Now that I am older and this is really the first presidential election that I could vote in I definitely paid more attention to the issues. One of the issues that affected me the most personally was education. Not just what each candidate had to say about education only, but also how they were going to make it affordable.

I think one of the topics they talked about when they brought up the U.S. Dept. of Education that was most interesting to me was elearning. With the growth of elearning in the United States, more adults and even teens are able to get an education. This option allows people who have to stay home with family or take care of someone and even those with jobs or no transportation to learn and get a degree.

Right now it is important to do whatever you can to learn and make yourself stand out. I remember my dad telling me that knowledge is the one thing that isn't wasted. This is so true. People can take away your money and all of your items but no one can take away from you what you have learned. The more you know the more you can help yourself.

Online computer training is also something else that is on the rise. With online training employees are able to advance in companies and move up within their own as well as find jobs on the outside. With less and less jobs available now it is more important that you do whatever it takes to help yourself stand out and be better than the competition. While I am in college I am hearing more and more about my friends graduating (with great majors and degrees) and then having to move back home and work odd jobs while looking for work. They worked hard and are extremely qualified but there really aren't a lot of companies out there that can afford to hire people right now and it's scary, especially for people that really don't have anywhere to turn. Thankfully I have a major where I will probably always have a job, but a lot of my friends don't.

So when I went to vote this past election (well I voted absentee) I thought long and hard about the issues that affected me directly, like education and where it would stand if each candidate was elected.