Country Should Better Educate Students on Finances, Fiscal Responsibility (ContributorNetwork)

In advance of President Barack Obama's upcoming speech on jobs and unemployment, Yahoo! News asked its readers and contributors to tell us what subjects they'd like to hear Obama address. Below is a first-person perspective from a reader.

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FIRST PERSON | This is an exciting and terrifying time for me. I'm currently heading into my final year of college and, to be honest, I'm not at all sure what to expect when I'm finished.

When it comes to exactly what I want to hear from President Obama when he delivers his speech, it's difficult to give a short and direct answer. I'm simply frustrated with just about anything related to politics at this point, and I'm not sure that anything he could say would make me feel significantly better about anything happening to the country. I watched all summer long as Congress did virtually nothing. I was frustrated. Just about everyone I talked to was also frustrated.

I think the very best thing we could hear from Obama is not a promise to the nation or a demand from Congress. Instead, we need to hear an admission the politicians are simply not the people we should hope will clean up America's mess. While the president, the Senate, and the Congress all certainly have great influence over what will happen in America's future, the people that make up the nation are the ones that truly control its destiny. We simply need reform and education.

I'm a 21-year-old from Syracuse, N.Y., and I currently work as a tutor for my college. During the summers in college, I've had another job in food service as well. I don't really make much money. This isn't a bad thing nor is it at all unrealistic, since I have not yet acquired enough skill to be considered for a better-paying position. Still, the one thing I've noticed in my working life more than anything else is the desire to use money correctly without the knowledge about how this is done. I feel absurdly lucky that I was brought up by an accountant.

So, if I want anything from President Obama, this is it: I would love to see more education in schools about money and the economy. We always fear what we do not know, and if we learn about how to spend money and how our economy works, I firmly believe we will no longer fear it. With less fear comes a greater sense of unity, and unity is what this country desperately, desperately needs.

I want him to inspire us. I want him to tell us the truth. I want him to make us feel like we've got at least a morsel of power to do something for the better. We're all sitting around feeling frustrated and powerless as we watch Congress bicker over things we have no say in. We want this to change, and we want it now.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20110829/us_ac/9030895_country_should_better_educate_students_on_finances_fiscal_responsibility

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