Our country’s K-12 school system is essential for providing young people with an adequate knowledge of the world around them. But how can we balance teaching students academic knowledge as well as tangible skills suitable for our country’s modern economy?

An article in the Washington Post this week examines what the phrases “college ready” and “career ready” really mean to today’s students. According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, U.S. students rank the 47th happiest students out of 65 countries. To empower and encourage our K-12 students, we must do more to supplement traditional classroom education with programs that teach students skills and lessons relevant to today’s economy. We must ensure that students see the everyday value of their work in order to booster their confidence.

Schools should partner with local businesses or startups to simulate real-world situations in the classroom. While students need to learn foundational knowledge, ranging from history to mathematics, students should incorporate their knowledge into projects reflective of life outside the school walls. 

If students are forced to work together on projects such as stock market, marketing and campaign simulations, they will grow both personally and academically. Learning academic material without such supplemental activities cannot adequately teach students the responsibility required to show up promptly for meetings, attentively serve on committees or work proactively with others who disagree with them.

Additionally, students and teachers should not use technology in the classroom for its own sake, but rather as a tool that assists students in learning skills such as research and teamwork. For example, if a school gives a student an iPad, the student should use it to practice organization for his or her “real-world” based project simulation, not as a device arbitrarily given to him or her for random usage. 

In today’s reform-oriented education environment, we cannot forget that our schools must prepare students for what comes after school lets out. Student participation in simulations and projects dealing with aspects of our modern economy can help keep students interested and engaged with their education, which will lead to a more productive and effective national education system. 

Let’s work to implement such programs, and better the education of our country’s youth.