach two or three JA programs a school year, while (for) others it’s their first time,” she said. “But afterwards, their response is always the same: they learn as much from the students and have just as much fun.”
“For the next generations to achieve success, it is critical that they believe in themselves, pinpoint their skills and interests and then go forward in their education to obtain their goals,” said Chip Lowe, a University of Florida junior and Junior Achievement alumni.
Through Junior Achievement, he learned real skills for the work force, gained confidence and concluded that Junior Achievement was — and is — a very positive influence in his life. He feels it is especially important that students learn from “real” business people. Currently, he also owns his own business and works part-time in his related field of study.
In fact, when Junior Achievement alumni are surveyed and asked if Junior Achievement positively affected their future, 92 percent of JA alumni responded with a resounding, “Yes!”
JA imagines a world where all children are empowered to succeed. By teaching fiscal responsibility and inspiring our youth to reach their potential, we are proud to say that we will keep the American dream alive in Alachua County. Remember that the children we help today are our citizens of tomorrow.