Oh, the Places You’ll Go…in Tax

Posted by Traci WheelercloseAuthor: Traci Wheeler Name: Traci Wheeler
Email: traci@redmoonsolutions.com
Site: http://blog.redmoonsolutions.com
About: Traci is a member of the executive leadership team and leads our sales and marketing efforts at Red Moon Solutions. She has over ten years of software business experience serving small and large clients in a variety of industries.See Authors Posts (120) on Aug 25, 2011 | 2 comments

For years, the popular Dr. Seuss book, Oh, the Places You’ll Go, has been the gift of choice for new high school and college graduates embarking on their journey into the real world. If we don’t breathe new life into the math programs our kids are involved in today, they will not even consider the places they will go in tax. The future is uncertain with respect to the availability of talent to meet future tax departments’ needs, so now is the time to take steps to change that. Math and technology are the foundation of most working in a tax department today. In order to do that, there needs to be a buzz. We need to create some excitement.

So how can we do that? We need to direct our attention to STEM. If you don’t know what I am talking about, STEM is an acronym for science, technology, engineering and math. These academic disciplines have been at the forefront of Obama’s focus on education since he became president. By exciting our kids about math, the very foundation on which a degree in tax is built, we can help ensure growth in the workforce a tax department will need. In my own backyard, Gulf Coast Community Foundation is devoting $2.5 million in a 5-year initiative to improve achievement in STEM.

This is a different time. We can no longer excite children about math by having them play with an abacus or complete a subtraction worksheet developed in the 1960s. It will require new tools and techniques for educating our children in the classroom. Just recently, I saw this 2009 TED video presented by MIT graduate, David Merrill, where he demonstrates Siftables, a cookie-sized, computerized tile that could change hands-on learning. Pay attention to what the kids can do in math, and this only scratches the surface of what is possible:

The company also recently brought on board an elementary school math teacher, who recognized the new learning experiences these cubes could bring to the classroom. She is excited to help develop an engaging math game that will allow students to develop their math skills and have fun at the same time. Pretty cool, huh? And headed in the right direction, I think.

With two young boys of my own, I know how important this kind of change is. I grew up with a love for math and want them to experience the same. I don’t want them to miss out by because they haven’t even given these subjects a chance. Or, they think they are boring. Or, don’t understand why they need to learn this.

Today’s youth are the future workforce that a tax department will need. With fresh ideas garnered through the use of new tools for learning and a passion for math, they might even transform the tax department as we know it today. As Dr. Seuss said in the book:

And will you succeed?
Yes! You will, indeed!
(98 and 3/4 percent guaranteed.)

But, you will do it in tax!