What the Schools DON'T Teach You

Nobody will question that the purpose of school is to educate us and to prepare us for a successful future. But why, then, don't schools teach us some of the most important skills and lessons of life?

Like what, you may ask?

1. The dangers of credit cards and other debt, for example.

Think of it. Consumer debt in the United States is over 2 TRILLION dollars. Most families are up to their ears in debt with little hope of ever getting out of debt. Tens of millions of men and women will spend the rest of their lives trying to climb out of debt.

Yet did the schools ever spend ONE HOUR teaching us the DANGERS of going into debt? I don't recall hearing any of it (at school, at least). Almost all of my useful financial education came from my mom and dad. They taught me the evils of going into debt.

Most people enter adult life having never been taught that when they finish paying off their 30-year mortgage that 2/3 of the money spent will go to pay the bank for the loan, and only 1/3 will pay for the house.

It's like Will Rogers said about interest: "Them's that understands it collects it, and them's that don't, pays it."

A little bit of education on this front will go a long way towards preventing a lifetime of stress and suffering. (For a good site on this subject, see http://www.eriksinfobase.com/A_howtoavoiddebt.htm,)

Here are 3 other areas where our schools generally leave us woefully deficient or ignorant:

2. School Curricula FAIL the Students about 10-15% of the time.
Kids with Dyslexia, ADHD and ADD often "get left out" because the school curricula don't fit the way their brains are wired. Often, they are the kids who make up the bottom 15% of the class, yet they are often brilliant.

Like a popular slogan says: "A mind is a terrible thing to waste."

However, Children with Dyslexia, ADHD, ADD and some other "learning challenges" will often be the BEST and the FASTEST readers in any class, if they are only shown how to in a way that fits their brain's style. The problem is that most school reading programs are geared towards the LEFT side of the brain, even though children with these conditions are almost always RIGHT-BRAIN dominant, leaving them stranded in the backwaters of education, essentially "flushed" from the mainstream. What they need is to be "rescued" by a method that caters to their right-brained-ness.

One such program (a reading program) is SPEED READING 4 KIDS,. It shows them how to read in a way that processes the information in the Right side of the brain instead of the Left side. And the results make all the difference in the world. Kids that used to hate reading can now read 3 or 4 times faster than most High School graduates, with comparable or better comprehension.

Recent research indicates, "Right Brained children, almost without exception, make the best speed readers." (Jeffrey Freed, MAT; Right-Brined Children in a Left-Brained World, p. 119)

3. Proper nutrition will prevent or cure a multitude of maladies. Sometimes the right food will create a "miracle cure."

Let me give you an example. My fiancée had a serious allergy problem. So serious that on our first date she showed me a spring-loaded syringe full of EpiPen (epinephrine) that she always carried with her, in case she ever went into anaphylactic shock. There was hardly any food that she could eat, besides oatmeal and a few fruits.

Everything else was taboo.

So I carefully read the EpiPen instructions so that I could save her life in case she should ever have anaphylactic shock while I was around. Then, from that time on, I started learning all that I could about allergies, nutrition and any "natural" solutions that might be available.

One thing that I found out is that the aging of the body often causes allergies. It doesn't as easily absorb the proper minerals and nutrients as it did when it was younger. This results in mineral and other nutritional deficiencies, which, in turn, manifest themselves as various conditions like allergies, weakened immune response, ulcers (which Maria-Elena also had) and a host of other illnesses.

Maria-Elena and I decided that it wouldn't hurt anything to see if certain nutritional food supplements would help to heal her body's ability to absorb needed nutrients, thereby reducing the resultant ailments. One promising food was Chlorella, a type of blue-green algae (see http://SunChlorellaUSA.com,).

Surprisingly, within ONE WEEK, Maria-Elena's bleeding ulcer was noticeably alleviated (she had been unable to take the routine round of antibiotics to cure this on account of her allergies--she was allergic to the antibiotics). After another week her ulcer was gone completely (never to return).

Within another month or two, we both noticed that a few accidental exposures to "forbidden foods" didn't bring on the usual scary allergic reaction that usually occurred. Ultimately, we noted that while the Chlorella didn't completely cure Maria-Elena's allergies, it did reduce them by about
75%.

A few months later, another herb that we were introduced to by my Mom (who also suffers from allergies) was the Yamoa root (sold in capsules here). Maria-Elena was only given enough Yamoa root to last 2 weeks, but a month or two later, we noticed that her allergy symptoms had almost completely disappeared. Now, there is still no return to the allergies of the old days, even though she hasn't used any Yamoa roots in months.

This doesn't prove that the allergies will never try to make a comeback, but we are being careful to eat carefully, nutritiously and take all the necessary vitamins and minerals each day. And we are enjoying the newfound freedom from all the allergies and the ulcer that we believe were
caused by poor eating habits and nutritional deficiencies.

My father is an MD, so I'm not knocking doctors, but like the old adage says: "An apple a day, keeps the doctor away." Take charge, do your own research and find out what you can do to improve your own health. The results will amaze you. And you will probably save a lot of money in the process. (A good web page for finding information on healthy foods and herbs is http://www.selfgrowth.com/food.html,)

4. Morality Matters.
This one was a no-brainer 50 years ago before political correctness infected our culture. Everybody knew that "Goodness" was more important than Grades. Remember that if we educate children's brains without teaching them right from wrong, we may well be grooming the next Hitler. On the other hand, all good, hard-working, honest persons will still be able to carry out productive, happy lives, no matter what educational level they attain, and each one will be an asset to society.

Also, Being good doesn't just mean "don't steal" and "don't be violent" Such universal standards like staying away from Premarital Sex and Pornography also help build strong family relationships and trust. Additionally, too many people are quick to sue others for financial gain. I never trust anyone who is quick to sue another.

For a quick primer on what is right or wrong, read the 10 Commandments. Sure, schools aren't supposed to mention God. So what? Six of the Commandments are principles that everybody, even athiests believe in. So just mention the 6 universal principles that we all agree on. That will at least ensure that good behavior is taught. And they are still good rules to live by. Here are the ones that I believe anyone would agree with:

Honor (Respect) your parents
Don't kill
Don't commit adultery
Don't steal
Don't bear false witness (lie about another person)
Don't covet (be greedy for something that belongs to another person)

Getting an education is a good idea, but we need to make the time and effort to learn some of the important lessons of life that schools won't teach us. Sometimes these other lessons are more important than the ones the schools do teach.

--George Stancliffe