The emphasis on this school will be science and technology. The middle school will someday feed a math and science high school being planned for the Detroit riverfront, and aimed directly at supporting the new neighborhoods planned along the river.

Meanwhile, Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick told the Detroit Economic Club that work is moving forward on a graphics art school that will occupy the vacant Argonaut building south of the New Center.

General Motors Corp. owns the building and is giving it to the College for Creative Studies to be used for an innovative program that will start students in middle school and take them through college graduate programs in the same facility.

The concept is unlike anything tried before in the city. And it should encourage students with an interest in art and design with the preparation and motivation they need to succeed in college.
If it works, the same approach could be tried with a variety of other academic fields, including engineering and health care.

I have been saying all along about theme based charter schools are needed in the City of Detroit. The need for an investment academy and a public health academy (along with the other charter and private educational projects I am doing) are long needed as well.

I am stressing the investment academy because I am beginning to see how our children are falling behind when it comes to understanding how the financial market operates in the world. Remember, I am about international education not just domestic so please understand that those at-risk children who are serious about pulling themselves out of poverty will need to see where we are at on this investment academy.

We should be in the business of teaching our children free market economics right out of the schools in which we are teaching them. In an investment academy we will be introducing our children to the FOREX, stock market, investing in mutual funds, CDs, understanding the advantages and disadvantages of a money market account and hedge funds. Each student must develop a business portfolio upon graduating from high school.

The investment academy I am in the process of developing will tie into the Four Asian Tigers. This refers to the economies of Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, and South Korea. They are also known as Asia's Four Little Dragons. These countries and territories were noted for maintaining high growth rates and rapid industrialization between the early 1960s and 1990s. In the early 21st century, with the original four Tigers at or near to fully developed status, attention has increasingly shifted to other Asian economies which are experiencing rapid economic transformation at the present time.

I want our investment academies to tie into those markets. Why? Because the Four Asian Tigers pursued an export-driven model of economic development. In other words these countries and territories focused on developing goods for export to highly-industrialized nations. Also, the Four Asian Tigers singled out education as a means of improving productivity; these nations focused on improving the education system at all levels; heavy emphasis was placed on ensuring that all children attended elementary education and compulsory high school education. Money was also spent on improving the college and university system.

I cannot see anyone NOT sending our children from these investment academies to Hong Kong. The Economy of Hong Kong is widely believed to be the most economically free in the world. It has often been cited by economists such as Milton Friedman and the Cato Institute as an example of the benefits of laissez-faire capitalism. The dominating sector of Hong Kong is the financial market. I cannot see why Detroit cannot transform itself from being an automotive/service economy to a more financial economy where everyone on Earth is trading currencies right here in the City of Detroit.

The classification of Hong Kong as a "free economy" also means anyone with money can buy real estate property. Many foreigners have invested heavily in the territory, making real estate one of the biggest contributors to economic statistics.

Our children should be exposed to this. We stress so much on math and science (not to say neither is important) but we NEVER talk about the Foreign Exchange Market (FOREX) to our children.

Another place where we should send our children to help them understand foreign markets is Singapore. The Economy of Singapore is a highly developed and successful capitalist mixed economy. It has an open business environment, relatively corruption-free and transparent, stable prices, and one of the highest per capita gross domestic products (GDP) in the world. Exports, particularly in electronics and chemicals, and services provide the main source of revenue for the economy, which allows it to purchase natural resources and raw goods which it does not have.

Detroit could be in the driver seat of producing some of the most financial minds here on Earth in terms of an investment academy. These academies would be driven to teach our children ownership, teaching about free market education to create wealth creation in our homes as well as educating our children on the importance of traditional and moral values in our community. I was watching a recent Iowa Republican Debate with Presidential Candidate Alan Keyes and he said the problem with education is the removal of prayer from schools. I totally agree with him 100%.

We do not need to reinvent the wheel when it comes to charter schools. We need to have a revolutionary approach. A investment academy that begins in the 7th grade and goes to 12th grade will be that revolutionary approach and innovation to put Detroit back on the map again. Not this time as the Motor City but as the Fiscal City of the Western Hemisphere.

Email me at onechoicepac@gmail.com