One of the most practical parts of my college education (and my entire education)was my student teaching. For six month, I gradually took over until I was completely teaching the class. It wasn't quite the same as a real teaching job. However, it was definitely a good way to get some real world experience. School should prepare students for the job market. Therefore, are our kids receiving enough practical education so they can be successful in the real world?

When teaching kids, it's important to be able to have a purpose for everything we teach. As parents and teachers, we should ask ourselves: what can this be used for when kids enter the job market? I can think about a college class I took where we had to analyze various movies. I honestly can't think of how analyzing "Rambo" benefited me. Perhaps, I would have been better off taking an auto shop class or a carpentry class. After all, I can't change a tire and I'm completely incapable when it comes to using power tools. The Guardian points out that the current generation is one of the most educated but lacks the skills to mend a hole in a shirt or put up a shelf. We have become a society that hires someone else to do these basic tasks. So how can we fix this?

    Perhaps, learning how to think is not enough. Rather than focusing on standardized tests so much, schools need to give students more practical application. Cooking is actually helpful when teaching children about fractions, measuring and multiplication. Students can learn how to double a recipe and see the relationship between 1/4 and 1/3 cup. As kids get into the upper grades, money management should be a focus. Making a budget and learning about interest rates are good ideas. I used to give my students real restaurant menus and a budged. They had to come up with what they could buy, including the tip with a set amount of money. In college, rather than only focus on the craft of writing, I wish I would have learned more about marketing and publishing my writing. Finally, internships in both high school and college should be required.

It appears that some high schools are doing a better job of preparing students for the real world. For instance, according to NBC News, in Michigan, "the Utica Center for Science and Industry uses technology to prepare students for automotive and military industry jobs." The program aims to combine students' skills with employers' needs. Students take optional courses in areas such as "multimedia, engineering or mechatronics" and also take part in activities where there isn't one right answer. For me, giving kids the opportunity to create is the key point. So far, the program is showing success.

According to a Gallup poll, fifty-seven percent of American workers say "the type of work they do generally" does not require "a bachelor's or a more advanced degree." Therefore, if a college degree isn't helping the majority of Americans at their job, then what is required? Many jobs require a skill. Electricians and contractors have specific skill that allow them to complete their jobs. Whether students go to four-year school or not, I think it's important for everyone to have a skill. After all, a Forbes article states that half of college graduates are working at jobs that don't require a degree. Clearly, being smart and qualified isn't always enough to make it in the real world.

    I'm going to encourage my kids to go to college and earn a degree. I'm also going to encourage them to think outside of the box and give them a practical education too. After all, you never know where life will take you.

    STA Travel, the world's largest students and youth travel agency, beats any price! Every day we're working with our partners around the globe to get you (students, teachers and anyone under 26) the cheapest and most comfortable flights and top-rated accommodations. This part of www.statravel.com provides great tips for green travel — how to pack, how to leave your house or apartment, and how to plan for your trips. You'll also find a great selection of green travel adventure trips to all corners of the world.

    Green travel means responsible (负责任的) travel! Leave as little influence as possible on the places you visit and protect the environment both at home and during your trip. Think “Green” when you pack and when you travel. You'll help prevent long-term effects on the communities you leave and visit! Here's some advice on how to do that.

    Before you leave

    Turn your water heater to its lowest setting.

    Turn off your water from the outside.

    While you travel

    Pack suitable clothes in your luggage, none of which is to harm the environment.

    Try products made from recycled materials.

    Don't buy souvenirs produced from endangered species.

    Carry a reusable bottle for water and refill it as you go.

    Use the bathroom in the airport, NOT on the plane. The fuel used for a single flush (冲洗) could run a car for six miles.

    A good modern newspaper is an extraordinary piece of reading. It's great first for what it contains：the range of news from local crime to international politics, from sports to business, from fashion to science, and the range of comment and special feature(特写) as well, from editorial page to feature articles and interviews to criticism of books, art theatre and music.

    A newspaper is even greater for the way one reads it：never completely, never straight through, but always by jumping from here to there, in and out, glancing at one piece, reading another article all the way through, reading just a few paragraphs of the text.

    A good modern newspaper offers a variety(多样性) to attract many different readers, but far more than the reader is interested in. What brings this variety together in one place is its topicality(时事性), its immediate relation to what is happening in your world and your locality now. But immediacy and the speed of production that goes with it also mean that much of what appears in a newspaper has no more than transient(短暂的) value.

    For all these reasons, no two people really read the same paper：what each person does is to put together, out of the pages of that day's paper, his own selection and order, his own newspaper. For all these reasons, reading newspapers efficiently, which means getting what you want from them without missing things you need and without wasting time, demands skill and self-awareness as you change and apply the techniques of reading.

    Andrew Ritchie, inventor of the Brompton folding bicycle, once said that perfect portable bike would be "like a magic carpet... You could fold it up and put it into your pocket or handbag". Then he paused: "But you'll always be limited by the size of the wheels. And so far no one has invented a folding wheel."

It was a rare — indeed unique — occasion when I was able to put Ritchie right. A 19th-century inventor, William Henry James Grout, did in fact design a folding wheel. His bike, predictably named the Grout Portable, had a frame that was divided into two and a larger wheel that could be separated into four pieces. All the bits fitted into Grout's Wonderful Bag, a leather case.

    Grout's aim: to solve the problems of carrying a bike on a train. Now doesn't that sound familiar? Grout intended to find a way of making a bike small enough for train travel: his bike was a huge beast. And importantly, the design of early bicycles gave him an advantage: in Grout's day, tyres were solid, which made the business of dividing a wheel into four separate parts relatively simple. You couldn't do the same with a wheel fitted with a one-piece inflated(充气的) tyre.

    So, in a 21st-century environment, is the idea of the folding wheel dead? It is not. A British design engineer, Duncan Fitzsimons , has developed a wheel that can be folded into something like a slender ellipse(椭圆). From beginning to end, the tyre remains inflated.

    Will the young Fitzsimons's folding wheel make it into production? I have no idea. But his inventiveness shows two things. First, people have been saying for more than a century that bike design has reached its limit, except for gradual advances. It's as silly a concept now as it was 100 years ago: there's plenty still to go for. Second, it is in the field of folding bikes that we are seeing the most interesting inventions. You can buy a folding bike for less than £1,000 that can be knocked down so small that can be carried on a plane ——minus wheels, of course ——as hand baggage.

    Folding wheels would make all manner of things possible. Have we yet got the magic carpet of Andrew Ritchie's imagination? No. But it's progress.

    A 27-year-old inventor, Joco Paulo Lammoglia, has come up with a new device ( 设 备 ) named the AIRE mask, which is capable of transforming the wind energy provided by the wearer's breath into electrical energy. This means breathing has become a source of renewable energy. The inspiration for the invention came from his watching children blowing on pinwheels (纸风车).

    The device is worn like a mask equipped with tiny wind turbines (涡轮) and it can work its magic even while people are sleeping, running or hanging around, since energy is created from one's breath. The principle of this AIRE mask is simple. The invention uses the wind flow created by breathing and changes it into energy that can charge mobile phones and iPods. Simply put this mask connected to your mobile phone on your face. The rest takes place naturally through your breath that provides power to run turbines which produce electricity.

    Lammoglia explained how useful he hopes the AIRE will become. He said, "I hope to bring the concept into production and reduce the carbon footprint. It can be used indoors or outdoors, while you're sleeping, walking, running or even reading books." Apart from saving energy and contributing to environmental protection, it also encourages the practice of physical exercise. This is an entirely all time renewable energy source. Its energy is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

    Lammoglia explained why he thought the AIRE was so useful, saying, "Though many of our modern devices offer benefits, they tend to consume a high amount of electrical energy. This may cause problems for the environment, especially if the energy used by these devices is produced by non-renewable sources.

    The AIRE mask will be future's cheaper source of charging mobile phones. It would save energy and allow people to never have to worry about their phone dying unless they stop breathing.