How educated are you? Perhaps there has never been an era more overloaded with information than today, with an influx of data, facts, figures and talking heads almost everywhere. Billboards announce the latest fads, and the radio blares news, sports, traffic and weather between the latest tunes.

However, there is a great difference between raw information and a meaningful education. Do you have what it takes to thrive in the 21st century?

The fact is that many graduates of U.S. high schools today don't have nearly the same core competencies as those who completed only eight years of schooling a hundred years ago. Yet students today need those basics and far more to succeed in this technologically advanced world that would bewilder our great-great-grandparents.

Knowledge then was much more practical, usable and connected. Today, much of the education offered in our schools is abbreviated, lacking in context and, of course, "cleaned up" to be politically correct (including leaving God totally out of the picture).

Often the humanities and sciences provide knowledge that is without depth and not too exciting compared to the frenetic pace of the Internet and our instant messaging world. Americans are being ranked lower in the world in education and losing ground annually.

"America's high schools are obsolete"

Bill Gates, cofounder of the National Education Summit on High Schools, gave a speech Feb. 26, 2005, in which he stated that "America's high schools are obsolete."

By obsolete, he didn't just mean that our high schools are broken, flawed and underfunded—though a case could be made for each of those points for many schools. Gates explained that our schools cannot teach our children what they need to know to excel today. Using the example of computers, he mentioned that training the workforce of tomorrow with the high schools of today is like trying to teach kids about today's computers on a 50-year-old mainframe. It's the wrong tool for the times.

Gates said: "When I compare our high schools to what I see when I'm traveling abroad, I am terrified for our workforce of tomorrow. In math and science, our fourth graders are among the top students in the world. By eighth grade, they're in the middle of the pack. By 12th grade, U.S. students are scoring near the bottom of all industrialized nations.

"We have one of the highest high school dropout rates in the industrialized world. Many who graduate do not go on to college. And many who do go on to college are not well-prepared, and end up dropping out.

"Lack of adequate preparation for post-high school education is one reason why the U.S. college dropout rate is also one of the highest in the industrialized world. The poor performance of our high schools in preparing students for college is a major reason why the United States has now dropped from first to fifth in the percentage of young adults with a college degree."

The Gates Foundation suggested that schools should be built on principles that can be applied anywhere—including the new three R s, the basic building blocks of better high schools:

The first R is Rigor —making sure all students are given a challenging curriculum that prepares them for college or work.

The second R is Relevance —making sure kids have courses and projects that clearly relate to their lives and their goals.

The third R is Relationships —making sure kids have a number of adults who know them, look out for them and push them to achieve (www.gatesfoundation.org).

Versatility in an ever-changing world

To get the right education today, no matter where you live, you must take ownership of your own education. Don't expect to have someone else dictate what goes into your head. What is needed today is a good education that connects the liberal arts flavor with a technological specialty that allows creative thinking and versatility in an ever-changing world.

It's likely that many of the major job markets of tomorrow don't even exist today. Who would have thought years ago that most people today would spend several hours a day in front of a computer screen and be so affected by open-sourcing, outsourcing and offshoring, all of which can ignore borders and operate in an increasingly connected world?

Thomas Friedman, in his latest book The World Is Flat, claims that "the convergence of our growing technologies is a global, web-enabled playing field that allows for multiple forms of collaboration—the sharing of knowledge and work—in real time, without regard to geography, distance, or, in the near future, even language.

"No, not everyone has access yet to this platform, this playing field, but it is open today to more people in more places on more days in more ways than anything like it ever before in the history of the world. This is what I mean when I say the world has been flattened" (2005, pp. 176-177).

As the world gets flatter, those who are better-prepared compete and win far more of the high-paying jobs. If employers have access to the top employees in the world, why would they not compete to hire the best and brightest? That is what many are doing today, and increasingly these people are coming from countries outside the United States.

Education is a lifelong quest

The most successful in today's world are those who combine traditional liberal arts skills with the most recent and up-to-date technologies.

In a technological world that pushes the complexity, speed and expectations of just about everything, you either get on board or get left behind. For example, skipping or skimping on math and science, especially physics and problem solving, could prove to be a costly error for anyone wanting to be employed in the better-paying jobs of tomorrow.

How educated are you? Perhaps better than most, but not as much as you'll need to be. Education is a quest that takes a lifetime, and the eternity that God offers is a long, long time. Be sure to open your eyes and take charge of your education today. VT

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Consider This Strategy

1. Don't skip the basics. Sadly, today many college graduates struggle to express themselves in writing, and spelling has become an exercise in creativity.

Mary Clark, who collates the camp surveys from campers, staff and parents of the United Youth Camps, sent me a whole page of "creatively" spelled words used to express the camp experience.

For example, the word Christian was variously spelled as: Chrischin, Crischtan, Christin, Cristian, Cristing, Christan, Christon, Crishtin, Christion, Chistian and Crystian .

This illustrates my point! Students must learn to spell (along with the other basics of reading, mathematics, etc.)!

2. Take responsibility for your own education. Commit to studying, reading and asking questions, and not just finishing homework assignments. The skills you might need may never be offered to you, and if they are, the course may not be very appealing. Learn the information anyway!

Education is life. Go after it with enthusiasm. There are many fine articles in Vertical Thought to help you discover important knowledge you will need in your life. Proverbs 24:5 says, "A wise man is strong, yes, a man of knowledge increases strength."

3. Surround yourself with educated people and stretch yourself whenever possible. Proverbs 1:5 says, "A wise man will hear and increase learning, and a man of understanding will attain wise counsel." We also read, "Evil company corrupts good habits" (1 Corinthians 15:33). Find people who can add to your storehouse of knowledge, and study the habits of those who are successful.

4. Education needs values. Be sure you know the boundaries of what is right and appropriate. You should always know when you are in danger of stepping over the line.

Success often comes not only to those with high IQ (intelligence quotient) and EQ (emotional quotient), but also to those with a high "SQ" (spiritual quotient). One of the goals of Vertical Thought is to help you put life into the perspective of our Creator God who has made us in His image.