January is Financial Wellness Month. The current financial crisis in housing, investing, and in credit card debt are glaring examples of both the financial industry ethics violations and the gross lack of financial literacy by consumers.

Why did so many Americans fall victim to the "free lunch" mentality propagated by the financial gurus? Just what knowledge and skills do consumers need to navigate the financial challenges that they will face all of their lives? When is the right time to learn financial literacy? What part do our schools play in this initiative? How can schools find the time in the curriculum to teach these essential life skills? What could be eliminated or abbreviated from the current curriculum to integrate financial literacy at all levels?

Surveys taken over the last decade reveal that the average student who graduates from high school lacks basic skills in the management of personal financial affairs. Many are unable to manage a checkbook and most simply have no insight into the basic survival principles involved with earning, spending, saving, and investing.

Many young people fail in the management of their first consumer credit experience, establish bad financial management habits, and stumble through their lives learning by trial and error. Many national education reform commissions encourage curriculum enrichment to ensure that basic personal financial management skills are attained during the K-12 educational experience.

The wheels of education do not need to be re-invented; they simply require greater balance in the core curriculum and state standards.

Pathfinder: Type "Personal finance AND Education" in the Basic Search box > Click Education AND Personal finance

Assign students to create a report of at least 150 words that cites at least three of the resources listed from the pathfinder. Essential questions are necessary for students to integrate critical thinking and original thought in their reports. Without essential questions for critical thinking, most students will report facts from a single article and most reports on a topic will be very similar or identical--plagiarism. The report should address these examples of essential questions (teachers may want to substitute or add their own):

• Why should financial literacy knowledge and skills be part of the K-12 curriculum?
• What are the problems caused to individuals and the economy when financial literacy education is ignored in schools?
• What are the most important financial literacy skills for students to learn and why?
• What would you eliminate or abbreviate in the current curriculum and why so that financial literacy can be added?

Let ProQuest lend a hand with the end products of this activity. Utilize our custom models for written and PowerPoint-style reports.

The new awareness and respect for of the importance of career and technical education is growing in many schools and businesses. This is the result of the last decade of the outsourcing of U.S. jobs by companies to workers in other countries and the increase in the number of job-related visas to import foreign workers.

Many of these actions were necessary to fill jobs that are technology related because an insufficient number of American workers don't have the required skills to do this technical work. If America is to stay competitive in the global economy, business leaders must support more career and technical education initiatives.

Unfortunately, the primary goal of K-12 education has been preparation for college for all students. That goal, while worthy, is unrealistic as many students drop out of school without the intended academic skills to get into college nor the career and technical skills that they will need to succeed in life. Even for those who do graduate, more than 40 percent will be required to take remedial courses in college. Of those who do, about half of them will drop out of college without ever developing the career and technical skills that will benefit them and the U.S. economy.

Businesses have clamored for more career and technical training for all students as part of a comprehensive K-12 education. Educators are beginning to listen and make reforms. Today's career and technical education program increasingly incorporate rigorous and challenging academic content standards within a framework of technical knowledge and skills so that students can choose careers and future their education more effectively.

Teachers and students will need to have access to the most current information on a variety of career and technical fields. ProQuest Career and Technical is an excellent source of information for high schools and community colleges that offer technical courses.

Assign students to create a report of at least 150 words that cites at least three resources and addresses the following essential questions for critical thinking (you can substitute or add others):

• What are the five career areas that are most in demand today?
• Which one of these appeals most to you and why?
• What would you need to do to pursue a career in this area?
• What are some of the major companies that you could work for in this career?

Don't forget to employ our custom ProQuest models for written and PowerPoint-style reports.