Why It Matters
The Studies Reveal Importance of Early Intervention
The National Board of Education studies show that 30% of all kids entering primary education will not graduate. An additional 15% will not seek a higher education. That means 45%, or nearly half of our kids, will not be functionally equipped to meet the high demands of an ever-increasing technical society.
Essential Benefits of Goal-Setting
When you add attributing factors such as low self-esteem and negative self-perception, a child's outlook for the future can become dismal. Kids Future Now provides a platform for students to think about, perhaps for the first time, what lifestyle choices they ideally want to pursue for achieving a productive present and future. Goal-Setting is essential for building successful lives. Yet teaching kids how to set and achieve goals isn't a regular part of most schools' curriculum, nor is it a skill which is universally taught or modeled to kids at home. Many children acquire perceptions of limitations early in their lives and cannot imagine other possibilities.
Overcoming Limiting Beliefs
When basing their limited beliefs from a perspective of insufficiency, some kids are already in the process of acquiring feelings of hopelessness and helplessness. Limited beliefs, coupled with having limited tools for carving out anything greater for their lives, sets up a chain of disenfranchisement with severe negative consequences for individuals and society. Using a child's goal for the future is a complex process, for which there are no fixed menus or simple blueprints. However, studies show that the key to success is early intervention. When a child identifies and attaches to something early on, their chance for success increases dramatically. Self-motivation can be developed and increased through dreams and desires of tomorrow.
Encouraging Self-Reliance
In this program, children rely on their goals for tomorrow as a resource to increase and maintain their motivation to learn. Goal-Setting and career planning, integrated into the classroom, empowers teachers, as well as guidance counselors, to stress the relevance of coursework to a career. Many people know that fulfilling work is important, but it is easy to fall into a career and then look back and wonder, "How did I get here?".
Staying on the Right Path
In order for children to stay on the right path to their dreams, they must have continual guidance and an understanding that they can do anything their hearts desire. Kids Future Now does not treat a child’s dream of tomorrow as a wish or a mere platitude, but as a realistic goal that can and will be achieved.