The fact that the entire country is having serious money troubles isn't news to anyone, particularly here in Michigan, where it could be argued we live at Ground Zero.

As to how we got in this mess, or who's to blame is a source for constant debate, but there's one thing we can all agree on, Michigan's children can always use more education on financial literacy, or the proper way to think about and use money. 

According to a recent survey conducted by Capital One Financial Group, one-third of graduating high school seniors feel unprepared to manage their personal finances and only 27% say their parents are a primary resource for financial guidance.

In another survey released in May by the University of Arizona, nearly 73 percent of students surveyed have resorted to at least one "risky" financial behavior, such as maxing out credit card limits or not paying bills on time. Nearly one in five of those surveyed has used some extreme strategy for meeting day-to-day financial needs, such as taking out payday loans or using one credit card to pay another. 

Regardless of how you cut it, our kids need better education on handling their money, something that in hindsight, we probably could all use. 

For as long as there has been civilized society, there has been esteemed forms of education. One might even go so far as to lump modern educators in with greats like Socrates, Plato, and any sophist thinkable.

Linda Myers is certainly no exception. As the campaign consultant for the Michigan Education Association, Myers has a long and distinguished career both as an educator and an education lobbyist and advocate. In layman’s terms, she’s a frontline fighter, acting on behalf of perhaps one of society’s most integral pillars: teaching, and the students who benefit from it.

Growing up in small, South Dakota town, it was an advanced case of sibling rivalry that first inspired Myers to pursue a path as an educator: “I’m a twin, and I wanted to do something different than what my twin was doing, and she was doing the same thing: she opted for nursing, and I opted for education,” she recalls fondly. “That was kind of how we did it. She became a very successful nurse and is now retired, and I’m still working because I love what I do.”

After teaching for 16 and a half years (specialty subjects included English, Spanish, and journalism), Myers eventually received her Master’s degree in Education Leadership from the University of Nebraska, and shortly thereafter took a post in the far-off land of Michigan, where she began her work with the MEA in Kalamazoo. It was here that Myers fully realized her true calling as political education advocate, and left her teaching career behind for good in favor of a devoting to public service that would help propel the MEA and its cause greatly forward.

Over the course of her long-running stint with the MEA, Myers has been at the head of championing – and combated – a number of education-related caused. Most famously among these would be Proposal A, a 1994 school-funding bill that altered the education funding system from a per-district standard to a more troublesome per-pupil arrangement. As a major victory, Myers also helped pass a CPR bill through the legislature, which requires all teachers to have a background or training in CPR treatment and therapy, just in case the unthinkable should happen to a student in class. This, Myers says, is a triumph truly to be proud of.

“I worked five or six years on [the CPR bill], and it finally came to fruition, I got to go to the signing of [it]. Even though it’s a minor bill, it was a victory for me,” she says. “I always felt successful when some of the other management lobbyists would come in and say, ‘Linda, you’re the hardest one to defeat on that because you’re so sincere about it; you tell such a good story.’”

Still, with all the legislative warfare and blood spillage, perhaps the hardest adjustment for Myers has been the loss of the bells. The school bells, that is.

“[The] hardest thing for me, after I got out of teaching, was getting used to not living by bells,” she laughs. “‘The bell rings, so I’ve got five minutes here. I’ve got a fifteen minute lunch period.’ [Now] I can truly go to lunch and not be interrupted. But that was the hardest thing: but, I’d have a hard time going back to a classroom today. I think it’s a tough job, and I don’t know if I could handle it anymore.”

Ironic sentiment for someone who takes a tough job and makes it look like a session of recess. For as long as Michigan schools will continue to operate, we should be grateful to have a fearless fighter like Linda Myers speaking on their behalf.

Let's set aside for a moment the universally-accepted fact that the choice to drop out of high school is a terrible decision that has a lifelong negative impact on a student.

If we can't dedicate ourselves to solving the dropout crisis for that reason alone, let’s look at the money.

According to a Detroit News' database of Metro Detroit home foreclosures, 1,342 homes in the city of Southfield have been subject of foreclosure filings since January 2006.

Unfortunately, the Southfield Board of Education voted 5-2 Tuesday night to increase that number by as many as 350.

March 2 would have been the 104th birthday of the legendary Dr. Seuss. In honor of that occasion, today we celebrate Read Across America Day, with thousands of National Education Association members working together to ensure our students embrace the excitement of reading.

But it’s not just about cats in hats or green eggs and ham. Ensuring our students experience the thrill and enjoyment of reading is essential for them to understand the importance reading plays in their life.

In January’s issue of the NEA Today magazine, there’s a disturbing story about the rising debt levels of college graduates. The story states:

“Today, two-thirds of four-year college graduates leave with student loan debt, compared with less than a third just 10 years ago, according to the State Public Interest Research Group’s Higher Education Project. And they carry twice as much debt as they did 10 years ago, too.”

Even setting aside the ridiculous increase in gas prices, everything is more expensive today than it was 10 years ago. What you would give up over that 10 year period if your salary decreased by $5,000?

That's the question the average Michigan teacher has been asking themselves for the past decade, according to an annual NEA report on teacher salary.