Invent a course that every high school student should have to take.
To me this is a no brainer! We do not teach enough basic financial education at schools at all, no wonder everyone went out and borrowed as much as they could when the banks were practically giving money away. Then when the shit hit the fan many of those people could not sustain the borrowings they had undertaken.
Yeah ok I won’t get all ranty but it does piss me off a little that someone hasn’t taught these people the value of a dollar! Maybe it isn’t the job of our education sector, maybe it should be something that the parents need to do. However that just doesn’t happen with most people, so therefore I think it should be integrated into the third form life skills classes we have to take, yep right up there with Sex Ed – It’s kind of important!
Even just some basic lessons on how compounding works would help a lot of people, the good compounding when you are the one saving and reinvesting the interest, and the bad compounding when you borrow more than you can handle and interests adds on to the loan which you then start paying interest on interest.
We actually did a lesson on this in third or forth form economics, the issue here is that the kids that really need to learn about these things are most likely not the ones that are going to choose to take economics.
What course would you create that every high school student should have to take?
I think there should be a social skills course. Everyone needs to get back to basic etiquette. Simple things like how to show people respect, how to be gracious, how to behave in public, how to be punctual and the importance of appreciating how our actions impact on others. How to be a considerate human being.
I feel this is lacking these days. You see it in the supermarket, on the road in traffic, in friendship disagreements and in family interactions. Not to mention using social media…
OMG Totally agree with you on this one!! Some simple manners would go a long way with a lot of people.