Tognetti's Future Education Charity Has Lots of Untapped Potential

Education, while a universally acknowledged necessity, has become a hot button topic of discussion in recent years as criticisms of the education system create conflict and debate over how we can improve it and help the students it serves.

As this debate continues, many continue to do their part to help the people that rely on the education system to get them to the next part of their life. College degrees in particular remain an important milestone for many students; even as the public debates the value of a degree, statistics show that overall, people who earn college degrees typically manage to earn more and begin more meaningful careers than those who do not.

(Infographic courtesy of media.collegeonline.org.)

In an effort to do his part to help students successfully begin careers, Jeffrey Tognetti is hoping to one day begin his own education charity, one that may be a little different from what people consider an “education charity.” He hopes to set-up a group that would provide services to young children or teenagers. How his would be set apart from others, however, is that his charity would aim to help children choose a “niche” to specialize in, even before applying to and entering college.

While Tognetti has not yet solidified the logistics for how this charity would operate, the hope is that by offering students classes on specific topics, hosting field trips to different companies or work sites, and by organizing a variety of other interactive activities, children would explore the kind of work they could do and discover what they enjoy and where their biggest potential lies, be it in creative marketing or a more hands-on field such as plumbing.

This would be beneficial for young students in a number of ways:

• It would hopefully prevent students from wasting time or "treading water" academically during their first year or two of college. Young adults who go to college unsure about what they want to major in or even study run the risk of staying in college longer as they make up any credits that they lose or cannot count towards their actual decided major during their freshman or sophomore years of college. By knowing in advance their passions and goals, students avoid the risk of wasting time – and may even be able to graduate earlier, saving themselves tuition money.
• It would allow students to discover courses of study that not all colleges focus on. Students may discover that the course of study they are most interested in does not require a 2- or 4-year college degree. By taking up a trade that pays well but does not require a degree, youth could potentially begin a successful career path that does not require putting themselves steep in student loan debts.
• It would help open students minds to a number of possibilities that many are not often exposed to. Some students may even realize that by using alternative resources, they can educate themselves for free or at a very low cost while also getting into the business world and pursuing their passions, perhaps as business start-up owners or in any number of positions that often go unfilled.

Currently, the potential for a charity like this is massive and untapped; only time and further planning will reveal exactly what sort of good could come from a program like this. If his businesses continue to do well, Tognetti may very well make this vision of an unnamed education charity come true sooner rather than later.