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HSFPP Update # 205—The Secret to All Success: Time Management

Message from Bob: It is clear that teens as well as adults need to know, in the global economy, what their competition is doing. Time management is extremely important in attaining life goals, as well as financial goals, and American students are lagging behind. Because of this, we are providing pretest activities and additional readings to help you get the message across to your teenagers that they will need to work harder to achieve in this day and age. As I said in a special message to our listserv subscribers yesterday, we moved this lesson on time management ahead from September 21 because of an important program that KET is airing over the next couple of weeks.

This week’s Bill Goodman show, One to One, on KET, is a discussion with Bob Compton, producer of Two Million Minutes.

Two Million Minutes, a documentary program on the education gap between the U.S. and rising powers India and China, will air on KET on the following dates and times:

 

Please make every effort to tell your teens about this program and urge them to watch it. The might be surprised at how hard others around the world are working to get ahead.

Message from Claire: I am currently a graduate student in the Family Studies program at the University of Kentucky.  My interests are in interpersonal relationships and, in particular, the relationship between the educator and his or her student.  This past year, I worked for a program on campus that focused on raising the retention rates of the students at the University of Kentucky.  Following is a time management handout for you to use with your teens: http://www.ca.uky.edu/HES/FCS/HSFP/Update_205_handout.pdf

 

Web Site Picks of the Week:

“Beating procrastination”
http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newHTE_96.htm

“Activity logs: Find out how you really spend your time”
http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newHTE_03.htm

“To-do lists: The key to efficiency”
http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newHTE_05.htm  

 

Pre-Test Activity (Choose one):

http://www.exsel.mtu.edu/UN1000/Activities/Time%20Management%20Activities.pdf

http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newHTE_88.htm

http://www.ucc.vt.edu/stdysk/TMInteractive.html

 

Supplemental Readings:

“Study smarts: Students need valuable skill of time management” http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080825/SCHOOLS/808250313

“Time management critical to success”
http://media.www.reflector-online.com/media/storage/paper938/news/2003/04/01/Opinion/Time-Management.Critical.To.Success-2536989.shtml

 

In the News… American Students are Falling Further Behind

by Claire Kimberly, Graduate Student in Family Studies, University of Kentucky

Walking into a new classroom can be scary. What will the teacher be like? Will any of your friends be in the class? Are the tests going to be hard?

A typical American student fights a daily battle between socializing and studying. Just the simple act of walking into a classroom can be a personal combat; one side urging you to sit in the back with your friends, while the other is pulling you to the front so that you can hear the teacher better. These simple decisions, though, can alter your entire future.

A new documentary—Two Million Minutes,by Robert Compton—follows high school students in three countries for four years. The film compares the amount of time the students spend studying and socializing. While an average American student spends 900 hours in the classroom, but not nearly enough time studying, Chinese students spend double that amount of time studying. Where does all that extra time go for American students? Compton found that 1,500 hours were spent in front of the television.

After graduating high school, students must either continue their education and training or get a job. But, even if they go on to college, what kind of job will they be able to get? Considering the amount of time students in other countries spend on their education, the competition for American students is intimidating.

Last year, I worked for a program here at the University of Kentucky that worked to raise student retention rates at UK. Many students entered my office and they had a multitude of complaints. They expressed difficulties with their classes ranging from bad test grades to not understanding the professor. Either way, I always asked first, “When do you study?” Around 95% of the students who came to me were not spending enough time studying. After I explained the necessity of studying harder and gave them tips to improve their time management skills, each showed a steady increase in their GPA.

The key to success is to prioritize. You must remember that school always comes first and socializing second. If you want to go to the game or go out with your friends, you need to put in the hours studying to make up for it. Go the extra mile. Even getting straight A’s might not be enough if you only work for the grade and not to learn as much as you can. To get ahead in life, you need to push yourself to learn and to achieve. Few things that are worthwhile in life come easy. Don’t learn this the hard way by finding yourself with fewer opportunities several years down the road because you were not willing to do the work. By keeping this mindset, you will be able to win every battle that is really important, including where to sit and how to get an A in class.

Source: Andrea Orr, “United States Can Learn from High School Students in India, China, Compton Says”, Stanford Report, Stanford News Service, 06/11/08.
http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2008/june11/edfilm-061108.html

Two Million Minutes Trailer and Further Information: http://www.2mminutes.com/

 

Group Discussion:

 

 

 

Kentucky High School Financial Planning Program

http://www.ca.uky.edu/fcs/hsfp

The purpose of the HSFPP financial updates, video lessons, and Web site is to assist county Extension agents, credit union educators, high school teachers, and parents who home school their teenagers so that they may improve the economic well-being of our teenagers; and also to show educators how the HSFPP, updates, and video lessons meet Kentucky core concepts. The Web site, updates, and video lessons are provided by the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service, and are free to all educators. The list of core concepts and order form for free program materials including the student guide and instructors manual can be found on the Kentucky HSFPP home page.

If you are not already on our listserv:

The video lessons are available only to members of our listserv and will not be posted to the HSFPP Web site because of the timeliness of the information. If you would like to receive our video lessons, which are sent to our listserv biweekly, on alternate weeks from these updates, please sign up at the following page of our Web site: http://www.ca.uky.edu/fcs/HSFP/response.htm

 

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